This is the cover and the picture in the first few pages of the 1994 diary. The location of the photo is, probably inside the round hall of Trayee Brindavan. There is a note from Raguraman that this diary was given to us on 19-11-1993. Apparently, he got it and later gave it to me. Each day has one full page, so some days have more content.
Condensing multiple days into a single page, since the content is perhaps of limited interest.
1994-01-01 - Saturday - Around 1 or 2 o'clock (at night), some boys came, wishing us in B1 a Happy New Year in hushed tones. (I was one of the two room leaders in B1, Correction: I was a room leader in A1, not in B1, and that was in the academic year 1994-95 - Sairam being the other. Sairam and I were in 2nd year 3rd undergrad (UG) while the other roommates were in 1st year 2nd year.) Pasted cards on our door - B9 brothers - Ravi Kumar Sir and Rajeev Chaudhry. No jogging in the morning - 5000 m run held - Gulshan (one year senior to us, extremely athletic) won of course. 10 o'clock found G. V. in the pavilion. "Best Scientist Prize for Prof. Venkataraman" Newspaper report reported by Warden. We practised the entry + marching + exercises once, then G. V. made a short speech, then evening.
(In those days, GV was staying in the guest house at Brindavan. My first interaction with him was via our teachers Jain Sir and Umesh Sir. I had asked them how liquids show optical activity when we would intuitively believe them to be isotropic. They encouraged me to ask GV. GV said, "There is a book called 'Optics' by Hecht in your library. Bring that book." So, I did. He turned the pages, and showed me a box item in the book, which explained optical activity in liquids.)
Morning and evening snacks as promised yesterday. Returned "Tarzan" to library, started "Broca's Brain" in earnest. Not about the human brain only, but "Reflections on the Romance of Science". Taking books for practice sessions relieves the tedium of waiting for the program to begin, and a few pages are finished that way.
Ankur - 1st BCom - AVC new entrant - came to AVC when I was playing evening music after practice - he told me that he joined AVC only after some time. (From 1993 Summer Course onwards, I was responsible for putting on the music played at Brindavan Hostel PA system. Half an hour before Suprabhatam, half an hour before evening bhajans, and also night prayer at 10 pm. And during the Summer Courses, also during mealtimes when Swami was expected.)
Night special dinner. A3 (parents and sister) phoned just to say Happy New Year. Then, "Inner Space". More masala than education.
1994-01-02 - Sunday - Slept after Suprabhatam - for 10 minutes, I thought. Finally woke at 8:30 - breakfast. Fire drill with music - Vijaya Sai Sir superimposed drum beats on popular instrumental cassettes. Warden Sir absent. Dinner time announcement - boys must go to help "pyrotechnics" boys in Kalyanamantapam in making "fire balls". Cotton/jute waste wrapped in thread to firm ball. Dipped in some fuel, dried and put inside cage of fire-stick. Our job - rolling the balls with thread - quite easy. One takes some 10 minutes. Music boys practising for Sports Meet song they composed - using 25 PTM (amplifier) for bass guitar.
Got a book for writing things taken etc. for AVC + battery (Rs. 7.40!) for clock. A departure from my bath schedule - morning, afternoon, then evening half-bath. Today only 1.5 baths.
1994-01-03 - Monday - For the third consecutive day, no jogging - this time I didn't go because of delay in toilet. Morning, combined with afternoon, a very large amount of matter was ejected from my intestines. Irregular habits. In the morning, the Warden was strongly against music - by evening, Vijaya Sai Sir managed to reach a compromise. I spent the afternoon in Hostel Library, browsing while they worked - "Undiplomatic Incidents". "Walden" seems to be nice. Thus, escaped having to go to ground to put up Peavey speakers, 250 W amplifier, etc (I couldn't be located). The morning program was rehearsed once, then masala buns. I took 3 for Vijaya Sai Sir in AVC ("I haven't had lunch, yaar") who was dubbing something surrounded by Popular Instrumental cassettes. Do they have to put 3/4 naked ladies on the cassette covers? 3 soldering jobs - all mikes - in AVC at night. Took 3 stands for SRH practice + rough recording session of our song - they practised on the Quadrangle lawns in the afternoon to avoid echo. Rolled 2-3 fire-balls and returned to AVC. I think the fire ball inside me is cooling now, after almost a week of nonsense. I had finished "Broca's Brain" in the morning, returned it in the afternoon.
1994-01-04 - Tuesday - Felt very sleepy in the morning. Jogging - only 20-30 boys. So, no marchpast. Read newspaper + wrote this + soldered last mike. Referred 555 monostable mode from college library, for MCom boys' doorbell which they want to continuously ring inside card for Swami - tunes of "Row Row Row a boat" etc. But no easy solution seen. Night fire drill with fire. Terribly scorching initially, after 'pranams' not so bad, though Sanjay Ravi got his hand burnt due to the flame coming down by the wind.
1994-01-05 - Wednesday - I am writing this on 20th March, from the notebook in which I had kept diary at Parthi Sports Meet time, as I forgot to take this book. Only entry in it is about the Night practice with fire. Nostrils turn black with soot, when we blow our noses, handkerchiefs become black. Soap and water remedy. I had written this in that notebook on 8th or so, by which time I had forgotten most of the events. Actually, we AVC fellows shifted the tables etc inside, some acquaintance of the Warden recorded it on video, had to wait till Warden saw it from outside before shifting TV, VCR, etc. There was some talk of shifting 8 Peavey speakers + the two SSA 250 (amplifiers) to Parthi for our practices there, but I'm not involved as I'm going tomorrow.
1994-01-06 - Thursday - BK (B. Krishna, Bioscience batchmate and AVC colleague) told me that bath in the evening before leaving for Parthi was better. So, I postponed, after dabbling with the idea of making AVC monitor today itself. Fire drill practice, then lunch. After that, MCom Venkata Bhargava asked for a trigger for his circuit. Fiddling with his circuit, I found shorting two leads sufficient for continuous 'singing'. Lost my yellow nylon rope, so used BK's blue one instead. Finished bath and packing by 4:45 pm. No bus. Dinner at 5:15. The KSRTC bus came, 6:15 to 9:45 journey, having a banana and half apple distributed to each on the way. Jothy (classmate) was sitting next to me, trying to sleep. I offered my lap, he accepted. Felt very "high" and one with the world etc, resting my hand on Jothy's back. Felt very "noble" etc throughout the journey, which had been broken at a "thukkada" place for the driver's dinner. No bhajans in the bus, majority asleep. Learnt that the earlier bus was also too late for darshan, reaching at 6:10 when bhajans had ended by 5:55. Slept at Mandir.
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