On 9th August 2025, we had our alumni meet at CSIBER, Kolhapur. This time, I decided to travel by public bus. As soon as my journey began, memories from nearly three decades ago came flooding back.

Twenty-eight years earlier, I had boarded a bus to Kolhapur for my master’s studies in Computer Applications. Until then, I had been a physics and electronics student, but with PCs gaining popularity, I grew curious about computers, cleared the entrance exam, and joined the course. On that three-hour ride, I was full of dreams about my career—though a small part of me worried if I had made the right choice. My thoughts were interrupted by the conductor calling out, “Shivaji Vidyapeet… Shivaji Vidyapeet…”—my stop. I got down, collected my luggage, and took an auto rickshaw to the CSIBER campus. Marathi was unfamiliar to me, but the driver spoke Kannada, so we managed fine.

By 3 PM, I had checked into the hostel—Room 17. I was the first to arrive, with no familiar faces around. The room was modest. Soon, I stepped out to explore, noting landmarks to find my way back. I wandered around campus, read the notice board about classrooms and labs, and eventually went outside in search of food and an STD booth to call home. I met some students near roadside tea stalls—Suresh’s and another I can’t recall. I found Gangaram’s STD booth, where the owner spoke Kannada and shared his number so I could call my family.

I was introduced to a group of Kannada-speaking students who guided me to Sheetal Mess, run by “Mama.” I bought a month’s meal tokens and promised to come for dinner. Later, I visited Guru Hotel for snacks—also run by Kannada speakers—and strolled along Rajarampuri Road, soaking in the atmosphere. That night, back at the hostel, I met more students, some warning of a snake that could enter ground-floor rooms like mine. I shut the windows, kept the light on, and stayed awake most of the night.

The next morning, I visited Mahalakshmi Temple, had breakfast near Bhavani Mandap, and returned for my first day of class. The classroom was lively, with students speaking English, Marathi, and Hindi. The first lecture was in an unfamiliar subject, and I understood little. My excitement peaked when it was time for the computer lab—finally, I would touch a computer! But my enthusiasm quickly deflated when I didn’t even know how to switch it on. My neighbor demonstrated, but the screen showed a “login:” prompt instead of my name. I left feeling humiliated and decided to quit and return to physics.

That plan changed when a senior MCM student befriended me, took me for tea, and explained the basics—booting a computer, using commands, and exploring DOS. Commands like tree fascinated me, and help opened a new world. I stayed in the lab practicing until late, forgetting all about leaving. Over time, with help from seniors like my hostel neighbor, Nana Mane, I became deeply interested in DOS 6.22, Novell NetWare, and more. By the end of the first year, I was comfortable in the computer world, ready to tackle challenging subjects in the second year—x86 programming, complex algorithms, operations research, and more.

My career later spanned multiple domains, but even now, I still use the same style of text-based tools—back then it was edura, today it’s mutt and pine.

Back in the present, the conductor’s call—“Shivaji Vidyapeet… Shivaji Vidyapeet…”—snapped me out of my reverie. This time, the road to CSIBER was familiar, the campus no longer new. Many old friends were there, and though no one used my nickname, it felt just like the old days.

That’s been my journey.