Don’t spark fire of caste, light lamp of education: K E Radhakrishna



Prof. K. E. Radhakrishna addressing students.



“Don’t spark the fire of caste, but light the lamp of education” Those were the words of well-known academician and litterateur Prof. K. E. Radhakrishna. And over a thousand youngsters listening to these words were, undoubtedly, thrilled, excited and electrified. Their loud applause and cheers themselves proved this.

“Casteism has enveloped all fields. It has not left even the Judiciary. People should understand that they can only instigate disharmony among their fellow beings in the name of caste,” Prof. Radhakrishna said. “It is only education that can light lamps in their lives,” he added.

That was the occasion of the annual day celebrations of University College of Arts, a constituent college of Tumkur University. It was also the occasion of the concluding ceremony of all cultural, sports, NSS and NCC activities of the college. And obviously it was altogether a different day for the enthusiastic students. The day was a mix of fun, entertainment, thrill and also education.

“Leadership is declining in almost all the fields including political and economic sectors. It is the responsibility of the new generation to fill this vacuum,” Prof Radhakrishna, the chief guest suggested.

He also advised the students to attain a good command over English language even as they acquire expertise in Kannada, their mother tongue. “Having a hold over Kannada is certainly appreciable and necessary, but a command over English too has become inevitable in the present competitive world,” he stressed.

Prof. N. Lakshmikanth, Registrar (Evaluation), Tumkur University, inaugurating the annual day celebrations of University College of Arts, Tumkur.

Prof. N. Lakshmikanth, Registrar (Evaluation), Tumkur University, who earlier inaugurated the ceremony, urged the students to inculcate discipline, values and knowledge in their life. “Competition is increasing in the world every other day. Only those who can attain a respectable personality by continuous study and immense knowledge may survive,” he observed.

“A teacher who does not correct a student when he commits a mistake, is himself the greatest enemy of that student,” Prof. Lakshmikanth said.

Sri T. N. Hariprasad, Principal, University College of Arts, presided. Deputy Registrar (Aca) Dr. S. Srinivasa, Deputy Registrar (Eva) Sri N. Prasanna Kumar, Sri B. L. Mukundappa, Principal, University College of Science distributed prizes to the winners of various competitions.

Felicitation

Felicitation to Sri T. R. Anantharamu, Senior Scientist (retd.), Geological Survey of India, was a heart-touching moment in the day-long ceremony. The College that has maintained the tradition of honoring achievers from the district every year had decided to felicitate Sri Anantharamu on the college day.

Sri T. R. Anantharamu, Senior Scientist (retd), Geological Survey of India, and his wife Smt. A. R. Annapurna, being felicitated during the College Day ceremony.

Sri Anantharamu is basically from Talagunda of Sira taluk. Incidentally, he is an alumnus of the erstwhile Government Science College, the present University College of Science, where actually the felicitation took place. For Sri Anantharamu it was undoubtedly a great coincidence.

It was only Sri Anantharamu’s commitment and perseverance which made him a personality of repute, who is certainly a good model for the youngsters of nowadays, to follow and emulate. After completing his graduation from the Science College, he stepped into University of Mysore for an M Sc in Geology. He passed the post-graduation with a first class and took up teaching in Government Science College, Bangalore and the erstwhile KREC (presently NIT-K), Surathkal, Mangalore. Later he joined Geological Survey of India as a scientist.

Sri Anantharamu has dedicated his life to popularize Science through literature. He is one among the few science writers in Kannada. In fact, one can find hundreds of people writing science in English, but those who present it in simple Kannada are very rare.  Sri Anantharamu has got this unique talent of explaining science in simple and lucid language, which can be understood even by a common man.  He has published over 800 articles in various newspapers and periodicals in Kannada for the past four decades. More importantly, he has published around 55 books in Kannada on various topics in Science, and has been the editor of various reference works. He has been active in popularizing science through radio and television too all these years.

Sri T. R. Anantharamu addressing the students.

Sri Anantharamu’s ‘Himada Samrajyadalli’ (1985), ‘Kartaranigondu Kivimatu’ (2003) and ‘Pashchima Mukhi’ (2008) have won the Karnataka Sahitya Academy awards. His ‘Bhukampanagalu’ has been recognized by the Aryabhata award while ‘Kalagarbhakke Keelikai’ has won the Goruru Ramaswamy Iyengar award. Recently, he was recognized as the ‘Science Communicator’ by the Vision Group of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of Karnataka.

 It was certainly a proud moment to the University College to felicitate its own alumnus who made the district proud through his contributions to the society. Smt. A. R. Annapurna, wife of Sri Anantharamu, who had always been supportive to his activities, had accompanied him during the felicitation ceremony.