Yaadon ke Jharokoon se ...

We were 5 friends in Kanpur, 'paanch' and core of 'triad' co exist inside it. Sanjay Bose, Vivek Vikram Singh, Gaurav Diwedi, Himanshu Chaudhary and me. All of us stood together in 10+2 and coaching years. We form the quintuple at front benches in 1st year and last benches in 2nd year. We roam manly in Coaching mandi but the favourite market was Rahmani market in Kanpur till today.

Internet: I went to Internet surfing for web councilling of AIEEE with Sanjay first time. The most surprising thing was the mails and pop-up of million dollar lottery prize. I was knowing that it is a hoax. But, surprise does not end here. The faces of white Caucasian female on the screen amazed me. The underline heading was 'Make friends with beautiful girls in Kanpur'. I was cleanly taken surprise that "where the hell these girls are, even if they exist in my city ? " . Till today, I have no clue of them.

Crush Story: There was a girl in our physics coaching of Anish Sir. She was beautiful and fair like nothing ever seen by me till now except Namrata Singh of class 10+2. No metaphor can describe her beauty to me. After the end of each class of Anish sir, only 20% junta remain in the class to talk or discuss problems with friends. She used to sit there for 10 minutes just chatting with the friends. In this short span of time, I use to gaze her continuously. Such was her beauty mesmerizes my mind. It was daily routine for 1 year. Then comes IIT JEE prelims examination in march 2004. There were 56 centers in the Kanpur accommodating atleast 500-2000 in each center. And she was sitting in same classroom of examination center. It was like one of the rare probability coming true. Alas she was not selected for the 'mains' round. I noted down her roll number and checked her result before mine. That was the end of the crush story. It was like beautiful dream which refreshes soul and makes memories sweeter. Also, I don't know her name and never attempted to..

More stories about Kanpur: In the praise of Rahmani Market & Review of Baabarr: A violent tale of a don of Kanpur

Thought of the day: Stop being angry with life because it does not give what it cannot give.

All about Kanpur

This is an aspirational information-gathering article. Don't consider it as an inspirational or nostalgic writeup for a land of the leather industry, Kanpur. Kanpur is a big city rich in history. The summed-up details are available on Wikipedia and Kanpur unofficial website .For highly irrational opinions take a joy ride with me.

Tourism: Places of Interest in Kanpur.
For more queries contact: Official blog page of the District Magistrate, Kanpur Nagar.

Hotels and Food:
A lot of hotels are established to cater to thousands of guests yearly. The Landmark Hotel, Kanpur with Mehak Restaurant restaurant serves authentic Chinese and traditional Indian dishes. The names are like this--Angithi Restaurant, Little Chet Restaurant, Chung Fa Restaurant. One person has taken a taste & reviewed nearly all of them. FYI, it's not me. Reviews are at --- My experience with Restaurants in Kanpur.

Cuisine:
Dish name : Kanpur Chapathi.
Processing Technique is explained with photos here.

Scholarly works on Kanpur History: (videshi university se bhaiyaji)
Forgetting the Violence, Remembering the Report: The Paradox of the 1931 Kanpur Riots by Priya Agarwal.

FM radio is now more popular than Vividh Bharati ki prasaaran seva ka kanpur kendra. Times have changed now.

IIT Kanpur:
In my all post, I have not described in detail a heaven on the land of Kanpur, especially for me. That was indeed IIT- Kanpur. It has got a huge campus with a peaceful environment where a feeling of respect & humbleness arises inside the heart. It has sent out many distinct students to the world to spread the name of India.

Official website of IITK.
Again take a look at Kanpur and IITK from a foreign angle: Kanpur Kanpur and IIT.
Excerpt of the talk with Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala about IITK history.
Forgotten chapter of the History of IITK & MIT together.

Cricket:
Kanpur is also famous for the exaggeration of a simple line. Sahara once was in talks for IPL franchise before the recession. Nothing is yet final but people are damn sure than Subrato Roy about IPL Kanpur franchise. And forget to mention a special series of incidents a few years back would be Crime: A take on green park stadium. The incident was the entrance of a dog in one-day matches. It has happened 3 times at least in live in front of me. Pretty Hilarious interruptions of the whole police squad running after one dog. Also, GP is a brown park wicket for Ranji teams and turns into the lush green for international matches. Enjoy the account of Ken Herr about watching a match in Kanpur. You will be amazed, why I always give the point of view of foren baba's about Kanpur? For introspection, I am here na with Kanpur Series !!!

Welcome to Kanpur

Every city has a character, a pulse of its own. Kanpur as a city is infamous for its uneven roads, irregular traffic and heaps of garbage. But its people love the city. They add color and spice to this city. They love to live here, no matter how bizarre their ways! This post is all about searching colors of life in this city in the images through the images taken by a foreign tourist.

Business:

Elgin Mill, Kanpur’s oldest textile mill, J K Cotton Mill, Pulse mills, J K Jute Mills, Kanpur Unnao Leather Development Company (KLC), Ghari detergent & Duncan Fertilizers were all part of the industrial culture of Kanpur. The city may have been robbed of its historic smoking chimneys and requisite infrastructure, threatening the expansion of existing industries, but Kanpur still remains a commercial hub for traders. For more, Why Kanpur is still UNDEVELOPED?

Pollution & Traffic:

There is nothing more for me to say about the Pollution of Kanpur. Kanpur has topped the list as the most polluted city in the state. [Ref]. I will give you a summarized view of traffic and pollution from a blogger view---

Dust never settles down on this road, just like a desert rally. The traffic at Ghanta Ghar, Kidwai Nagar and Tatmill always create a lock jam. Most of times, people are trapped in matrix of trucks formed by their grand entry possibly from all directions with Their revved up engines were kicking up dust plumes. The rush of cyclists, hand driven, cards, loaders, tempos, car, buses and trucks, rickshaws has never been easy to conquer. The visibility can become zero and first impression was the entire stretch was shrouded in thick blanket of fog. The lights couldn't penetrate the cover and you will vigil scampered for the missing road. The bravehearts on their motorcycles negotiated the potholes with such speed and perfection, Ghost Rider with all his divine powers might be ashamed of himself.

Always in the media for all the wrong reasons. Run! Quick! Cover the girls! or Fake Cheque Scam.
Kanpur & its people are magnanimous. They will live on if it means living with problems, problems, problems, and problems. Seriously, Nothing rhymes with Kanpur.

Music, Mango and Samosa

Music:
Indians are exposed to a lot of rural folk, bollywood music, pop albums and bhakti songs. Few of us also ventures into Indian classical and Carnatic music also. The unique amalgam of traditional music and popular cinema sounds, being performed by musicians on stages and arenas, depicting the cultural lifestyle of Indian. I am here giving you links of street music of Indian. You may have heard thousand of western classical, rock, jazz and blues but I insist for giving attention to our own musical heritage: Street Music of India.

Samosa:
Kanpurites has good sense of business sense and one of the example is here.Its a story of branding and marketing Samosa in recent times of Lokshabha election.

"The sweet shop in focus is Satya Sweet House's one-rupee 'samosa' and rightly naming it as 'Nano Samosa'. It is the current hot favourite with the political workers of the various political parties. To ensure the smooth sale of samosas to field workers of political parties the shop has made some special arrangements. The shop has set a target to sell 6,000-7,000 samosas daily. It is supplying 1,000 samosas daily to district Congress party headquarter at Tilak Hall alone, while BJP office is trailing with a consumption 600-700 samosas per day." [As read in India Today]

Mango:
I am not great fan of Mango like Mirza Ghalib but really missing the diverse mango varieties in Hyderabad. I have never eaten Malda and Aamrpali (Bihar region), but now wants to taste these varieties. Before that, rolling again back to the Kanpur memories, a reproduction from local news of Kanpur..

"There is hardly anything tempting about summers but for the succulent mangoes. As the sun beats down mercilessly,the only good thing is arrival of aam in the city. Kanpurites wait till the end of May to dig into their favourite varieties -- Langda, Chausa and Dussehri. Before that, they have to settle for the more readily available Alphonso, Badaam-Safeda, Totapari and Gulab Khaas.

And if mango is the king of fruits then Alphonso is the king of mangoes. Alphonso mangoes are known for their superior quality and their sweet taste. The northern belt, especially UP, is known not only for its varieties of mango but also for the legends associated with it. Legend has it that the Nawabs of Awadh and people in Bihar planted thousands of mango saplings in their area and hence, the maximum number and variety of mangoes are from this region. People of this region have also experimented with methods of hybridisation and grafting to produce new varieties. Another legend associated with this variety of the fruit says that the famous Langda variety of mango was a result of a chance seeding near Benaras." [Times of India]

Kanpur- Pigs, Vikrams & Gutkha.

Once upon a time, Kanpur was called the land of swine and auto-rickshaws, speaking in English: pigs and Vikram auto only. It was a popular idiom among citizens that beware while driving Vikram and the pigs. They can stop, run and take unpredictable turns on the road. And in fighting, you can't win from their masters.

Kanpur is without a doubt one of the most polluted and chaotic cities. Today the world is hit by swine flu, I recall the old days when private pig farms proliferated in the city without any monitoring. Kanpur was the center of bristle trade for the whole of India under colonialism mainly done by Khatiks. After the decline of the bristle trade, the Khatik switched over to public pig rearing which became a menace to the whole of Kanpur.
The brief rides on the “Vikrams” for roaming in the city can invariably be left an outsider tired, irritable, and generally sick. Still, People prefer Vikrams to crammed buses for their mobility and fast service inside the jammed road of Kanpur. But I loved them for their talkative drivers and mithun da-type sidekicks hanging outside autorickshaws. The image down there is of an old autorickshaw which was the master of the road in starting '90s. Pretty fun to ride in them, now they are replaced by better ones. Still, a crazy drive in Vikram having a seat beside the driver is a must part of all Kanpur trips.
Now the number of pigs is significantly reduced by the action of ex-mayor Anil Kumar Sharma. And CNG buses considerably reduces the workload of transportation and outing of old vehicles (15 years old) reducing emission considerably.

One more deserving mention about the specialties of Kanpur is Gutkha. Wikipedia defines Gutkha (also spelled gutka, guttkha, guthka) as a super kick a** version of Skoal tobacco. Spitting paan masala is so common that even your white shirt is saved from blackening due to pollution, a journey on the local bus will surely make it damp with a red mark. Pan Parag, Kamla Pasand, Talab, Rajshree, Natraj, and Wah are the name of the popularized brands here.
While the decision to ban gutkha is well received by and large, it is seen as a big blow to some five-lakh people who are employed in this sector and the revenue loss to the state government is immense. Over fifty different Paan Masala and gutkha industries will not be the only losers, even the itra (perfume) industry of Kannauj fall into this trap. Ninety percent of the perfume here is used by the Paan Masala and Gutkha industries in Kanpur.

I am not uttering a single word about the dying roads having valleys and plateaus on them. On every single Billboard and wall, there is the name of the Member of the parliament of this city Mr. Sriprakash Jaiswal who also happens to be a cabinet minister and that too home minister (state). I wonder if he ever visits his constituency or makes cunning speeches!!

Here only, I saw filth all around and myself experienced this, now I call it a ‘Human Jam’. What a city, what a mess. Kanpur Series goes on....

Truly, Wah Kanpur, Ahh Kanpur!!!..........

Kanpur Electricity Supply

10 years of living in Kanpur has make me adaptable to long power cuts. I had also felt the summers heat without electricity for 3 continuous days with the grace of KESCO 's lethargy for repairing a transformer. Forgetting to mention the regular load off for 4 to 6 hours per day in Kanpur will be sin of hiding the truth. BUT, I give thanks to God due to hyper optimistic nature, that I don't live in Chamanganj or Bekanganj where electricity may not come for 1 week. Also I will not tell faltu story of people replacing transformer oil with water !!!

Power Theft:
Do anyone know about the term Katiya (read: illegal power connection).Check image below for clear depiction and all electrical engineers can apply Kirchoff's law in practical condition.

Situation had come to such a pass that whenever attempts have been made by the powermen to detect ‘katiya’ connections they have been confronted by a hostile reception by the locals. FORGET the line losses through Katiya, Defaulters have found a better way of stealing electricity: Convince someone in KESCO for some amount of monthly private charges and the problem of electricity is solved forever.For more details, see the early year career growth of Akshay Kumar in Tashan movie .

I will not lament over degraded situation of electricity in Kanpur but will simply give you current situation.The long-awaited privatisation of power distribution in the city is now resolved by a private company of Maharastra,Torrent. I hope the removal of from the electric poles will be first priority of private company.What Kanpur will look after that, I hope it will be pretty watchable.

Torrent Power Company has been issued a Letter power of Intent (LoI) by Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation for appointment as Distribution Franchisee for distribution of power in urban areas of Kanpur for a period of 20 years. According to the Memoranda of Understanding (MoU), Kesco will work under an input-based franchisee model system and hand over the distribution of electricity, realisation of bills, maintenance and development of the infrastructure and other related works to Torrent Power for a period of 20 years. The Torrent Power expects full operations to commence by August this year.

Someone has discovered loophole of this distribution by Torrent system pointing towards corruption but then KESCO employees has earned more money through illegal ways than any private company could think of in dreams. Following paragraph is taken for your views----

"Distribution franchisee shall prove to be the best way to control the theft of electricity and to provide quality service and to put an end to political interference but there should be some control and guide lines should be issued by the Central Power Ministry regarding RFP and the conditions to be put in Agreement otherwise the officers who are awarding the contracts will ruin the state utilities for their personal gains and the consumer will be further burdened. The case in which Kanpur has been awarded to Torrent Power on a mere paltry amount of Rs 2.17 per unit for next 20 years against billable rate of Rs. 3.80per unit. It means that we will get only 57% in Kanpur. Therefore we will get the amount equal to the ATC losses of 43% in city for the next 20 years.The losses will be covered by increasing the tariff and then public will be made poorer by these manipulations. Now 4 lac consumers are making theft of 100 rs each and after franchisee is appointed he will be richer and richer and put his money in foreign banks and the public and the state will be poorer. The tender for Kanpur which has been given to Torrent Power where as the rates of Jamshedpur Utilities & Services Company (JUSCO), a Tata Group firm were higher by Rs 4000 crores and the discounted rates were also higher is the matter of higher level enquiry."(Source)

Kanpur Coaching Mandi

For previous article on Kanpur coaching mandi , go through this label of Kanpur Series.

Hot News:IIT Entrance Examination (JEE) of the seven teachers together to prepare a joint platform sigma - IIT JEE is made. Students will get a place to preparing for the three subjects without straying around and meet all the facilities . In addition, due to the joint will reduce the fees too. Sigma of the joint forum of the physics teacher Anish Srivastava and Raj Kushwaha, Ashish Bisnoi and Anurag Bisnoi of mathematics and chemistry of Pankaj Agarwal, Nirmal Singh and Sanjay Chauhan's. Small - small batch (one hundred to two hundred) in the three subjects under the same roof will get a chance to prepare for. Three different subjects to students before a total of 51,300 rupees to pay the fees now total 45,000 fee will be. Sigma's head office 117 / N / 581 Raniganj (Kakadev) will be.

Old Time:Even after paying Rs 8,000 for each of the three different JEE subjects, most of the time we have to struggle for getting a sitting place in the class. The strength of my class was 900. It was a fact that students wait for about two hours before the classes begin so as to get a proper sitting place. There was no sensible limit to the number of students in a class.I hope this decision if implemented will make sense to avoid overcrowding of time passing jantaa.

Teachers into brand names!
Not only in Kanpur, everywhere Coaching institutes making boisterous claims about the performance of their students in competitive examinations and promising moon to future aspirants has become a common trend after the declaration of results. There is no description of ratio of successful to failed student.Apparently, it’s no longer word of mouth that establishes a teacher’s reputation among students, as it used to be a few years ago; it’s mass advertising that these institutes are resorting to now.Strange as it may sound, but it’s not uncommon any more to come across huge hoarding that advertise a coaching institute christened after the teacher’s name. ‘Maths to Joshi Sir se hi padenge!’, it says. Joshi Sir has seemingly worked out the formula to roping in more and more students to his coaching in Lucknow.Also big names like FIITJEE, Brilliant Tutorials will enroll successful candidate name in their list if you have just hand shake with them or given their all India test once.

House to Hostel:Lot of students who cannot afford to study in kota come here from other cities.The large number of students from other cities are queuing up to enrol in one or the other coaching institute at Kakadeo. Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Banda, Unnao, Allahabad and Fatehpur are major cities contributing to warehouse of Kanpur coaching mandi. House to hostel metamorphosis is a phenomena that has taken Kanpur by storm. The trend has people making some smart business moves by either vacating their homes or squeezing themselves into one room so as to convert their homes into hostels for the out station students. Kakadeo, Geeta Nagar, Sharda Nagar,Naveen Nagar and Neer Kjheer Chauraha have been transformed from residentail area into PGs and hostels for students.

Brokers: (Dalle in kanpuriya tounge)
The brokers are spread in coaching mandi like swine flu in Mexico. From photocopy shop to Barber shop, they are waiting for their next hunt.The brokers in the area are also become active allocating hostel and mess for students.Some of them are employed by coaching owners to guide student to the right coaching centers for a fixed share in profit. They are leaving no stone unturned to attract the guardians of out station students with the promise of providing a rented accommodation at most economical rates. Although, few brokers (read: small time neta) compel the coaching institute owners to admit students at a lower fee. In return they take a fixed amount as commission from the students. The coaching institute owners have become more alert after the killing of Rohit Juneja few year back. The murder case is unsolved till this time. The incident had created panic among coaching fraternity and students at that time. Few local hooligans also threatened owners of coaching centre to pay a ransom for elections or face consequences. With minimal investment and a little bit of discomfort, Kanpurites today are going all out to cash in on the city's academic boom.

Comparison of Kanpur to Kota:
Students are majorly confused over choice of Kota and Kanpur for their study.

Major points in Favour of Kanpur:

It is cheap in comparison to Kota and those who don't have enough resources can live easily here and can focus on study.Fellow students are friendly and will share the notes very easily with mutual discussion about any concept is much easier here. But the JEE syllabus is never completed on time in Kanpur or finished in hurry, leaving very less time to revise the course for students.

Major points in favor of Kota are these: (cited from this weblink)

1. class size/strength: Class size in kota ranges from 60 to a maximum of 100 students. But when it comes to kanpur , the class size is funny , nonsense and absolutely violates the principle of classroom teaching. You won’t believe the leading coachings in Kanpur have a strength of 1000 and more students per batch. Tell me how how could one study in such a mess? How could teacher and student can interact in such a place. Though it is a good example of money making on the expense of students career. Anyways i hope you are not going to do such a blunder atleast after reading this topic and believe me its all true if you don’t believe you can ask any student who have studied there.

2. quality of students: As Kota is visited by students from all around the country and hence the quality of students coming here is very good. By quality I mean the intelligence level of students . This doesn’t mean that Kanpur is not having such students .It does but the amount such students is very low when compared with that of Kota.

3.environment: Environment plays a very mportant role in each and every part of life , so it does for preparation of IIT-JEE , AIEEE or any other exam. So the environment in Kota is completely dedicated to studies and nothing else. But afterall it depends on the student who is preparing for IIT_JEE or AIEEE. The environment can just give up a boost and can help him motivated towards studies. Anyways environment in Kota for IIT_JEE or AIEEE is excellent, it definitely helps students. The environment is very peaceful and the people there are also peaceful .Its hard to find people there fighting or making disturbances in the society.

Kanpur Coaching Gurus

Memories of coaching days at Kanpur are inseparable from me. I have done a separate post on Kanpur coaching mandi only. The most remembered image of my coaching days was the advertisement of Ankush Bhatia by Pran classes and it was pasted over each wall of Kanpur. His photo was spread at distant corners of the city showing All India Rank 51. Never seen any local marketing campaign like this. Sometimes, I recall the rush of students from one coaching center to another for seat capture, xerox copying of assignments, and 'out-of-course' study material. The JEE course was never completed on time everywhere in the Kanpur coaching mandi. At the end time of March, the mad rush for completing the course began with various test series taking place simultaneously. I could not forget that pressure till now. I will never forgive Anish, Pankaj, and Vishnoi sir for combining their individual treats into 1 party for JEE-qualified students. For information on pre-2000 AD days of coaching mandi, check this link. Writing a few lines about them in the blog is mandatory for me. It is a rough recollection of data, just written casually. 

Physics: 1-Ajay Narkar sir is a crazy personality and self-made figure. He holds the record of slapping up to 1200 students and teaching 16 hours a day. He lectures students like God and gives cusses to them like the devil. He is obsessed with self-praising and mechanics. He has made 'Concept of Physics by HC Verma' famous in the coaching mandi. According to him, you can't play Holi or go to a movie because playing Holi or shopping, or watching the cinema for 2 hours will stop you from getting into IIT. On the other hand, listening to his autobiography (although inspiring) for 5 hrs is a heck of a time utility. His famous words:---" hum hum hain,baki pani kam hain; baangduon assignment pura hona chaiye ; bhailogo kya bolte ho." 2-Anish Srivastava sir is famous for his orange shirt and black trousers combination. We have never seen him in any other dress. It was lovely to see Anish sir making a diagram precisely with various colored chalks. The timespan of his class was only 2 hours, the least by any physics teacher in that area. Paanch (Coca-Cola ad by Aamir Khan) was used to shout by the coaching junta for every arbitrary occasion in the classroom. His famous words on entering the class---write down the heading and take out the booklet !! 

Maths: 1-Ashish Vishnoi Sir take entry in class and exclaimed daily "pani lana, ac on kar do, marker dena.................". Acute Dialogues for students---" kripya grameen bhai idhar dhyan de ;abe chor ho yar tum log,apne gaon ki bus pakad lo aur katlo yaha se; kisi ko zada hero banne ki zaroorat nahi hai,beta latak jaaoge; jyada topchee na bano poori class milke bhi mera kuch nahi ukhar paoge; are yaar abhi saal bhar baad yanhi rikshaw chalate najar aaoge; are yaar ab regular valon ki tarah har question mat pucho" ...last but most famous "aap log totaal suar hain". 2-Anurag Vishnoi sir is brother of Ashish sir. He usually teach for extra class and test sheet discussion. His famous phrases: "Aray bhai aap log to itne intelligent ho ki meri aankhen bhar aayi ; jo log baat kar rahe hain unke liye mujhe showroom mein ek chamchamata hua rikshaw dikh raha hai; yaar kabhi bhi aapke khandan me kabhi bhi koi jee me select nahi hoga. 

Chemistry: 1-Nirmal Singh Sir, my favorite in all. The short and shiny T-shirts of Nirmal sir made him the most fashionable figure. Pink, Cream and Green color shine in the whole class. He seldom got angry but his comments were absolute to the point. He teases girls with his mild-mannered comments that make us laugh hard on the floor. How can one forget Nirmal sir ke wo fundoo association of ideas like Adla Badli (Ajnabee) or electron migration priority decision by using the example of Biwi no. 1. Chaudi kamar was used for ligands, the especially mugging trick for carbohydrate chapter "rekha aur amitab mile to lage thumka". 2-Pankaj Agrawal sir has got a reputation for having absolute knowledge of physical chemistry. But his repo was built on his misery than his lifestyle. He is more miser than 10 Uncle Scrooge standing together over a pile of money. We have known about his tussle with the income tax department every year. His typical posture was to take the assignment sheet in one hand and itch his head with another hand. Particular was the only word that was repeated at least 20 times per class. And asking everyone with a smile that shows frontline teeth 'Agar kar sakte ho to jee ke baare mein sochna warna bhool jao'. Sombody on orkut created a great abbrevation for him: P--Puchhunga, A--aata hai?, N--nahin aata!!, K--karo, A--aayega, J--JEE mein. Absolutely PANKAJ. Pankaj sir usually quote: "Photo nahi lagegi iit paper me. padna padega" & "ab main kuchh jano ko particular class se bahar karne wala hoon ab aap sambhal jayein." 3-Sanjay Chauhan famous for his cheap dialoges and command in organic chemistry. "ladkiyoon, pad lo... nahi padogi.. to chaati per baith kar padaunga... aur phir bhi nahi pada.. to chaati per kudoonga... taki dard ho.. shayad tab padogi...

--------------

I have not mentioned here O.P. Juneja, Sanjeev Rathore, Mahesh Singh Chauhan, Raj Kushwaha, Vivek, and G.D. Verma here. Also worth mentioning here is Cobra Sir for his popular pseudo name. But to end this article a quote from Kanpur coaching mandi come as "latest but most rocking "--36 hazar ka chadawa chada diya 3 bagvano ko,ab to selection pakka samaj gaye hain...............

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.

Wah Kanpur,Ahh Kanpur!-5

The search about city of Kanpur has taken me to unexplored portion of Internet. It is really hard to find these web pages in google search. Yet somehow, I managed to bring brilliant post written in Hindi about this city. You only require knowledge of Hindi and Hindi [Devnagari] font for reading it. If you do not have fonts, download it from above website.

1-कानपुर तेरे कितने नाम…
2-झाड़े रहो कलट्टरगंज, मण्डी खुली बजाजा बंद
3-१८५७ के पन्ने: मदाम एन्जेलो की डायरी

Enjoy the Kanpur series on this blog and if you do not know Hindi,then read loosely translated version of articles 1, 2 & 3 .

Wah Kanpur,Ahh Kanpur!-4

I was searching on article about Kanpur and found this gem. I am presenting here paragraph taken from the "A tale of many cities - A tale of just one city". It is a point of view from girl side, a rare feat on blogland.

You know you are in Kanpur when

1. You go to a mall, the city’s best and biggest, itching to spend some money and the only stuff you find to spend it on is some really oily dosa and half-boiled corn
2. A walk on the main road at 2 in the afternoon is punctuated by vulgar comments and some really vulgar comments
3. There is no transport that looks palatable, except if you want to make your journey with some suspicious looking characters in ten-seater tempo-vans. I dare you, especially after having had a sufficient dosage of the afore-mentioned vulgar comments
4. Every T,D and H (and by that I do not mean Tall, Dark and Handsome) dons a leather jacket
5. On the subject of leather, you see carts and trucks piled with leather shavings. You see towering tanneries dotting the landscape fortress-like
6. There are more educational institutes and coaching classes than tanneries
7. There are more chemists and angrezi dawakhane than educational institutes and coaching classes
8. There are more angrezi sharab ke theke than chemists

Like my Senior from Savories, I too fall in love with cities. I fall in love with the time having spent there, with the people.

That special Kanpuri accent, actually central-UP accent. Enunciate every word. Not like your Dilli-rajdhani that eats up half its words and blurs the edges of the remaining.

Nahi Bhaiiiyaa. Har ek shabd ko dabake boliye. Haan. Bilkul aiise hi. Kya samjhe?

For the first time in my life, I don’t feel I will be taken to be an outsider because I speak with the newspaper-wala and the dukaandaar and the traffic cop and the thanedaar in Hindi. Hindi is the local language here. (In Delhi, you don’t speak to anybody. I don’t know if they have devised an advanced technique of robbing you just by speaking to you).

Then there are the paan-walas of Kanpur. I saw a board which said - Ladies Paan Center. Go figure.

Oh, the milk-trains. UP and Bihar are not called the cow-belt for nothing. So everyday thousands of men from villages make their way to the towns and cities with their pitchers of milk. I saw a train the other day and the entire length of it had milk cans hanging from outside its windows.

Yes, I have lived in many cities and each one has a place, in my mind, in my memories.

I do feel like an outsider though.

Wah Kanpur,Ahh Kanpur!-3

For reading the series of: Wah Kanpur,Ahh Kanpur!-1st and 2nd.They were on funny side of life at Kanpur ,this one on the reality side...

This is an edited compilation of discussions on online forums;
"Kanpur is a microcosm of what most of India is like in a nutshell; The vast majority of people are too caught up with making with their economic and caste problem and a little time to realize the importance of basic civic sense (keeping the city clean,obeying the law etc.). The solution to the problem, like the rest of India lies in uplifting the poorest sections of society(which also form most of the population!) through education and health care. Its sorry to say but few most educated residents of city for don't pay tax or electricity bill, etc but still Kanpur belongs to one of the largest revenue generating cities of India.Shamefully amazing....

No city in India, however big,is completely free from basic/infrastructural problems.However,most cities which have now become big players in terms of economy etc. took some bold initiatives. The reason why they are now on the world map, though, is that they've all taken the plunge, and gone ahead with liberalization and transparency in governmental system,despite their problems.

First and foremost reason for that is insufficient power supply, secondly the corruption. But this will require what most of us already know...selfless and capable politicians (i.e. visionaries).Do anyone has known what People from non-Hindi belt think about UP and Bihar? They talk about both the states in the same breadth. When you will leave your city (also state) for the job location to Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai or Hyderabad, then you will realize we are behind them atleast 10 years in infrastructure facilities.

Literacy rate of Kanpur is 77.63% which is well above the national average.Kanpur is home to several educational institutions which have made it a popular educational center. IIT Kanpur, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute (HBTI), C. S. J. M. University, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, and GSVM Medical College are few top colleges from the city.I feel especially bad for IITK, since it has the potential to support high-tech start ups, but it is isolated in its ambitions. But they are national or state level colleges hence nothing solid is achieved for city on local level. Hence, devastating un-utilization of human resources.Only coaching mandi was successful new venture established by young entrepreneurs few years ago.

When too Tier-I cities are now fully packed,the IT and BPO companies are turning to Tier-II cities for educated manpower and more opportunity of growth. Many Indian cities have already established themselves in software and call center businesses, and it is too late for Kanpur to enter this race. Kanpur could be an especially bright prospect for industries in areas such as Electronics, Photonics and Biotech (because it has been an industrial base in the past,and because of its proximity to research institutes like the IITK, IITD, ITBHU, DRDO, HAL etc.)...which unlike software are not yet well established in India. But no place can lure industrialists with a 10 hour power outage a day.

The problem is power, water, transportation etc. will all have to drastically improve and huge amount of investment is required. Where do we get the money from ? (unless the govt. takes action immediately); Subsidiary problem like Road and Airport also exists here. Highways are slowly building and CNG buses has reduced air pollution level. Flights to Delhi were started but was closed because of lack of passengers. Air Deccan closed its service and Indian cricket team still travels by road from Lucknow airport to Kanpur for cricket matches. Airport is not to worry fact for Kanpuriyas. Hum nahi Badlenege attitude at its zenith...

I was saddened by reading this stanza on a social networking website about Kanpur. It quotes -"Does any Kanpuriya remember 'V.N. Prasad'? In two years he very much transformed the city from a dead city to a rejuvenating one. It was he who started vision 2010 involving citizens and leading industrialists. Suddenly Moti Jheel was a favorite place to spend evenings and weekends. The deadly roads across the city which claimed scores of lives were re constructed. His honest approach made things possible. But within one and a half year he was transferred. 3 million plus people of Kanpur lost a battle to only say a score of politicians who got V.N. Prasad transferred from the city. Reasons? B’coz Prasad didn’t let the evil politicians get control of tenders for roads and other infrastructure projects in the city. The whole city kept shut and didn’t say a word. No amount of agitation and protest was done. Why? Because have stopped saying NO to nonsense happening to them."

In summary, Kanpur needs responsible citizens and political leaders. But do not want to spit about 'much talked, nothing done' situation of industries shutdown at Kanpur. Did anyone of us know about Aravind Adiga, the prize winning writer of "The White Tiger" ? This article was written by him in 2005 about the pollution status for TIME Magazine. Kanpur was again on the world map but for wrong reasons. Nothing has changed much since then....

Mention about Gutkha Problem in the next post....

Wah Kanpur,Ahh Kanpur!-2

Whats in the name? Really if you agree then read further from previous post about Kanpur...

The turning point in the history of Kanpur came when it was made one of the most important military stations of British India. It was declared a district on 24 March 1803. South of were the British infantry lines and the Parmat parade grounds. Indian infantry occupied the space from the present Chunniganj to the Christ Church College. The Companybagh was laid in 1847 and the construction of the Ganga canal was commenced in 1854. In 1862, Brits built a church called All Souls' Cathedral in memory of those killed in 1857 mutiny; renamed the Kanpur Memorial Church, it still stands at what was the north-east corner of Wheeler’s entrenchment. The marble gothic screen with the famous `mournful seraph’ was transferred to the churchyard after independence in 1947, and in its place a bust of Tantya Tope installed at NanaRao Park. The British contributed to charitable causes in the city by building the "Ursula Horsman" Hospital, the "Hallet" Hospital, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute and by protecting the Allen Forest (now a Zoo) . Most of these are now renamed, though a lot of residents still call them by their old names. The distortion of names is most visible at the railway crossing bridge next to the Railway Station, where the now-closed Murray Company is conveniently called Mari (Dead) Company.

'Philkhana' ground is unique name but current generation does not know about it due to lack of proficiency in Urdu. 'Phil' stands for elephant in Urdu language. Elephants serving in British army were host of that place. 'Somdutt plaza' is named after 'Som Dutt' who was cousin brother of 'Sunil Dutt'. Great connection na...

About something more unique trivia is about 'Naveen Market'. It was named after famous Hindi poet and writer:'Bal Krishan Sharma 'Naveen'. If you have heard about this rebelling stanza from his works-"Lapak chatteh jhoote pathe jis deen dekha mane nar ko, socha kyon na aag laga doon iss duniya bhar ko, Phir socha kyon na tentuaa ghont doon us jagpati ka, jisne yeh ghrineet swaroop diya apne hee kreeti ko".

Name Trivia:
Forget about name change of Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Bombay or Calcutta. For those interested in the World's Most Useless Knowledge, Kanpur can hold a record of being the city, which has changed the spelling of its name the maximum number of times! Between 1770 and now, it has changed a whopping 20 times – thus averaging a mere 11.24 years per change. For those with absolutely no work, the list runs as follows: Cawnpoor, Caunpour, Caunpore, Cawnpour, Cawnpore, Kawnpore, Cawnpor, Cawnpour, Kaunpoor, Khanpore, Khanpura, Khanpore, Caunpoor, Khanpoor, Kannpur, Cawnpour, Caawnpore, Cawnpor, Cownpour, Cawnpore, Kanpur!!!!

Numerologists, who make their theories to fit history, have claimed that the name Cawnpore is most suitable for industrial development and Kanpur for progress in education. Wah!

I do not roam around the industrial area in Dadanagar but had surfed on the lanes of Aryanagar in the evening for chick watch. Coaching institutes at Kakadev or Rave has provided now better alternatives to spend your evening season in bright mood. Greenpark Stadium and sports hostel have been in highlight more often for mismanagement than facilities. Kaif, Raina and RP Singh are talents of this sports hostel only. Greenpark (never seemed green atleast in my time span) became infamous for entrance of dogs in the international cricket matches.

Hostile marketing and versatile bargain technique in Sheeshamau is place to venture for ladies. I prefer Rahmaani Market above all for shopping. Oh, How can i forget about mentioning Gumuti? I was confused first that they were pan shops; Then get the real picture that they were railway crossings..

Anyone know about this kanpuriya phrase, then please explain meaning of it:"Jhade Raho collectorganj, hataata khula bajaaja band". Folklore can go like unending myth but let me take a halt for next post...

Well do you know:Where did Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened it’s first Media lab outside USA ? That is Kanpur.

Wah Kanpur,Ahh Kanpur!-1

I had not taken birth on the land of Kanpur but my heart belongs to here for ever. I have fist arrived on the soil of Kanpur on 9th July,1994. I was on the verge of completing 9 years of my life. Half of the previous life was passed in the hills, Nanital and remaining half was spent in the small town, Salempur. Kanpur was contrast to them in all ways...

Kanpur is shown in the films very few times despite its metro nature in Hindi heartland. I had watched 'Bunty and Babli' just because it has 5-10 scenes filmed in the Kanpur. And in the 'Dhadak Dhadak' song,when AB jr. is standing on the train top at the background of railway bridge on Ganga river, the cult movie become 'paisa vasool' for me. I recall with this scene about the train on narrow gauge (now converted into broad gauge) piercing Kanpur through middle and Doodhiyaas both in and out of train rushing back to kannuj, farukhabad....

And now on screen has come the clincher - Tashan. No film has used a city so intrinsically in its screenplay as Tashan does for Kanpur. Bachchan Pandey (Akshay Kumar) and his antics as Raavan, crimes as an electricity thief, dialogues as a collection agent, sighs as a Roadside Romeo and most stunningly, his language are so Kanpuriya that its unbelievable!

And after a high-voltage fight scene, Saif pays homage to the city of Kanpur in a perverse sort of way by saying – “In logon ke beech mujhe zinda rehna hain, to mujhe akalmand banna padega, khatarnaak banna padega, Kanpuriya banna padega…”

I heard a string of decorative words in my first season at the school. Kanpuriya people blend slang so fast with full flow of pure hindi that kanpuriya dialect become most sublime language in the world. For example mumbaiya word 'Raapchik' can be exclaimed in continuous streak of four different words prevailing same sense: Behtareen, Chaukas, Sateek, Jhakaas.

Koi Sagaa Nahin…
Gulzar’s one (self-acknowledged) act of plagiarism is the famous line from the 'Bunty Aur Babli' title song… (Aisa) koi sagaa nahin, jisko (humne) thagaa nahin. This, in turn, is the super-famous punch line of the super-successful 'Thaggu Ke Laddoo' of Kanpur. Known far & wide for his laddoos, Thaggu got his name from his grandfather, who started the shop and was particularly ashamed of using sugar (a videshi product) against the call of Gandhi. In an allusion to Gandhi’s verdict that anybody using foreign-made sugar is actually robbing (thago-ing) the nation, he called himself Thaggu – and the name stuck till date as a super brand! Intensive research is currently on to figure the origin of the other famous product of his – the Badnaam Kulfi. Thaggu’s confidence in his products shows through one more of his punchlines… Mehmaanon ko mat khilaiye, tik jayengey!. To know more about communist poori and apradhi aata, log on to Laddu Special.

You can also get 'Makhan Malai' at Meston road. It is brilliant and worth to taste..Not to forget south indian restaurant opposite to the IIT gate or Lucky Restaurant at Awadhpuri on G.T. road. The last stop of the Veggie Express has been identified in the city of Kanpur is Gyan Vaishna: A sattvik eatery, situated right next to a traffic junction (which, in turn, is very close to railway crossing) at Jareeb Chaukee. So, even if you do not get run over by a train, auto or bike while trying to enter the restaurant, you will find eternal bliss in their ghee-laden preparations of aloo gobi, daal tadka and fresh rotis. And they some how manage to gauge your fullness. So after a while, the benign waiter smiles and provides tissues and water - without trying to hard-sell their mithais. Priceless!!!

.............I love Kanpur...............