A trip to remember : 29th May 2015 @ Morning 8:00am.

I was driving down the National Highway (now AH46) and stopped en route to re-visit the place where I was ‘made’. Had to stop.

I searched for footprints we left behind and tried to listen to voices that were – may be they still echoed somewhere.

Searched for faces that we knew.

I looked at sights which awed us once.

Tried to retrace the steps which I had once taken.

Our alumnus – UNIVERSITY COLLEGE of ENGINEERING, Burla

Be a part of my journey down memory lanes.

At BARGARH – where one road leads to Bolangir and the straight road leads to Sambalpur.

At Attabira – good to see road widening project in full flow. Road condition was anyway very good.

Reached HIRAKUD Rly. Station – the first stirrings of memories. Let’s take a closer look.

Hirakud Station. A place well remembered by RKL team when we needed to catch trains.

At Hirakud – many miles to go …. But I needed to stop here. I was near where I was made in 4 years of my life.

MCL campus had come up opposite Hirakud Station area. It was all barren land when we last saw this place.

MCL Campus opposite Hirakud Station. This is where our Dusha is located The MCL campus has its offices and residences for officers, complete with a Guest House, Golf Course and full fledged Club with swimming pool and games section.

The serene water body – Power Channel – as we move towards the PC bridge. That’s where we take the ‘turn’.

PC Bridge ! I remember pulling “Train Chain” and stopping Bokaro-Madras to get down and walk to Hostels !

The PC Bridge. Train Line. And the Highway.

The PC Bridge. Train Line. We stopped many a trains here ! Once upon a time….

Can’t forget this place.

View from PC Bridge. The Blue Dome is the newly coming up Students Activity Centre.

Road from PC Bridge Crossing to our College. MCL has come up all around the place.

The Football Field – with goalpost at far end. Many a games were fought out here. Gymnasium beyond. The NCC Offices to the left of Gym in photo.

The Football Field – we spent some good time here… and the Gymnasium beyond. Manas Panda built his chest muscles here I guess ;-)

Canteen by the Football Grounds. How many plates of Sev-Boondi we had gulped down here…countless.

The under construction – new Students Activity Centre.

Road from PC Bridge Crossing to our College. The new Main entrance is seen at the right .

The new Entrance to our College.

Original entrance. University College of Engineering is still seen !

The Name. Once it was more than enough. Now its hidden away.

The Central Library – another place where we still see UCE name as we knew it.

Site map of UCE waiting at the entrance. As if I needed it ! hahahahahahaha

Site map zoomed in.

Enter through new gate and drive left….take right turn. “Civilised” area greets you

Close up…. Civil Engineering Department

How could you miss the Hydraulics Lab as you move down the road. It’s on to your left.

Some Solar Project done…Mech Lab...however it seems like good money wasted

How we hammered Hot Steel into a Wedge or chiseled a Dove Tail Joint here !!

We never saw these departments….came up after we became alumni

Again a new Department….for us oldies.

Blessed place !! What did we not learn here ! God Bless the non-teaching staff who helped beyond their capability so that we could complete our work.

Another view – Electrical and Electronics Lab area

The formal entrance to the Admin Block. I guess we all had our Branch Group photo taken at this place below the overhang with the HOD and Profs.

Admin Building close up

The AVC – most singularly important and place in the life of every UCEan The lively atmosphere during Spring Festival and Movie Festivals.

Section of the Admin Building seen as we stand in front of the AVC. Somwhere here on 1st floor we used to queue up for paying monthly fees…Rs 12/- per month ? Wasn’t it ?

Again – the close up of new gate. Now we have uniformed security staff – see left in photo

Enter through gates of Hostel Area…. That’s the erstwhile EAST Hostel Roads are new…smooth. Unfortunately hostels are poorer….see in next pictures.

We knew this place as EAST Hostel. Now name changed. However nothing else had changed for better.

Drive along the tree lined avenue…to the right is SOUTH HOSTEL Rear Side. East Hostel is seen on left of photo.

SOUTH Hostel – rear entrance. Broken down condition !Let’s enter South Hostel through this gate….see next pictures.

I met SHESHA…he was so happy to see me ! Was all smiles. He looks same…doesn’t he ? Talked good about our batch. Remembers Manas Panda !! No Wonder ;-)

South Hostel Dining Room. It got extended in length. I stood now where we once used to collect Rotis from ovens…now its converted into a dining area.

It was a Sunday and some students had been staying back. Morning breakfast was DHOSA – that was being made. But it looked too thick to be yummy though ;-)

The Bath Rooms …… eeeewwww….. No one did any repair work since 1990 it seems

If that’s the state of Bath Room even now…. I wonder where is all the UGC Grant going And we talk on WiFi on campus…water filters… Huh !

Robin Mausa lost his towel in one of these rooms. So did Bibhu soon after ;-)

The Common Tub for water ….. It’s just more broken down. Could spot a run-down Washing Machine (partial view in left of photo) – a luxury perhaps ? Huh.

Only the walls got tiled…to be broken again. Sad state of repairs. This bathroom had it’s door missing. Someone might have kicked it open so that it never closed again !

Room No. 54 – Rear Wing. First Room in the wing. 1st Yr residence at UCE. Shared with S. Girish and S.Pattnaik the local Sambalpuri guy. Next was Dipti Patra, Pradipta Sahu and Gyana. How enjoyable were the days !

The Garden between South and North Hostel – only good patch there now.My son said that was the only place he enjoyed seeing in my hostel ! I don’t blame him.

Eiffel Tower in Garden !! what was this put up for ?

Walk on to the West Hostel.

West Hostel. The name can be even read now – almost faded out…on the top.

Prashant Canteen – or was it Prodosh Canteen ? the PC can be seen faint on white walls. Now closed and walled up. No entrance to that exists from hostel side.

The glorious NORTH HOSTEL. This seems to be the only building having some new colour.Aurobindo Nude Dance atop this terrace …..and then what followed…. Woooahhhh

The NORTH Hostel word still exists on the grill gate here.

Enter North Hostel. No change. May be worse.Let’s enter the DINING HALL….you can see it to our left.

Ghana and team !! Ghana as usual recognized me after a small talk. The man in Green Shirt and one behind in T-shirt recognised me too. They recollected many from our batch.

The North Hostel Dining Room. Isn’t this where Saraf came in and lectured after the fight with 3rd year ? ;-0

Room 56 Ground Floor front wing – my place of stay in 2nd Yr @ North Hostel. Shared memorable moments with Mannu Bhai the eternal draamebaaz who refused to grow up and Balakrishna Dixit our own Kishore Kumar. Glorious days.

Walk down the road from North Hostel and behind East Hostel. College Mech Workshop wall to the left of this road.

The road to College – short-cut – from behind of East Hostel. We usually walked into college this way from North Hostel. No monkey business then. Now it seems walled up.

Lots of them it seems ! One just walked in to join the part Students ?

Looked to my right at the East Hostel – and spotted another ‘student’ waiting…may be he was judging if he needs to scale the wall or not ;-)

South Hostel – front View

NEW Hostel – now it is all walled up as it had been converted to a Girl’s Hostel. The name now is Arundhati Hall of Residence.

Enter the NEW HOSTEL – now a Ladies Hostel. The security guard allowed me in and to take photos when I introduced myself. They remember the Dish Antenna but said it was taken down later when Cable TV arrived.

The India Map in garden – New Hostel. Garden Area is in state of disregard.

New Hostel Garden – garden no more.

Student Volume has increased ten fold it seems. Newer hostel buildings are coming up as seen above. This is between West Hostel and New Hostel Area. The vacant land is being utilized.I hear many students also stay in Burla Town as PG. No place in hostels.

From New Hostel as we drive down to Burla, we come across the lane leading to VC Bungalow and Professor Colony-1. There is an Alumni House too it seems.

Professor’s houses – as we knew them. Right side of the road to Burla from Hostels.

Entrance to Burla Market.

Burla Market

Burla Market – I remember this Book Stall. Went many a times there for many a purpose.The Physiotherapy guy could not decide if it should be Centre or Center. Kept both it seems.

The Medical Shop in Burla Market. Bought Condoms here for blowing up and releasing them in AVC during movies

The BURLA PC Bridge. Our College has a rather unhappy memory here on this bridge. Was it an incident that happened 4 year before we joined ? Or before that ?

The Medical College also has a Gate - when we return from Burla.

Medical College….yeah yeah…and the girl students there. The only reason why we cycled down to Burla every evening after going to 2nd year. Bhukey pyaasey engineering log.

Medical College Gate – on the other side – as we leave medical premises and drive back towards our college area.

Again drive past South Hostel – just to the front and left. Leaving Burla and UCE now to continue on my travel – need to drive down 500kms to Kolkata leaving all these behind.

Take a final glance at South Hostel…and with a slightly heavy heart I drive past.

Driving past the main entrance of VSSUT – I prefer to know this place as UCE.

Again approaching PC Bridge crossing of National Highway (now AH46). This is where we used to flag down ‘Direct Bargarh/Sambalpur’ buses to go to Sambalpur town.

On the road and back to PC bridge Crossing.

Their lies the PC bridge to the right. Many idyllic evenings were spent here. Now it’s too busy.

Back again on the National Highway – paused to look at the majestic Hirakud Dam in the distance. The gates opened after monsoons and what a view we had from New Hostel.

The DAM – lifeline.

INDAL can be seen far far away across the Mahanadi (most of it was dried up).

Same view – looking a little left and that tall Water Tank is seen. Beyond that lies UCE.

Close up - INDAL across Mahanadi.

More close up of INDAL.

The Mahanadi Bridge. Cycle down this place..and Remed Dhaba was up ahead. Chicken Tandoori and Roti….ooohhhh….we used to save Rs. 25/- to 50/- for a treat every 2 months.

Villagers taking bath by Mahanadi as I look down from Mahanadi Bridge

Mahanadi Bridge – another view

Driving past the Mahanadi bridge – a Train happens to go past just then. Looks like the train was coming from Howrah and I was going to Kolkata ;-)

The REMED Chowk.

The Remed Chowk – looking back at the Hills. The road going right takes us to Hirakud. The left highway takes us to PC Bridge.

Remed Dhaba – let us not talk about what happened here…. OK ? Just smile

Remed Dhaba – let us not talk about what happened here…. OK ? Just smile

Remed Dhaba – let us not talk about what happened here…. OK ? Just smile

Remed Dhaba – let us not talk about what happened here…. OK ? Just smile

And I drive on….leaving behind my place of stay for 4 years…. Need to get on and go on.This road leads me by the Gudguda Falls – our picnic spot in one of the trips.

Beautiful Roads…..feeling fine.

Nearing Home…just a 100kms more...it was a long long travel – but fruitful in every way.

That was all FOLKS !!

Hope it was a nostalgic trip ??