Telephone Tower!!!

The first you would see of College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar(I left out Ghatikia as it sounds un-cool), my alma mater, is this tall telephone tower perched at the middle of the 120 acre campus. It looks gigantic unlike the ubiquitous towers built on top of high-rises(Bhubaneswar has its share of so called high-rises ). We walked past it everyday on our way to the class, ignoring it. There is this strange road which starts from the workshop area then bifurcates into two in a way which reminds you of Deewar(Remember the road near the temple;Shashi Kapoor took right, Amitabh left-How symbolic!!). The roads flanked the tower and the stage with the ramp(Which looked like a stage only during fests)and voila, they met again. The fusion creating a much wider road which doubled up as a tennis court(No match has ever been played here….it’s a tar road), and a basket ball court(It has hosted many matches, so what if it is a tar road) and a cricket ground(the gentleman’s game has the flexibility of being hosted on any surface).

Coming back to the telephone tower, it was a source of inspiration for me. I looked at its tip(which actually is a protection against lightening) everyday as I walked down from the bus-stop to class. It gave me a sense of aiming high and the associated kicks.The iron ladder leading to the top was a tempting sight.I have been acrophobic but somewhere within I wanted to scale this summit(Or the receiver at the top) to give a fillip to my ego(I guess mountaineering appeals to this need).

Everyday this temptation stuck me as I walked past the tower, but I controlled it till it became an urge.My first attempt took me 10 ft above ground level.The mission was halted due to a professor who had eyes sharp enough to spot a student climbing the tower rather than a repair worker. The soft clay cushioned my desperate jump and off I ran….

I had not entirely gave up the idea of a retry but sense prevailed as my craziness was smothered by the sensibilities of a person who I spent most of my time in college with.3 years went by….No more attempts.

Then came my day or rather night.Spending nights on campus had become a habit in the final semester as friends shifted to hostels inside campus.Some of them had already claimed the peak which I could have scaled first had the professor not spotted me 3 years earlier!!!The motivation was no more there, but just to set the record straight(Like the critics pointing to Tendulkar not scoring vs. Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe),I decided to climb the tower.

The operation had 2 of my close friends with me one of whom had already scaled the summit.We climbed up the iron ladder which was dead vertical.I could see two thin hands clinging hard to the foot hold below me and slippers and a flowing pair of shorts above.The climb continued, we reached a ledge and took a breather-40 ft above msl. The next ledge was at 100 ft msl and by the time we reached there, our arms were throbbing with pain.I had definitely not grown lighter in 3 years.From that height,everything around us looked scary.The tallest tree on campus was far below us and the buildings looked like matchboxes. One of my friends decided against continuing while the 2 of us moved on.Just as I was laughing at the timidity of my friend who stayed back, I realised that the tower was swaying in the wind.We still had 30 ft to climb and it seemed to me that a mighty gale will blow us off the tower and off the face of the earth, am more likely gory end was the tower falling down taking us with it.

Looking down I saw my friend climbing carefully down the ladder, looking up I saw the summit and due to the sheer fear of being teased by friends if I gave up the climb, I took the ladder and sort of rushed through the last few rungs.Summit scaled!!!Weight off my back,then the sudden realisation that the weight rather be there or I could be blown off from the top by ghastly winds.

The view of the city from the top was surreal. National Highway, Khandagiri hills and trees looked magnificent. So did the stars. I was infinitesimally closer to them now.Thanked my partner in the climb before taking some snaps(Just in case you doubt this story) and we were having a good time till a frail sound reached us. No surprises, our friend who gave up the climb had reached msl and was cursing at us.We responded to the pleasantries appropriately.Strangely, the strong winds made the swearwords sound sweet.With one final inspection of the world around us from 130 ft above msl we returned to the base station.The descent was much tougher than the ascent. Remember that joke?…Khudi ko kar buland itna chadha woh jaise taise, Khuda ne bande se kaha, “Abe, ab utrega kaise?”

The peak was scaled, a dream was fulfilled,a goal became a place to rest.Surely there should be taller ambitions in life!!!But for the time being, I still enjoy looking at the tip of the tower whenever I get a chance to visit my alma mater

Advertisement