Continuing my last article,

The mysterious author has described that beside the office at that time, there was a staff washroom, where it had somewhat better fittings, and the main part mentioned here is that the running water came here only once a semester.

Can you imagine the sarcasm, the water scarcity, the real struggles of that era? I mean, like if staff members itself were getting the waters once a semester, like so much scarcity, then just imagine the situations of the normal students.

The Scent of the Canteen

Next junction, the author describes that the smell itself would poke you to guess where the next stop is. The UVCE Canteen. Yeah at that time, it is said to have been very famous.

Now we can see the Nandini Canteen at present, but then Canteen was much and more than of today. Author mentions specifically that the Canteen was the only place where both teachers and the students were treated alike.

First dish was the “Bisi ili Baath”, yes you read that right. Bisi “ili” Baath. To give the context, “ili” refers to mouse or a rat, hence Bisi ili Baath. I guess there were many rats in the canteen running there, might have been some incidents where rats might have shown up in Baath 🤣. Ohh my goodness, can you imagine it.

And that time I guess, there was no so called hygiene and all. Students used to enjoy, hold talks, teachers used to combine, gossip about how to grill the students even further.

This was about the famous Bisi ili Baath.

Second one might shock you further, “The Masala Cockroach Dosa”, yes it was so much delicious that it's name yet prevails. Similar to the rats in the Bisi ili Baath, there were cockroaches gang in the Dosa section, yeah surely it's disgusting to read, but yeah it was the reality, the situation of that time.

Of course UVCE was, is and will be a great institution, but it also has it's own ups and downs. Atleast in the Canteen sector.

Coming back to 2025/26

We have a Nandini Canteen in the RG, it remains to be the centre of refreshment, chit chat, pressure stabilizer. Still the spirit of oneness prevails, the mood of rejoicing by fulfilling our stomachs.

There is a famous line also write, “The path way to one's happiness enters from his/her own stomach”. Whenever we are hungry, we are intolerant, the moment we eat something may be not delicious but with friends altogether, then it becomes more satisfying than anything.

The Canteen culture has prevailed not just from few years but since many decades. The mysterious author dates back to 50 years, but the Canteen existed even before. Hence this culture is much older than we might guess.

It's a natural thing to protect this culture and I'm sure we'll do it. Yeah now there is “Bisi Ili Baath” or the “Masala Cockroach Dosa” but these are now replaced by Samosas, Bread Pakoda, in the Nandini Canteen.