How I became a teacher ?

  It was on June 12 th , 1975 that the High Court at Allahabad ruled that the election of Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India was void as her election agent who was a government servant used government machinery for her election campaign. Even though Justice. V.R.Krishn Iyer, Supreme court judge, with an interim stay, allowed her   to continue as PM   without salary as an MP, she preferred to get a state of emergency declared   by the President of India, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and assumed all powers   of the Parliament on her own. She went to put several opposition leaders   in   jail. The conditions in R E C Calicut in this period as stated earlier were very bad. Even before this, there were isolated cases of Naxalite attacks in different   parts of Kerala. Being the only institution in Kerala where large number of students from the North East and West Bengal study, it was suspected that some Naxalites may be hiding in the REC hostels. Loca...

  Among the different students’ hostels in REC Calicut at that time,   E hostel was   the   farthest   from the administrative block with a small   compound wall separating the   hostel and campus from the Kattangal market. This was the hostel in which I was staying immediately after joining REC in Sept 1969 as resident warden. I became warden of this hostel also under the guidance of Dr.P.S.Srinivasan as Chief warden. The inmates of the E hostel were the senior most students just waiting for the final examination    and results so that they can get some job at the earliest and start a responsible life for themselves and the family which brought them up. Most of them were quite mature, but there were also a few mischief makers.   Every hostel has a reading room called Common Room (CR) which is open only between 4 PM and 8 PM every day. There was no TV at that time, an old radio will be available from which someone will be hearing the c...

  The period from 1975 – 78 was a very difficult time in REC Calicut, for teaching staff, nonteaching staff and students. Small problems which could be solved as and when it occurs took gigantic shape over the years partly due to the rigidity of the administration and partly due to the callous dealing of these. Most of the problems associated with students were connected with ragging, now accepted as a social evil. Once upon a time, REC was notorious for ragging. The students in REC were coming from different states with different cultural backgrounds. Many of them must have been staying outside their house for the first time. Totally new people coupled with totally new environment and even unfamiliar food make these teenage children homesick and tense. In addition, the troubles brought on them by seemingly harmless ragging by the seniors were sometimes enough to upset their balance. Ragging starts in simple harmless mode as just familiarization with the seniors but sometimes there...

  REC Calicut Campus is spread over almost 400 acres and nearly 500 or more families were staying in the campus even in the 70s. Number of residents including teaching, nonteaching staff and students were more than 2000 at that time itself. We have a small health centre for immediate medical attention to the residents. Two doctors, two nurses, a pharmacist and an attender were available as staff members. Five beds were available for inpatients in our mini-hospital. One of the doctors, designated as Resident Medical Officer used to stay in the campus. RMO is supposed to attend to any case emergency round the clock. Most of the common medicines were available and if medicines are to be bought from outside, medical reimbursement of the expenses were available, if it is purchased with prescription of the medical officers. If the patient requires specialised help or hospitalization, the doctors used to send the patient to Calicut Medical College in the college vehicle, if available. B...

  In many of our lives, there   are   occasions   in which   you do   something   unintentionally but later realize that you have   done   something good to   help an individual or a family. Let me present the story of a part time helper who was also an employee of the college. Kannan and Bhaskaran were both employees   of the hostel mess. Kannan was in the flour mill where   the wheat   and rice were powdered. Bhaskaran was helping as a phone attender and assistant   to   the steward. He was appointed as   phone attender. Kannan was also looking after the maintenance of the wet grinders in the different mess halls. Kannan was directly under my supervision as Warden in charge of Central Stores when   Prof   Srinivasan   was   the   Chief Warden. Both of them were very good at their respective jobs. The only problem with Kannan was that he was a little over confident in his work and...

In the early   years, Regional   Engineering Colleges   were   mostly teaching   institutions. Very little research work was being done and teaching was given paramount importance. It is only in later years that members of faculty have   started showing more interest in research and publications. The reason for this, obviously, is the    importance given for research, publications and consultancy in career promotions. Over-emphasis on research and consultancy results in teachers spending less time in the preparation for teaching. It is well known that in I.I.Ts   members   of faculty who are good in research and consultancy go up the   ladder faster than those   who are   only good teachers. Exceptional teachers like Dr.V.G.K.Murthy   in I.I.T. Madras and   Prof A.K. Mahalanabis in IIT Delhi were clear exceptions as they were exemplary teachers and   brilliant researchers at the same time.   Ideally res...

  After graduating in Electrical Engineering from Kerala University in 1968 with a good First Class and Distinction and First Rank from Kerala   University, I could have tried to join Kerala State Electricity   Board or Public Works Department   or any other public sector undertaking as Electrical Engineer and settled down. Compared to teaching, the    job of a practicing engineer was much more lucrative, respected and dignified in society. It is well known that an engineer does his job by hand but a teacher does his job with his tongue. But I preferred to join an engineering college as that I thought that this is the best job for going for higher studies. I thought that I can still work as an engineer after completing my higher studies. However, only later I came to know that in India, an engineer teacher will always remain a teacher as the industry takes teaching as an inferior job. In many reputed universities abroad, in USA, Europe, UK etc, engineers an...

  The first engineering college to start functioning in Kerala was the College of Engineering Thiruvananthapuram in 1939. The second one, Government Engineering College Thrissur started functioning only in 1957. The first engineering college under private sector started its operation in 1958 at Kollam, T.K.M.College of Engineering due to the sole efforts of a great humanitarian   Jb.Thangal Kunju Musaliyar. Subsequently N.S.S.College of Engineering   College (1960) Palakkad, Regional   Engineering College Calicut(1960) and Mar Athanasius College   Kothamangalam (1961) started functioning.   The aim of starting Regional Engineering Colleges in each one of the states   was to have a model engineering college in each state as ‘pace setters’.   Indian Institutes of Technologies were too few in number, set up at Kharagpur, Bombay, Delhi, Madras, and Kanpur. RECs were set up as a second-tier models for the other colleges in the state. However, formati...

  In an   earlier   episode, I had   briefly   indicated how   my wedding was   fixed with a   third   cousin of mine on a Sunday   after a tasty   masala   dosa   in D Mess. The   wedding   was solemnised at Gruvayur   on 4 th Dec   1969 and we   returned   to my brother’s house in Palakkad after the   function   on a Saturday.   Tea   party   to my brother’s   friends   were scheduled    on Saturday and as I had only   one day’s   casual leave, I had   to return   to   college   by Monday morning. It was only during   the Xmas   holidays   we could go to our native   place and spend sometime   together. After   visiting our relatives   houses, we returned   to REC campus even   though   we could   not get a quarter   to live. We   stayed   in the ...