We hope God willing to visit Madras in December. Around the 11th to dec end (short visit)..
I don't know if i will be able to visit anyone! what with both homes being in mds!
If anyone of you will be around ,kindly let us know. Please let Annie also know.
Just before I leave here will write again.. hopefully all of you will send us your latest phone nos.. and surely will atleast try to contact you..having the time limit ..within which we have to cover visiting both our homes, relatives and other personal things -we have to take care of, while there.
Hopefully can visit Bhatt's residence.. though how i can do anything..is a?????????????
Kids have to get special permission to go off on 11Th, as it is important here to have attendance.. if not we will get into trouble with different kind of authorities.
will let you all know details as we get to know ourselves..
take care ust.
11 September 2007
08 September 2007
My memories of Bhatt sir
I saw sir first on the day I had interview for college admission. with few other profs - if i remember right Prof. Rajani, Prof.VSV (HOD). i think prof .Durai was the other Prof in the panel.
And right from the begining i always felt they were always watching to see my progress.
To me all Profs were good people they all had their good nature and some things we did not admire or frightened /worried about.
Annie, i think, was the first who introduced me and told me that sir loved having students at his place. He met me once with her. i don't know if anyone else was there . told us to come home. i still remember it was in the Zoo/stats dept's corner where he saw us strolling!
That was my first experience of being invited to a teacher's home. then slowly from Annie and other past MCC B.A students in our class heard how Prof Bhatt sir helped, if we needed help! Sir was friendly, helpful to all, and as Rosh mentioned when ever we went there it was usually afternoon time. don't know how come. but Ma'M came in her cycle and cooked hot food and if we happened to be there... who ever.. profs or students, friends.. (they were great hosts)... they fed us... even if we said No.. even kids would tell us eat ...I remember times when we went there and they were eating we would just walk around and come back later to ask Sir for his help..
Come Exam time.. found out there was more guests there... for notes of sirs.. some of us.. landed up taking copies and giving other classmates.. some never mentioned to us even if they got and kept it to themselves.. we heard about those from those classmates or their friends/accidently from sir's place.. then we felt sad and hurt .. esp if they never shared with the rest of the class..!
Sir, as Rosh said, loved his betel leaves. his family loved artistic talents in many different ways, they had a wide collection which we would sit and admire.
Food was always hot and fresh; doubt if they had fridge when we first visited.
Sir was good at Palm reading. we would sometime go there and ask him. his sanskrit was great, he was a well read personality..He quoted from a lot of works he had read.. . Have watched him correct papers.. its quite amusing.. sometimes he reads it out to us.. if he was busy we would go talk to Ma'm and kids.
Sir had his rest time also.I think all Prof in college had their respects for sir... although some profs were not happy we got help from him even for their subjects.
In my personal experience I have seen others also helped if we went asking help to them. But with Bhatt sir we were not scared. felt at home.
Another fact which impressed me about sir--- was his interests in students of all lang, nationalities, international as well as his interest in Blind students.. he has many a time roped us in helping the students in their reading and writing for them during exams.
We Thank sir , for his interest and helping us -also appreciate and help others.
He was also a person who did his prayers everyday... May God be with His family. it must be hard for them. Sir has touched many of our lives.
I managed to meet him after his becoming HOD. then his home was closer to the gate - felt that odd after yrs of walking to the other end of campus in the hot sun with umberalls. went there and met sir. he spoke with us.. Annie /griz/rosh..? some one was with me.. my memory is now bad.
Sir had a very good memory; he remembered all our names, enquired about everyone in our batch, mentioned about a few he had met.
GOD BLESS SIRS SOUL IN PEACE.
our prayers and best wishes to Mrs. Bhatt ma'm and kids and family.
usha thomas
And right from the begining i always felt they were always watching to see my progress.
To me all Profs were good people they all had their good nature and some things we did not admire or frightened /worried about.
Annie, i think, was the first who introduced me and told me that sir loved having students at his place. He met me once with her. i don't know if anyone else was there . told us to come home. i still remember it was in the Zoo/stats dept's corner where he saw us strolling!
That was my first experience of being invited to a teacher's home. then slowly from Annie and other past MCC B.A students in our class heard how Prof Bhatt sir helped, if we needed help! Sir was friendly, helpful to all, and as Rosh mentioned when ever we went there it was usually afternoon time. don't know how come. but Ma'M came in her cycle and cooked hot food and if we happened to be there... who ever.. profs or students, friends.. (they were great hosts)... they fed us... even if we said No.. even kids would tell us eat ...I remember times when we went there and they were eating we would just walk around and come back later to ask Sir for his help..
Come Exam time.. found out there was more guests there... for notes of sirs.. some of us.. landed up taking copies and giving other classmates.. some never mentioned to us even if they got and kept it to themselves.. we heard about those from those classmates or their friends/accidently from sir's place.. then we felt sad and hurt .. esp if they never shared with the rest of the class..!
Sir, as Rosh said, loved his betel leaves. his family loved artistic talents in many different ways, they had a wide collection which we would sit and admire.
Food was always hot and fresh; doubt if they had fridge when we first visited.
Sir was good at Palm reading. we would sometime go there and ask him. his sanskrit was great, he was a well read personality..He quoted from a lot of works he had read.. . Have watched him correct papers.. its quite amusing.. sometimes he reads it out to us.. if he was busy we would go talk to Ma'm and kids.
Sir had his rest time also.I think all Prof in college had their respects for sir... although some profs were not happy we got help from him even for their subjects.
In my personal experience I have seen others also helped if we went asking help to them. But with Bhatt sir we were not scared. felt at home.
Another fact which impressed me about sir--- was his interests in students of all lang, nationalities, international as well as his interest in Blind students.. he has many a time roped us in helping the students in their reading and writing for them during exams.
We Thank sir , for his interest and helping us -also appreciate and help others.
He was also a person who did his prayers everyday... May God be with His family. it must be hard for them. Sir has touched many of our lives.
I managed to meet him after his becoming HOD. then his home was closer to the gate - felt that odd after yrs of walking to the other end of campus in the hot sun with umberalls. went there and met sir. he spoke with us.. Annie /griz/rosh..? some one was with me.. my memory is now bad.
Sir had a very good memory; he remembered all our names, enquired about everyone in our batch, mentioned about a few he had met.
GOD BLESS SIRS SOUL IN PEACE.
our prayers and best wishes to Mrs. Bhatt ma'm and kids and family.
usha thomas
Ode to my sir
Bhatt sir - and family - had a special place in the hearts of many students who took up English Literature. The kind of personal relationship a quiet, unassuming professor like him shared with most of his students was one of its kind - I mean we did not feel as close to any other prof in the department, however fun their classes were. (I guess Prof. Rajani had a fan following too, but of a different kind.)
Often after class, in the afternoons, we trudged the mud path to his campus house set in a pristine and remote corner of the 300-acre campus - he was like a sage living in an ashram with deers, peacocks and monkeys in the campus popping up at their backyard for a sip of water... I envied them for their little piece of heaven in the midst of a crowded and dusty city.
We walked past the water tank near the Princi's house, picked a couple of ripe tamarinds that lay on the ground or cried in excitement as we sighted a buck in the dense undergrowth en route. It was a long trek, but we loved the walk. For at the end of that lonely stretch was Bhatt's Paradise, as some jockingly referred to it. The other Bhatt's paradise was a hotel that catered to the college students looking for some diversion from the staple fare at the hall mess.
Once there, we sat on the floor as sir smiled benignly at us or threw a question at one of us while chewing his favorite betel leaf and arecanut, which he stored in a quaint small box. I drank in the beauty of the artefacts in his house meanwhile - beautiful sculptures and carvings in wood, not to mention the many framed works of art of his wife and kids.
Mrs. Bhatt always cycled in - from the railway station - at around 3.o0 p.m. She taught at the English dept of Meenakshi college in Trustpuram, she still does I think. She always had a radiant smile for all of us. She would go in and cook rice and rasam or sambar in a jiffy. Then the whole family would settle on the floor and have their lunch. We were made to eat too, especially me, a half-starved hostelite. She always insisted that I eat.
Other class students also trooped in, some like the Tibetan monks to improve their English and some to take Vedic lessons etc. Sir was very interested in the arts; a first-class scholar he was though much of his lectures in class went over my head.
It was sir who suggested that one of us work on Chemmeen for the Mphil thesis. Since I had a basic grounding in Malayalam literature, I took up the challenge. I did a comparative study of Man's relationship with Nature in Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea and Thakazhi's Chemmeen. Sir was my unofficial guide (since he didnt have a university accreditation to guide a Research Fellow as he hadnt taken his doctorate then), while Prof. Stephen was my official guide (who commented that he was the only guide whose ward didnt report to him the progress of the dissertation!).
I collected the material, wrote it from the comfort of my home back in Kerala and took it to Sir, on my way to Delhi to enrol for my journalism course. He was happy with it and told ma'am that she should read the Chapter 4 where I did the comparison.
However, he was angry with me later when I did not submit it upon hearing the disparaging remarks of my proofreader (an old MCCian who was my journalism classmate) and sent back the manuscript to Sir to check how I could improve on it. I did not hear from him until I came via Madras on a vacation from Delhi some six months later. He told me I shouldnt have listened to anyone (that too someone who had trouble writing his own thesis without help from Sir, ma'am confided) when he had given me the go-ahead. Anyway, with all that behind me, I got my dissertation cleared by the university and with it my MPhil degree.
I used to visit the Bhatts when I joined Frontline and lived in a hostel. But after marriage, I never got round to visiting them even once. I am filled with remorse...
Writing this, I badly want to trudge down that winding road to Sir's old campus house once again. I must do it some day soon...
Often after class, in the afternoons, we trudged the mud path to his campus house set in a pristine and remote corner of the 300-acre campus - he was like a sage living in an ashram with deers, peacocks and monkeys in the campus popping up at their backyard for a sip of water... I envied them for their little piece of heaven in the midst of a crowded and dusty city.
We walked past the water tank near the Princi's house, picked a couple of ripe tamarinds that lay on the ground or cried in excitement as we sighted a buck in the dense undergrowth en route. It was a long trek, but we loved the walk. For at the end of that lonely stretch was Bhatt's Paradise, as some jockingly referred to it. The other Bhatt's paradise was a hotel that catered to the college students looking for some diversion from the staple fare at the hall mess.
Once there, we sat on the floor as sir smiled benignly at us or threw a question at one of us while chewing his favorite betel leaf and arecanut, which he stored in a quaint small box. I drank in the beauty of the artefacts in his house meanwhile - beautiful sculptures and carvings in wood, not to mention the many framed works of art of his wife and kids.
Mrs. Bhatt always cycled in - from the railway station - at around 3.o0 p.m. She taught at the English dept of Meenakshi college in Trustpuram, she still does I think. She always had a radiant smile for all of us. She would go in and cook rice and rasam or sambar in a jiffy. Then the whole family would settle on the floor and have their lunch. We were made to eat too, especially me, a half-starved hostelite. She always insisted that I eat.
Other class students also trooped in, some like the Tibetan monks to improve their English and some to take Vedic lessons etc. Sir was very interested in the arts; a first-class scholar he was though much of his lectures in class went over my head.
It was sir who suggested that one of us work on Chemmeen for the Mphil thesis. Since I had a basic grounding in Malayalam literature, I took up the challenge. I did a comparative study of Man's relationship with Nature in Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea and Thakazhi's Chemmeen. Sir was my unofficial guide (since he didnt have a university accreditation to guide a Research Fellow as he hadnt taken his doctorate then), while Prof. Stephen was my official guide (who commented that he was the only guide whose ward didnt report to him the progress of the dissertation!).
I collected the material, wrote it from the comfort of my home back in Kerala and took it to Sir, on my way to Delhi to enrol for my journalism course. He was happy with it and told ma'am that she should read the Chapter 4 where I did the comparison.
However, he was angry with me later when I did not submit it upon hearing the disparaging remarks of my proofreader (an old MCCian who was my journalism classmate) and sent back the manuscript to Sir to check how I could improve on it. I did not hear from him until I came via Madras on a vacation from Delhi some six months later. He told me I shouldnt have listened to anyone (that too someone who had trouble writing his own thesis without help from Sir, ma'am confided) when he had given me the go-ahead. Anyway, with all that behind me, I got my dissertation cleared by the university and with it my MPhil degree.
I used to visit the Bhatts when I joined Frontline and lived in a hostel. But after marriage, I never got round to visiting them even once. I am filled with remorse...
Writing this, I badly want to trudge down that winding road to Sir's old campus house once again. I must do it some day soon...
Obit
Bhatt sir passed away yesterday night. The funeral is today at Madambakkam, after Radha ma'am reaches by flight from B'lore.
We - TSS, Jayanti, me - are planning to go. Murali is on leave today, so maybe he is going.
I wont be going today as I have pressing office tasks to complete. Old MCCians now with The Hindu, Jayanti and TS Subramanian, have gone. Murali called to say he has Madras eye (conjuncitivitis).
Maybe we both will go later. Or maybe I can get V to take me tomorrow.
I am not able to concentrate in work - ruing that I cant have one last look of a dear professor and my guide for Mphil. And that I didnt visit him in the last 7 years!
Such is life.
***
4.15 pm: My colleagues, who went to sir's place before the body was taken for cremation, said he looked so frail that it was difficult to correlate to the old Prof. Bhatt we all knew - stout and healthy. Mrs. Bhatt looked pretty composed, and for someone with a failing eyesight, she didnt have problems recognising them from a distance. His son, Hari, was in charge and they all seemed to be grateful that Sir was at last relieved of the great suffering he was going through. Most of the English faculty were there - Profs. VSV, Rajgopal, Dorai, Rajani, GK etc.
As TSS said ruefully: "You should never postpone visiting somebody, especially one who is sick."
I wont be going today as I have pressing office tasks to complete. Old MCCians now with The Hindu, Jayanti and TS Subramanian, have gone. Murali called to say he has Madras eye (conjuncitivitis).
Maybe we both will go later. Or maybe I can get V to take me tomorrow.
I am not able to concentrate in work - ruing that I cant have one last look of a dear professor and my guide for Mphil. And that I didnt visit him in the last 7 years!
Such is life.
***
4.15 pm: My colleagues, who went to sir's place before the body was taken for cremation, said he looked so frail that it was difficult to correlate to the old Prof. Bhatt we all knew - stout and healthy. Mrs. Bhatt looked pretty composed, and for someone with a failing eyesight, she didnt have problems recognising them from a distance. His son, Hari, was in charge and they all seemed to be grateful that Sir was at last relieved of the great suffering he was going through. Most of the English faculty were there - Profs. VSV, Rajgopal, Dorai, Rajani, GK etc.
As TSS said ruefully: "You should never postpone visiting somebody, especially one who is sick."
06 September 2007
English teacher's delights
As former students of English Litt., we should all be able to enjoy this. Read on...
Every year, English teachers from across the USA can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners.
1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli, and he was room temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight
trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.
Every year, English teachers from across the USA can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners.
1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli, and he was room temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight
trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.
04 September 2007
Murali's findings
The 4th batch from Mky, received around 1 pm:
Spoke to the hospital. Prof. B is in the third floor ICU. At 12.40 p.m, they said he had been shifted to the ICU after surgery. The duty nurse said he is comfortable and stable.
***
Contacted the hospital again at 5.10 p.m. The only attendant there was Prof. B's old student, an Israeli guy who we might have seen in Prof. B's house.
Tall and fair chap who was doing research in 1993-94.
The Israeli guy said that what the hospital meant by "stable" was that there was no fluctuation in the last 24 hours. But, according to him, Prof B. is not good and critical.
No one else seems to be in the hospital and the Israeli said that he has been there ever since Prof B. went into the ICU.
***
Just spoke to Prof. (Mrs) Bhatt at 5.35 p.m. and she has given me a totally different picture. Says that Prof B. had solids yesterday and that he will need time to regain strength.
Said Prof. Ganesh is in Bangalore and that she spoke to him yesterday, but she is not sure whether he has returned to Chennai since. Prof G. was at the hospital with Prof Bhatt... Mrs B said he will have the correct information.
Must add that the Israeli was a bit abrupt, but the ICU nurse was optimistic.
Spoke to the hospital. Prof. B is in the third floor ICU. At 12.40 p.m, they said he had been shifted to the ICU after surgery. The duty nurse said he is comfortable and stable.
***
Contacted the hospital again at 5.10 p.m. The only attendant there was Prof. B's old student, an Israeli guy who we might have seen in Prof. B's house.
Tall and fair chap who was doing research in 1993-94.
The Israeli guy said that what the hospital meant by "stable" was that there was no fluctuation in the last 24 hours. But, according to him, Prof B. is not good and critical.
No one else seems to be in the hospital and the Israeli said that he has been there ever since Prof B. went into the ICU.
***
Just spoke to Prof. (Mrs) Bhatt at 5.35 p.m. and she has given me a totally different picture. Says that Prof B. had solids yesterday and that he will need time to regain strength.
Said Prof. Ganesh is in Bangalore and that she spoke to him yesterday, but she is not sure whether he has returned to Chennai since. Prof G. was at the hospital with Prof Bhatt... Mrs B said he will have the correct information.
Must add that the Israeli was a bit abrupt, but the ICU nurse was optimistic.
03 September 2007
Pray for the Bhatts!
I got this mesage from Murali today:
"Prof Manohar Samuel has passed on a message: Prof. Bhatt is almost on his last legs - he has cancer (intestinal). Prof (Mrs) Bhatt has lost her vision. Not sure if its total. He also added that the children are settled.
Must fast forward plans to visit them."
***
A post-tea brainwave (4.16 p.m. IST) from Murali is reproduced below:
If this idea is alright with everyone ... was just thinking that we, as a class, could give them a surprise by calling them from wherever we are. Will try and coordinate getting the telephone number/s from Prof Manohar or Prof. Rajagopal and then work out when we could call.
It would perhaps help cheer them up.
***
The 3rd update from Mky:
Called the A&PRO, MCC. Apparently the English Dept still doesn't have a telephone that's worth using as there was a series of mysterious clicks, which eventually got me back to the A&PRO.
All I got was a curt reply: "Avaar retired. Details theriyaathu."
Tried again. This time someone else managed to get me Prof. Bhatt's home number. Prof (Mrs) B is at home and sounding extremely brave.
Prof B is in the ICU at the Bangalore Institute of Oncology, after surgery. Was in Apollo, Bangalore earlier. Is being looked after by his son and a few old students.
We could try and call there but he "is very feeble and weak." The staff could connect us to his room/ward. Mrs B said he would be happy to hear from us and a message could be passed on to him through the students who are taking turns waiting outside the room/ward.
Prof B's son is in IBM and has a daughter. Second daughter is in Citibank and the third in TCS and in Chennai.
Prof. (Mrs) B said he is critical but after gaining strength should be discharged. She will be leaving for Bangalore with the daughters on Sept. 06. Could make out that she was fighting back ... the tears.
Perhaps we could start calling them immediately.
"Prof Manohar Samuel has passed on a message: Prof. Bhatt is almost on his last legs - he has cancer (intestinal). Prof (Mrs) Bhatt has lost her vision. Not sure if its total. He also added that the children are settled.
Must fast forward plans to visit them."
***
A post-tea brainwave (4.16 p.m. IST) from Murali is reproduced below:
If this idea is alright with everyone ... was just thinking that we, as a class, could give them a surprise by calling them from wherever we are. Will try and coordinate getting the telephone number/s from Prof Manohar or Prof. Rajagopal and then work out when we could call.
It would perhaps help cheer them up.
***
The 3rd update from Mky:
Called the A&PRO, MCC. Apparently the English Dept still doesn't have a telephone that's worth using as there was a series of mysterious clicks, which eventually got me back to the A&PRO.
All I got was a curt reply: "Avaar retired. Details theriyaathu."
Tried again. This time someone else managed to get me Prof. Bhatt's home number. Prof (Mrs) B is at home and sounding extremely brave.
Prof B is in the ICU at the Bangalore Institute of Oncology, after surgery. Was in Apollo, Bangalore earlier. Is being looked after by his son and a few old students.
We could try and call there but he "is very feeble and weak." The staff could connect us to his room/ward. Mrs B said he would be happy to hear from us and a message could be passed on to him through the students who are taking turns waiting outside the room/ward.
Prof B's son is in IBM and has a daughter. Second daughter is in Citibank and the third in TCS and in Chennai.
Prof. (Mrs) B said he is critical but after gaining strength should be discharged. She will be leaving for Bangalore with the daughters on Sept. 06. Could make out that she was fighting back ... the tears.
Perhaps we could start calling them immediately.
Great Pianist
Dear All
Enjoy
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1827621370303754193\
.................AMOS
p.s. Here it is! You should have hyperlinked it... RMG
Enjoy
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1827621370303754193\
.................AMOS
p.s. Here it is! You should have hyperlinked it... RMG
01 September 2007
Half philosophers
Jayanti at Mahabs, following a conference we had at the GRT Temple Bay resort in 2004. She left Indian Express in 1998 and joined Frontline as Asst. Editor. She didnt pursue her MPhil.The other half-philosophers include Usha Sarah and Ajie George, both Prof. MS' wards! Jinxed guidance?
I dont remember who else didnt complete.
Those who submitted their dissertations and won their MPhil degress include Murali (got a "highly commended" rating), Annie, Dora, Rajeev? and Roshin.
Anyone else? Amos?
From my collection
Usha and Bejoy smiling away when their son Noel was born, March 04.
Sunita and Jaykumar with son Kartick.
Rosh and Vinod in August 2002, before the kids came.
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