The never ending grind is getting to me. And the cut-throat competition! You never know who is setting you on fire. Bah!
I have been a little too anxious and disturbed of late, for my own comfort. Nothing catastrophic. Just a lot of small innocous things which all add up and cause the mind to wander.
After much contemplation, I have decided I would anyday be lucky than smart (as if..). In the roll of the dice, if you hit 3 sixes, do any of the other specifics really matter?
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You know what? In a state of boredom, nostalgia, homesickness, and missing my grandfather, I googled my great-grandfathers name. I was amazed to find this.
N Sundaram Iyer, who successfully ran the City Motor Service in the 1940s, was a multi-faceted personality. He taught mathematics at the Loyola College and later at the Vivekananda College, Chennai of which he was honorary principal for a few years. He was considered a great teacher of complex variables.
Sundaram Iyer used to persuade many applicants for an undergraduate course to persue the the B A (Hons) course in mathematics. Reason: due to his love of maths and perhaps more to his love of business. The maths course, unlike other science UG courses, did not call for expensive laboratories. All that were needed were blackboards and a few pieces of chalk. And he had an abundance of good teachers, including the dedicated T R Raghava Sastry. The intake for the post- graduate courses was a liberal 40 plus.
The practice was similar in several other colleges. In the land of Ramanujan there was a natural flair and interest in mathematics.
My grandfather actually went to Loyola College and was taught by T R Raghava Sastry. How a 65 year old man would remember the name of his favorite teacher!
The City Motor Service was the pre-indepenance pre-cursor to our beloved moving Leviathians, Pallavan Transport Corporation. Sundaram Iyer was quite the businessman-academician. While continuing to teach, he built up the business from a single second hand bus that he had accidentally come to possess. I used to be enthralled throughout my childhood by my grandfather's tales, tales of important people, grand houses, many cars, servants and a most nice life. Sad that some disastrous business decisions later on in life would cause ruin.
This reminds me of another time when I was transitioning from the 10th to the 11th. I had to start up on the IIT coaching classes, and coming from a not so competitive school, I was late on the whole game. Going to the right tutors and being with the right peer group is all important you know. I wanted to join a retired professor, KS Ramachandran for maths. I went to meet him with my grandfather. My grandfather was my willing handy man, keeping track of the endless details necessary for "successful engineering entrance".
KSR as we was fondly called was quite the old-fashioned type, didn't like kids landing up at the last minute. We tried our best to get him to change his mind but it just wouldn't work. However, as luck would have it, oldish thatas were on my side, as they always tend to slide into small talk and reminisce of times passed and faded. My grandfather asked him if he had heard of N Sundaram Iyer. At this, KSR left out a whoop of amazement. A B. A (Hons) Math scholarship 50 years ago. I did go to KSR.
In my family, my great grandfather came to symbolize everything in life that you should and should not strive for. Academic achievement, goodness of character, business canny, over-confidence, poor judgement, and failure.
I have been a little too anxious and disturbed of late, for my own comfort. Nothing catastrophic. Just a lot of small innocous things which all add up and cause the mind to wander.
After much contemplation, I have decided I would anyday be lucky than smart (as if..). In the roll of the dice, if you hit 3 sixes, do any of the other specifics really matter?
----------------------------------------------------
You know what? In a state of boredom, nostalgia, homesickness, and missing my grandfather, I googled my great-grandfathers name. I was amazed to find this.
N Sundaram Iyer, who successfully ran the City Motor Service in the 1940s, was a multi-faceted personality. He taught mathematics at the Loyola College and later at the Vivekananda College, Chennai of which he was honorary principal for a few years. He was considered a great teacher of complex variables.
Sundaram Iyer used to persuade many applicants for an undergraduate course to persue the the B A (Hons) course in mathematics. Reason: due to his love of maths and perhaps more to his love of business. The maths course, unlike other science UG courses, did not call for expensive laboratories. All that were needed were blackboards and a few pieces of chalk. And he had an abundance of good teachers, including the dedicated T R Raghava Sastry. The intake for the post- graduate courses was a liberal 40 plus.
The practice was similar in several other colleges. In the land of Ramanujan there was a natural flair and interest in mathematics.
My grandfather actually went to Loyola College and was taught by T R Raghava Sastry. How a 65 year old man would remember the name of his favorite teacher!
The City Motor Service was the pre-indepenance pre-cursor to our beloved moving Leviathians, Pallavan Transport Corporation. Sundaram Iyer was quite the businessman-academician. While continuing to teach, he built up the business from a single second hand bus that he had accidentally come to possess. I used to be enthralled throughout my childhood by my grandfather's tales, tales of important people, grand houses, many cars, servants and a most nice life. Sad that some disastrous business decisions later on in life would cause ruin.
This reminds me of another time when I was transitioning from the 10th to the 11th. I had to start up on the IIT coaching classes, and coming from a not so competitive school, I was late on the whole game. Going to the right tutors and being with the right peer group is all important you know. I wanted to join a retired professor, KS Ramachandran for maths. I went to meet him with my grandfather. My grandfather was my willing handy man, keeping track of the endless details necessary for "successful engineering entrance".
KSR as we was fondly called was quite the old-fashioned type, didn't like kids landing up at the last minute. We tried our best to get him to change his mind but it just wouldn't work. However, as luck would have it, oldish thatas were on my side, as they always tend to slide into small talk and reminisce of times passed and faded. My grandfather asked him if he had heard of N Sundaram Iyer. At this, KSR left out a whoop of amazement. A B. A (Hons) Math scholarship 50 years ago. I did go to KSR.
In my family, my great grandfather came to symbolize everything in life that you should and should not strive for. Academic achievement, goodness of character, business canny, over-confidence, poor judgement, and failure.
5 comments:
Ah, the paradox! Very nice.
That transition from 10th to 11th got on my nerves too. I mean, all of a sudden, 50% of our class was composed of people who had topped their class most of their lives. I felt like banging my head against the desk.
And then the transition from 12th standard to IIT came, and the desk wasn't good enough, it had to be at least a brick wall. Took me another year before I stopped bashing myself up mentally over stoopid things like marks and grades and etc.
big smiles...even bigger stories...i like.
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N.Sundaram Iyer
Having heard stories from my grandmother i was also searching for some information and to restore lost relationships. It is indeed a pleasant surprise to see this. My mother is related to your family through more than 1 route. I am not sure whether Sundarm Iyer is from your grandfather (Ganesan) or grandmother (Shankari) side.
My grandmother and mother were staying a few houses away from the house in Thirmulai Pillai Road.
I am currently in the UAE in a senior level position.
Oh its quite a surprise to meet someone. Sundaram Iyer is from my grandfathers side (Narayan).
It would be nice to get in touch with you. I tried to follow through your blogger profile but to no avail.
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