IPS (important
pre-script): 1. SYMA Childfest drawing
competitions were on – and I was hopping from one building to another. In
between received info that there is another important guest for the Prize
Distribution function. I almost jumped with joy telling my friends that I know
him .. it is not knowing, it is hero-worship – I have been speaking of this
person for long and here was an opportunity to meet and talk to him after 4
decades !
2. the board at the entrance of
that famous Red building (Hindu High School) would read : “Be proud of your
School; let your school be proud of you” !
3. Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private
research university based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1900 by
Andrew Carnegie it has grown into an international university of great
repute. Past and present faculty and
alumni include 20 Nobel Prize laureates, 13 Turing Award winners, 23 Members of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 22 Fellows of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, 79 Members of the National
Academies, 124 Emmy Award winners, 47 Tony Award laureates, and 10 Academy Award
winners.
Long
ago ! ~ Education system was different. Old
timers will recall that the First Public Examination for the students used to
be at Class XI – those who passed would join PUC in College and those days, the
State First used to secure a little over 400 out of 500 - a time when securing more than 80% was
considered the ultimate !! .. recall that in 1977, NK Raman of our school (The
Hindu High School, Big Street, Triplicane) secured 457/500 and was State 4th
– photo of him with a beaming smile
appeared in newspapers .. .. Those were the times when Newspapers would roll
out special editions containing the Roll No. of those Candidates who passed the
Examination. It was ‘all numbers’ and
those Special Supplements would sell like hot cakes…….. students, parents, near
and dear would be elated to see their Registration No. appearing on the
newspaper – it was a time to celebrate and so they would buy toffees and
distribute ! – simple life …
The
pre-university course (PUC) was an intermediate course of one year duration at
College. Now students complete 10+2 and School and go
to college. Those days, after 11th
(SSLC) – students would join PUC and later join degree courses. Interestingly, in one group with some other
activity – there were 4 who had failed in PUC – it is another story that couple
of them are famous in public life.
The
two day Goldwinner SYMA Childfest concluded on 12.1.2020 and the Prize
Distribution function was glittering. Srinivas
YOungmens Association (SYMA) has been in
service to the society since 1977. WE
have been conducting Childfest, competition for school children, aimed at
promoting spirit of competitiveness and developing the spirit in school
children providing platform to hone and exhibit their skills. Close to 100 schools and more than 2000
students participated in 2 day events.
There were events with individual participation : Fancy Dress
Competition (for Lkg, Ukg, 1st & 2nd); Drawing Competition (Groups for Lkg
& Ukg; 1&2; 3-5; 6-8 & 9 -12’.
There were group competitions in which students participated through
school : Group Singing; Quiz (2 groups
6-9 & 10-12); Group discussions; Art work & Group dance. Chief Guest was Sri Deshmukh Shekhar
Sanjay, IPS, Dy Commissioner of Police, Mylapore. Special guests on
dais were : Mr P Saravanan, GM, Grundfos & Sri NK Raman – a person who had
accomplished so much in academics.
The
person described in IPS 1 is Sri NK Raman (his brother was my batchmate – did
Science while I studied Commerce group in +2 at Hindu High School). Resided at Eawaradoss lalah street, studied
at Raghavendra school and later at Hindu High School. He did MBA in LIBA where he was a Gold
medalist.
Hailing
from a lower middle class background and having studied in Tamil medium, his
knowledge and appetite was phenomenal.
He was to rise astronomically, going to USA doing MS and PhD in Carnegie Mellon under fellowship. After successful completion, he worked in KLA
Tencor in USA. Back to motherland, he
was the first President and MD of KLA Tencor Chennai. Later he was on his own starting DFMSim,
which was later acquired by Applied Materials, a Silicon Valley based semiconductor equipment
company where he heads - Artificial intelligence and machine learning group.
Sri
NK Raman is a proud holder of several patents and has published many papers in
leading journals pertaining to semi-conductor industry. He has taught courses at Carnegie Mellon, UC
Berkeley and Santa Clara Universities.
He is currently working closely with IIT Madras in AI projects. Noble and highest level are his accomplishments
– yet he is a simple, unassuming person.
A person of whom his school (Hindu High School) and Triplicane can be
proud of ! - he is yet another ‘Jewel of Triplicane’.
We were delighted to have him on the podium as a Special Guest and
distribute the prizes to the winners.
Thank you so much Sri NK Raman for accepting our invitation and
being there. SYMA places deep sense of gratitude to you. You are a great inspiration and role-model
for students.
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
13th
Jan 2020.
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