Our memories of Boat-club.[1973 version.]

[madhav kapdi]

                    Sub. : Our memories of Boat-club. [1973 version.]

                    In the year 1969, when we joined COEP, around 50 years back, Rs.100 / year was our Boat club fees, and that too compulsory, for 4 years at a stretch. It was a big sum then, but none of us repent for having spent such a lavish sum. We made full use of those fees, at least for the first two years, but our interest tapered down 3rd year on-wards, with the submissions & projects, in addition to the trekking around the forts, near Pune. Our loosing Tub-four finals, was also one of the reason, and that apart, only two amongst us, were good swimmers, and for Racing four [Fiber-glass boats] swimming test was compulsory.
 

                    Why i say we is, we the class mates from Elphistone Technical High-school [ETHS] Bombay 1967 SSC batch, namely Ajit Shah [Electrical] Shashank Gandhi [Civil]  Abhay Panvalkar [Mechanical]  Shrikant Modak and also the writer, from Metallurgy. were the members of crew. Mr.Panvalkar was  not from our school, but was my room partner in hostel, along with Modak, and also my college mate, from Elphistone college Mumbai.

                    Those days, there was a spirit like Bombay crew & Pune crew, but the rest of the lot was not organized enough, like us. But this unity was pronounced, in the hostel messes, being operated by the students. A.F & D clubs, were dominated by the Mumbaikars, while C club was for the elite Vegetarians, and E & H clubs, were the mixture of rest. Non-veg. was available in E & H clubs on Sundays, but in case of A & F clubs, Non-veg. was available thrice a week, while the D club, was dominated by the Gujratis, was strict Veg.. Some members like the writer, used to share our back, while dining with E club, for the Non-Veg. dishes, or the gravy at least. Gujjus used to protest, but that was symbolic one, since many of them were our associates, for the Non-veg. party's elsewhere.

                    We [Mumbaikars] were the first one to pass the punt test, and graduated for Tub-four, and our competition was with Pune crew, headed by Mr.Dikshit.. We were very aggressive during initial period, but during holidays, we went to our home, when Punekars practiced very hard, and beat us in  finals.  They sprinted well, but till last 30 seconds [Just before sprinting] we were leading by two boat lengths, but our penchant for Water feathering, instead of Air-feathering, was found to be our Waterloo. Water feathering, reduces the frequency of strokes, hence the speed also.
 

                    Such competitions are very essential, for developing the team spirits, and the leadership qualities, which becomes very useful, later in our lives. Our rowing positions, was also based on our weights. None of us, was above 50 kgs then, except late Mr. Modak, hence he was made a Cox, for the balancing of strokes. This balancing, was advised by Ajit Sukhatankar [Electrical] our senior, who subsequently became Boat-club General secretary.
 

                    The timing of Boat club was from 5.00 to 7.00 PM, or the Sun-set, whichever earlier, and the one amongst us, preferably we the Metallurgist, used to run towards club, to be in the Que. There were no specific boundaries, for Boat-club operations, but towards the left, the boundary was up to the point, one can see the Boat club, and for the right, up to the Sangam, and not beyond. This is just to provide the help in case of emergency. However, some students ventured beyond, and paid the price.
 

                    Some of the Adventurist took left, went extreme up to the bridge, and landed on Bombay engineering group [BEG] premises to explore, were caught by the Army, and given a Fruit salad treatment. FST is, after light dinner, the candidates are served with sumptuous salad, essentially made of Bananas [being cheap & sweet] and then made to sleep, rather remain awake, in a cow-shed. The blood then becomes sweeter and the mosquito's, feast on you.

 

                    Some seniors, went towards the Sangam, and then took left turn, and headed towards Bund-garden for Bhel-puri. Believe me, Bund garden is pity far off from the Boat-club. They not only reached the Bund, but parked the Tub-four towards the Aga-Khan palace, and crossed over for Bhael-puri.  They were spotted by the staff members, and then ran towards the boat. To their dismay, the boat was not properly anchored, and was drifting away from the banks. They jumped in to the water, and saved the situation. Understand, they were then de-barred from the Boat-club, for this adventure. Believe me, such people, with out of box thinking, only prosper in their lives.
 

                    There was nothing towards the left, to explore, and ones our crew, took the left turn from Sangam, and headed towards Bund-garden, and thoroughly enjoyed that outing.  When you resort to water feathering, in busy waterways, you do not encounter fishes in your operations, but when you enter the silent zones, that is the domain of Fishes, since they come to the surface for Oxygen. When out Oars hits them, they panic, and flew in to the Air, and many landed in to our boat as well.

 

                    Myself & Panvalkar, threw them back, but Gandhi & Shah being Jains, avoided. They defence was, we will give those to Lakshman, our Boat club supervisor, and he will be very happy to receive our gift, while the rest concluded that, the presence of fish in the Boat, will be a evidence that, we have ventured in to a prohibited territory, and invite a punishment. Both then mustered the courage, and threw the fishs, in to the water. 

 

                    At one point of time, i was thinking that, i will pocket the one, and give it to our cook from hostel mess, but i was not sure, as to how the Dead fish / Semi-dead fish will react in my pocket. I was also worried that, so called Semi-dead fish, will come to the life, with body touch [Body-touch is a reality, and not a joke, and that has been my experience.] and make my life miserable. I was more scared since, i was not a swimmer at all. Incidentally, i have been bestowed with the name of my Grand-father, who died by drowning, scared me the most, fearing that, the history will repeat, and then one of our crew member Ajit Shah, will have to give the explanation, to my parents.

                    I was staying at Worli sea face in Bombay in a joint family, and our family has been watching, number of dead bodies drifting the shore, and the writer used to intimate the Police, and the fisher-men nearby, and organize the retrieval of bodies. So when i decided to join the Boating, my family members were panicked, and called Ajit Shah, staying at Worli-Naka close-by, and was asked to follow me, while boating. Thank God, no-body asked him, if he is a swimmer. As the lights were fading, we speeded towards the club. Fortunately, no-body noticed our Adventure.

                    There is also one spot near Sangam, which i want to bring to the notice off. Ones Mr.Mokashi [Electrical] our senior, was our Cox, and we headed little deeper towards the secluded area near Sudarshan chemical. There also we saw the dance of fishes, flying in to the Air.  At one point of time, to our surprise, the our boat stopped making any movement.

                    To ensure that, our Oar is not entangled with something, beneath the surface, we took Oars out of water, but then found that, our Boat was circling with the position of Cox [where Mokashi was sitting] as a center. Mokashi realized the problem, and put is hand, deep in to the water, and pushed the boat up, and it started moving. Subsequently we were informed that, during the Panshet dam burst, some steel girders, came with flood  stream, and remained embedded in the river bed below .

                    But the biggest eye-sore now at the Boat-club is the bridge, which has been constructed right opposite our Boat-club. Many times, we used to spend our time, sitting at Boat-club, and wonder, as to what is there on the other side of the bank. Ones while traveling towards Ahamadnagar, i happened to cross the bridge, and then came to know that, it is a barren land, but it is good that, the bridge has been constructed, reducing the traffic jam in the city.

 

                    Our Bombay crew, was very active in Boat club other activities as well, and we also participated in the Night shows, being conducted on Boat-club day. I recall, we were the participants of Swastik & Rocket formations. Lights of the club are switched off, as the flotilla approach the club, and we only recall having heard Wow........ from the crowd at Boat-club. Very next day, there used to be a Black & White snap of our formations, in Sakal news paper, owned by late Parulekar then.

 

                    Ones a character actor Mr.David [Mr.Taklu from Waris, with Jitendra & Hema-malini as lead actors, and Mehmood as a comedian.] was our Chief guest, and he was escorted from the Sudarshan chemical Jetty, to club. While delivering the speech he said " I felt like a Roman emperor, being driven through the river Nile." and there was a loud applause, from the alumnies, in the audience. Honestly, the sentence was a Greek for me then. I have heard of Roman Holiday, but not the river Nile flowing through Egypt then. Today, when i go through the memory lane, i re-collect the quality of his speech.

 

                    But my piece about Boat-club, can not end, without the reference of Lakshman, a supervisor, with squint eyes, looking after our boat club. The only word, he used to shout in club premises was " Yafeee........ [First year students] and those words, used to instill the fear, in the minds of seniors as well. In our college gathering, Raju Kanade [Metallurgy] our senior, mimicked for Lakshaman, and drew a thunderous applause, and a ones more also.  Those claps, were not only for the quality of his mimic, but also for his dress, rather a uniform meant for Boat club. He was wearing a half pant, with a full pant beneath.
 

                    01] Gandhi Shashank [Civil] Cell No. 9890288836.

                    02] Kapdi Madhav [Metallurgy.] Cell No. 9860081951.

                    03] Modak Shreekant.[Metallurgy.] Cell No.8806428170.

                    04] Panvalkar Abhay [Mechanical] Cell No. 9884236646.

                    05] Shah Ajit [Electrical.] Cell No. 9869005967.

 

                    My schooling was from Marathi medium school, and my English was poor then, but myself and late Mr.Shrilant Modak, were frequent visitors to Alka theater, for English matinee shows. The balcony was Rs.1.00 then and the Dress-circle was 75 NPs. My English improved, because of those matinee shows, and i give full credit, to late Shreekant Modak for the same.

 

 

 

05]



 

03]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sharad Palkar]

Great,

Even after wathing hundreds of English movies , neither my english improoved or I able to understand the movie

Palkar  

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ETHS-67-United." group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to eths-67-unite...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to eths-67...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.