They Shape the World-These Icons are our Alumni

Rear Admiral Raman Prabhath(1970 batch)-While many of you have congratulated this young man(believe me he and his wife look like a very young couple) on assuming charge as Admiral of Naval Dockyard,many would perhaps not be aware that today Prabhath is a valuable asset to the nation for his pathbreaking work in Naval technology(I guess I will avoid mentioning the precise nature of his expertise).You probably have another Abdul Kalaam in the making.

Prof.Raghuram Ganesan(batch of 1971)-is the Indian Railways Chair Professor in the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.He has done pioneering work in Rail Transport and Infrastructure Management and is today one of the thinkers and brains behind the turn around of the Railways.Besides Raghu is involved in setting up numerous Management Schools in India,of which you will hear shortly.Ofcourse he is also part of the think tank in IIM Ahmedabad and would have been responsible for the turnaround of IIM A'Bad as well.!He attributes his passion for Mathematics to our own Mathsie who dazzled us with Magic squares and Moebius strips and the stories of Ramanujam..Let there be no doubt that he is one of the icons in our country.

Professor Krithivasan Ramamritham(batch of 1971)-is the Vijay and Sita Vashee Chair Professor at IIT Bombay and heads the Kanwal Rekhi School of IT at the Institute.He is the most cited computing researcher in India and has been honoured by both leading professional societies in computing: he was made Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers and Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.Krithi's work is also noteworthy for bridging the digital divide in India.He led a team which developed the aAqua project that gives farmers access to agricultural experts and to information on commodity prices and markets. He received the Manthan Award for contribution to Socio-Economic Development, for this work.

Prof.Sridhar Seshadri(1973)-was till recently the Toyota Professor of Operations Management and Inforamtion Systems in the Stern School of Business at New York University.Sridhar has done seminal work in the areas of Operations Research,Stochastic Modelling,Valuations in Incomplete Markets and Coordination in Supply Chains.Sridhar won the 2008 INFORMS MSOM Best Paper Award for the paper titled “Hedging Inventory Risk Through Market Instruments” and was chosen over 11 other nominated papers.
Sridhar's journey into academia was after his stint as a industry captain!

Prabhath,Raghuram have confirmed their participation for the Alumni Meet. Krithi says he will try his best and we are trying to get Sridhar too.Hopefully we will have them all.
Incidentally Prabhath is the Chairman of the KV Mighties Association!

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Pijush Das

The First Principal

We (Me & Ajay) met Mr. Mandeswara Rao our Principal on 27 October (Monday) at his residence.

It was a wonderful moment when he recollected many events and shared the same with us. He remembers most of the teachers and a few of the students. He has good memories of Rear Admiral Nair & Vice Admiral Krishnan who were the then Chairman of the School.

He mentions that the estimated construction of the Malkapuram building was Rs. 6 lakhs and the Sangathan was not ready to give anything more than Rs. 1.50 lakhs. However with the support of the Chairman the construction was completed for Rs. 2 lakhs (can’t believe it!)

He remembers the incident when students of the local polytechnic near 104 had gheraoed the school and we received support from the local Naval Officials and the matter was sorted out.

He is very proud of the School and its Alumni and mentioned about the first batch of 12 students and how he had visited the residence of each of these students and met their parents to discuss about their strengths and weakness. Wow what dedication!

He presented us with a book on “Modern Poetry in Telugu” which is in English and another book in Telugu. He has written an article on “Mandeswara Rao V: Values - Literary and Non-literary” in http://www.museindia.com/ which can be read from the following link

http://www.museindia.com/showauthor.asp?id=17

http://www.museindia.com/showfeature10.asp?id=1033

He is presently writing two books “100 years of Telugu Poetry” and “100 years of Telugu literary criticism” which will be published by P.S.Telugu University. He keeps himself busy by writing.

He is presently very frail (as the attached photographs suggest) and uses a metal walking crutch. He would not be able to make it to Vishakapatnam in December. We have promised him that we will meet him again post our meet.

Letter from Jayanta Roy, Class of 1980. 28th October 2008

THE KVMIGHTIES

Unshapen lumps of carbon were we,
ere we entered KVM;
Made into precious stones were we,
after we entered KVM.

Shaped and cut into diamonds were we,
after we entered KVM;
10 carats to 24 carats - but diamonds nevertheless,
after we entered KVM.

Some of the greatest craftsmen worked on us,
after we entered KVM;
molded and cuts us into perfect diamonds,
after we entered KVM.

Artisans like ASPRO, KRISHNA RAO(PTI), PRABHAMANI (to name a few) worked on us,
after we entered KVM;
made us better persons and better human beings,
after we entered KVM.

The gains we received - knowledge or character - were enormous,
after we entered KVM;
Everyone of us has been enriched,
after we entered KVM.

Whether we entered in the seventies or the eighties,
whenever we entered KVM;
we shall proudly call ourselves the KVMIGHTIES,
from the day we left KVM.

mallik

K.V.B.M.Rao

Yaadein

Yaadein (pleasant memories)

When Gulli-Danda &Kanche (marbles) were more popular than cricket.
When we always had friends to play aais-paais (I Spy), chhepan-chhepai
& pitthoo anytime ... When we desperately waited for "Yeh Jo Hai
Jindagi" (Doordarshan serial)
When chitrahaar, vikram-baitaal, Dada Daadi Ki Kahaniyaanwere so fulfilling.
When there was just one Tv in every five houses and...
When
Bisleris were not sold in the trains and we were worrying if papas will
get back into the train in time or not when they were getting down at
stations to fill up the water bottle ...
When we were going to bed by 9.00pm sharp except for the "Yeh Jo Hai Jindagi" day ..
When Holis & Diwalis meant mostly hand-made pakwaans and sweets and moms seeking our help while preparing them ...
When Maths teachers were not worried of our Mummies and papas while slapping/beating us ..
When we were exchanging comics and stamps and Chacha-Chaudaris & Billus were our heroes ..
When we were in Nanihaals every summer and loved flying kites and plucking and eating unripe mangoes and leechies ..
When one movie every Sunday evening on television was more than asked for and "ek do teen chaar" and "Rajani" inspired us ..
When 50 paisa meant at least 10 toffees ....
When left over pages of the last years notebooks were used for rough work or even fair work ...
When "Chelpark" and "Natraaj" were encouraged against "Reynolds
& family" ...
When the first rain meant getting drenched and playing in water and mud and making "kaagaj ki kishtis" ...
When there were no phones to tell friends that we will be at their homes at six in the evening ..
When our parents always had 15 paise blue colored
"Antardesis" and 5 paise machli wale stamps at home ...
When we remembered tens of jokes and were not finding "ice-cream & papa"
type jokes foolish enough to stop us from laughing ..
When we were not seeing patakhes on Diwalis and gulaalson
Holis as air and noise polluting or allergic agents ...

The list can be endless ...
On the serious note I would like to summarize with ...
When we were using our hearts more than our brains, even for scientifically brainy activities like "thinking" and "deciding" ..
When we were crying and laughing more often, more openly and more sincerely ..
When we were enjoying our present more than worrying about our future ..
When being emotional was not synonymous to being weak ...
When sharing worries and happiness didn"t mean getting vulnerable to the listener ..
When blacks and whites were the favorite colors instead of greys ...
When journeys also were important and not just the destinations ...
When life was a passenger"s sleeper giving enough time and opportunity to
enjoy the sceneries from its open and transparent glass windows instead
of some super fast"s second ac with its curtained, closed and dark windows ...
I really miss them(From the bottom of my heart).. don"t u?

Contributed by Subash Singh, 1985 batch

Class of 1970

The class of 1970 were a real sport - they were a class apart.

They played with their minds on others,
And bowled them over with words.
And whey played their jokes on the teachers,
You could always tell, by their walk on egg-shells!

While they batted for the others,
They were bowled over by gigglers.
And when they marbled the tables
The teacher's dandas were disabled.

Ananthraman, 1970

Lunch Boxes - oh memories!

Girl’s lunch boxes, I think you guys learnt the trick from us seniors. I remember that we used to have library class in the 4th hour just before lunch break. I used to travel for almost an hour and a half to reach school (by city bus route no. 3 those days). So I had to leave home quite early, have breakfast early and so feel hungry early as well. Unni Krishnan and my self would always take a break in the middle of the library class, come down to our class room and have a feast from the girl’s lunch boxes. Those days what amazed me was that the bigger the size of the person, the smaller was the lunch box and I used to wonder as to how they could survive. Unni had a different logic. He would say that that is almost like not having lunch so they are not going to miss it. Of course at the end of the day we would leave something for them and also give them something from our lunch but the offer was valid only for a few seconds. If they hesitate, they miss it. The best part was the expressions on their faces when they opened their lunch boxes. Before they opened it they would wonder (in the initial stages) as to why we were grinning away to glory.

p.s: I hate to admit it but we were also the victims on a few occasions.
Sudesh Honnavalli, 1976. Letter dated 17 Oct 08

ASPRO

Our Biology Master Mr A Suryaprakasha Rao is one who inspired us into medicine. He is one who taught with his heart and soul, hence we never took notes! The subject matter was just embedded into the brain. I never forgot his role in my life. Many years later a gentleman who is my regular patient asked if could see me for a moment not as a patient. He asked me if I was from KV M , I said yes. He then asked me if I knew a Mr A Suryaprakasha Rao, well I launched into all praise and told how he inspired all of us at (Those interested in Biology) KV M to medicine. After I finished he told me "Thanks, I have made up my mind" which surprised me! This gentleman was the person authorized by Govt Of Kuwait for recruitment of Principal for the CBSE school there! There was one more candidate in the short list for the same job!! Our Bio Master made it the job.He used to say good teachers will be premium one day ,how true.
Dr N R Rangaraj
Letter dated 12 September 2008

Biz and Sanchayika habits

Does anyone remember our Crafts Master? He was another of those Paan chewing teachers of ours.....

We used to work under his guidance and set up the mike and speakers for the Daily Assembly...after which we used to move all the equipment ...Mike , stand, amplifier, cables etc etc back to the first floor.....usually the 11th class was incharge of that.

I remember one day in of our Crafts classes....we were running short of Dusters and someone mooted the idea to make Dusters out of the Broken Furniture ( Chairs and Tables) which were lying in I Flr. The Craft sir ( He was from Kanpur and used to refer to his being from Kanpur) agreed and within a couple of days an entire heap of Broken Chairs and Tables were made into dusters with the Green Felt being pasted.

We proudly gave one to each and every class, teacher and Class Captain..

After a few weeks the Audit Team came and Crafty had a tough time explaining / trying to convince the Audit Team that the entire lot of Broken Chairs and Tables were converted into Dusters!! I still dont know how he got away with it!!

jayachandran g k /1976 Batch