I grew up in a small town called Bhadravathi originally called as Benki-pura.(City of fire).It is an industrial town.225 kilometers from State capital Bangalore.It has a beautiful river Bhadra.City got its fame from a Vishweshwaraya Iron and Steel Limited(VISL) It was started in 1918.Another reputation was added by Mysore Paper Mills Limited in 1936.
Sir M.Vishweshwaraya was the able guide to start the Steel plant,has been pioneer in alloy production of high quality and also Special steels and pig Iron.
Now it has been owned by Steel Authority of India Limited(SAIL).
My parents Smt Rukmini and Father H.C.Rangachar after their marriage moved to Bhadravathi in 1965.Father took up his job at VISL as an Engineer.
My Grand Father,Sri Ramaswamy Iyengar also worked in the same Company for more then 3 decades.
My Mother gave birth to 3 of us.Me being the eldest,next is my brother Biligiri and last one is Jairam.I did my Masters in Zoology ,Worked for a while in Bhadravathi,later changed my mind to do another Masters so did Development planning.I also did Certificate course in French as I had a passion to learn Foreign Language.Computer was the buzz word then,so took some crash course at NIIT.Worked in couple of companies before moving to USA.
My brother Biligiri,did his Engineering from JNNCE and joined Sewa Switchgear pvt Ltd.He has been serving in this company for more than a decade.
My 2nd Brother,Jairam,did his Diploma and joined Kinematic transmissions ,worked more than a decade,company could not survive,so took his next employment at PESIT College of Engineering to work in Mechanical Dept.
Our schooling was so inexpensive,we all went to Public school nearby.Less than half a mile distance from home.
My parents wanted us to learn Kannada,so we all went to Kannada public school till our Middle school.
Our Kindergarten was at Bala-Bharathi.This school was on Water Tank building so called Water Tank school also.
Bala-Bharathi was run by Hindu Local leaders.School had a wonderful teachers and maid used to come to pick us from home to go to school.I don't remember why this was practised,may be to promote school going habits with in the Children.I remember Jayamma holding our hands .Totally we were about 10 kids from our New colony.Some of my Classmates from this Shishuvihara/Kindergarten stayed my Masters.
I could recall friends from Shishu-vihar are,Ravikala,well settled in Banglore.Shashi,a Software Engineer at Bangalore.Srikanth,owns a Software company.Mamtha,well settled at Bangalore.
Nanda,another Software Engineer at Florida.Arvinda,well settled Software Engineer at LA.
Subbu Krishna,S/W Engineer at Singapore.Ananda is no more,some tragic incident happened to him to join Lotus feet.Even 2 of my brothers went to the same school.School gave a very good foundation to most of the local kids to carry on their dream to later part of life.
From kindergarten ,we graduated to go to Elementary school or Primary school.Again this school was also less than half a mile from home.School name is Welfare Higher Primary School.(WHPS)I would say this school had the best Teachers in the whole world.
The school is run by Steel company management along with Govt.We all wore Uniforms to go to School.Wonderful emphasis on discipline and behaviour.
Then,school had still colonial time of opening schools at 10:00.It never got changed even in 1975.Even now we see the same trend in most of the schools.
Bell was at 10:00am school was nearby,no one used to come to drop.Each person knew another person in the colony.No way we could think of any evil happening to the child going to the school.Big parade of school going kids at 10:am is such an eye treat.Since we were in uniforms,no way we cannot escape school as well.Some one could identify us and encouraged us to go to School even if we miss.
Morning Prayer to Goddess Saraswathi then Singing National Anthem was a routine in the school.When I was studying Smt VijayaLakshmi was the Principle.Very tough and very well natured.She nurtured us with so much love and affection as well.
Our Kannad Teacher was Smt Sarojama,short-Saree clad,bespectacled Teacher,was very fond of Carnatic music.I remember she was humming old songs while correcting our notebook for handwriting.
Our Math Teacher was Hanumanthappa,another wonderful Math Teacher,he had all Math tables etc at his tip of the tongue.He made us to repeat the table as often as possible.
Our English Teacher was Sri Revankumar,he taught us so well on grammer,reading style and also helped us to appreciate the language better in Kannad school.
Our Science Teacher,Sri Chandra,some of the fundamental concepts in Physics I have not forgotten at all even now.Dedication,time spent on educating tiny tots in the rural town was not as easy task.Parents must have spent less then 50 US dollars for schooling.Uniform expense is the biggest expenditure.Books mostly re-used or second hand.Lekhak was used to write with lines for Science and other subjects,only for Math,no lines.
Since School was nearby,never had a chance to carry Lunch.Fresh home-made,hot lunch was such yum to have at anytime.Carrying Lunch was a treat or a reward.
Finally completed 7Th grade here and moved on to High school with 75%.
From this WHPS,time to go to High School.City had 3-4 best high schools,but getting into Paper Town High school was a tough challenge.
If you score more then 80% in 7th grade,you can seal your fate to go to this prestigious school else you have to end up in not so popular schools in the town.
Now my next about Paper Town High school---------
