Thursday, February 21, 2013

The Utility Building



The UTILITY  BUILDING of Bangalore somewhere in the middle of M G Road and the only sky-scraper of Bangalore City with some 24 floors. Adjacent to this building is the Mayo Hall and gives a striking contrast to the Old and new of Bangalore city.


The Mayo Hall- It was built during 1875-1883 and named for the sixth Earl of MayoRichard Bourke, who was the fourth Viceroy of India, who was assassinated in 1872 in The Andaman and Nicobar Islands.The word "Mayo" has Irish roots.


Richard Bourke

Diagonally opposite to the Mayo hall today there is a Shopping mall which used  to be the site of VICTORIA HOTEL  which was a bungalow converted into a hotel.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The Bangalore University


The Bangalore University has for long been a key aspect of the educational climate of  Bangalore . This University owes its existence to Mysore University from which it emerged first as an outfit at the Central College campus which has largely Victorian style structures in the heart of the city. For long all the educational institutes of the city and its surroundings were affiliated to this university. Today the trend of creating independent private Universities have been the order of the day owing to huge demand for education and the inability of Universities to meet dead-lines. I used to know Mr. Thimappa who was the vice-chancellor of this university and was an eminent and eloquent speaker and an scholarly person per-se.

The main campus of the Bangalore University can be seen on Mysore road called as Jnanabharathi  and is a junction on this stretch of highway and the Mysore-Bangalore railway line runs overhead and there is a Jnanabharathi railway station near-by where only passenger trains stop. This campus like any other University campus in the country is impressive with many buildings and departments over a large area..apparently it appears this area and the areas adjoining it have been some kind of forest once upon a time.

It appears to me that the British made a mistake of not creating an " I Ed S  " Indian Education Service on the lines of other civil service like the IAS where youngsters are taken to hold academic posts in statutory institutions. There is so much of clamor and uncertainty when the Govt. has to appoint a Vice-Chancellor to some university for the sheer confusion it creates for want of a clear-cut and merit based formula. Simply said some of the better academicians do not get into the post or is difficult for them to sustain for long. A service as mentioned above would give instantly a pool of people who can govern a University. It is high time the Government embarks on creating such a service or move some of the existingand willing  IAS ; IPS and similar cadre into I Ed S and formally initiate them through some mechanism and the yard stick or guideline must be the ABILITY TO TEACH.

Bangalore University has produced many distinguished luminaries in various feilds and has a legacy of its own which the University has to preserve and let that culture of Compassionate teaching for personal excellence for which educational processes in this part of the world was known for since time immemorial continue to be a guiding factor as always.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Raja Rajeshwari Arch


The Raja Rajeshwrari Arch on Mysore Road supposed to be have been constructed by Shri M S Ramaiah. The Rajarajeshwari temple is close to this point and leads to it. This point must be some ten kilometers from the city bus station and City market.

Monday, February 11, 2013

MY TRAINING INSIDE INDIAN TELEPHONE INDUSTRIES

During the fag end of my stint at the technical school I spent about a month or so purposefully as an un-paid trainee inside the Indian Telephone Industries which needs elaboration. On being given a pass I could move in and out of the factory at will and also had the opportunity of using the canteen.

On the first day I was led to the training department. I remember the names of few fellow trainees from the REC  Kurukshetra by name Sunil Kharit a resident of Dandeli and from the colony of its paper works and another by name Gopalakrishnan. I found that ITI had a well stocked library with many books relating to Technology and was well designed and maintained. I couldnt help feel a sense of sentiment that my father worked in this set up for nearly forty years largely doing a very good job at manufacturing a skill he had in abundance.

ITI to my understanding made three things. Exchanges, Telephones and  Relays. Strowger exchanges gave way to Crossbar and finally to Electronic exchanges and I happenned to see all these varieties. Crossbar had a very short  lifespan being replaced by the electronic genre almost instantly. ITI from a scientific stand-point was a factory largely involved with electromagnetism that finds application in telephony. This meant winding and winding machines were a key component of what ITI did. The founders of ITI and what it stood for needs appreciation for one reason that had it not been for ITI  India would not have had a basis for the Telecommunication revolution we see today..because ITI largely personified both advantages , problems and pitfalls of telephony as it stood during these times. ITI  acted as an  R and D base for telecommunication in India which grew at a slow pace and then grew in leap and bounds somewhere making its basic crucible and master called ITI redundant in the process.

It was nice to see a strowger exchange work with various kinds of electromagnetic selectors working in rotational and vertical axes. It was a crude technology but acted as a basis for exchanges which more or less work on similar principles today called Switching..though we use Computer based systems or IC technology.  I could see some elderly people work fanatically at winding the selectors and the like. But much of the work was done manually. Today exchanges are a different cup of tea quickly assembled using electronic components on fast robot like pre-programmed machines.

ITI made Telephones first of the rotating type followed by push-button at assembly lines in F-51 a code name given to Factory - 51. What I saw inside ITI was an effective and hard-working Industrial enterprise run on modern lines of these times contrary to what is generally spoken of a public-sector. I saw enthusiasm a the work place and a dynamic Industrial organization. ITI gave me a good foundation on telephony and I cherish my stint at this place and was an educational experience par-excellence.

Two R and D departments adorned this place a Transmission R and D near the main-gate and a Switching R and D near the Hospital gate with many engineering graduates manning things. The lawns of ITI in front of the administrative office also added charm. The corporate office of ITI was for many years in the Bangalore city atleast shifting locations once.

ITI  has slowly become the grand-father of Indian Telephony ..its son being the fast Electronic Exchanges and its grand-son being Mobile telephony but this Grand-father is eternal and needs to be taken care of in some form and all its resources oiled and re-furbished come what may from time to time and ITI must continue to do without deviation Telecom activities of various kinds related to modern times and in the process retain all its resources and composure. Government must think on an incessent and on going way to re-invent ITI from time to time.