The Cherupuzha (Chaliyar river tributary) near REC NIT - Calicut:CALICUTCITY

Few  kilometers behind the REC NIT Calicut is a river. This must be one of the many rivers that flow into the Arabian sea from the western ghats. (I did a full fledged course on Environmental Law at NLSIU  by which my very awareness about the environment stands increased and compounded.). I understand now that the water supply of many cities in the world is undertaken from the rivers that flow by and there will be no rivers in the absence of mountain ranges. How ever technically brilliant one might become mankind is always subservient to nature for his fundamental needs. The Romans appear to me were one of the first in this class to build aqua ducts that brought water from rivers into cities and it continues to this day.

The river that flows nerar REC NIT _Calicut is the source of water for the campus. I have written elsewhere that water is pumped from this river to a water treatment plant near the D hostel gate from where it is pumped into over head tanks. I  think the name of this river is Chaliyar and a bridge over this river can be seen  at Chathamangalam .

Many students who play Holi visit the banks of this river for cleaning up their colored countenance. They move in large numbers during the afternoon of this day and take the approach road adjacent to the E - hostel. Even I was drawn into the Holi melee though inadvertently and dumped into large cans of colored water. My room mate Binod Anand Mishra did this to me once and I have not forgotten his grin seeing me half immersed in color.

I fondly remember this river for other reasons. Many times few of us would take a stroll to this river and sit on its banks for tew hours..the errie silence with the noise of the river rustling beside and the thick vegetation around and the sands reflecting the evening sun light made a perfect setting . We used to take the approach road adjacent to co-operative society and largely a winding and hilly terrain and it must be around three kilometers from our campus and stopping for tea at some road side stall.

I dont know what this place looks like now. Things must have changed and transformed by the pressures of time. Somewhere I read that a bridge has come up over this river linking Koduvally with Kettangal. Incidentally Kettangal is the hamlet or a cross-road adjacent to our campus and must have made travelling time lesser between these points and also changing the environmental equations of this place.

JAMES RANDALL my friend

I had an English man friend for some time...James Randall. Somewhere in 1991    I had been to Mysore for an SSB interview and in the hotel happened to meet this well behaved and suave Englishman who was a tourist.He was sitting almost opposite to me and we began to speak. I had given him my residential phone number and had forgotten about him. But when he reached Bangalore James Randall thought it befitting to give me a call and note that we were not in the era of mobile phones and I met him without difficulty at  the Central Railway station and spent a day walking through Bangalore. He did give me his residential address and happened to correspond few times and to my dismay I lost his address of his home in England.

I did search for him on several search engines and there were too many people with this name around the world .If James Randall were to ever see this write-up get in touch with me and this time around possibly he might walk me through London.

The PEENYA Industrial Area

There are many industrial areas or estates in Bangalore. They form a very important component of economic activity in the city and deal with various kinds of complex technologies. There are competent entrepreneurs who are at the helm of these enterprises and are a hub of dynamism and activity. I have visited many of these industrial areas for professional reasons and have returned amused at the organized way in which they perform and produce various kinds of products and services and in a competent way.

The many industrial estates of Bangalore are  Electronic city; Peenya industrial area; Koramangala Industrial area; rajajinagar indusrial area; Mahadevapura Industrial area; Mysore road Industrial area; the Anekal Industrial area  and tucked between these areas are smaller industrial communities and townships.I have visited the Baikampady industrial area in Mangalore and the Sadaramangala industrial area in Tumkur and Sriperumbadur industrial estate in chennai..

The striking aspect of these industrial communities is the complex technologies around which they work. From electroplating to CNC machines to ceramics to information technology they have them all. I don't know if there is any other city in the world to my knowlege that houses such a large congregation of industrial outfits..I guess not ..tucked under the salubrious climate of this city these outfits must be performing at the height of their abilities and potential .  In the absence of such sectors the larger industrial houses of a country will feel handicapped and act as feeders to larger industrial establishments. What spurred the growth of these units and to a large extent it appears to me is the many public sector units around the city who demanded various forms of industrial services.

The center of the city to my mind is M G Road....from this point one can get access to all the arterial roads that form the life line of the city. The major roads that exit from the city are the Old Madras Road ; the Hosur road; the Bellary and Tumkur roads and the Mysore road. If we were to traverse in a concentric way the Mysore road leads to the Tumkur road then to the Bellary road then to the Old Madras road and then to the hosur road and back to the Mysore road. Roads like Bannerghatta road and Kanakapura roads are some kind of  sub arteries to the above set of main lines. Why have I outlined these roads..there is a reason..for most of these industrial estates what I talked about must be at a distance of some 20 kms from M G Road and spread into territory between these arterial lifelines of the city.

The major or the largest if one may call of the industrial estates of the city is the Peenya Industrial area and is adjacent to the Tumkur road and possibly extends upto the fringes of the Mysore road..a large area and chunk of territory inhabited by a wide variety of industrial sectors..mammoth in its disposition and complesx and intriguing in its appearance. My earlist assosiation with this estate was for a conference held by the NPC  national productivity council as a sponsored canditate from BPL and almost at the same time had some fixtures fabricated at Amba metal works for the BPL factory. Little did I know that at a later point in time would have a very steady and long drawn association with this township largely interacting or associating on a more intense scale the many entrepreneurs at this place and coming to know largely first hand their trials and challenges and impediments. 

Peenya Indutrial Area has four phases and two stages. This is my analysis and i have found these nominations confusing. The demarcating lines between the peenya industrial area and the yeshwantpur industrial area is confusing...however the Peenya indutrial area starts  somewhere from the Wipro Fluid Power factory on the tumkur road. This is the first stage and first phase it appears. Behind the Wipro Fluid Power factory are a cluster of manufacturing enterprises like TVS Electronics...Karmobiles...Welcast Steels..Triveni Engineering...Gemini dyeing and spinning mills..ITC to name a few. When you come down the main road there is the Dasarahalli circle and to the left one enters the main estate and possibly the second phase. The second phase possibly ends somewhere at NTTF and gives way to the second stage which houses the third and fourth phases. Note that my demarcation may not be perfectly right but it would suffice to appraise the first time evaluator of this place the enormity of the place and its constituents. The industrial outfits that compose the estate have made a formal association called the PIA peenya industrial association and has its office adjacent to the main road that enters the main estate. I had conducted a conference here on ISO 9000 in the auditorium of this office.

Let me see if I can recollect the names of few people I knew at this place...Prithviraj of a cardboard casing company; Jayaram of  Fluostart; Ajmani of Fluolite; Prathapan of TAP; Uthamman of Glastronix; Iyer of Electronics and Controls; Sudarshan of Devaki Engineering; Howard Martindale of Krone Communications and a German lad Tellar in one of the organizations. ABB and Kirloskar too have their endeavors here.

I believe small scale sector has two problems . ONE  the needs for managerial training for the perpetrator and skill upliftment for the worker..TWO the need to control economics of the business and more than anything so the outstanding  collections. To solve the first problem some kind of mandatory training must be provided through some institutions dedicated for this purpose. To solve the second problem some kind of special courts could be set up to provide relief for an entrepreneur from some one who willfully defaults on outstanding payments.

The University of Calicut

The University of Calicut is one of the earlier universities commenced in Kerala and REC of our times was affiliated to this University and somewhere a piece of good fortune for the students of our times. The University is situated at a place called Tenhipalam some 30kms from Calicut town. Calicut is called Kozhikode in the vernacular. There were two other engineering colleges affiliated to this University and they were College of Engineering Trichur  and NSS college Palghat. I have not visited these two colleges and are also some of the engineering colleges started in Kerala earlier on.

The University of Calicut buildings look impressive for any casual traveler who takes the highway that runs along side the University and now to take note that at the back end of our education existed this monolith is somewhere exhilarating. For me especially exposed to the education system of Kerala all of a sudden having had my formative education under a totally different system in Bangalore found it essential to re-position myself vis-a-vis the demands of this University. But I give full points to this University and what it stands for.

There was an awful practice at this university when we were first year students...postponement of exams. This errant phenomena was arrested by Dr. S U Pillai when he took over as Principal in 1983 and thereafter exams were conducted in clockwork precision with no postponement whatsoever..Dr. S U Pillai deserves credit for this.

Now REC being re framed as NIT and being autonomous may have no links with this university so to say and may be missing the prop that this establishment had earlier provided. I am told an engineering college in its own right has been created by Calicut University called CUIET as a replacement for the erstwhile REC and I am told is an institution to reckon with. This is a positive development. It would be very worthwhile for me to point out that Dr.S U Pillai had vehemently campaigned for academic autonomy for REC Calicut in 1983 and was fiercely committed to this goal. There was an open house discussion in the auditorium of REC and even I spoke for a few minutes on why academic autonomy should be granted to REC. REC has indeed become academically autonomous in its revised version as NIT.

I must have visited University of Calicut few times, first in 1984 with my class mate Om Prakash Jha..I dont remember for what reason. The Pareeksha Bhavan used to be on the left side of the road as we approach the University from Calicut and was a small building. The present structure within the fold of the University campus must have been occupied in 1985. During these times there was only one photocopying machine that too down the road and worked on the older form of exposure technology and not the automatic ones we see today. I had visited the University for a non-academic purpose once in 1985 for some function relating to Sports in the REC college bus and on our return journey had given P T Usha and  O M Nambiar a lift in our college bus.

What I like about the University of Calicut is the impressive buildings..At least I found them impressive. I think the University by itself must not just be a Pareeksha Bhavan and must focus on researching subjects,the examination and its patterns, and take a more proactive approach may be in supervising the educational institutes under its fold which it must be doing with increased vigour now and attempt to personally know every single student under its rolls and their aspirations.

Does V K Krishna Menon have a Nambiar Connection

V K Krishna Menon is often revered in India and the world for his large scale contribution to the strengthening of a fledgling nation post independence and his rapport with Jawaharlal Nehru.. a formidable combination and meeting of minds leading to a very dedicated and honest team work touching various levels of Indian polity and governance. I happened to visit the V K Krishna Menon museum in Calicut.

But I find something startling about this man that from his father's side he  appears to be from the family of the Raja of  Kadathunad who are from the Nambiar clan and were feudalatories of the Kolathiri. Kadathunad would translate to the modern region around Vadakara. The words Kolathiri and Kadathunad would need more research.

This would point to the possibility of V K Krishna menon having a Nambiar ancestry from his father's side which might need some probing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq94bF0E50c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ogVgU7LEe0

PAPPACHAN HOTEL near REC NIT CALICUT

Near the boundary wall behind the DB (departmental building) is a "rustic eat-out" called "Pappachan" unique in many ways and used to be a convex point for staff and students alike.

What was unique about this place. It used to be some kind of conical structure made of thatched roof with a seating capacity of about ten. Rice was not served in this place..it would be chappathi with dry dishes made from ladies finger and the like..there used to be curd served in a tumbler, glass of milk and only half boiled eggs and used to be clean..spick and span. and of course tea was available any time. Papachan used to be run by an elderly man at that time supported by younger associates.

We students used to get a 15 minute break both in the mornings and in the evenings between lectures and a quick visit to Papachan was always on the cards. There use to be a radio playing the local radio station always which was characteristic of this place. S R Sampath , Sudan Su Mohan Jena and myself ....we used to visit this place for tea on a regular basis and some times sneak through the back door when the faculty was busy teaching.

I visited Papachan many years later on a unscheduled visit to REC and asked for the elderly man ...who appeared no sooner and was all too cheerful to see me and did not accept the amount for a curd that I had. This was emotional for me as well as him that I had the courtesy to specifically ask for him on my visit.

Many  more such eat-outs must have surfaced around this place now. Papachan was unique in many ways..its strict vegetarian diet...the cleanliness...the thatched roof  ..the rains outside and the All India radio programmes of Calicut Station...and the quick service of   Radha the service boy..the half boiled eggs..the spoon to break it and the fresh glass of milk.

Basket Ball at REC NIT Calicut

Basket ball used to be a favorite past time for many at REC NIT Calicut. It was a favourite past time for me too. As we enter the Main Building on the left side used to be the lone basket ball court of our times. Way back in 1983 there were discussions about setting up a fiber glass basket ball court which must have come to fruition now. There were quite a few who played basket ball during our times. Chellamuthu a sturdy six footer and my senior by a few batches had represented the South Zone. During my first year I used to play very regularly with senior students like Martin and Placid Sam. Placid Sam Iam told later was the regional head of BPL.

I got some basic initiation into this game as a student at school and in the summer of 1980 had some formal training under the aegis of the ITI Sports club through a sports camp conducted by Mr. Somkumar who was a Karnataka State player and in the coaching sessions we were trained on faking, screening, dribbling, various kinds of shots and passing. This training stood by me in good stead. The sports club had issued certificates to the participants but I failed to collect the same due to some reason.

I regret not being a regular player for REC Calicut but was annointed the captain of the semester team and were runners-up on more than one occasion. playing for REC Calicut would mean taking protracted breaks from the educational process which was an unwelcome idea for me at that point of time as it would detatch oneself from the formality of education. I was sent for once in 1983 as the college team was to depart to Ooty for a tournament and I politely refused . George John , Jacob Simon were all players on our semester side and I remeber another lad from Chennai who was in civil engineering whose name I fail to recollect now. Playing in the rain was a very interesting exercise with  occasionally some one falling after slipping off some marshy patch.

I very distinctly remember a match in 1983 where we were playing our junior semester and with just 30 seconds left both the teams had scored an equivalent amount of goals.The ball was in my hand ..and it was almost centre court..and i could sense the defences of the rival team were very stiff and I could see many of the positions in the front asking me for a pass..i could somewhere sense the futility of making a pass at that crucial juncture... and from the centre took a very long set shot and it was a goal and I more than very vigorously cajoled the entire team from preventing the rival team from making any advanced into our side and i took on the responsibility of covering one of their key players and  before long the 30 seconds had elapsed and we won the match. had I not made that decision at that juncture we would have lost or more precisely a defanite result would have been delayed. The talk of the hostels during the several ensuing days were my goal and how it helped our side win the match.

I think sport is an important component of an Education system. I noticed a very startling co-relation at REC Calicut in that most of the students who maintained very high grades hardly or never participated in any sport. Is this pointer to suggest that to maintain high grades one must avoid sports. I could not resist sports at that age and the path of no sport was not an option acceptable to me on any count. I think the Universities of the world must inculcate in their final mark sheet a colum that would be indicative the sport in which the incumbent participated in a formal or non-formal setting so that any man who likes a game would continue playing it with due assurance that his passion and occupation with the game is very much in the scheme of things and as one goes through the academic records recorded somewhere is a pointer to the sport that must have without fail shaped the overall persona and attitude of any person in question.