I left Jaipur after 4 years of MREC in July 1996 to go work for GKN Invel Transmissions in Faridabad (Plot 270 , Sector 24) as a GET (Graduate Engineer Trainee). I did go back a few (4?) times later for various academic purposes. On this my most recent visit to collect my marks transcripts, I was waiting outside the Railway Station for a bus to take me to the main gate of my former college from where I would walk to the guest house in my college campus.
I waited a long time to catch a once frequent "saath number" [No:7 bus] but failing to do so and seeing "Malaviya Nagar" written on the Electronic Signboard in the front asked a "cheh number" [No:6 bus] "MREC jayega?" to which I got the reply "Nahi Jayega". Now I knew that a 6 No: goes past the front gates of our college. Then why did I ask this question ? I guess it must because of 2 reasons.
1. I was not sure of my memories being reliable
2. or even if they were relevant to the present day.
Fortunately there was a IT faculty - S.K.Jain - in the bus who stopped the driver and said "andhaar aayiea. aap puranee student hain kya?" asked me to get in. He then told me "MNIT poochnaa padega, aaj kal koi MREC nahi jaanthaa". It was then that I realised the full impact of Union Government policy on not just the memories of generations but on history itself. He was referring to the renaming of the college from MREC to MNIT following some brain dead Union politician or bureaucrat's decision to rename all "Regional Engineering Colleges" to "National Institutes of Technology".
Now back in the day, there were 2 buses that went past my college gates. The more frequent and convenient one was the 7 number as it would go past the boy's hostels as well. The less frequent 6 number would not go past the boy's hostels and the walk from the main gates to the hostels was a long one. The girls could take either bus as their hostel was more easily reached from the main gate. So almost all hostelites were frequent users of the 7 number which I never got to see on this trip. Jaipur has changed a lot from the barely busy and slow moving city to something of an emerging metro. The increased number of vehicles and new flyovers along with the huge modern buildings came as shock for me. I remembered it as an Indian version of my childhood in Maiduguri - semi desert quiet town with just enough activity to justify being the capital of a large state.
