Scaling
Heights
The desire
for freedom resides in every human heart. And that desire cannot be contained
forever by prison walls, or martial laws, or secret police. Over time,
and across the Earth, freedom will find a way. – George W. Bush
The dumb president made a point there. And we PCTians (assuming PCT students are called that) proved that beyond doubt.
I am confident, no other college would have a wall as famed as ours. No other college wall would have as many stories to tell as ours. Had we drawn some hieroglyphics, our PCT wall would have humbled the Pyramids, as far as narrating human sub-culture is concerned. Truly, the PCT wall has a history which puts the Great Wall of China, or Berlin Wall to shame.
The atrocities we were subjected to, would have made 3rd degree torture look like luxury. In the first year especially, we were treated like convicts of heinous crimes… Of all the torments we were subjected to, here we are talking about the wall.
According to the official rule book of PCT, the author, editor, critic and the only reader of which was our dear Teku, we had to be in the college from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Independent of the lecture timings. We were cordoned off from the campus after nine with steel gates and a very rule abiding watchman. The same watchman kept us in till the clock hit 5. At times he relented if you slipped in a packet of cigarettes. To avid this loop-hole Teku would change the watchman every month. At times, every week. Sometimes he would resort to thrashing the watchman who let students slip in or out against his sacred commandments.
So of course, the watchman had reasons for not allowing us to come in the college after 9, or leave before 5. What watchman, or what human, would want to lose his job. And worse, who would want to be thrashed by a flabby, balding oldie who looked nine months pregnant. So, we would end up getting stuck outside, or inside against our will. There was this one time, when the timing thing got really stupid. One fine day, out of the blue the college announced in late afternoon, that tomorrow would be the last day to pay fees. The people at my college had a flair for testing the resourcefulness of students. I mean, fishing out 14000 or 50000 bucks in one night, that's like being asked to pay a ransom, without getting kidnapped. So some did manage to get hold of some cash, mostly the "free" seat ones. (The engineering administration does have a sense of humour, doesn't it. Free seat actually costs about Rs. 14000) But the less fortunate ones, had to get a DD in the morning, and otherwise law abiding students couldn't adhere to the 9 o'clock dead line. And the college authorities – the watchman, refused to let students in. We went and talked to the principal. He called up the watchman, held on to the phone for a few seconds, hung up, and very helplessly told us, "Sorry, the watchman says he won't let you in." Talk about an inverted organizational hierarchy. So there were students outside, desperate to pay the money, and the college not letting them in. Of course, the students would have ended up paying up a 1000 rupees fine if they couldn't pay the fees on that day. So the college wasn't entirely stupid.
I read somewhere, when you reach a wall; it makes sense not to bang your head against it. As they say, necessity breeds endurance; desperation breeds solutions. And the solution was being passed on in my college from one generation to the next. It was simple, obvious, elegant depending on the individual and impossible for some. The solution was to scale the compound wall…. 11-14 feet high…. And come in, or go out, as you may please.
There were several ways in which this feat could be achieved. One elegant and athletic way was to use a pole next to the wall, a pole supporting a shade over the furnaces used by some branches, with the help of which you could literally walk up the wall. For the ones who couldn't manage that, you could get a buddy to push you up the wall. Of course that required a lot of groping on the ass, so a not so straight guy might have got some moments of consensual delight. The method might have been inelegant, but as effective as the walk up the wall technique. But both the method had their downfalls, literally. The pole walk, which some managed to do with orangutan-ease, was surprisingly difficult. Many a naïve student, with over-confidence on his muscles, and a zeal to show off to his mates has tried it and has been humbled by gravity, as he was brought down to his knees, or flat on his back should I say. And the push-on-the-tush technique, well that is slow and cumbersome. So, there could be chances that the watchman, on his regular prowl around the campus to catch students sneaking out, or Shinde, the private-eye hired by Teku, whose sole job profile was to thwart students' ingenious ways to escape, or Teku's driver who doubled up as watchman, could catch you while in the act of getting out. And there could be times, when the guying pushing from down could make a clean getaway. Leaving the other person helplessly stranded, and hanging, from the wall. Of course, as the watchman closed up on the hanging prey, if that person is smart enough, he could still get away, by using the watchman as a foothold to jump up the wall.
There was this one time when there was a mass exodus of students in 1st year when lectures had got over earlier and the watchman would not let us go. The modus operandi was slightly different. We found a stray barrel in the campus. (We weren't surprised, we found a lot of such stray things on the campus. Our college itself seemed to be stray at times.) We used that barrel to step on to get out of the wall. That was the only time I remember girls jumping over the wall.
There have been some smarter ways to get out mind you. Other then using barrels, people, poles, or professor's bikes for help t get out. This patent pending way was an idea of our own brilliant group. Where one jumped out, we threw our bags to the other side, and the rest all walked out saying that we are going out to get photocopies. Bravo Bravo… what a technique.
Getting out is one thing. But being forced to jump a wall and come inside another. I mean, why would a college not let students IN?? Crazy isn't it. That too when getting to the college itself was fraught with adventure and unpredictable factors, like ST buses, a accident prone highway, etc. But that's how it was. Even today when some of the unfortunate ones have the privilege of passing the highway regularly in the morning hours, they see that horde of helpless students, swarming at the gate, pleading to the watchman, to let them go in. It drives us crazy to know that we were once upon a time at the mercy of a watchman. Who almost seemed drunk with the power vested in him by teku. So drunk that he wouldn't take orders from the principal of the college where he was the watchman. Are we glad to be out of that hell. Are we glad that we don't have to jump the PCT wall again.
The dumb president made a point there. And we PCTians (assuming PCT students are called that) proved that beyond doubt.
I am confident, no other college would have a wall as famed as ours. No other college wall would have as many stories to tell as ours. Had we drawn some hieroglyphics, our PCT wall would have humbled the Pyramids, as far as narrating human sub-culture is concerned. Truly, the PCT wall has a history which puts the Great Wall of China, or Berlin Wall to shame.
The atrocities we were subjected to, would have made 3rd degree torture look like luxury. In the first year especially, we were treated like convicts of heinous crimes… Of all the torments we were subjected to, here we are talking about the wall.
According to the official rule book of PCT, the author, editor, critic and the only reader of which was our dear Teku, we had to be in the college from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Independent of the lecture timings. We were cordoned off from the campus after nine with steel gates and a very rule abiding watchman. The same watchman kept us in till the clock hit 5. At times he relented if you slipped in a packet of cigarettes. To avid this loop-hole Teku would change the watchman every month. At times, every week. Sometimes he would resort to thrashing the watchman who let students slip in or out against his sacred commandments.
So of course, the watchman had reasons for not allowing us to come in the college after 9, or leave before 5. What watchman, or what human, would want to lose his job. And worse, who would want to be thrashed by a flabby, balding oldie who looked nine months pregnant. So, we would end up getting stuck outside, or inside against our will. There was this one time, when the timing thing got really stupid. One fine day, out of the blue the college announced in late afternoon, that tomorrow would be the last day to pay fees. The people at my college had a flair for testing the resourcefulness of students. I mean, fishing out 14000 or 50000 bucks in one night, that's like being asked to pay a ransom, without getting kidnapped. So some did manage to get hold of some cash, mostly the "free" seat ones. (The engineering administration does have a sense of humour, doesn't it. Free seat actually costs about Rs. 14000) But the less fortunate ones, had to get a DD in the morning, and otherwise law abiding students couldn't adhere to the 9 o'clock dead line. And the college authorities – the watchman, refused to let students in. We went and talked to the principal. He called up the watchman, held on to the phone for a few seconds, hung up, and very helplessly told us, "Sorry, the watchman says he won't let you in." Talk about an inverted organizational hierarchy. So there were students outside, desperate to pay the money, and the college not letting them in. Of course, the students would have ended up paying up a 1000 rupees fine if they couldn't pay the fees on that day. So the college wasn't entirely stupid.
I read somewhere, when you reach a wall; it makes sense not to bang your head against it. As they say, necessity breeds endurance; desperation breeds solutions. And the solution was being passed on in my college from one generation to the next. It was simple, obvious, elegant depending on the individual and impossible for some. The solution was to scale the compound wall…. 11-14 feet high…. And come in, or go out, as you may please.
There were several ways in which this feat could be achieved. One elegant and athletic way was to use a pole next to the wall, a pole supporting a shade over the furnaces used by some branches, with the help of which you could literally walk up the wall. For the ones who couldn't manage that, you could get a buddy to push you up the wall. Of course that required a lot of groping on the ass, so a not so straight guy might have got some moments of consensual delight. The method might have been inelegant, but as effective as the walk up the wall technique. But both the method had their downfalls, literally. The pole walk, which some managed to do with orangutan-ease, was surprisingly difficult. Many a naïve student, with over-confidence on his muscles, and a zeal to show off to his mates has tried it and has been humbled by gravity, as he was brought down to his knees, or flat on his back should I say. And the push-on-the-tush technique, well that is slow and cumbersome. So, there could be chances that the watchman, on his regular prowl around the campus to catch students sneaking out, or Shinde, the private-eye hired by Teku, whose sole job profile was to thwart students' ingenious ways to escape, or Teku's driver who doubled up as watchman, could catch you while in the act of getting out. And there could be times, when the guying pushing from down could make a clean getaway. Leaving the other person helplessly stranded, and hanging, from the wall. Of course, as the watchman closed up on the hanging prey, if that person is smart enough, he could still get away, by using the watchman as a foothold to jump up the wall.
There was this one time when there was a mass exodus of students in 1st year when lectures had got over earlier and the watchman would not let us go. The modus operandi was slightly different. We found a stray barrel in the campus. (We weren't surprised, we found a lot of such stray things on the campus. Our college itself seemed to be stray at times.) We used that barrel to step on to get out of the wall. That was the only time I remember girls jumping over the wall.
There have been some smarter ways to get out mind you. Other then using barrels, people, poles, or professor's bikes for help t get out. This patent pending way was an idea of our own brilliant group. Where one jumped out, we threw our bags to the other side, and the rest all walked out saying that we are going out to get photocopies. Bravo Bravo… what a technique.
Getting out is one thing. But being forced to jump a wall and come inside another. I mean, why would a college not let students IN?? Crazy isn't it. That too when getting to the college itself was fraught with adventure and unpredictable factors, like ST buses, a accident prone highway, etc. But that's how it was. Even today when some of the unfortunate ones have the privilege of passing the highway regularly in the morning hours, they see that horde of helpless students, swarming at the gate, pleading to the watchman, to let them go in. It drives us crazy to know that we were once upon a time at the mercy of a watchman. Who almost seemed drunk with the power vested in him by teku. So drunk that he wouldn't take orders from the principal of the college where he was the watchman. Are we glad to be out of that hell. Are we glad that we don't have to jump the PCT wall again.