A day at the polytechnic: The doors of the polytechnic usually opened at 8.00 AM in the morning. Members of the staff and students started trooping in, well in time. Theory classes, tutorials and tests commenced at the stroke of 9.00 AM. When a student happened to be a bit late and found that the whole crowd was in, he would take a round or two of the sports track for atonement and move to the class. All eyes moved on him, when he entered the class and a nagging feeling sunk in him to ensure, that, he did not have to confront all that in future. There was no need for checking or recording of the late comers. There was an acute shortage of reading material for diploma students at that time and therefore, all lectures were written out in advance and write ups were provided to the students. Open book tests and tutorials were of two hours duration, keeping teachers always on the toes for satisfying the queries of the students. After lunch break, the afternoon time was utilized for laboratory practicals, workshops, drawing and fieldwork. Efforts were made to see that sufficient equipment and related help was available to every student to encourage him to work independently. The last bell rang at 4.00 PM in the evening and there was a sudden rush for the grounds. An hour or hour and a half of perspiring activity on the grounds followed, which culminated in the reverse flow of students and the staff back to their homes or hostels in late hours of the evening.
Boys Hostels: There was no hostel accommodation for the boys on the campus at that time. Most of the students were local and were living in the city. Some houses were taken on rent at Adarshnagar for utilization as boys hostels. Most of the teachers were local and were coming from the city. Some of the teachers rented available houses at Adarshnagar. We were fortunate to have a good house at a prominent place in Adarshnagar. The house had sufficient open space in the compound. Those were the days, when there were very few places for relaxation or entertainment in the city. We started screening some educational films alongwith feature films on 16 mm projector in the open ground of the compound on Saturdays and Sundays. The show on Saturdays used to be for the staff and their families and that on Sundays for the students and their parents and families. In course of time, the people of Adarshnagar started joining the show. Both the shows ran full and provided some sort of bonding of the staff and students with the local community.
Polytechnic in 1959: Ajmer Polytechnic had gone through the pangs of all types of make shift arrangements during its first year at Lodha Building.and was now comfortably located in the sprawling campus of Kshatriya Vidyapeeth at Makhupura. It was gradually getting an identity of its own. More and more people knew about the polytechnic and appeared to be keen to know more about its potential. Naturally, there were calls from all quarters for interaction. Those were the days when first five year plan of the country had completed its run and the second five year plan was in the process of development. Planned development was something new for the country and it kindled a lot of curiosity and interest in the people at that time. Development of Polytechnics was provided a push in the country as an integral part of the five year plans, with substantial emphasis on the needs of trained manpower for the future growth and development of the country. Naturally, I chose five year plans as the topic for pep talk and interaction with the local educational institutions and social organizations. It was a tremendous learning experience, talking to a wide range of people from different social, economic and educational backgrounds.
Bal Phulwari: Bal Phulwari was a local activity of children of Adarsh Nagar. The children of Adarshnagar, under the age of twelve could become members of Bal Phulwari. They met on Sundays at the residence of one of the members by rotation. One of the child members used to preside and other children took turns to make presentations of pep talk, music, skits or recitations. The duration of the meetings was about three hours from 9.00 AM to 12 Noon. It was a great learning experience for the children and helped considerably in the development of self confidence and community feelings among them.
This was going on for some time, when the organizer of Bal Phulwari happened to meet me at the polytechnic. Perhaps he knew that I was responding to invitations by educational and social organizations for talks. I was rather busy at that time, when he made his request for a talk at Bal Phuwari. I did not know him. I had not heard about Bal Phulwari till then and I did not know anything about the activities of Bal Phulwari. All the same, I thanked him and agreed to talk, as and when convenient to him. And on one Sunday I found myself in the community hall of Adarshnagar with members of the Bal Phulwari and their parents. I knew that I had agreed to give a talk and therefore, I had prepared a short write up about five year plans. I was carrying about twenty copies of the write up for distribution to the members. It was almost chilling, when I had a look at the audience. The members were children, commencing from two year olds, three year olds and so on. They were sitting on a carpet on the floor and were busy in all types of activities and tantrums, with their faces turned in all possibe directions, completely oblivious about the goings on. Some perspiration was natural, when I started imagining myself, talking about five year plans to this wonderful group. At the spur of the moment, I took out my write ups, tore down every sheet into two pieces and folded one of the pieces for the preparation of a boat. Then I demonstrated to the children, how a boat could be prepared from a piece of paper and started distributing pieces of paper to all those children, who were keen to prepare a boat. There was a glint in their eyes, as the children picked up the papers one by one. Within five minutes, the hall was buzzing with activity and all children were almost lost in building boats and I had some breathing time, for wiping out the perspiration.
Impromptu visit of the Chief Minister: One fine morning, the head constable of Adarshnagar Police Choki was standing before me in my office in the polytechnic. He told me that there was a message from the tehsildar of Jodhpur to convey to me that the Chief Minister wants to meet me immediately in the office of the Commissioner. That was the time, when there was no phone in the polytechnic and there were no other means of communication. Naturally, I picked up my bicycle and rushed to the commissioner’s office in the city. As soon as, I reached there, the tehsildar told me that the chief minister was waiting for me and ushered me into the hall, where the chief minister was presiding over the deliberations of the second five year plan of Ajmer. All eyes turned on me, when the chief minister told me to wait. I heaved a sigh of relief. The chief minister seemed to be keen to have one to one interaction with me. Thereafter, during the lunch break, the chief minister again told me to wait. After lunch, he told me to accompany him to the polytechnic. It was mid-day break, when we reached the polytechnic. Nobody expected the impromptu visit of the chief minister at that hour. However, I took him round and briefed him about all the facilities and goings on. In the end, I took him to the top of our little hill in the campus. That was the time when the secret was out. He asked me, whether there was sufficient water in the campus. I told him, that, there are eight wells in the campus and that we are utilizing only two, for meeting our needs for water.
An industrial estate was coming up mid-way between Adarshnagar and the polytechnic. It was all hilly terrain. Industrial sheds had been constructed. Some units had started functioning, but there was no water. It seems, that, the issue was raised during the discussions of the second five plan of Ajmer, when, somebody pointed out that sufficient water was available in the lands of Ajmer Polytechinc, which could be diverted to the industrial estate. It goes to the credit of Mohan Lal Sukadia, that, he did not take any snap decision in the matter. He seemed to be thoroughly satisfied after the visit of Ajmer Polytechnic and asked me whether, we could make some surplus water available to the industrial area. Naturally, we agreed to mark one well exclusively for the supply of water to the industrial area, whereas, PWD was entrusted with the task of operating and maintaining the well and for laying down a suitable pipeline from the polytechnic to the industrial area for distribution of water. The arrangement served the immediate needs of the industrial estate and remained in operation till alternative arrangements for water supply became available.