Book Review - BITS and pieces by Harshita Nanda

Setting the context (or should I say disclaimer) before I delve deep into this book review – I am a BITSian too, Harshita & Girija’s batchmate, have been their ‘wingie’ during my 5 years (a dualite) in BITS, Pilani. So as Girija mentions in the foreword ‘It was a pleasure illustrating her BITS and bits of my BITS through this wonderful book’, my book review might be a place where I share my BITS as I review Harshita Nanda’s BITS. So, if you feel my review is biased, you now know why!

By the way, if you are wondering what wingie means, you can read all about it in Chapter 23 of the book BITS and pieces : A Collage of My BITSian Memories 😊. 

Incidentally this is the first book that I got issued from the Blogchatter’s Book Review programme. 

I always read any book from the foreword to the glossary, and I was pleasantly surprised to find my name in the acknowledgment section of the book, and I was jumping up and down in joy because that made me feel it was like old times again, journeying together – took me back to our BSL days from when we were together in BITS. And the mention of BSL in Chapter 2 of the book took me on a trip down my memory lane which included the streets of Triplicane, Chennai (India), where one could scout for used books at heavily discounted price (better your bargaining power, the better is the deal). This was my go-to place for filling the racks of BSL with choice of books that I wanted to read and stock-up for my fellow BITSians. I am sure by now you are itching to know what BSL expands to😊, you can buy your copy of BITS and pieces and jump to Chapter 2.

As her narration continued from one chapter to another, my personal memories of BITS were also playing out in my mind and I vividly remember getting ready for the Fresher’s welcome in a Black & Grey silk saree (my Mom’s), as an invitee of Bharath (my now spouse) to his hostel (Ram Bhavan) day and then the memory is fuzzy. I don’t remember if I went and got back or as I came to the open space near the entrance of MB we were told that the fresher’s welcome was cancelled. Now you are wondering what MB means… I know 😊… There are two expansions for MB with a slight differentiation and both these expansions are part of the Chapter 13.

When I was reading the book, I noted down a lot of points and pages as references on which I wanted to talk about. Seeing how just talking about a couple of memories, has made my book review verbose, I am just going to add one more part of the book that was a pleasant surprise… It is a mention of me again in the Chapter 20, when she was talking about our cherished train journey on Tamil Nadu Express. While I knew I had relatives meet me at a couple of stations in between Madras (now Chennai) and Delhi, I completely zoned out on the home food that got delivered to me. This was a welcome aspect especially on our journey back home from Delhi as we would be dependent on the food from the pantry car or the snacks, we picked up on specific stations like Itarsi for bread omelette, Nagpur for the oranges (especially during the season) and Vijayawada for its Aam paapad.

 

A review of this amazing book, about BITS & its personal vocabulary which is weaved into our personalised memories for every BITSian, would be incomplete if I do not mention a few more things:

• Blue Moon's Fried Maggi is an emotion that connects generations of BITSians. (Chapter 3)
• Saraswati Mandir on the campus was my go-to place when I needed to centre myself. The inner sanctum and the lawns outside on either side of the temple were my favourite spots to achieve inner peace. The eyes of the goddess Saraswathi seemed to emanate compassion and love that felt like the fuzzy safe hug of a mother. (Chapter 19)
• OASIS - Annual BITS Cultural Fest - meant 5 days of staying outside the hostel without worrying about the curfew at girls’ hostel. Of course, the current generation would not know what that curfew meant as it has been removed. (Chapter 15)

I have just one disappointment as I was reading Chapter 15, which is, the club that I was part of when I was a student at BITS, Creative Activities Club (CrAC), which now has grown to the size of a department did not find a mention when Harshita was listing the various clubs & departments that functioned efficiently during the cultural fest of OASIS. Of course, we all were busy and engaged with our own personal groups and clubs that missing to name a couple of them is bound to happen. Yet, having donned the role of Joint. Sec and Secretary of this club for 2 consecutive terms, my attachment to this club made me feel sad when I did not find it in the list. We had various creative competitions in the Sky Lawns & Pappu’s chai was our staple drink during our college fests. 

Having talked so much about the book, my personal BITSian memory, I do not want to leave out speaking about the illustrations. I have loved Girija’s artwork from my BITSian days and actively follow her art journey on 2Flatbrush. My most favourite illustration in this book is for the Chapter 4, the letter D and of course the cover design. The common reason for liking these two is the Clock Tower, the iconic symbol of BITS, Pilani. The letter D also had the main entrance gate of our campus and the two convocation caps to indicate the unique dual degree programme, of which I am one of the beneficiaries.

BITS has been a significant piece of our lives to make a huge impact in the way we think, act, and speak. Our way of looking at problems were always as challenges that we would work to overcome, and this is what has helped many BITSians navigate change without too much of a resistance or hassle. We are ever ready to take on any challenge life has for us with a fighting attitude, and we almost always overcome the challenge with grace and success.

I mean, I would love to go on, but then this would not remain a book review of BITS & pieces then and turn into a memoire of my memories from my BITSian days. Every chapter I read, brought back memories that were personal to me, some that were overlapping with Harshita’s narration. Harshita’s narrative style captures the essence & spirit of the Pilani Campus of BITS, which is now an Institute of Eminence. 

For every BITSian alumni, this book & its narrative style would surely bring back memories and associated emotions in their fullest glory. For the current BITSian students, especially in Pilani campus, this book will serve as a comparison point to explore areas within the campus to see what has changed from the late 90s to current day. For future aspiring BITSians, I think this book will serve as a motivation to want to get to experience the magic of BITS that every BITSian will proudly vouch to and get a sneak-peek into the much talked about exclusive BITSian vocabulary. The illustrations are a true representation of everything that the words in the book talk about and close to the reality of what it used to be on campus in the late 90s and early 2Ks. You can buy this book of her’s, BITS and pieces, on Amazon. 

Harshita Nanda has also authored another book, Xanadu, which is also a title available on Amazon. Her work is also one of the featured works in the COVID-19 Anthology titled Life During COVID-19 by Antara Pandit. As a bibliophile she also shares a lot of book reviews on her personal blog, which you could use to update your To be Read list, if you have one!

I am participating in Blogchatter’s #TBRChallenge 2023. This post is part of that as well, in line with this month’s theme “My collection of books” and Blogchatter's #BookReview programme.