On 9 April, according to a news report, IIT Madras honored eight of its old students. Obviously, all of them possess extraordinary qualities which distinguish them from others in terms of intelligence. It was nice to read that one of these was Prof Ramamurti Shankar. I have had the pleasure of using his extremely interesting Physics lectures in my classes (to compliment my own teaching) as well as in Physics Teacher Development Programs in school systems where I worked. I am sure that his students at Yale are lucky.
Just like most middle class parents of those days, my parents wanted their three children to be a medical doctor, an engineer and a lawyer each. However it never materialized. When I qualified in my Pre-University Course with a high First Class in June 1967, my father wanted me to pursue B Tech in Chemical Engineering though I didn't like Chemistry as much as Physics. In those days there were only a handful of colleges which offered the course in Tamilnadu. When we were young, parental advice was always valued in India.
A few days after I applied for the course, I was called for the selection interview at A C College of Technology, now known as Anna University in Guindy, Chennai. After the interview, my father asked one of the members of the Interview Panel as to how I performed in the interview. Dr Y Nayudamma, who happened to be the member, replied that in spite of being the youngest among the interviewees, I had performed extremely well and added with apology, that there was a problem: as I was under-aged, I wouldn't be admitted in the course. He suggested to my father that I should try for admission in the following year. However I didn't apply to the course. I preferred to do B Sc Physics Main in a local college in my home town due to homesickness.
Just like most middle class parents of those days, my parents wanted their three children to be a medical doctor, an engineer and a lawyer each. However it never materialized. When I qualified in my Pre-University Course with a high First Class in June 1967, my father wanted me to pursue B Tech in Chemical Engineering though I didn't like Chemistry as much as Physics. In those days there were only a handful of colleges which offered the course in Tamilnadu. When we were young, parental advice was always valued in India.
A few days after I applied for the course, I was called for the selection interview at A C College of Technology, now known as Anna University in Guindy, Chennai. After the interview, my father asked one of the members of the Interview Panel as to how I performed in the interview. Dr Y Nayudamma, who happened to be the member, replied that in spite of being the youngest among the interviewees, I had performed extremely well and added with apology, that there was a problem: as I was under-aged, I wouldn't be admitted in the course. He suggested to my father that I should try for admission in the following year. However I didn't apply to the course. I preferred to do B Sc Physics Main in a local college in my home town due to homesickness.
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