Were you YOUNG and CRAZY? Let’s reflect and reminisce!!

Kannan Mani – Mech & Production (1992 – 96)

September 12, 2015

Boston, MA

 

Were you YOUNG and CRAZY? Let’s reflect and reminisce!!

Wow! Wait a minute, it’s gonna be 25 years already?? It’s confession time then! Let’s confess that we are OLD. Getting old is not that bad so don’t curse me for starting off on a negative note but read on :-). By branching out on different paths and routes, we have grown not just OLD, but along the way becoming (a tiny bit?) WISE as well! Like the famous quote, “You can’t be OLD and WISE if you were never YOUNG and CRAZY“, if we are all asked to define a timeframe in our life where we were YOUNG and CRAZY, I am sure everyone would say in unison with me, it’s the life at Annamalai! So, are you ready folks, for a trip down the memory lanes (actually sandhu) of Annamalai Nagar to introspect how Young and Crazy we were??

Be it taking pride in telling anyone that only railway station in Tamilnadu where there are no platform tickets enforced, or boast the fact that only university canteen that sells cigarettes, Annamalai is unique on its own.

Be it pulling the chain in the trains for reasons other than emergency, or stealing the Chennai->Nagore->Chennai board, removing the mirror from the train with a coin (Madhu, I am thinking of you!), or traveling on the top of the train and get nicely from the TTR, there were no limits for the playfulness.

Be it pedaling an oatta bicycle, or a OC bike ride, we were all Arnolds on Harley! and rich at heart and very poor in ego..

Be it branded clothing, borrowed from a roommate, or a stolen bathroom slipper, we had no boundaries because we were a tightly-knit brotherhood!

Be it Sundaram kadai chaalna that tastes like a feast after a booze, or AA  parotta after a movie at Lena, nothing beats our road side delicacies.

Be it Kannangulam kallu at 6 AM in the morning with fresh nethili or afternoon lunch (Menu: Prawns, Chicken, Mutton, Egg, Fish, different kinds of gravy,  stone like curd, with a pepsi, plantain and beeda all for Rs.50) at Puthoor Jayaraman Kadai, can food and beverage choice get any better than that?

Be it Egg noodles in the middle of the night, or just a tea & ottu dhum, there were no lack of motivation to be up all night prepping for exams, or labwork.

Be it muttai dosai at the veg mess by correcting the writer, or chicken vindaloo whenever a dog disappears from the hostel, can any mess beat Annamalai?

Be it going to the Naatiya day and get nast(h)y, or organize a home party at Mariappa Nagar, drink out of a bucket (vaali) and get knocked out, we would win if there is a competition for drinking!

Be it loitering in the PC area, in front of LH, or guys trying to do a wheeling in front of ladies waiting hall in the campus, or visiting temple on Fridays, all for the glimpse of Ambhaal(gal) Darisanam (you know what I mean!), listen up gals! How much more religious and devoted can pasanga get?

Be it a single guy becoming a pair, a pair splitting up and gone single, or Anna finding a Thangachi and vice versa, we witnessed a lotta paasamalars and wrote all kinds of love stories.

Be it “Maniacs”, “Scintillators”, “CulNayaks’, “Crusaders”, or “Ruffians” no one had moves and shakes better than us and we had no shortage for entertainment!

Be it a bright & studious guy in the name of “Fruit”, or FTed romeos, or the ones who always hangout with Kumaru to show “gethu”, we had pupils in all flavors

Be it “Cynosure”, “Surge”, “MechSem”, “Strobe”, “Inches”, “CompSem”, or “Fenestra” – there was no lack of talent and we were all Engineers in the making then, but don’t remember a thing now!

Be it 70% and up with distinction, bribing the foreman at the lab,  or pay bucks to chase the paper, passing an exam was never a challenge for us!

Be it “Kadal”, “Loud”, “Thavil”, “Kosu”, “Action King” or “Matter”, no one can get as creative as us in coming up with nicknames.

When everything is still so fresh and stays evergreen in our mind, is it fair to call our selves OLD? May be NOT! So, let’s scratch that for a little while and gear up for some fun times in Chennai to feel YOUNG and CRAZY again!! Shall we?

While I reminisce all these memories, I want to take a pause and also remember my friend Kadher, who passed away in a tragic accident near Chidambaram in 2013. It numbs my heart sometimes to lose a precious friend like him. Although he is not with us anymore, I still find it real hard to come to terms with it.

Kannan Mani

Mech & Production (1992 – 96)