It's been more than two years since I wrote the first post of this series. Not that I forgot about it. The fact is that I did not care enough to write again otherwise nothing else stopped me from doing this post! Well, whatever happened has happened. I will like to keep up writing about the B.tech days. Hope I will not brake the chain this time.
There is a serious competetion when I try to figure out which memories come to my mind first when I go back in time to the B.tech days. Although the course was for four years, it appeared as if it lasted longer than any time. I think I must go by a given topic rather than trying to write down starting from the best memories. Now its time to take the first one.
If you are a foodie, you cannot escape from the very thought of it. Especially when you recollect the hostel days and by chance food comes to your mind, you will have to stop there and go deep. In B.tech hostel, we had a relatively big mess. It was not a canteen type where one can buy and eat. I wish it was that. Food used to be cooked there and served.
Rice has to be believed as rice, not always though. You have to serve yourself with a small plate instead of the rice serving spoon. We always go with a hungry stomach to mess which probes us to take the rice quantity as maximum as possible that appears to be ok for that meal. Curries and chutney get served at the dining table itself in small curry serving steel sets with two levers. Sambar and rasam are kept in buckets, small buckets of course. I mean not too small as that of the ones you get in a rastaurent if you order dal tadka. Somewhat bigger than those and smaller than the buckets used in bath room, if I have to say it leterally. Curd again in the buckets. The chutney what the mess staff call is with a different name every day, but by looks and sometimes taste as well, it appears to be the same everyday. Chapati's are not there in the menu, this surprises many of my north indian friends everytime I mention. If there is any curry or a fry that is special for the day, it gets served by a mess-staff member on the first table. There is no chance of a second round for obvious reasons, and by chance you ask for some more when you are getting served, they will make sure that they attend your wish and then its your turn to regret why have I asked for this much of extra amount.
The best part of any lunch and dinner is the friends with whom you are seated. People usally go with the same batch all the times, except few times when its not possible for some reason. Meal definitely stars by putting the first sip in mouth but no one can say when it ends. In a batch, as there are people from different specializations of engineering, obviously the count of the topics for discussion is always on higher note. It might be easy for a lecturer to complete the syllebus but it becomes very difficult to cover all the topics of discussion in a single meal. It extends and extends until the lights and fans start getting switched off in the mess. It continues in the after-meal walking too. Most of the times we go for a walk to continue with the topics but they are appear to be the proper afetr-meal walks to reduce or whatever. If it is a saturday, the walk might end as a group discussion on the road itself and it continues for hours. Sunday morning's brakefast is Rava Dosa almost every time. You have to pass through a long que to get yourself served. You stay helpless when some of the dosas go out in a short cut! Once I was in the que and I heard a final year student saying, "You know, when I was in my first year there used to be some people who take the dosas without standing in the que. I thought that must be becasue they were the final year students. Now I'm in my final year, still I have to pass through the same que. Now I realize that its not the year that matters, its something else".
I'm not able to recollect much about the brakefast as it was not the important thing during those mornings. Very few number of times I remember going for it. Everytime before exam I used to go for it. It used to be ok types if not perfect. Of course it used to get counted in the bill that we had to pay for the mess, but it didn't bother us as such. The menu and mess did not change much during the four years of time. Recently I'd been to hostel and the mess during a vacation after almost a gap of three years, still I didn't find much difference. Those memories surrounded me and tears did rounds in my eyes. As I write this, it feels good and refreshing. That's about the food in hostel during B. tech.
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