Life is a Journey

Life is a journey


Birth to death period and what happens in between is what is called the life of an individual.
By the time I was seven years old, a new school teacher was posted to my village and I was taken to school which was running in a mosque as there was no school build yet. then the premises were shifted to Basavanthrao Patel's home. There were about one dozen boys who attended the school. Next year I was admitted to the third standard, in Ranjol Kheni primary school. I studied up to SSLC at Ranjol itself.  my father was a potter and he would purchase books and notebooks by his earnings of pottery work. In the summer holidays, I would follow him to the weekly market to Hallikhed to sell earthen pots. We used to carry pots on two donkeys. we needed to take care of the earthen pots while on transport, as a little neglect may be a chance for the break-down of pottery articles. Ranjol is just one kilometer away from my village. When I came to seventh class, I started spending more time on study and used to spend night hours with a friend in Ranjol itself. In the seventh board exam, I scored 90 % marks in mathematics, and the least marks were in the science subject during the 1965-66 year.


                During this year[1965-66] a new TDB high school was opened at Ranjol and was functioning from the middle school building itself. The following year 1966-67, the high school was shifted to Maharudrappa temple, one kilometer east of Kheni-Ranjol. I took admission to high school as an 8th class student. I was awarded a merit scholarship of Rs 50/- . This information was leaked to my father by my classmates. In Fact, it was a big amount those days, and father took that amount from me as a hand loan and purchased a donkey for his pottery work. The high school was just one kilometer away from my village Hwahsaknalli.
During 1967-68, when I was a 9th class student, I lost my dear father in the mid-term vacations. it was an unnatural death, as he committed suicide. He was less than 45 years of age; and the financial problems arose after his loss. when a bread earning person goes, in a poor family, things will become more miserable. He was created in a land acquisition process. He could not tolerate the shock, as he lost all the wealth whatever he earned, in this process of purchasing a land property. My mother was sick. she was suffering from TB. I was the only son they had, and my sister had been living with her inlaws.
I completed my ninth class and then entered the 10th class. I had only one dress to wear. No footwear available to wear and I used to go to school, barefoot. My mother was thinking about my future and she decided to conduct my marriage, though I was still a boy. I did not agree with her idea.
On a particular day, two elderly people came from a village called Srimandal to see me and stayed to-night in our home and they had a proposal for my marriage. I told them that I am a student and want to continue my study. It was a struggle to arrange the SSLC exam fee of Rs 25 /-. However, I cleared my SSLC exam in the first division [first class]. My science teacher advised me to join the Science course.


I was a dreamer. I wanted to continue my study. But there was nothing in the home for my support. My mother consulted an elderly man called Sangareddy. We had a discussion on my further education. He estimated that for one year, at least one thousand rupees were needed to attend college at  Bidar including fees, books, and other mess expenditures. But we had no penny available to attempt it. I wanted to at least step into the college premises once.


After the SSLC exam, my marriage was conducted by elders in the summer of 1969. The In-laws gave 10 grams of gold rings. This ring, I sold to get admission to a one year PUC Science course and stayed in my brother in law's room to start with. He was a BA final year student. The cooking materials were made available from Srimandal. Somehow managing the difficult period, completed the year and passed in the second division in PUC  Science.


I was awarded a national loan scholarship for my science degree education. When I was a first-year degree student, a person called Shankar Reddy of Sirkatnalli became my room-mate. He joined PUC Science. We had our rented room near Naya-Kaman Bidar. Thereafter, for the next year, we changed our location to the Mangalpet area. Sri Sidramappa Patel of Sirkatbnalli took a building on rent and we too joined into that home. We spent a couple of months there.

The Hwahsaknalli Mali Patel, Pashamiyya called me and asked me to coach his children, whenever time permits. I agreed and started visiting his rented home in the Maniyar taleem area Bidar. Then they asked me to stay with them and I agreed and became a member of their home. An old lady used to cook food for the inmates. His two sons Ashif and Babu were studying in high school. Patel was of my father's age. After their exam, the students and the old lady left for the native village, leaving me alone in the room. My exam was after one more month. The Patels were from rich backgrounds and took less interest in education. They used to go for merry-making and used to call me also with them. Therefore I could not concentrate on college homework and it became a problem.


One day Patel visited that home alone and we had a talk on past events of my father. He told me about my father as a young man. He said, "there was Police action in 1948 and most of the Muslim families were hiding in Bavgi village to save their lives. The Hindu activists wanted to go to Bavgi to finish those people. My father and one of his friends rushed to Bavgi village in the night time and gave a message to the hiding people to change their location to a safer place." That is how they were saved in that critical moment.


I appeared for the second year degree exam and got through in an ordinary category. The Patel's sons failed in the exam and they vacated the rented room. Next year I took a rented room in the Harurgeri area and studied there and passed my B.Sc. degree with second class merit in 1973. I was the second graduate from our village. Most of the population was illiterate in those days. During my college-going period, my wife was living with her parents in Srimandal village. We could start our married life only after my degree exam was over.


On my sslc merit, I was selected for the Post and Telegraphs department as a telephone operator and was posted to work from Bhalki manual telephone exchange.
         
         So my appointment was of SSLC level. I was a science graduate. I expected better placement and therefore appeared for the Assistants grade exam of union public service commission. But my preparation was not as required; as I was performing eight hours of duty every day. I could not perform well in the UPSC exam. My dream of becoming an officer failed. I was a meritorious student, and never failed even once, but in this exam, it was a failure. It upset me and I could not sleep during the night hours. I was mentally shocked by my failure. From primary school to a degree, I never failed in any exam. This failure was a new painful event in my life.
Even though I was not willing to work in a lower cadre, I was forced to do so to maintain my family, consisting of a mother, grandmother, and wife. In this disturbing mental condition,
I deserted from my place of work and went away into an unknown world, like a mad man. I wandered here and there and one day police caught me in the night hours and put me behind bars in Pune Yerwada jail. I was there for one and a half months in jail during October-November 1975. However, I reported back to duty in the last week of December 1976 when I received a warning notice from the department. For almost one year I did not work.
My mother worried about my condition and she was sick and I had no money to take care of her hospital needs. She expired in February 1977. Since I was absent for many days, it took a lot of time to settle my leave case. I had no penny in my pocket to serve my mother. there was no other person to support her. Around April 1977, my leave case had settled and I received my payment and arrears. I took a single room on rent and was living alone for a few more months. During the rainy season, my wife joined me with my first child who was born in September 1975, when I was mentally sick. The child was more than one year old and could speak. Life started again.


                  There was a friend and colleague called Bhagavathi Ramesh. He was also my college classmate; a good person and a co-operative gentleman. After completion of five years of service in the department, we planned to apply for a higher level post in the telecom department. Ramesh brought the relevant syllabus for the Junior engineer's post. I analyzed the subject. It was general physics and electricity and magnetism. And also the general English and mathematics. Since I had learned maths as a major subject in my degree, I needed to revise only the general physics and electricity and magnetism. We both applied to the Junior Engineers post but did not prepare for the exam. After a lapse of two months, we received hall tickets for the exam to be held in Gulbarga center. Ramesh had his elder sister at Gulbarga, and the department would give three days' leave for the exam. He said, "Let us go to Gulbarga and enjoy three days as holidays." I agreed to his point of view. We went with a blank mind to Gulbarga and took shelter in his sister's home at night. The next day we went to the exam center and participated. The morning's first paper was English and we wrote whatever we knew. The evening paper was electricity and magnetism. The syllabus was of intermediate level. The questions were easy but we had not revised them. The next day, the morning paper was general science. There also found questions about what we had learned in degree, but not revised and could not attempt properly. The last paper was mathematics. I solved many of the questions.
After the exam, we observed that most of the participating candidates were referring to the PUC Science books for exam preparation. We too purchased a set of PUC Science books on mathematics and physics and returned to Bhalki.
         After this event, I started analyzing the competitive exam question papers with the contents of PUC books and found that about 80% of the syllabus was covered by PUC Science books. I started solving some of the questions during my leisure time. I did this exercise for three weeks during free time. Meanwhile, I had also applied for the Phone Inspectors competitive exam and the hall ticket for the exam had come to Gulbarga. I got a phone call from Gulbarga stating that "since the exam is only four days ahead, you come and collect the hall ticket at the head office itself." It was a chance opened for me and I took three days' leave and started reading the PUC Science books vigorously even while in journey time, on a bus to Gulbarga. I stayed in a polytechnic college hostel with a known person, a relative of Bhagavathi, at night and for the next two days wrote the competitive exam. I hoped that I may score more than 80% marks in the exam. I was declared selected for the post of Phone Inspector from Gulbarga center and after six months of initial training at RTTC [Regional Telecom Training Centre], Abids Hyderabad, I was posted to work at Sandur manual telephone exchange in Bellary district as Phone Inspector. I shifted my family to Sandur in 1980. By this time I had two children.
While in Sandur, I was in charge officer of local exchange and had plenty of free time. I thought about the future. Since I could clear my Phone Inspector exam without much effort, I thought that I should try for the Junior Engineer's exam also. I used to study general physics and electricity topics leisurely whenever time permitted me to do so. I was waiting for the opportunity and that came as vacancies were declared and I immediately applied to the exam by submitting my papers through SDOT Office Hospet.


The life dream became true in 1982
I was working as a Phone inspector at Sandur and awaiting the result of the competitive exam held recently in which I too participated. As usual, I went to my work station by 0930 am, and a garland was offered to me saying that I was elevated to the next promotion as Junior engineer telecommunications. My joy was at its peak and a few drops appeared in my eyes. My study has given its sweet result at last!
On the day of my journey to Kerala, almost each staff member was there at Sandur bus stand to say a happy journey. I took the Mangalore bus by 0800 pm and the next day reached Mangalore by noon. From there I had my journey to Thiruvananthapuram RTTC at Pappanamcode area. There I was like an engineering student for almost 14 months. It was like a postgraduate course in the telecom systems. There were thirty students in our batch. I got the seventh rank among them in the final examination.
After this induction course, I was posted to the Gulbarga division in Karnataka for two months of field training. Then I was posted to Raichur Phones SubDivision as Junior Engineer Trunks to start with, in march 1984. I established my family there for 12 years. I became the master in U/g cable network construction and maintenance.

Went to  primary school at Kheni Ranjol
Went to TDB High School at Kheni Ranjol and secured first class in matriculation.
Lost gear father when studying in the ninth class.
I had to struggle hard to arrange the exam fee for the SSLC.
The elders conducted my marriage after the SSLC Exam, at the bride's home at Srimandal.
Dared to join science college, by selling the gold ring given in marriage by the in-laws.
Passed PUC Science in the second division, stood second to the college in PUC merit.
I was awarded a National Loan Scholarship for a B.Sc degree in 1971.
Passed B.Sc. in the second division in 1973 from Karnataka University.
Got appointed in the Post and Telegraphs department which was a central government service in the year 1974, purely on a merit basis.
1979- Passed departmental competitive exam for the post of Telephone Inspectors.
1982- Passed a departmental competitive exam for Junior Engineers.
1999- On seniority, I was promoted as Sub-divisional Engineer Telecom.
2009- Opted for voluntary retirement on health grounds at the age of 58 years.


Some important events

after SSLC, college life at Bidar; self-cooking, and study for a science degree.
after degree exam, famine at our area, and nothing to eat. one month coaching to Patel's children at Rekilgi village for getting some food grains.
six months temporary work in PWD office Bidar as Literate mazdoor @ rs 105/ per month.
on selection as telephone operator in the telecom department, two months training at Gulbarga.
worked at Bhalki as an operator for one year with a lot of pressors to make both ends meet and was helpless. mother was sick the sister was sick and then a failure in the UPSC assistants grade exam.
all these pressures led me to restless and deserted work and went mad and wandered here and there for more than a year.
in summer 1976 I was sent to in-laws home by my mother through a relative called Narasappa Nagore. I was ill-treated by my relatives and was insulted.
received a warning notice from Head office Gulbarga to report for duty. I was not willing to go back but mother forced me to go for duty.
reported back to the same duty producing medical certificates in December 1976.
February 1977 mother expired as there was no one to take care of her. I was penniless as my leave case was not yet settled. I could not support her.
continued working for the next two months when my salary was released. took a single room on rent and was living alone.
wife went to her parent's home in the summer of 1975 and she delivered a female baby in September and was living with her parents.
the in-laws left the hope of my recovery and they did not bother about me.
the struggle was terrifying and I was like a dead body a feelingless person who lost all hopes of a better life.
Balappa Belkeri and Shivamma Kollur visited my place of work. they got satisfied with my work and went to my in-laws home, and forced them to send my wife to live with me in the last week of June 1977. life started again, but parents have been lost and I could not serve them.
My struggle was for a better paid job and dignified life.
however, things changed to positive in 1977. I was a senior among new staff members and started working as Head Telephone operator. then I need not go for night duty. I could spend one hour as office work as ticket collection and posting to the revenue office through the post office. by the next year, my son Ravindra has born. then in 1979, I was eligible to write the departmental competitive exam for the higher grade.

participated in a competitive exam for the post of Phone Inspectors and was selected from Gulbarga center.
had initial training at RTTC Hyderabad for six months from June to December 1979.
started working as a phone inspector at Sandur, in Bellary division.
Prepared for next promotion as Junior Engineer and got selected as JTO.
Had one-year training at RTTC Trivandrum and was posted to work at Raichur Phones sub-division as JTO Trunks.
Then since I achieved my dream, all my worry vanished and was working happily at Raichur.