The Memoirs of an Eighty year Old- Episode XVII

Episode - Engineering studies

Hello readers.. Let's know more about the time grandpa spent studying his engineering course. It wasn't easy to get a seat in engineering those days. Firstly, because there were hardly any colleges and secondly, only merit students were offered those precious seats. It was a three year course with the exams during the third year. It means that they have to remember everything they have studied since the first day of the college for three years. Imagine that! Also there were no 'guides' which meant no shortcuts and more effort. "That is why having a good memory was so important for us. It helped me in the Railways job." grandpa said.

I wanted to know how it was living in the hostel especially after getting married. Friends would surely keep teasing. "I stayed with my relatives before marriage. My father-in-law took care of my education once the marriage was fixed and so I moved into the hostel for better facilities." Looking at my expression, he added. "Hostels were neat and well maintained. They had good standards and students were taken care of by the staff." 

So what about the food in the hostel? I wanted to know if hostel food was tastier back then or is it a rule that no hostel is supposed to feed tasty and healthier food to it students. What do you think the answer was..
“It wasn’t great, but it was definitely good; better than what they serve today. Of course the warden, cook etc cheated and saved money by buying vegetable and supplies from their standard dealers. But compared to the corruption today that wasn’t much and they still treated us very well.” Grandpa cleared my doubt. Obviously things were in fact better back then. 

I nodded and so grandpa continued to answer my first question. "Of course my friends teased. I think apart from me there was only another guy who was married. They used to hijack my letters and threaten to read those aloud or tear them. I wasn't much bothered. We hardly wrote each other love letters. Those letters were either from her father or my brother."

Did that mean grandma hasn't written much letters to grandpa? "I did write sometimes. But they were not personal. His elder sister assisted me at times or my father attached my note to his which meant he would read it." grandma explained casually reading a magazine. Hardly any privacy! 

Grandpa passed his engineering with merit, as ever. So what next? That is for the coming episode.. Till then.. Be happy, be kind..