(K)n(o)ick names

These days I am getting frequent mental snapshots of my days in college ( a la Cherans 's "autograph" sans the love stories , which anyway was not there originally too!). I don't know where to begin but after a little thought, I felt just trying to recollect the nicknames of my batch mates would be a good start

Going by alphabetical order would be easier for me as I am sitting with the batch book in hand; I have lost count of how many times I have had this book in hand since finishing, probably I have kept it most safely and used it the most too; a lot of times it has lifted my moods (which go down as frequently as the speed (back) breakers on any Chennai road!)

Starts with Aarti Mani, who was called Miss KMC (it wasn’t a nickname exactly as it was the title she held as firmly as possible- almost like Nadal and French open. Beside she was called maami, perhaps, other than being part of the Mafia gang (nothing criminal as such). Then comes Abdul, called Style bhai, probably for the way he walked and rode his bike. Next is Ajay , who joined the college with a baby face and was short and rotund enough to be called thakkali- but the guy grew well during the years and now you wont believe , he is almost Maddy like- tall and fit , becoming the most eligible bachelor as on date!( take my word for that as he is my colleague now) . Am excluding the people in between who were too nice and never had a nick name that I knew! Anu Sowmya , true to her nature was called padips and a maami! Of a number of anuradhas in our batch, I remember two being called by their initials D and J – that was the easy. I had a problem in the initial few days with those names- a senior asked me to tell the names of five girls – me answering without hesitation, four anuradhas and two sujathas – only to escape a slap by a whisker!

Then comes the lady who is the first and the only reader of this blog- so I am avoiding giving her name for fear of getting into her bad books and losing my readership( if I can call it that)!!!! Though I was not a first hand witness to his famous dialogue during a batch trip , the first thing that comes to my mind about Arun kamal is his line “simply superb”( a good pick up line?!) Then is a very nice soft spoken guy who was unfairly called beat boy (adiyal), only depicting his false exterior; I am sure that was a misnomer.

CRK bajji as his wife calls him was called with equal frequency as kattai (Chinna / periya – I forgot- chinna kattai , I guess) - He along with gowtham were called as woodies, similar to the famous Australian male doubles tennis players. Chenduran for some reason was called mama (probably because it was the commonest word from his mouth!) I guess his standout moment was when he ran to the hostel at the night to call for help, when his mates were facing their own Armageddon, while watching the movie by the same name in Ega. Then comes the player – how did the name stick to him- because I don’t remember him playing any games! But our name for him was kaelvi kanai (weapon of questions), he would launch a100 questions about anything – so inquisitive was he – and would readily get angry when pointed out; but now he is a really changed and mature man. GD was called bun, probably because she was white like maida and then came RD who is now doing DMRD!

I am leaving out people whom I don’t know much and who m I presume might be offended! Then is the Mr. Nice guy of the batch , only one bold enough to take internal medicine in India( if I don’t say this Vani will be offended) was called athlete / kulfi- athlete for his sudden interest in jogging on a cold morning during a batch trip!. Then comes a guy whom I admire a lot for his confidence and steel, but was fittingly called Kadi mannan –with nothing to dispute. Next is the hyperactive gopi called ditch for his ability for flattery of the highest possible degree and machi for the commonest word out of his mouth

Next are the two main members of the G gang- gowtham – perya kattai, though he was smaller than bajji and guna, called Kozhi – probably because he had a bad laryngitis for sometime? Then was the guy with such cool nonchalance (Vaiz) that he was named casual and it stuck on! Then come the two unlikely close friends – Jona (aptly called kuzhandai for he retained his innocence for a long time) and kathiravan, called by the tamil equivalent for porridge –I don’t want to go behind the explanation. I think I got to end this piece with the tomboy and one of the bubbliest characters , kanchana ( called kanch) ,a member of the M family { comprising reddy , ditch, prabakar, vaiz and her}- called so as three of their members were jumping all over the place initially

Sorry if I have offended anyone, but I will still complete the piece in the second half!!