There was this bus which was the most eventful during my college days. More so because of its route as it seemed to drive through the central nervous system of Coimbatore. Bus number – 92A! Does it ring a bell?
This 92A hailed from the feet of Marudhamalai and flew down to the prairies of PSG Arts. Or Sitra as some may call the Airport Junction.
I don’t know of another bus which crisscrossed so many educational institutions of repute. Not to mention the number of schools in addition it served. Lawley road to Marudhamalai, which is now two-lane was already the home of two reputed Universities – The Tamilnadu Agricultural University and The Bharathiar University. And if you add the upcoming Anna University near the foothills, Whoa! Then it would be the only road linking 3 universities in a single stretch. So when I say Coimbatore rocks… It does!
Coming back to 92A, it covered the who’s who of educational institutions. I absolutely liked the novelty of getting a route like that for students except that, its timings were a little awkward for me.
The journey would begin at the foothills where it was also fueled with the blessing of the Lord at Marudhamalai. And before the driver steps on the gas pedal, it would have come to its first stop at the Law College. That’s the first ‘edu-stop’ if I may call it. The very next would be the Distance education cell, and then the Bharathiar University itself. The road then led to the next major stop at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. You just can’t miss admiring all its rich British Architecture on a green campus that extended both sides.
Taking its first turn, out of the arterial line will be to stop at one of the first DOTE 1 Govt colleges – the Govt College of Technology aka GCT. A short drive ahead it touches through the NSR Road to reach the Mettupalayam Road. Our hero then stops at the Avinashilingam University. Those times it wasn’t deemed as one today. After that it is only coincidental that it happens to fly high on the flyover.
As it winds down the road from the flyover there was one Sethupathi Institute. Wonder if it is still there. The bus loads and unloads at 100 ft road, Gandhipuram and then onto Bharathiar Road.
That’s where our next edu-stop is, the Women’s Polytechnic. And then, ladies and gentlemen… we reach the mother of all roads for education – the Avinashi Road! Starting from SNR and Hindustan, which were just the budding colleges then, comes along the first private DOTE1 College – PSG Tech fondly called as ‘Tech’. A seriously generic branding for PSG! Next stop was the Krishnammal and then came PSG IMSR – that’s the Medical College.
Oh and it did pass through the Hope College. Wherever and whatever the college is?
Then it took the narrow bridge those days to touch Coimbatore Medical College and Coimbatore Institute of Technology – another one of the only two DOTE 1 private colleges in Tamil Nadu! I remember the Govt Polytechnic and GRD College shared the same bus stop.
And Viola! There came my destination point… the PSG College of Arts & Sciences. Well that’s where I did my graduation. Later days the Arvind Eye Hospital also had its Post Grad institute there.
Given the odd timings of the bus, we could not venture much, but we did make some friends from few of those colleges I mentioned along route. I must congratulate the one who plotted this route in the first place. Unfortunately this bus service was later closed down.
Let me add a final glazing to our 92A, with the list of famous schools it passed through. Chavara, my own Chinmaya, Vadavalli High School, PN Pudur Govt School, Bharathi, Avila, Avinashilingam, Mani High School, Sri Ramakrishna, the schools under SNR, Hindusthan, Krishnammal, GRG, G Ramasamy, Naidu, KK Naidu, GRD… Phew!!
Oh there was another hero too… our own ‘Institution bus’ as we called it which had three routes from our college. My 2nd year’s travel memories were on my IB. That saved for another post.
Got any instances with 92A? Let me know in the comments.
Rep pic courtesy: brindhaavanam.wordpress.co
One post a day – Post 5/30
Representative Pic Courtesy: brindhaavanam.wordpress.com