"M" for Aligarh

You surely must be thinking that i had something wrong in my nursery school education. No it isn't. I know that the word "Aligarh" starts with Alphabet 'A' but the most popular things Aligarh (to be more precise - AMU) was associated with, have thier names starting with the Alphabet 'M'.

In my times, I was told that there are 5 'M's in Aligarh which are very famous. Later in my life, when I met a very senior and impressive AMU Old Boy (an AMU alumnus is always called so), I was told they used to be 7. He counted all 7 in a row. I was startled. How can a person who left AMU in 1960's remember all this, so well. These 'M's could have been more than 7 or might have gone down to 3 but as per my knowledge, let me try to enumerate them here.

Matri (a crisp and round biscuit which looks like a compressed bun)

Machchar (of course, that ubiquitous creature which irritates u with its buzzing sound)

Makhkhan (the 20 gram piece of butter from CDF - Central Dairy Farm)

Muslim University (the reason d'aitre to be in Aligarh)

Marris Road ( a road which would look like any other road but isn't so)

Mumtaz Apa (Principal of Women's college around 1964-65), and

Masood "Tommy" ( A hilarious person who used to have oodles of wit and humor)

Well, this was my list, with a little bit of descriptions. And now an appeal to my fellow alumni.

You can correct me wherever I go wrong. And i know you can't resist that. So, just shoot me a mail on:

qaismujeeb@gmail.com

Please keep visiting this space to look more of such trivia. And do try sharing some of what you have of Aligarh. I'll publish it here with due credentials.

~ Qais