My college Days in Bombay

It was the most memorable time of my life. It was the period that marked my  first steps into the big world outside of my sheltered home. It was one of my most loved days.

Yes, despite ​​many financial problems. I reached Bombay at a fairly young age. The place was absolutely new and just ten years after the Britishers left India. The year1957.  I had no friends whatsoever. Everything looked different. It was a new world to me- an innocent village boy.

My brother took leave from the office on the day I arrived in Bombay. After my first and hectic journey of almost three days in the train, I had a good bath, became fresh. However, I was not able to stand firmly on the ground because of motion sickness resulting from the long journey.

My brother took me out to show Bombay the same day I arrived in then Bombay  and now Mumbai, as he would be busy in office from the next day onwards and   had to attend college the next day. From Andheri, we got into the then “P” route BEST bus, which took us through the beaches, Juhu, Bandra, Cadel Road, Shivaji park, Worli sea face, Mahalakshmi Race course, Peddar Road, Hanging Garden, Chowpatty, Marine Drive, Flora fountain, Cooperage and right up  to Colaba. While returning, he took another route via, Metro cinema, Red-light area of Bombay central, Lalbaug, Dadar, and Santa Cruz to right back to Vile Parle. My brother was very thorough, explaining in detail and with all the importance of each place like a storyteller. I was thrilled to hear all his little nuances like an obedient student. Finally he declared “from tomorrow I won’t be available to give any guidance. Now it is up to you to select your life. Bombay has all the opportunities to become a good or bad person.”  I considered him as my most respected and trusted brother and teacher. It was my good fortune to be blessed with a devoted brother like him. Every word he spoke was valuable to me and I tried my best to follow them throughout to the best of my ability. His gems always provided solutions to many of my problems in life.

 At the time of leaving home for Bombay,  I remember even now my mother’s advice to me “Do not start any bad habits of smoking, drinking or anything of that sort”. She clearly mentioned once you start one habit, the next will follow and that could spoil your entire life. Although my mother was not well educated and may not have had a formal education, whatever she taught me was by no means less valuable.  

Come the next day and I was taken to Bhavan’s college Andheri Science complex, where classes had started a couple of months back. As one student left in the middle of the term, a vacancy was created and I was able to secure admission. As soon as my brother came to know, he went and enrolled my name. That was how the admission was confirmed.

My first day in College was a timid experience. I did not own smart clothes to attend college. Two cotton pants were stitched for my elder brother and were not ready when he left for Persia.so I was told to wear that. But it was too loose and baggy. As I had no idea about a suitable wear, I reached college with those loose pants tied with a jute cord in place of a belt. With another loose shirt, perhaps, I probably resembled a joker, quite similar- am sure to Raj kapoor in one of his earlier movies .The moment I entered the class all the students burst into laughter  including the lecturer. It was a mixed class and I was ashamed and became very embarrassed to face the fashionable girls and boys of Bombay. I didn’t know why they laughed. Was it my dress or look? The lecturer then asked me to introduce myself ….mention my name and all other details…and i quite obviously could not reply with even a single word. Instead, I started crying and then I was told to sit down. The class calmed down. After the period got over, two Kerala boys came to me and introduced me as NVUK Warrier and Gopalakrishnan Nair. That was the saddest day in my life and my first experience in this city of Bombay. If they had not come and consoled me, I would have perhaps jumped off a running train.  I knew nobody, knew no language and had no money to escape from there. I understood the situation back home and so faced every humiliation as no other options were available to me. After meeting these boys, I hung around with them everywhere. Slowly I started picking up the language, getting to know others and started my studies. Because I joined college in  the middle of the term, I could not understand anything and my  two classmates helped me a lot to come into the stream. Thanks to Bombay University   syllabus, there were only two subjects to study, unlike three languages and so many un-necessary subjects that Kerala University had at that time. In the first Year,  the  University conducted exams for the subsidiary and in the second year only the principal subject. But they were taught elaborately, which I was informed was more than the post graduate level syllabus of Delhi University at that time. A person, who got above a certain percentage, was awarded a graduate with honors degree.

 As the days passed I started enjoying and came to the stream of Bombay life by participating in many activities culturally and otherwise. Two neighbors came from Kerala for College education and I became close to them. Appu –real name is Unnikrishnan- for his post-graduation studies. His interests matched well with mine. Whether it was cricket matches, music or any other programmes or celebrations, Appu was always with me- although he was my senior. I gained confidence in ‘Bombay Life’ with all my interactions with him. He introduced me to Music and Hindi Films. I still remember how we went out and stood on the road in front of a restaurant near our house at Vile Parle, every Wednesday to hear the Binaca Geetmala, the most popular programme of Ameen Sayani on Radio Ceylon. We used to compete with each other on  which music director would appear on the top of the chart list; whether Naushad, Shankar Jaikishan, C Ramachandra, SD Burman  OP Nayyar or any new comers like Kalyanji-Anandji or Laxmikant-Pyarelal. In the annual Onam programme of Vile Parle Malayali Samajam, we participated  in group music and fancy dress activities.  Our Vile Parle Kerala Samajam was a prestigious one because of the memberships of film personalities like Balraj Sahni and Manna Dey. We were also very busy attending all festivals like Dussehra, Deepali, Eid, Easter, Rangoli and other National festivals. I can  never forget the Bombay life of festivals and entertainment. I still remember the most entertaining LIVE  programme of almost all top musicians of that era- like Mohammad Rafi, Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar and many others at Rang Bhavan. Those days, my brother used to take me to Nair Samaj programs at Matunga. I remember the celebration at Nappoo Garden, when Kerala’s most coveted poet Vallathol Narayana Menon he got the prestigious National Award.

Our Bhavan’s College Campus at Andheri was a reputed one for having a big park. The Bombay catering college was close to the premises. The students’ made items like vada, cutlets, and sweet dishes and were sold in the evening after 4 PM at a very low price and that was a big attraction for us students. Even if our classes got over early, we used to wait for the sales counter to open. The deputy head of the catering college was the late Mrs.Thangam Philip, who was the well renowned Indian nutritionist and pioneer in hospitality education in India.

In the evenings I used to observe a little baby being brought to the garden in a pram. The maid who brought the girl was a Malayali lady. When I heard her speaking, I was indeed curious and played with that cute little girl. Slowly the baby became a friend to me. She used to jump at me, whenever she saw me. One weekend, our friend K C Menon of Dunlop, came to visit my brother’s house at Vile Parle with family. Everyone was surprised that no sooner the baby saw me, she jumped on me. I too was ​​surprised that she was their child. I then narrated to  them about our meetings every day at Bhavan’s park. Later the family moved out of ​​Bombay. I have been informed that she was the mother of a leading Malayalam actress.

it is amazing that after so many decades, my memory of my ‘Bombay life’ is so vivid . Bombay defined me and shaped my character and life in such a beautiful manner that it stays parked in my mind forever. I have loads of beautiful anecdotes still to share. More of them on my Bombay life in my next blog part II

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TRS Menon