‘Beware Of Punjabies’

IIT Bombay was established in 1958. Spread over an area of about 500 Acres of land in Powai, away from the hustle and bustle of the city of Bombay, a picturesque area surrounded by Powai and Vihar lakes, it reminded one about the ‘ Gurukuls’ of Ancient Bharat.

it was second in the chain of five Institutes of higher learning to be established in the field of engineering and technology, to meet the growing demands of engineers and technocrats, to back up the industrial growth of India. For making India self reliant and have a sound economy, many heavy engineering industrial units like Steel Plants, The heavy Engineering Corporation, Heavy Electricals and many more medium size industrial units were being set up in the country.

We were a hundred students selected on merit for the first batch of IIT Bombay, from various prestigious universities of various States of India.

In 1958 when the Institute was established, its main building and students hostels were under construction at Powai. The Institute had hired a huge building at Worli Naka in Bombay to give residential accommodation to the students who had joined the Institute from other States outside Bombay. The building served as a Hostel, and a number of students had to be accomodated in each of its big rooms.

Our hostel warden, Dr S (name with held), a professor in the Institute was a strict disciplinarian. He strongly believed in National Integration. He allotted students from different States in each room.

In my room there were six students, one each from Delhi, Rajasthan, Nagaland, Karnataka and two from Uttar Pradesh. I was from Delhi, a Punjabi, a migrated refugee from West Punjab, whose parents had settled in Delhi after Partition.

We were all young and energetic. We introduced ourselves with one an other and soon developed a close bond of friendship amongst us.

We used to discuss every matter under the sun including our difficulties in our curriculum. But my friend N ( name with held ) from Karnataka always kept a distance from me due to reasons unknown to me. I tried to reach out to him many times but he would never respond, He was very easy going with others, but always kept his reservations towards me. I however was very cordial with him throughout. Months passed. I too, in view of his negative response, developed a resigned attitude towards him.

One midnight during the third month of our stay together, N came to my bed. All others had gone to sleep. Only N and I were awake completing our home work. He grasped my hands in his and in an emotional tone requested me to forgive him for his rude behavior towards me over the last few months, in spite of my best efforts to be friendly with him.

I embraced him and consoled him. When the situation cooled down, I asked him point blank as to what prompted him to show such animosity towards me all these days. With a deep sense of regret he confided that he had never travelled outside Mangalore alone all those years. When he received the letter of his selection in IIT Bombay he was thrilled, but was very apprehensive about his traveling alone and meet strangers in the new environment in Bombay. Therefore while boarding the train from Mangalore to Bombay, his uncle, as a precautionary measure, had whispered in his ears “Beware of Punjabies”. Hearing this I had a hearty laugh. There developed a close bond of friendship between us thereafter.

Punjabies are known to be very strong, aggressive and hard working. They know how to surmount their difficulties. It is evident from the fact that during the Partition of the country, after having been driven out from their palatial homes, empty handed, living in numerous Relief Camps, facing the worst circumstances, they could establish themselves in the main stream of the country in a couple of years.

Punjabies are also very happy, fun loving, welcoming, cool headed and proud people. They are known to be very hospitable, warm and lively. ‘ Masti’ is an important Punjabi term. They are highly spirited and ‘loud’ people.

But they have a very special trait due to which they are highly misunderstood. They always speak out their mind without mincing their words to the point it might hurt one and it may be conceived as a rude behavior.

I think this was the trait which prompted N’s uncle to warn him about Punjabies.

As I said earlier, Punjabies are very ‘loud’ and ‘Mast’ people and are always the spirit of the party.

In our second year we had moved to hostel in Powai. A few days before the terminal exams every body was always burning the midnight lamp. As the midnights approached, some one will come out in the gallery from his room and start shouting WooHoo, WooHoo, at the top of his voice to break the monotony. There was immediate response, with all the students coming out in the verandas of the various wings of the multi-storeyed hostel building, responding with equally heavy shouts. The period of this howling and screaming will last for about five minutes. After having rejuvenating themselves, every body would go back to their study desks.

And the student who initiated this halla gulla would was always a Punjabi!