Thursday, April 16, 2009

Kanpur Coaching Days

Within a radius of one kilometer, Kakadeo is the hub of the coaching mandi for JEE, MBA, Medical, etc having at least 20-30 coaching institutes. The classes are run by individuals teaching a single subject with a completely one-man show. Few people object to the name 'mandi' but it's like a fish market only. Coaching Mandi is the perfect name for it because the teachers are earning the butter not bread for them. When you go for admissions, people try to admit you to their institute with false advertisements and lucrative trial offers. It's altogether a mandi in which every teacher just wants students' admission, not in JEE, but in their institute. It was an urban legend that girls were used to seduce boys for admission in a few coaching centers. I and my friends tried in vain to find such lethal hunting beauties. My encounter with coaching mandi begins with JEE preparation.

Nalanda Hotel, Pamela Restaurant, Agra sweet house were my favorite places there. For others, love chaat of Hanuman chaat near Agarwal's (chemistry coaching) & search friends shop for cards. It was fun for coaching students to sit on the bike and have malai wali chai in winter after coaching classes. But to stalk beautiful girls with few appreciating words was favorite time pass of each boy. Now in Kakadev CCD's coffee, mandal ke momos or rock'n'roll 's patties are more popular. The lover point from JK temple has now changed to Rave Kakadeo. Time changes everything and makes you feel nostalgic about the past.

With my friends, I was engaged in various gossip ranging from academic degrees of coaching teachers to the ill-treatment of regular batch students by teachers. Fiercely debated discussion about the history of the expulsion of Ajay sir from IITK, the cheating scandal of Vishnoi sir at ITBHU, and the bank balance of Pankaj sir. I was in the league of those who wrath on Pankaj sir for giving no credit to Nirmal sir despite his sincere efforts. One of my best friends was dead sure that Pamela's restaurant was named after Pamela Anderson (most decent photo) ( why my friend likes her is self-explanatory). I always pray that 'Barb Wire' or 'Baywatch' star one day makes her presence in this part of the world for sightseeing.

Scenario Inside Classroom:

Getting Inside and capturing seats in the coaching centers was like a mission impossible. The toughest arena of the Kakadev region was chemistry classes by Pankaj Agrawal. There was always a small queue of 600 students arranged before class from the stairs to a small room on the first floor. We may have to wait for about 20 minutes before we enter the class. There was literally no place to stand & people all pushing over you from all sides. People at the back would push the whole line forward and people in front would push it backwards. The whole line starts oscillating in simple harmonic motion. If by the great grace of god, you are captured in the middle, then pray hard that you remain OK to attend the class. Even one of the most intense physical exercises would not give better health than the exercise you get in this short span of 20 minutes. If not blood then the sweat on clothes was enough signature of our struggle in the class. The 'staff' control rather tries to control the crowd with the additional responsibility of checking the I-card & checking unauthorized intruders.

Now the grand entry begins, a much enthusiastic crowd of film premier would be ashamed of the rush. The young Janta runs like hell, jumping over and under the railings, not caring for their life. Such scenes are rare to watch when students want to sit in front seats just to attend class. Somehow each time we crawl into the classes. Then, the saga of reserving seats for friends begins which can take a bloody end between young guns. The most difficult job for boys was to get to the next bench of the girl's row. Great battles have been fought for such issues between student gangs. It's no exaggeration but beauty Sensex declines gradually from the 12th batch to the regular batch and least in the ranker batch. It was amazing for us to stand on the edge of the desk and lean at angles extending up to 10 degrees for synchronizing his facial expression with his voice! What amazing balance we used to have to breathe and study in the crowded coaching rooms. The assignment sheets were full of questions that were distributed and mostly put in our register as a symbol of archaeological preservation. I have seen that even the toughest question of the sheet was done by some ingenious bastard. You get to know about amazing alien minds that few humans in your class only, possess. The thorough discussion with different styles by each teacher will be discussed in the coming post.

Till 2003, the classroom was non-AC. It was very hard to listen and involve in class after 2 hours. Then after the shout of 'bas bas' ,the important questions for JEE began to be discussed by teachers in all coaching centers at last moments. And, finally, the class was over after 3 hours. It was like more people running to the gate someway as they had entered, enthusiastically. They run as if they had been tortured in prisons for centuries...
I retreat slowly and still remember me gazing image of Celina Jaitley on Janasheen poster at Devaki Theater.....Uff!!! Nostalgia revisited and more will be coming... For information of readers, On Orkut, you could even find fans of Shuklain, the lady who manages the vehicle stand of Pankaj sir.
PS: Thanks to Orkut and blogs for a few minor data. Any good photos of the coaching mandi, please send me ASAP.

33 comments:

  1. Good Job..remind me of my tough days of coaching.
    Akash ece06

    ReplyDelete
  2. nice one bhaiya... reminds me of concentration cell of pankaj sir n many adventures of kakadeo...
    -love

    ReplyDelete
  3. That was one nostalgic post mixed with enough humor but apart from the second part i.e. scenario inside the classroom, I couldn't get other things like the shops you mentioned because after coming out of the prison cells I used to be in a hurry to go to home and take rest. Also because I had no friends there, I couldn't just hang out. :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Akash Sir, Love & Jahanpanah.
    They were toughest days of my life too. The nostalgia feeling comes back in memory again and again. Thanks for liking the post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. bhaiya!
    this reminds me those hectic days of pankaj classroon and those HOT chicks!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Currently I m working as chemistry faculty and I swear I m teaching too copy what I learn from Pankaj sir

      Delete
  6. @krishna mohan, bhai those days we were different.And the hot chicks were like cherry on the cake.More still to come in this genre..

    ReplyDelete
  7. those days were super yaar.....it was just great to be there in coachings....but i dont think chicks were hot......

    ReplyDelete
  8. @jadoo. yaa the days were super. for your opinion, i can only say-- to each his own choice :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like a girl Anjali gaur very much in trio's classes .she was very pretty I followed her with love but never expressed my love.

      Delete
  9. hye readin ur arti brings down d pressure n anxietylevel im havin
    im iit-jee 2010aspirant n d coaching mandi at times jus roasts my hed . wen pankaj sir says specially "jee ki tayyari karne wale bacche " my hed starts painin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Divya where r u now? Did that helps you .it's help me a lot.i will respect Pankaj sir and others my whole life

      Delete
  10. Pressure to succeed is so much that it puts aspitant under lot of tension. And Pankaj sir.. he is pushing us for more and more study. It sounds very pleasent that you feel pleasent after reading this article. Divya, Best of luck for IITJEE 2010 and other eng. examination.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Established in 1997, St. Gregorious Edu-Guidance is a leading education consultancy services providing exemplary service to students all over India. We deal in Admissions to all major professional courses in Premier Institutes across India. We are your one step solution for all career related needs, it may be MD, MBBS BE, BTech (ALL BRANCHES), , MDS, BDS, BPharm, BArch, MBA, MTech, MS, , PhD or any other courses. We provide personalized career solutions on an individual basis keeping in mind the aspirations of our client as well as the affordability factor.
    FOR ALL CAREER RELATED NEEDS CONTACT US :
    St. Gregorious Edu-Guidance,
    #2, 2nd Floor,
    J J Complex, Above Chemmannur Jewellers,
    Marthahalli - P O,
    Bangalore - 560037
    Karnataka
    e-mail :jojishpaily@gmail.com
    Contact: +91 9448516637
    +91 9886089896, +91 9449009983
    080-32416570, 41719562

    ReplyDelete
  12. Feeling nostalgia about coaching days in mid 90's. That time was dominated by Juneja, Verma, Desai, Das sir. Where are these people? Good to see this blog and knowing about current trends. Seems like things are changed a lot and it is not easy to study in such conditions.

    ReplyDelete
  13. @ANON,the description here is pretty old now (4-6 year). Times have changed and so are the faces of people...

    ReplyDelete
  14. really nice job
    thnx for reminding the sweet old days

    ReplyDelete
  15. The quality of your writing is very impressive, especially at your young age. Keep it up!

    I would like to know the following:

    Isn't Anurag Vishnoi from IIT Kanpur?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank You VENKY for the appreciation. I had written this long back ago since then there is a lot of depreciation in my writing skills.

      Delete
  16. Thank You VENKY for the appreciation. I had written this long back ago since then there is a lot of depreciation in my writing skills.

    No, Anurag Vishnoi is ITBHU first year kicked out student as per mine knowledge. I don't know from where he has done his graduation.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I think you should be more responsible in your replies. Anurag sir is a graduate from IIT Kanpur. To your knowledge he graduated in 1990 with a 4th rank in his class and scholarships from 3 different universities in US. He joined University of Virginia and did his MS there. I know him and his family personally.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Anonymous, Sorry I am wrong. Thanks for correcting me.
      Ashish Vishnoi is ITBHU first year kicked out student ; Anurag Sir is well respected graduate from IITK and MS from US university.

      Delete
  18. Harroon sir ki kal death ho gayi.

    ReplyDelete
  19. how can a person study among 1000 students ?!. I am also going to join coachings in kanpur. Will you pls help me out.. M badly confused.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know current situation. That was 10 years ago. Please ask current batch of student for more guidance. Nothing beats self study, attention in lectures and doing assignments on time. That is my piece of advice.

      Delete
  20. i did two years of iit coaching. anish was good. vishnois were good. chemistry i studied at sanjeev rathore's place. nice and funny guy. thik thak padha bhi leta tha banda. genuinally sweet.

    baki mujhe science se nafrat thi. 1 year coaching e khoob man laga kar padhai ki. but 2 year me laga- hatao maan ki aankh. sari classes bunk, paise waste. but kakadeo zaroor ghumta tha. ek ladki k hostel k bahar khada rehta tha. we became gud friends.

    now i m studying english literature at DU, but kakadeo ki bakchodi bhi mast thi.
    anish ka ego to lazwaab. n upar se everything used to be orange in his classes. ashish vishnoi- haan, bhaiya, answer bataiye. anurag was super cool bus tharki sa dikhta tha. ek alok dikshit bhi hai kakadeo. usse bada chutiya teacher chemistry me hoga nhi. but itni advertising karta hai bacche chale aate hain chutiya banke.

    anish ki baatein lectures k beech me jo comic relief deti thin, maza aa jata tha. he was funny, ironic. sabki leta tha and what nt?

    but jisko padhna hota, wo padhta hi hai. ashish, anish etc r of course good teachers, though they r most interested n making money. but if u r good, they will take care of u n keep checking ur progress.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for sharing your story bhai... everyone of us aspirant has a loving memory of that place.

      Delete
  21. This blog post truly resonated with me, as I've been on a quest to find a fulfilling career path that aligns with my passions and skills. The advice and guidance offered here are nothing short of invaluable. The emphasis on self-discovery struck a chord with me Best Career Counselling Services In Kanpur can visit us.

    ReplyDelete
  22. This is nostalgic bro.. I attended the VISHNOI CLASSES 2013 batch and ended up becoming a maths teacher in FIITJEE

    ReplyDelete