the politician. His friend introduced Masti Ram as a prospective engineer and requested him for recommendation for a BE-Civil Engineering seat in a college. The politician, true to his stature rebutted saying, ‘You are too ambitious. Ask either for BE (Bachelor of engineering) or Civil engineering. Don’t demand both. I can’t get you both”. Masti Ram realized that he had made a mistake by buying his friend’s advice. He then decided to take up a graduation course from a subject in which he scored maximum marks in his higher secondary and that happened to be Chemistry. He took it up in a college in a near by city, which he did with ease.

It was during his college days that Masti Ram had wonderful time with himself and hiscollege mates. The college principal was a very jovial person. Being a Christian institution, the principal was fondly addressed by everyone as ‘Father’. Living up to the name, he had been so kind to everyone as long as they were good. When once the principal ‘father’ declared intentionally, the college as one of the best colleges in the city, it was Masti Ram who first burst into laughter. Because it was the only college that existed in that city! What a nice way of returning the ‘serve’.

The college days were extremely good for Masti Ram, particularly when he had so many interesting happenings around. This college had a peculiar system of assigning roll numbers to students. For a particular year of study, irrespective of the department, a common