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Low Cash to Zero Cash - I grew up

The 25th COEP reunion.  My personal visit to India this winter was in part to appease my better half and agree to go meet up the global alumni from our graduating engineering class of 1991.  Personally to me the meet and greet, which was entertaining to a degree was not as much the high point as the food (always a big draw for the even bigger tire around my waist) and the chance to breathe in the nostalgia that is 'the diesel fumes off the freeway (Mumbai - Bangalore highway)'.  Optionally there is the boat club with a trickle of a river - more sewage than river - to sniff.
Regatta anyone?  Mula nadi - COE Pune Boat Club 


So here are some of my fun memories from the recent gathering - a melange of marathi jevan - good food, old timers who as someone eloquently addressed as being 'once a flower now a cauliflower', and the Gothic stone architecture of the 160 year old buildings.


The welcome was traditional - fit for a royal - with tutari wajan (a brass trumpet like instrument)
and flower girls - to a wholesome Maharashtrian bhojan (including Ukadiche Modak - a steamed dim sum with sweet coconut stuffing, and puranachi poli - another sweet flat bread) followed by some gana pina - karaoke with chai - some of the voices were simply amazing.  I can barely hum a tune for the life of me.
Nashta was a mix of Udipi and Misal Pav

As I walked to the Metallurgy building past the State Bank counter I could not help but reminisce a time when the pockets were low on cash and yet we figured out a way to make it work and get to the finish line.  Today the ATM stood starkly empty of cash - a scribbled note indicating as such - a Modi phenom to demonetize, viewed by some as a way to demonize the grey economy wallas.

From admiring the eminent alumni headstones (like Mokshagundam Visveswarya - knighted by the Brits and awarded Bharat Ratna for his many contributions to engineering and social development)
to the renovated main building and a usable restroom next door the campus has come a long way from being just another school to get a rubber stamp and appearing to foster some true innovation.   The proof of it being the new technology clubs being hosted at COEP to the sustained efforts of eight graduating classes that helped launch a satellite.
Renovated inside of the main building

Metallurgy Department

Main building

It was soon dusk and time to wrap the day long party and we went home with admiration for the new generation of engineers this world might benefit from.  From the COEP.

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