Down the memory lane

Early days

1950-Vikruthi Varsham-exactly 60 years ago- on May 14, I was born of late Sh. P.Kamakshi and Smt.Subbammal in Tanjore town, Madras state. I was the third of their six siblings. My horoscope was written on the reverse side of the monthly calendar sheet of May 1950 by a friend of my father, who was a horoscope writer. Unfortunately, it was misplaced some years ago. I distinctly remember the prediction that I would be academically brilliant and would, in the years to come, get into covetable administrative posts. Even thugh the predictions ran into 10 lines or so, it had fortold my future. I wish I had kept the horoscope along with my other papers. As years roled by, I realized that the predictions came true when I made into the covetable Indian Administrative service in 1978. Brilliance in academics, oration, writing and proved the predictions made in May 1950 cent percent correct.

My formative years were spent in Papanasam- a small town and Taluk Headquarters with a Govt.High School,few middle schools and Primary Schools. The entire taluk was/is fertile as four rivers flow along the boundary and one finds nothing but green paddy fields. The paddy fields would look like a single lush green carpet criss crossed with small irrigation canals . Almost, everyone was/is into agricultural operations either as a land lord or as a farmer.

I had my early schooling in St.Sebastian Middle School- a school run by Jesuits. The campus had Mary Matha ( Lourd Marry) Church as well. On many occassions, during leisure hours, we were made to carry on our head bricks/sand for construction of additional class rooms. It taught us the concept of "labour of love" and "Dignity of Labour". Of my early years, I distinctly remember 1955-the year I suffered from a severe bout of typoid and was admitted into Papanasam Taluk Hospital. After the fever subsided, I was advised by the doctor to stay on in the hospital for few more days for observation. Sitting in the bed, I played marbles with my elder brothers late Sh. Parameshwaran and Sh Somasundaram.

1960- I was studying V^th standard and our family was then living in Keezha Veethi (East Main Street). On a worst ever morning, we were woken up by the news that all the four rivers -Kudamuruti, vennaru, Vettaru and Chinnaru - flowing hardly one km away from our street were in spate and that people could not distinctly identify the rivers as the areas lying in between the rivers got submerged (some of them habituated) and flood would flow into the town any time. The villages lying along and in between the rivers were running the risk of getting submerged. The panicked villagers started cutting open the banks of the river running along the town at the apprehended points. The Revenue Department pressed into service a team of officials for rescue and rehabilitation. My father, being the local Revenue Inspector, led the rescue and relief team. Rehabilitation camps were opened in public buildings like schools and free meal was served to the affected.

As a 10 year old boy, I knew no swimming. However, I joined the group of adults ,without knowing the risk involved, that patrolled the river bank so as to ensure that it was not breached by the close by villagers. Where ever there was a sign of breach (of the river bank), we carried on our head containers (made of steel sheet) of sand and dumped them at the vulnerable points of the banks. I hardly bothered about the bandage covering my injured head then. Each one of us carried a lathi taller than one’s height. Such was the zeal and enthusiasm for service at a time of calamity. One found water all over, cattles, fowls, goats etc getting washed away; snakes and insects scrambling for survival.

Another incident (of course of academic interest) took place the same year on Gandhi Jayanthi Day. That was the day, I participated in the (Taluk Level) oratorical contest for School children at Vidhya Patasala, Papanasam. . That was my first attempt at an oratorical contest; yet I was blessed with the 1^st prize. I was presented with a book entitled “ Gandhism and Marxism”. It so happened that Indo-China war broke out in 1962 and the then Prime Minister late Sh. Lal Bahadur Sashtri appealed to the nation for liberal contribution of any kind to face the on slaught of China.

As student what can I contribute?.... was the question bothering me for quite some days. As the saying goes “The hand is empty; when the heart is full to help all men”, I did not have anything to contribute. Then I decided to handover the first ever prize I had won (the book Gandhism Marxism”) to my school master Sh. Lourdusmy as my contribution for the cause. Later, I understood that this book fetched two rupees, which was part of the donation my school had donated towards fighting the Indo-China War, 1962.

Another inaucuous but crucial incident that shapped my future was the message that my School Master Lourdusamy of St.Sebastian Middle school gave during one of the Thursday moral classess. He explained to us,the 7th Standard students, what IAS,IPS and CID stood for.While explaining the abreviation of IAS, he put it in such simple way that as an IAS officer one would become a District Collector and during that period one is the real monarch of the District.As a District Collector one would be able to render lot of help to the poor and the downtrodden and redress their grievances. That evening, I resolved that one day I should become an IAS officer . Even though I kept busy with various other extra curricular activities, I never lost track of my desire and determination to become an IAS officer. I worked on slowly but steadily during the the next 14 years and eventually made into the coveted Indian Administrative Service in 1978. Here, I cannot but mention the fact that my father late Shri.Kamakshy one day told me that out of his six children, only I had the ability to become an IAS officer and hence I should take my studies seriously and work towards achieving my goal.

In September, 1962 my father was transferred to the District Collectorate, Thanjavur. Naturally, our whole farmely was shifted to Thanjavour town. I did my High Schooling in Blake High School. I had the benefit of learning under teachers Sh. George, Sh. Bala Subramaniam, Sh. BalaKrishnan, Sh. Jagadeesan, Sh Shunugasundaram, Sh. A.S. George, Sh. Daksmnamoorthy and others. Sh. W.D. Muthiah was our school Head Master. They inculcated in me sense of discipline, service, hard work and above all honesty. They also provided adequate number of platforms to horn my skill in writing, debating, acting etc. For evey District level oratorical/essay writing both in English and Tamil, my school nominated me right from standard 8^th till school final (those days XIth Std was the last year of High Schooling).

I, like any other school student attended all the Independance and Republic Parades held at the District Police Ground,opposite to the District Collector's office. On such occassions, after the parade, children used to watch the flag Hoisting Ceremony at the Collectorate by the District Collector. I still remember the sight of an young, tall and fair looking District Collector( Shri.T.V Antony I.A.S.,) walking down from the first floor of the collectorte to hoist the tri colour. That sight made further fuelled my desire and made stay on course. I shunned all fun and frolic and became a serious student with only pursuit of my childhood ambition in my mind. Even after 60 years of my life, I cannot be frivolous and fun loving. I always console myself that one has to loose something to gain something else and that life cannot be a win-win situation. At the most, I used to take part in debates, essay writting competitions and acting in school dramas. Of course, I used to spend atleast an hour a day in the evening to play hockey, my favourite game. When I was selected for the School Junior Hockey team I informed my father of my selection . His curt advice was that either I should choose hockey or studies lest I would never be able to achieve my goal in life. What a sagacious advice it was, I still recall with admiration.

AS AN NCC LEADING CADET

On 26 February, 1967, the Co-operative Central Bank Ltd, Tanjore conducted an oratorical contest on “Benefits of Cooperative Movement” for High School Students at the district level. Having won the first prize, I was sponsored by the Bank to compete at the state Level Competition held on 29 April, 1967 at Chennai. That was my first ever trip to Madras,300 0dd Kms from Thanjavur. I was paid Rs.29 to meet my travel, board and lodging expenses.

Unfortunately, I could not win any prize at the state level. Participation in oratorical contests, competitions social events/functions, enabled me to develop confidence to face audience and speak coherently on any given topic. For that, of course, one had to do lot of reading. My teachers also helped in preparing me for such completions. I shall ever remember the contributions of my teachers in shaping me up into a good student and evently a good public servant.