It's on to Nutan now. The main road through Nutan is now paved, and there are a gazillion more shops of all kinds.
Here's a store that would have looked bizarrely alien in
our time.
Our Nutan visit had to include a stop at Raju's.
Notice the new and shiny wares that are now standard
in any such store. Alas, we saw neither "modas" nor samosas,
both relics, apparently, from our forgotten age.
His brother, Sajjan, operates
a similar store in the town of Pilani.
We were lucky to meet both Raju (pictured in the middle above) and Kapoorji (whose picture appears later). Both refused to accept any payment from us, and both were glad to chat about old times. Raju in particular is bitter that no students come out to Nutan anymore. Gone are the days when students would have their 2 am chai in Nutan. The night canteen hanging off of the old Gym has killed business in Nutan, which now depends entirely on travelers.
Also pictured above is Mohan Lal, the budget officer of BITS, from whom I was at least able to obtain some financial figures about BITS. For example, did you know that a large part of BITS revenue comes from its distance learning program?