Friday, November 27, 2015

SSSSSSSSSS --- A NOSTALGIC JOURNEY - SSSSSSSSSS




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A COLUMN BY 
PROF. V. SRINIVASAN



Occasionally I get lost in my thoughts of the good old days and I feel like putting down my thoughts and sharing with friends. My recent thoughts were on the variouss (S's) at PG Physics department of America College. The write up could be of interest to many.

Letter (initial) S and P G Physics:


1. It was SJS (Principal Savarirayan) who was responsible for the ceration  of the PGP the first S

2. Dr. Riesz's arrival confirmed the starting of PGP. The South Indian tongue could not pronounce the soft z and so he was called Riess and he becomes the second S

3. Prof. E.S. Moses the Head of UG Physics at that time did not wish to associate with PGP decided to stay with UG and offer all help and support to PGP is the third S.

4. Prof. A J Harris  with strong S in his name becomes the fourth S 

5. My self known as VS became the fifth S

6. P. S. Srinivasan of UG Physics though he remained as the full back for a long time occupied the Chair as Head of PG Physics before his retirement and is the sixthS

7G. Srinivasan who joined the PG during the second year of PG Physics and later became an internationally well known astrophysicist is the seventh S 

8. When GS left for USA and he was replaced by S. Srinivasan also from Madurai College the eighth S

9. Along with SS came T S Subramamyan also from Madurai College. Though his work was mostly in UG he spent all his spare time in PG with his friend SS and worked on odd projects of Prof. RPR and is the ninth S 

10. There was a fresh recruitment after advertisement in news papers. Dr. K. Srinivasan from Annamalai University, a second Ph.D in the department next to Dr. Riesz. at the time if his recruitment became the tenth S

11. Prof. S L Dart of Claremont Colleges, Claremont, California was in Madurai on two occasions for about one year each as head of PGP when Dr Riesz was away on 
 leave/furlough. Though no one knew what his initial S meant he is the eleventh S

12. K. Santosh  Rajkuma, an old student was made an exclusive demonstrator in PGP and later served the Department of Applied Sciences becomes the twelfth S  

13. I left for USA a K.S. Srinivasan, our old student, was appointed and he became the thirteenth S

14. There was a n expansion in the department, M.Phil was introduced. J. Sethuraman who later became Dr. JS through a faculty improvement program (FIP) of UGC became the fourteenth 

15. R. Simon another old student of PGP who later became Dr. Simon through UGC FIP is the fifteenth S

16. Sudhavadani another old student joined the Department of Applied Sciences under the umbrella of PGP became the sixteenth S

17. A.S.K. Moses another old student of PGP, son of Prof. E S Moses is the seventeenth with initial in his name.

18. S. Sowmianarayanan, another old student UGP and of Madurai College was with DAS for a short time is the eighteenth S.

Looking at this one could take a bet that if one has the initial S he or she had a good chance of serving PGP in those days.

M A Samy was the only exception to this rule. It was his choice.

DPJ, CMD, JJP, GB, KSN, KVK (K V Krishnan), AN (Arulraj Navamani). JD (J.  Danrita) and few others I might  have missed are exception to the S rule. They are less than 50% of those in PGP who were covered by the S rile.


How is this study without any record in my hand? Is my memory good? With kind regards. If any name is left please forgive me.

8 comments:

  1. Great! I believe Prof. V.S has a sound memory. Is he a septuagenarian or octo by the way? Just curious to know.

    ReplyDelete
  2. On 15th Feb 2016 I will be 80 as per records. However as per the birth chart in my family I will be 80 on 29th Feb 2016.

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  3. V.SRINIVASAN writes ....

    Dear Sam: Thank you for the nice title you had given to my write up. SSSSSSS I could not have thought about that. That makes the note readable with some expectations.

    With kind regards VS

    ReplyDelete
  4. ARULRAJ NAVAMONI NAVARAJ writes ....

    Dear Prof. VS
    Nobody ever could question your memory power. More about it at the end. Now the job at hand.

    You did not include K. Shanmuganathan (KSN). Interestingly you added him to the non-S griup! This is why they say "யானைக்கும் அடி சறுக்கும்!"

    Now about your memory. I think it is linked to your discipline. Once before leaving on a week's journey you got 10's for a hundred from me. By mistake i gave you eleven 10's. In those days Rs. 10 is not a small amount- well not for me. I felt very delicate about asking you. On return, on seeing me your first question was "how much did you give?" And returned my 10.

    I'm also thinking of writing about this kind of "close to heart" things. One such topic is about our experience in screaming those 8mm movies!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. V.SRINIVASAN writes ....

      Dear Arulraj:
      Thanks for your mail that has come at a speed faster than light. What you have pointed out is not a slip (sarukkal) What you have pointed out a great blunder. I had included KSN in the non S group. It is really a stupid mistake on my part when in that mail I was asking for appreciation for my memory. KSN was my student in PG and UG classes. I was responsible for his trip to Oregon, earlier I had played a role in getting him into PGP. He was a rebel as a UG student both RPR and MAT wanted to exclude him but they could not succeed. I remember I was one of those who spoke in his favor. I had forgotten all these while I was drafting that S mail. I cannot excuse me. Thanks for bringing the error to my attention.

      With kind regards, VS

      Rs 100 incidence is interesting. Thank you for remembering that. It was possible because I have a habit of writing my accounts every day and checking the cash balance in hand with the balance in book. I do this even today.

      Thanks for the tribute, VS

      Delete
  5. //I'm also thinking of writing about this kind of "close to heart" things.//

    please do, Navamani.

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  6. writing my accounts ... hmmm i tried and failed and failed. so good to read the reminiscing of life gone by. i do this a lot and never got down to articulate. yours will tickle and inspire i guess.

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  7. Dr. A.R.VENKITARAMAN writes .........

    Dear Sam,

    Thank you very much for passing on a very interesting write-up from our VS. I enjoyed reading it. There are some whose minds can never be in shackles. VS is one of them. His mind is always active and comes up with new thoughts and new insights all the time. He is indeed a Prometheus Unbound. I applaud the way he has shown us, fellow teachers.

    With greetings of the Season to you and family and all friends in Madurai.
    Venki (A.R.Venkitaraman)

    ReplyDelete