My school and service
During the year 1960, my uncle Vithal used to go to primary
school which was situated at a nearby village, Ranjolkheni. In the first week
of June, He invited me to join the school at Ranjol, as there was no school at
our village Hochaknalli. Next day, after consulting my grandmother, I followed
vithal to school. I was admitted in
first standard in the New Type Middle School [NTMS] Ranjol Kheni. It was the
first week of June and it rained during night hours. There was fresh water in
the open grounds of the school.
The building was L- shaped and it was a concrete [RCC]
building. I was impressed by the modern way of new building being constructed
outside the village Ranjolkheni. This place was about one kilometer away from
my residence at Hochknalli. We used to walk on bare foot to school on a narrow
mud road. This was a modern school situated in the Centre of about ten villages.
Boys from deferent villages used to study there. The surrounding villages were
Rekulgi, Mangalgi, Talmadagi, sitalgeri, Hajjargi, sirkatnalli, etc. One Mr.
Gurubasappa was my class teacher for first standard. He was young and fresh
teacher, who used to teach mathematics. By the time I finished my first term at
Ranjol, a new teacher was posted in my village. And therefore I was asked to
join new school in my own village Hochaknalli. I did so and learnt alphabets.
The strength of students was limited to about ten boys of similar age group.
Among these students, two of us started reading the first standard book and we
two completed reading this text book and we were given second standard book in
the same academic year to read and study. So by the end of the yeas, we were
declared passed the second standard.
The next year, I was again taken to RanjolKheni School, in
order to admit me to third standard there. The old class teacher Mr.
Gurubasappa identified me and he did not agree for the proposal as I was a
first standard student in that school during the previous year. He asked me to
solve a small problem on subtraction, and I solved it with wrong answer. There
was an agreement among the teachers and my parents that I shall be admitted to
third standard, and if I fail in the quarterly examination, I shall have to go
back to second standard only. However If I get through the quarterly
examination, I shall continue in third standard. I not only got through the quarterly
examination, but also stood first to my class [third standard]. After that
event, I used to be the topper to my class every year, up to my SSLC.
I
got through SSLC in first class during 1969 April. I was the fifth student to
get SSLC pass from my village after Indian independence. Mr. Shivareddy, Shankareddy,
Hemreddy D and Hemreddy S were my seniors from my village. I was asked to marry
a girl from far off village Srimandal in the summer vacations after my SSLC
exam. It was a child marriage. I lost my dear father when I was a 9th student.
It was a great loss as the family lost the bread earning member, unexpected. My
father was a potter and active member of the village. My grandmother was the
head of our family. We used to talk Telugu in our home. Most of our relatives
were from Telangana.
Gundappa
kumbar: my father,
Tippamma
kumbar: my mother,
Narasamma
kumbar: grandmother;
The
unfortunate
Loss of father
made me depend on others for my needs of schoolings.
We two
classmates started studying together and chose a rented room. It was a common
place for our study. The magazines we read belonged to my friend Mr. Kasinath.
But as the date of examination approached nearer, he disappeared from the
common study room with his belongings and all study materials and magazines. Because
of this, I was feeling fish out of water. Somehow I managed my available
resources to prepare for my matriculation examination.
After SSLC, I joined science collage at Bidar and got through pre-university course in science during 1970.
There after I continued my education with the help of National loan scholarship and completed my B.Sc. degree in1973. I studied mathematics and Physics as my subjects.
When we joined
collage Mr. Kasinath and I were again roommates. Here also we were sharing his
books. This was because of my bad financial position, as there was nobody to
take care of my expenditures of study materials.
I was more interested
in mathematics whereas he was more interested in biology. We both put our best efforts
to make fine notes in our respective fields. But as the days approached nearer
to our final examination, I lost my mathematics notebook and he lost his
biology notebooks. Someone has stolen our notebooks deliberately. However I was
second to the collage in my class, scoring a better grade in my PUC science
examination.
It was the government
loan scholarship I received for three years, which saved me for the completion
of my degree course. I became a science graduate by 1973. Thereafter, I could
support my mother and family.
I was appointed as telephone operator during 1974 and was
posted to Bhalki, a taluk headquarter in Bidar district. I Worked at Bhalki telephone
exchange for five years [1979] and then appeared for competitive examination
for the post of telephone inspector and I was selected.
I underwent six months training at RTTC Abids Hyderabad.
Then I was posted to Sandur in Bellary district as Phone inspector. There, I
was officer in-charge of the telephone exchange at Sandur. Sundur manganese and iron ores was a famous
ore company managed by M. Y. Ghorpade, the Maharaja of Sandur.
Worked there for one year 1980-81 and again appeared for the
competitive exam for the post of Junior Engineer and I were selected to this
new post. I underwent one year induction training at RTTC Trivandrum Kerala and
was posted to Raichur telephones, as Junior engineer in 1983-84. My carrier
started here as engineer. It was a long stay at Raichur, for almost twelve
years.
I migrated to Bidar in 1996 on mutual transfer. During 1999,
I was selected to the post of Sub- Divisional engineer and worked as
S.D.O.Phones, at Bidar till retirement in 2009 February.
During 34 years of service I saw lot of up-gradations in the
department; from manual to automatic system of call switching. I have seen
Vigorous expansions of telephone networks in India. After 1990 the systems were
digitalized all over the country. Call switching was on STD. customer could
dial to anybody at any instant of time all over the nation. There was a
tremendous achievement in communication technology over the years.