THE BACK-HOLDER

HIDING IN SOME HOSTEL ROOM WITH PAIN,
FACING HUMILIATION AND STRAIN,
WONDERING WHERE HE LOST TRACK,
HE HAS SOME PAPERS THAT ARE BACK.


UNCLES' DESCEND FROM HOME,
ALL THAT OUR WARD DID HERE IS ROAM,
HE HAS SIXTEEN PAPERS TO CLEAR,
FELLOW SHOWS NO SIGN OF FEAR.


HIS FATHER HAS DEVELOPED PRESSURE,
MOTHER HAS INCREASED SUGAR,
ONLY HIS SISTER SUPPORTS HIM,
SAYING HE ALWAYS "FROTHS AT THE BRIM".


THE STEWARD DOES NOT WANT THEM AROUND,
THE WARDEN PROWLS AT THEM LIKE A HOUND,
RESIGNED TO A SORRY FATE,
REPULSION AT EVERY GATE.


IT COULD BE THE SYSTEM'S FAULT,
THAT THEY ARE IN A HALT,
OR ,THEY COULD HAVE BEEN SMITTEN,
IN THIS TENDER AGE OF FUN.


ALL OF THEM MAKE A GANG,
WE HAVE TO ACT AND BANG,
THEY UNDERTAKE SOME JOINT STUDY,
WITH RENEWED STRATEGY.


THEY ALL FILL THE FORM,
FOR THE IMPENDING EXAM,
EXUDING RARE GRACE AND FAITH,
THOUGH THEY ARE LATE.

IN THE EXAM HALL THEY WINK AT EACH OTHER,
WHAT WE ALL STUDIED IS HERE,
BEING CAREFUL AT EVERY STEP,
IT MIGHT BE THE LAST CHANCE TO PEP.


IN THE END HUG EACH-OTHER TO DEPART,
ALL OF THEM WITH A HEAVY HEART,
THEY ALL FACED A RARE PLIGHT,
AND  INVOLVED IN A PRICELESS FIGHT.


JUNIORS CALL THEIR HOME TO TELL,
THEY ARE OUT OF HELL,
THEY HAVE CLEARED THEM ALL,
THOUGH THE CHALLENGE LOOKED TALL.


BACK IS NOT A BAD WORD,.
MANY A DISTINGUISHED ARE HIDDEN IN THIS HERD,
LATE IN LIFE THEY MIGHT BLOOM,
NOW ,THOUGH THEY ARE IN A DOOM,
SUPPORT THEM  HANDLE THE BACK-LOG,
NEVER TREAT THEM AS A HOG,
THEY ARE SOMEBODY'S CHILDREN TOO,
ONE DAY CAME HERE FROM  'OUT OF THE BLUE',
GIVE THEM A LEGITIMATE PLACE TO STAY,
WHEN THEY ARE IN THIS FRAY,
NEVER TREAT THEM AS A PREY,
OVER SOME QUIRK OF FATE,
THEY ENTERED THE NIT(REC) GATE,
FOR THOUGH THEY NOW SWIM AGAINST THE TIDE,
COULD SOME DAY BECOME SOCIETY'S PRIDE.

Dr.Sarasu Esther Thomas Registrar NLSIU

Sarasu Esther Thomas who used to teach me Human Rights Law at the NLSIU and present Registrar of the University.

leg bye cartoon

Dr.M V Kesava Rao..FIRST DIRECTOR OF REC NIT CALICUT

There is an interesting anecdote in my life.I was travelling in 1998 from Bangalore to Chennai by a JTC corporation bus and happened to pick up a conversation with an elderly person sitting next to me who happenned to be the nephew of Dr.Keshava Rao the first principal of REC NIT Calicut from 1961 to 1969.He spoke to me at length about Mr.Rao and his trials as Principal at REC Calicut and political interference made him step down. Dr.Rao was earlier Principal of College of Engineering Trivandrum from 1950 to 61 and after his tenure as Principal of REC NIT Calicut  was at NIE Mysore.

The thought that a Mysorean was involved in laying and nurturing the foundations of  REC NIT Calicut makes a person like me feel proud.

ROHINI THE HALF ELDER SISTER OF MY MOTHER

MY MOTHER HAD A HALF ELDER SISTER WHO PASSED AWAY IN 1974 AT THE AGE OF FORTY DUE TO ILLNESS WHICH WAS PROLONGED. HER FATHER WAS A PISHARODY FROM PAYYANOOR.THIS LADY FACED A TOUGH LIFE IN THE RUSTIC ENVIRONMENTS WHERE SHE WAS REARED BUT WAS A FAIR AND TALL WOMAN OF APPEALING COUNTENANCE.MY TRIBUTES TO HER THROUGH THIS PAGE.

LEG BYE CARTOON

S L KIRLOSKAR

Shantanu Lakshman Rao Kirloskar

Few months back I was at the library of National Law School of India University and among the law books chanced to see a book personally written by S L Kirloskar. It made very interesting reading and I spent considerable time reading it.Sadly I  dont remember the exact name of the book but he has very lucidly and in very simple style elaborated his life in the early part of the 20th century and the early large scale manufacture of cycles by his father LAKSHMAN RAO KASHINATH KIRLOSKAR and later Pumps. He even explains the incidence of Plague to which his mother fell victim and their relocation to Belgaum if Iam not mistaken at length.Such books give deep insight into the era through which mankind progressed in general.