My education
I was admitted in a neighboring village in 3rd
standard, somewhere in 1961. My father Gundappa and a village wiseman,
Basvanthrao Patil, took me to Kheni Ranjol middle school. They admitted me in
the month of June. NTMS [new type middle school] Kheni Ranjol, was the only
muddle school serving for the neighboring population of around ten villages.
The school building was impressive. Rooms were large and well ventilated and
the roof was RCC. It was like a mini collage. There were seven teachers and a
head master. The office room was centrally located in the middle portion of the
building. There was a foot ball ground on the right corner; A volleyball court
in the north side, at a far off distance. Most of the students were boys. Girls
were very rare, those days. Most of the villagers were illiterate. The school
was opened after a decade of Indian independence. Hyderabad Karnataka was
dominated by Nizam government and urdu was a language of Tahasil office
administration. Some people learned a modi language for writing loan papers of
village monetary business.
Since childhood mathematics fascinated me a
lot. I could score 90% marks in mathematics in seventh board examination. My mathematics
teacher, Mr. Gurubasappa was very much happy with my performance in
mathematics. In 1966, I was a fifteen years boy studying in NTMS Kheni Ranjol,
a neighboring village which is about one kilometer away from my village
Hochaknalli. I was a boy from backward community and my parents were illiterate
potters. From TDB High School Ranjol Kheni, I could get through in first class
in my 1969 SSLC examinations. One Mr. Kashinath was my classmate who also got
first class in SSLC examination. There was only one degree collage in district
head quarter Bidar managed by HKE Society. Though my father had expired when I
was a 9th class boy, I dared to join Science collage without having
got any assistance from any corner. After my SSLC exam I was asked to marry a
girl from a remote village who was also illiterate. It was a child marriage and
my mother forced me to marry so early. My in-lows had offered me 10 grams gold
ring in my marriage which I sold for my admission to science collage called BVB
Collage. During Those days, it was only one year PUC Science course. It was the
only collage in the district and there were around 300 students studying in PUC
Science course. Only 90 students could get through the examination. I was
second to my collage, in merit. I was fortunate to get Government loan
scholarship for my degree course, for a period of three years. For B.Sc. degree
course, there were about 35 students for mathematics and physics branch and the
rest had opted for chemistry and biology. There was only one girl student in my class who
was called Ratna. She and I were competing for good-grade in study and we both
got second class grade, while the rest of the students passed in third class,
during that academic year. This created a kind of affection between
us but we never talked or mingled. She used to smile at me whenever she
happened to see me in the campus. For second year B.Sc. she opted for major
physics course and thus our classes were then separated and that solved the
unwanted problem of mutual induction. One Mr. Shrinivasa and another Mr. Suresh
were my good friends and classmates. Both of them were from Brahmin community.
After degree, Srinivas became a high school teacher and Suresh joined
engineering collage Gulbarga and it was told that he joined in electricity
department in Maharashtra. She was so lovely and so intelligent and we both used to walk to our respective
homes by foot after collage hours. Many a times I would go a little early to my
collage and wait for her arrival by walk. But it was a one-way affection, and
we never talked even for one occasion. One day while in college, we
three friends were sitting in a remote room in second floor and were busy singing
liberally as it was a free time. Ratna
entered the room and we immediately stopped singing. She smiled and returned
back. She was lean, beautiful
intelligent and like a goddess indeed!
She was in physics group and I was in mathematics group and
we would rarely meet. There used to be common classes for some mathematics
related to physics. During such common classes we could see one another. It so
happened one day that I was late to the collage and the common class was in
progress and as I was a late comer, I could find vacant bench just behind Miss Ratna. I sat there. The lecture was in progress and I tried to concentrate on
the subject matter. But alas, my heart started beating vigorously without my
consent. And that was the biology of behavior among opposite sexes.
One day, it was examination day. The paper was in the afternoon
session and we were recollecting the exam topics. The bell rang and I
immediately rushed into the campus and traced my role number in a room. I entered
the room, searched the marked seat and sat in my seat. Other students were also
sitting in their respective seats. Ratna entered the room and she too searched
her place and sat on her seat. The answer sheet was issued where we wrote our
role numbers; then followed the question paper. It was a chemistry paper and we
were from mathematics group. I enquired with the instructor. He could not find
mathematics question paper. He went out and immediately returned and asked us
to go to another room where mathematics hall is available. He asked us to raise
our hands to know the students of mathematics branch. I and Ratna raised our
hands. All other chemistry colleagues were seeing us, I and Ratna. By this time
we lost a couple of minutes time. We immediately started toward the new room.
It was in another corner of the building. We started running to save the time.
It was like a running race. We chased each other’s and reached the new marked
destination, took our new answer sheets and started writing again our role
numbers. Our hearts were beating because of quick running. However I myself and
Miss Ratna, got highest marks in our mathematics examination and that year, we both passed in
second division. The rest of the students passed in only pass class. Thanks
god! that was another wonder.
I had completed my science degree in 1973 with mathematics
and physics as core subjects and passed with good grade. I was appointed in
Posts and Telegraphs department in 1974 as Telephone operator.
After initial five years service, I
appeared for a departmental competitive examination for the post of ‘Phone
inspector’. The exam was held in polytechnic collage Gulbarga. There were about
75 participants who came from different districts of Gulbarga division to take
part in the examination. In the exam, only two candidates were selected. I was
one of the two. My hard work during degree fetched me a promotion. I was elated
with new hope for better life. It was 1980 and I was trained in Hyderabad RTTC
for the new post for a period of six months. I was posted to Sandur Telephone
exchange as in-charge officer. After working for one year, I again appeared for
competitive examination for the post of junior engineer; this time from Bellary
division. Among 70 candidates who participated from Bellary division, only
three were successful. I was one among the three. Thus I entered the executive service as
Junior Telecom officer. My mathematics and Physics subject was relevant to my
field of work. I was lucky indeed. Thanks god! I was sent to Trivandrum for one
year initial training and posted to Raichur city as Junior Engineer in 1984. I
had my stay at Raichur for twelve tears continuously. My special interest was
underground cable maintenance and development.
During this long stay, I used to go
for refresher training courses all over India to upkeep my knowledge of
changing engineering practice in telecommunications. I witnessed the change
over from electromagnetic system of switching calls, to digital electronic switching
of calls and automation of trunk traffic for STD calls. The mechanical moving
parts were eliminated by digital switching exchange where call switching is
fault free. Computer controlled solid state calls switching eliminated all
mechanical errors. Expansion of exchange capacity was quick and could be done
in less time, and number of telephone connections increased rapidly over the
years. The Indian digital switches were developed in Bangalore and field trials
conducted in Karnataka for the first time. The initial digital switch was of 64
lines, prior to 1990. The switch was enhanced to 128 line and then 256 line 512
lines etc, in a couple of years. One 500 line switch was installed in Raichur.
Within a decade 5000line digital exchanges’ were popularized for district
head-quarters. The period 1990 to 2000 saw quick expansion of systems in India.
Telephone became affordable to common man. Telecom policy 1999 made changes to
the system administration and the state owned telecom department was renamed as
BSNL[Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited]
I worked as Sub Divisional Officer
Telecom for a period of a decade and retired at the age of 58.
Tukaram Kumbar B.Sc.
