**This is a recollection of all the events that happened on Kerala Piravi day at Cusat, from my point of view. The intention of this article is not to glorify the KSU or de-glorify the SFI, rather this is a trip down the memory lane for those who would like to get a touch nostalgic, recollecting our college days. Please do forgive me if I have hurt any feelings, as that was not the intention of the article.
As Brian Adams sang "Those were the best days of my life".....
Gosh...What a day it was!! The fact that each and every incident that happened, remains deeply entrenched in my mind emphasizes the impact of that day in my life.
Its a day neither the KSU nor the SFI can forget. If I were a politician I would look back upon that incident and proclaim that I deeply regret that the incident happened, but as a student I definitely enjoyed that day...
Even though the KSU had won the CUBSA election and were on a high, the political equations in CUSAT was still in favor of the SFI. Well Kerala Piravi changed it all.
SFI at CUSAT were a restless lot at this time, since it was new for them to be a part of the opposition. There were a lot of fresher’s in the SFI at this team(1st years). A lot of them are good friends of mine now, since Bangalore and Ashok a.k.a Satan had made me part with all political ill-wills made in college.
Ok enough of introductions...let me come to the point!!!
It all started prior to Kerala Priravi day. The SFI freshers were trying hard to get under the skin of the Ksu guys and were using their local help(CITU guys) to terrorize them. There were also frequent incidents of manhandling of the fresher’s who were in KSU by the SFI guys and reciprocation by the KSU guys...
So the pot was boiling !!!!
KSU was conducting the Kerala Piravi celebrations at the SMS Auditorium, CUSAT and celebrations were on in true spirit, and I mean that by heart. There were a lot of drunk people in the Auditorium. Vinod was on the dais giving the welcome speech, when the first signs of trouble started. Some guys started questioning the death of Vishnu, a Btech Safety student during the college tour to Goa. Now Undappan who was the Safety leader was boiling with rage on hearing this snide remarks. Knowing his nature, I started to intervene and dress down things. Well things didn't happen as expected. There were a lot of guys there and I started using force which ended in a lot of shoving and pushing around. Now I was surrounded on all sides mainly with onlookers rather than those with any aggressive intent. Now Vinod saw this from the dais and jumped down from it and started towards the mob. Friendship is thicker than water :)
I don’t quite remember what happened after that. I started chasing a guy outside, there were some shoving and kicking at the bike parking shed etc etc. It all came to an halt when I heard a sharp cry from Vinod "Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ammmeeeeeeee"
Somebody(we are still searching for that person) had pulled hard at his hand, and it had become disjoint. He was screaming in agony and we quickly forgot the fight and rushed him to the hospital......
A few hours later..Around 7pm.
Venue - An empty SMS auditorium stage :)
Vinod was virtually crying and all the others(Sabin, George Mohan, Jinson, Bhasi , Undappan, Sharath and me) were looking on helplessly. He was a natural athlete and the fact that this incident may make him prone towards repetitions later in life was triggering this emotional display from him. Well we were all sad ...and drunk :)
Lets go and beat up all of them, I said. No da, that would be foolish said Sabin and George. They would be expecting us to retaliate and would be well prepared :)
Well this pissed off Saji. He was an emotional person and would get upset over trivial things.
"Oruthanum varanda...Da pappa, nee varunnunda?" , the question was at me.
I took him aside, and told him in no uncertain terms that we are going to lie low today and tomorrow will be a black day for the SFI. Well all left from there in a drunken stupor.
The Next Day - Judgement Day
All proclamations made during drinks are usually forgotten the next day, but the first sight I saw when I woke up was Vinod writhing in pain, his hand bandaged. I felt anger building up within me and quietly went to Vinod and told him that his pain will ease in 2 hrs. Just wait and watch.
I summoned Sabin and we started to Salam Ikkas shop. The place was flooded with KSU guys who were venting their frustrations on George. Now he was our leader then and was trying to pacify students saying that we should act maturely, but unfortunately everyone wanted action.
"Adikkam - aarokke koode nikkum. The question was from Saji, who with his bloodshot eyes was quite something to reckon with.
George, Valsa...I think we have had enough, lets retaliate, I said. The decision was made easy by the presence of the huge no of ksu guys at Salam Ikkas.
We left for the campus after planning an Ambush. All of us arrived in different groups and at different times at the Siberia Campus. Classes were going on. All the freshers in the "SFI" were in the mechanical dept block. By around 11.45 Nitish P, had locked the gates to the mechanical block with all of us waiting for a chance for the classes to finish. Well unfortunately some guys did not have the patience to wait that long and barged in to the classrooms and started beating up SFI guys. At first I looked at the proceedings with amusement, but then it started getting brutal. Some SFI guys were thrown to the floor and a lot of people were stamping on their heads. I grimaced, having being subject to that treatment from a set of Gundas arranged by the SFI some years back. Vinod was watching all this, relaxing on a parked bike.
"Ithu mathiyoda - is this enough?", I called out. He nodded his head, probably sympathizing with the SFI...
The news had leaked by this time and SFI seniors started to appear, but there were left watching helplessly as they were far outnumbered by the KSU.
Ganesh, a good friend of mine and a prominent SFI leader was venting his anger on me...
"Adikkada enne adi", he started shouting at me. I gave him a helpless shrug and started the fire dousing process.
Our principal "Mrs Sobha Cyrus" had arrived at the scene and asked Suhin, my friend.
"What is happening here. I will ask the police to come!!!"
Suhin looked at me with a irritated expression and said "Dasa, etha ee alavalathi"
I rushed from the scene, lest he started using more expletives.
1 hr later.....
Venue - Salam Ikkas Shop
There were a lot of high fives around as we celebrated this victory.
Suddenly Anand, a fresher and a KSU activist came rushing into Salams shop. His face was flushed, at first I thought it was from the exertion, but when he started narrating the events our blood starting boiling again.
SFI had surrounded him while he was walking with his gf and beat up him black and blue.
Didnt they get enough? Saji said...Come lets go da..This time the agressor was George, his face contorted with fury. I asked Sabin to get into the bike with me. As I was starting the bike, I saw Saji taking a knife from Salams shop and putting it into his pocket...
Oh..Oh Oh ..what are we getting into here. Now this is dangerous territory. I quickly forgot about that incident as 9 bikes laden with 3 people each started from salams shop towards the Electronics Dept Block where the SFI guys were supposed to be.
The first scene I saw on reaching the EC building was 3 of my close friends leading the SFI brigade. Ashok, Jd and Ciju. Now guys from our group were looking upto us(me, valsan and Saji) to start the proceedings, but Sabin and I didn’t have the heart to do that. Saji who was not close to these guys didn’t have any such qualms and started kicking at one of the Sfi guys.
All hell broke loose after that.
Fahad, an SFI activist and a Giant was standing there, waiting to pick up a fight, but we conveniently ignored each other’s presence. Now he was my junior and we had some mutual respect for each other.(Size does matter :).
I suddenly saw Leo Paul attacking Goerge from behind and started pulling him back. He would have escaped unharmed, but unfortunately saji had also witnessed the same incident. Saji took out a metal rod from somewhere and started hitting him. It took a wild pull from me to wrench that away from him. I threw that into the grass. It all ended with a lot of teachers arriving on the scene.
Now KSU cant' claim victory in this venue, since the "kodukkal-vangal" was almost equal.
The final round of victory was with the principal as all of us who took part in this Kerala Piravi celebrations got a summons letter from the principal to attend the Cusat -Suspension celebration along with our parents. :)
The interesting part of college life is that all the grudges and ill-wills that you generate during this period will eventually fade-off and you would be left will a plethora of heart-mates for life...
I couldn't quite believe it when I saw Leo Paul coming to receive me at the Pune Railway station when I got a job there.
Cheers to KSU and SFI
Well CUSAT, you are a great leveler. :)
Well for those of you who read this and feel this is a bit biased, sorry guys, I am a Congressman :)
Jai CUSAT
Cheers,
Pappan
As Brian Adams sang "Those were the best days of my life".....
Gosh...What a day it was!! The fact that each and every incident that happened, remains deeply entrenched in my mind emphasizes the impact of that day in my life.
Its a day neither the KSU nor the SFI can forget. If I were a politician I would look back upon that incident and proclaim that I deeply regret that the incident happened, but as a student I definitely enjoyed that day...
Even though the KSU had won the CUBSA election and were on a high, the political equations in CUSAT was still in favor of the SFI. Well Kerala Piravi changed it all.
SFI at CUSAT were a restless lot at this time, since it was new for them to be a part of the opposition. There were a lot of fresher’s in the SFI at this team(1st years). A lot of them are good friends of mine now, since Bangalore and Ashok a.k.a Satan had made me part with all political ill-wills made in college.
Ok enough of introductions...let me come to the point!!!
It all started prior to Kerala Priravi day. The SFI freshers were trying hard to get under the skin of the Ksu guys and were using their local help(CITU guys) to terrorize them. There were also frequent incidents of manhandling of the fresher’s who were in KSU by the SFI guys and reciprocation by the KSU guys...
So the pot was boiling !!!!
KSU was conducting the Kerala Piravi celebrations at the SMS Auditorium, CUSAT and celebrations were on in true spirit, and I mean that by heart. There were a lot of drunk people in the Auditorium. Vinod was on the dais giving the welcome speech, when the first signs of trouble started. Some guys started questioning the death of Vishnu, a Btech Safety student during the college tour to Goa. Now Undappan who was the Safety leader was boiling with rage on hearing this snide remarks. Knowing his nature, I started to intervene and dress down things. Well things didn't happen as expected. There were a lot of guys there and I started using force which ended in a lot of shoving and pushing around. Now I was surrounded on all sides mainly with onlookers rather than those with any aggressive intent. Now Vinod saw this from the dais and jumped down from it and started towards the mob. Friendship is thicker than water :)
I don’t quite remember what happened after that. I started chasing a guy outside, there were some shoving and kicking at the bike parking shed etc etc. It all came to an halt when I heard a sharp cry from Vinod "Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ammmeeeeeeee"
Somebody(we are still searching for that person) had pulled hard at his hand, and it had become disjoint. He was screaming in agony and we quickly forgot the fight and rushed him to the hospital......
A few hours later..Around 7pm.
Venue - An empty SMS auditorium stage :)
Vinod was virtually crying and all the others(Sabin, George Mohan, Jinson, Bhasi , Undappan, Sharath and me) were looking on helplessly. He was a natural athlete and the fact that this incident may make him prone towards repetitions later in life was triggering this emotional display from him. Well we were all sad ...and drunk :)
Lets go and beat up all of them, I said. No da, that would be foolish said Sabin and George. They would be expecting us to retaliate and would be well prepared :)
Well this pissed off Saji. He was an emotional person and would get upset over trivial things.
"Oruthanum varanda...Da pappa, nee varunnunda?" , the question was at me.
I took him aside, and told him in no uncertain terms that we are going to lie low today and tomorrow will be a black day for the SFI. Well all left from there in a drunken stupor.
The Next Day - Judgement Day
All proclamations made during drinks are usually forgotten the next day, but the first sight I saw when I woke up was Vinod writhing in pain, his hand bandaged. I felt anger building up within me and quietly went to Vinod and told him that his pain will ease in 2 hrs. Just wait and watch.
I summoned Sabin and we started to Salam Ikkas shop. The place was flooded with KSU guys who were venting their frustrations on George. Now he was our leader then and was trying to pacify students saying that we should act maturely, but unfortunately everyone wanted action.
"Adikkam - aarokke koode nikkum. The question was from Saji, who with his bloodshot eyes was quite something to reckon with.
George, Valsa...I think we have had enough, lets retaliate, I said. The decision was made easy by the presence of the huge no of ksu guys at Salam Ikkas.
We left for the campus after planning an Ambush. All of us arrived in different groups and at different times at the Siberia Campus. Classes were going on. All the freshers in the "SFI" were in the mechanical dept block. By around 11.45 Nitish P, had locked the gates to the mechanical block with all of us waiting for a chance for the classes to finish. Well unfortunately some guys did not have the patience to wait that long and barged in to the classrooms and started beating up SFI guys. At first I looked at the proceedings with amusement, but then it started getting brutal. Some SFI guys were thrown to the floor and a lot of people were stamping on their heads. I grimaced, having being subject to that treatment from a set of Gundas arranged by the SFI some years back. Vinod was watching all this, relaxing on a parked bike.
"Ithu mathiyoda - is this enough?", I called out. He nodded his head, probably sympathizing with the SFI...
The news had leaked by this time and SFI seniors started to appear, but there were left watching helplessly as they were far outnumbered by the KSU.
Ganesh, a good friend of mine and a prominent SFI leader was venting his anger on me...
"Adikkada enne adi", he started shouting at me. I gave him a helpless shrug and started the fire dousing process.
Our principal "Mrs Sobha Cyrus" had arrived at the scene and asked Suhin, my friend.
"What is happening here. I will ask the police to come!!!"
Suhin looked at me with a irritated expression and said "Dasa, etha ee alavalathi"
I rushed from the scene, lest he started using more expletives.
1 hr later.....
Venue - Salam Ikkas Shop
There were a lot of high fives around as we celebrated this victory.
Suddenly Anand, a fresher and a KSU activist came rushing into Salams shop. His face was flushed, at first I thought it was from the exertion, but when he started narrating the events our blood starting boiling again.
SFI had surrounded him while he was walking with his gf and beat up him black and blue.
Didnt they get enough? Saji said...Come lets go da..This time the agressor was George, his face contorted with fury. I asked Sabin to get into the bike with me. As I was starting the bike, I saw Saji taking a knife from Salams shop and putting it into his pocket...
Oh..Oh Oh ..what are we getting into here. Now this is dangerous territory. I quickly forgot about that incident as 9 bikes laden with 3 people each started from salams shop towards the Electronics Dept Block where the SFI guys were supposed to be.
The first scene I saw on reaching the EC building was 3 of my close friends leading the SFI brigade. Ashok, Jd and Ciju. Now guys from our group were looking upto us(me, valsan and Saji) to start the proceedings, but Sabin and I didn’t have the heart to do that. Saji who was not close to these guys didn’t have any such qualms and started kicking at one of the Sfi guys.
All hell broke loose after that.
Fahad, an SFI activist and a Giant was standing there, waiting to pick up a fight, but we conveniently ignored each other’s presence. Now he was my junior and we had some mutual respect for each other.(Size does matter :).
I suddenly saw Leo Paul attacking Goerge from behind and started pulling him back. He would have escaped unharmed, but unfortunately saji had also witnessed the same incident. Saji took out a metal rod from somewhere and started hitting him. It took a wild pull from me to wrench that away from him. I threw that into the grass. It all ended with a lot of teachers arriving on the scene.
Now KSU cant' claim victory in this venue, since the "kodukkal-vangal" was almost equal.
The final round of victory was with the principal as all of us who took part in this Kerala Piravi celebrations got a summons letter from the principal to attend the Cusat -Suspension celebration along with our parents. :)
The interesting part of college life is that all the grudges and ill-wills that you generate during this period will eventually fade-off and you would be left will a plethora of heart-mates for life...
I couldn't quite believe it when I saw Leo Paul coming to receive me at the Pune Railway station when I got a job there.
Cheers to KSU and SFI
Well CUSAT, you are a great leveler. :)
Well for those of you who read this and feel this is a bit biased, sorry guys, I am a Congressman :)
Jai CUSAT
Cheers,
Pappan
