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| Chat & chill: Between mouthfuls at Ashirbad. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya |
They are places where hearts break and join (not in that order), idle hours are spent in the company of friends, smoke and adda, with most students attaining various stages of bliss. To say that Jadavpur University canteens are legendary wouldn’t come close to capturing the history — Ranjabati Sircar to Parambrata. And, er, there’s food, too.
Officially: Milan Kanti Dey’s canteen
Popularly called: Milanda’s canteen
Age: Around 25 years
Capacity & style: Around 50 can hang out on cement and wooden benches outside
Timings: Noon to 4 pm
Menu: Roll, chop, samosa
Must have: Dhop (a deep batterfried speciality)
Milanda says: “Low-priced good food is a hit with students and faculty”
Officially: Bonami Caterers
Popularly called: Monibabu’s canteen
Age: 11 years
Capacity & style: Around 40 plastic chairs, mostly on the waterfront (one of the famous JU lakes, of course)
Timings: Noon to 7 pm
Menu: Chop, chaat, South Indian, biryani, Chinese
Must have: Good ol’ chowmein and chilli chicken
Officially: Student’s Amenity Centre
Popularly called: AC canteen (raising false hopes of it being air-conditioned)
Age: 26 years
Capacity & style: Around 150 (largest on campus), on wooden benches and long tables
Timings: 11.30 am to 6 pm
Menu: Veg/fish roll, hotdog, chop, luchi and aloo dum
Must have: Luchi-aloo dum and Mughlai paratha
Officially: Ashirbad
Popularly called: Ashirbad/Boudi's canteen
Age: 30 years
Capacity & style: Around 50, on plastic chairs and benches outside the canteen
Timings: 10 am to 8.30 pm
Menu: Pulao, chowmein, burger, roll, fish fry
Must have: Chicken burger, G4 (a kind of sandwich enveloped in omelette)
Officially: Laltu Das’ canteen
Popularly called: CET canteen
Age: 58 years (oldest on campus)
Capacity & style: Benches for 100
Timings: 10 am to 6 pm
Menu: Fried rice, burger, dosa
Must have: Chilli potato
Officially: Anil Kumar Jana’s canteen
Popularly called: Anil’s canteen
Age: 30 years
Capacity & style: Green, green grass
Timings: 10 am to 6 pm
Menu: Chop, samosa, ice tea
Must have: Kachori, samosa
I am khallas. One more 50 per cent and I will never make the JEE. No more being a doctor. Sab khatam. How to study? I hate to sit at home with books when there are so many things to do. Didn’t even go to Barista today with Shalini :- ( Time management. Study for an hour before school. Two hours after school and two hours before bed. In-between, free. Without tuitions, of course. Must get 80 per cent. Sigh…
Heard something interesting today — Britain is about to follow in America’s footsteps and start summer camps for schoolchildren. Cool. When will WE get to do it? Imagine camping in Ladakh with Abhishek... : - ) Baba would have a fit!!!
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Wet, wet, wet. LOVE splashing in the water, but got a cold afterwards. Had to shampoo my hair and wash my legs with Dettol. No maths tuitions : o ) Miss Banerjee couldn’t come.
Read that the killer of Hetal Parekh will be hanged on Saturday. It’s his birthday. He did something horrible, so he deserves his punishment. But it’s his birthday...
What’s on your mind this week
TV trouble
These days, children have a ‘third parent’ — TV. So, a young girl braves death hoping Shaktimaan will save her, and a boy starts smoking to copy his hero, Shah Rukh Khan. Sitting in front of the TV for too long is also a health risk. Although the idiot box has its advantages with regard to spreading knowledge, it should be controlled by parents, because it leads to obesity and related diseases. Instead of worrying about the next episode of one of the K-serials, wouldn’t it be better if the family sat down to dinner together and had a chat?
Suchita Sahal
Channel change
After the introduction of WWE, TNA and other forms of wrestling on television, young people have fallen prey to violence. Often in school I’ve noticed one boy hitting another described as ‘fun’. They fail to realise that the actions on television are faked and it is a highly-skilled dramatised version of uncouth behaviour. So why are these programmes shown on television? Violence looms larger than life in today’s society. Movies influence students of all ages, so are they shown in order to stimulate more disharmony? A child’s mind is moulded according to his environment. When he is witness to it on a continuous basis, at some point he loses self-control and a sense of reality. The impact of such violence is causing a lot of harm to the youth, yet no action is being taken to stop it.
Tanmoy Das Lala,
St Xavier’s Collegiate School
Poet’s corner
I smoke a lot of smoke...
Vomit in my nail,
I wait for someone,
(Don’t light my tail)
Someone to fulfil my poem,
My bed is soft
In a dark stem,
I left my retina…
Inam Hussain Mullick
End of days
The hours are ticking and the final verdict is in. The stage is set and the hangman is ready. Dhananjoy Chatterjee and his family are counting the hours till his death. I thank the President for saying yes to the execution of the man who raped and murdered Hetal Parekh. Capital punishment will set the right example to prevent such crimes. But after his execution, the state and society should help his family.
Rajorshee Banerjee,
Mitra Institution
Didactic dilemma
Class XII board exams are over, and it’s time for students to bid farewell to books and enjoy life. Unfortunately, this does not extend to science students. While their commerce and humanities counterparts are busy working, partying and scouting for courses, the education system demands that they study 18 hours or more a day, shell out thousands of rupees to appear for entrance tests and still have no guarantee of a secure future. Apart from the lucky minority who make it to engineering and medical courses, the rest are left with obscure courses, or to try their luck next year. The determined tour the length and breadth of India in the hope of getting admission somewhere. And the returns — politics and oppression in the medical profession and drudgery as engineers, with starting salaries on a par with drivers. Is this the way it ought to be?
Vijay Kumar
