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 was a bit reluctant to take orders from me as he thought I was not familiar
with the machinery he was handling. Both of them used to take up some sundry
work in the staff quarters to make a few extra bucks. This was the time
television broadcast was initiated from Calicut. Our campus being 22 km away
from the city, to get a reasonably
strong picture signal, it was necessary to use very tall antennas. At times, three full length pipes had to
be joined together
to form a tall pole with the
antenna at the top. Kannan and Bhaskaran, as they were good workmen,
decided to make use of this opportunity to make some quick money. They used to do an excellent job, though very
risky. Mounting the three-length long pipe welded together with the antenna on top
and getting the tv antenna turned to get a reasonably good picture was a very
difficult task. They used to install
such antennas on at least 2 or 3 houses during their holidays, particularly
during week ends. They used to collect a
reasonably good amount for their
work and the residents were only happy
to pay them.
Our professor Dr.P.S.Srinivasan as Chief Warden had observed their dedication to work. When they applied
for the post of attender in the department, they were successful. It was easy
for Bhaskaran to adapt to the laboratory work without much difficulty. They did
not have much work except keeping the machines tidy, collecting the connecting
wires, keeping the laboratory clean, etc.
Kannan, on the other hand being more used to outdoor type work was bored
by not being able to do anything serious and felt uncomfortable. At that time,
staff members in our electrical maintenance unit and electrical laboratory were
in a common group. He made a request to be transferred to engineering unit. As
the junior most in the electrical maintenance unit, he was ready to take up any
risky work including climbing on to electrical posts.
I was once watching my
students drawing in the main drawing hall on the second floor of the main
building. Usually in the drawing class, the teachers had little work except
during the first half an hour in which we used to give instructions for
drawing. I was watching the road in front of the main building leading to the
Calicut Mokkam road. I noticed a few staff of the electrical maintenance unit
working on the electrical posts. Suddenly, I saw one of the staff members
falling down from a height and a few people assembled near him. I also ran down
the stairs and reached the spot and found that Kannan was lying on the floor
and was in acute pain. Some of the persons assembled were massaging his body
thinking that he had an electric shock. They called for a vehicle and took him
to the health centre. As the doctor was not available in our health centre, he was taken to the medical college
immediately. Thinking that there are only minor bruises on his body, we went to
back to our work. It was only the next
day we heard that the injury to Kannan was serious and that he had a major
spinal injury. As he was changing the bulb in one of the street lights he
slipped down and fell with his back of the neck hitting on a stay wire. He suffered a fracture
of his spine which resulted in paralysis of the bottom half of his body. He struggled between life and death for
almost one year. We, the staff members in the department and the college tried
to help his family to the maximum extent. However, in spite of the family
spending whatever they had and could borrow, by the end of a year, he breathed
his last. The family was broken mentally and financially.
As the accident occurred while
he was on duty, his son was eligible for a job in REC Calicut under the ‘dying
in harness’ category. The job given to him was not according his educational
qualifications as a suitable post was not available at that time. He was posted
as attender in the library even though he was a graduate. After two years, two
posts of library assistants became vacant and the administration decided to
promote the attenders qualified for the post by conducting a test and
interview. The Principal entrusted me with the job of conducting a suitable
test in Malayalam for the applicants. Subsequently an interview was also held
with two library science experts from outside. When the results of the test and
interview were added and tabulated, we found that there was a tie for the
second position, but the first position was clear. When the Principal asked me
how to break the tie, I suggested breaking the tie by choosing the one with
higher marks for the test. Accordingly, we prepared the rank list and got it
approved by the panel members. I was not sure who were the persons selected as
I did not know the names of many of the library staff.
When I went to the library two
days later, the two persons selected came to me to say thank you. The person
who was ranked first was an elderly person known to me and he introduced the
second ranked person to me as the son of our Kannan who died in the accident 2
years back. I had not seen this young man earlier as I did not get any chance
earlier either inside the college or outside. I was very happy to hear that the
person selected by my ‘casting vote’ was the son of our dear Kannan. My
happiness was doubled because I could do this great help to the bereaved family
without realising it at that time.
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