Thursday, December 27, 2007

Gorur Srinivas Shandilya visits

His name on the CKC rolls was G.R.Srinivas. But later on when he joined Engineering at SJCE [and resided at Sanketi Hostel for a major part], he came to be known as "Shandilya" among his recent friends. I knew only then that it was the name of their 'Gotra'.

He stays 'half way round the earth' [my favourite expression, borrowed from my favourite Phantom Comics] and whenever he comes to visit his parents in Malleswaram [Bangalore], he makes it a point to set foot in Mysore too at least for a few minutes. This time round, two days after Christmas 2007, he was already here as an opportunity had suddenly arisen to make the trip. His son Ashwin was still in the 'jet lag mode' as they had just landed about 30 hours or so back!

During the hour-long stay here with me we 'nostalgiated' the schooldays, for about a quarter part. He has a fantastic 'Doctor-like handwriting'. I managed to get a sample of the latest in my autograph book after I showed him - much to his awe - his own letter of 1980 written to me. We have kept the correspondence going once in a while all through, except for a longish hibernation until a few years back. His handwriting was better then!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Zakir Hussain


We have heard the name of Zakir Hussain, haven't we? He was the President of the country when we were in CKC. It was a familiar name for us and it continues to be. Our friend Zakir Hussain happens to be the son of the friend of the President at Aligarh Muslim University, if my memory serves right. Well, our Zakir, as most of us remember, was popular for his neat italic handwriting, his first-rank scoring ability and his Kannada! He was one of the top five students in school.
He never misses a visit to my house while he visits Mysore from Brunei. He is one of the top five of the century too! Ask him where? In Brunei. Details will be revealed soon. It relates to his accomplishment as a Paediatrician in that country.
Here he poses for our camera.
This time round, I had the pleasure of accompanying him for morning walks - we are all getting old!!- to Kukkarahalli Kere on 3-4 days. He has some leisure time on this trip and so we were able to spend a bit of time together.