Friday, November 20, 2015

1960 batch of B.Sc (Hons) Mathematics of Annamalai University-An appeal for any information

1960 batch of  B.Sc (Hons)  Mathematics    of Annamalai University-An appeal for   any information.
 
Sought  by
P.R.Ramachander

      Many  of  my young friends   may not about  the Intermediaate course  after  SSLC   and  the  post graduate  Hons programme  which  was existing  about  60 years  back in  South Indian  Universities. During those   times after  ten years  study in Schools   and completing SSLC or matriculation  Examination , students desirous of  higher studies joined  Intermediate  , which was a two year course  .This was followed by   graduation  of two years  duration  or a three  year post graduate   study  called Hons. The advantage  of Hons  course  was you can save one year  of post graduate  study  and the disadvantage  was  that once  you  fail in the final examination  , you   do not get any chance   to  re appear in the exam  but become an ordinary  intermediate  . I studied INtemediate  in 1955-57 in Kerala(last batch  of intermediate  of Madras  university)  followed by  B.Sc(hons)  in Mathematics between the years  1957-60 in Annamalai University (Again the last batch of Hons  course of south Indian universities). We were  13  students  in the maths  hons class, Our Professor and Head of Department was one Dr.Ganapathi  iyer  .  All the 13 students were  extremely studious  and were  considered as Intelligent  . Yesterday  I happened   to browse through  the  My autograph  book signed  by my friends  and teachers .My memory went back   to my dear  classmates  and friends.

    Among the 13  students, there  were three  lady students and ten  male students  including me . I  was  suffering  by  poverty induced  inferiority complex   and throughout  the   three   years  never spoke a word  with my  three  lady classmates. Thogh the other ten were  my friends  ,  three of them were   close with me  . Though after 1960 when we  completed  the study we went   to different directions, me and my closest friend  kept contact with  each other  till last year when he attained the   feet of  God  last year . I am jotting the names of my classmates and What  information I remember about them.  They all must be in the late   seventies. If  any one of you  know about   any of them,   do inform me.

1.DR.D.Sundara Raman. 
            He was my closest in the class.  He  was possibly much poorer than me. His father  Doraisamy Satrigal   was a follower  and assistant of Maha  Periyavaa.When my friend showed flashes of intelligence  Maha Periyava   himself   asked one of his followers  in Chidambaram to pay his fees  and another to provide  bording and Lodging for him. Ofcourse  he insisted that  my friend should maintain a tuft. After the studies he worked for some time as lecturer  in the university itself , completed his Ph.D  , became  a mathematical expert   and  served various  universities   and settled down in USA . Any one  can read about him  in his great  essay  “I lived with God”- https://mahaperiyavaa.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/i-lived-with-god-absolutely-a-must-read/ and also homage    to him after his death written by me http://rajathathablog.blogspot.in/2014/07/homage-to-my-friend-drdsundararaman.html

2.Smt  R.Rugmani. 
        She was an extraordinarily brilliant student and got first rank  in our batch. I understand she belonged   to Mannargudi  in Tanjore district   and was an Iyengar . After the course  , she got  married and moved   to Germany .Afterwards  I did not hear   anything about her.
3.DR.A.R Padmanabhan 
        He was another brilliant student in our class.After  working for a few years, he   went to Indian statistical Institute   and completed his  Ph.D there   and then he got a teaching job in mOnasch university Australia .He settled down in Austraila. I did contact  him about ten years back  and I do not know  his whereabouts now.
4.DR.P.Balakrishnan
      We used to call him “lead”  because he was Pb .He belonged to Sirkazhi   , a temple town near Chidambaram .All his life he was in the teaching   section of Annamalai   university . I did meet him  some 20 years back, when I visited the  University. At that  time he said he had a daughter  living in  Bangalore .
5.Sri Muthukumaraswamy
     He was  a simple individual who some how did not jel with  higher mathematics  . Some how he  completed the course. Later  I heard that  he became prosperous  by running  a Tutorial coaching centre in Pondichery . I  heard he became   very rich and popular  because of this.
6.Sri M.Thyagarajan
       He belonged to Nagapattinam town of Tamil Nadu. After few years I heard that  he was working  in LIC  in Tanjore. Some 6  years back my friend Sundararaman told that he  had come to visit his daughter  in USA. I could not get his contact details from my friend.

7.Sri Chendur Pandian
     Mr.Pandian was my very close friend. Unlike me he was not an Hons student but a student studying for M.A.  (they joined in the second year  of the course) .He belonged to a village called THalaivan Kottai in  Tirunelveli district.Among us 13  , he was the  only married student.I vaguely rember   that his wife’s name was Kottathai . Me , Pandianm and  Sundara Raman once went  together  once  to see Kumbhakonam and Tanjavur . He was an extremely simple and jovial person .

8.Sri.N.Sundara murthy
     He belonged to averi Patnam of  Salem district and again was a  close friend of mine.He was a very good chess player    and had reached the finals of tAmil Nadu chess  tournament.  He was not able to complete   his M.A. and  after a long time I heard he was a school teacher  in one of the schools of  Salem district.

9.Smt Meenalkshi Veerappan
         She was the only student in our class   who belonged to the Nagarathar  community and belonged to a village  called  Natarajapuram. Later  I understood that she was working as a  professor in  Meenakshi college Madurai   and  was married to some gentleman who was   registrar  of Annamalai university.

10.Sister M.Scholastica,
          She was an extremely intelligent student.  In the 90s I heard that  sg he was a principal   of a ladies  college in Nagar koil.

11. Sri Sundararajan
        He belonged to Chidambaram    and was a day scholar   and I did not hear    about him after  I left Chidambaram.

        I had one more class mate   about whom  I do not remember   any thing.

All of them would be spending their evenings of life in various corners of the world and unlike  me may not be net citizens  .If any of the readers  are their children or grand children do contact me as I am very much interested  in knowing   about them,  P.R.Ramachander 




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