Muse over fifty years ago Osmania : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Muse over fifty years ago Osmania

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Chief Public Relations Officer to 

Chief Minister Telangana

After passing out Higher Secondary Certificate examination from Ricab Bazaar High School in Khammam, I joined in the Pre University Course in SR and BGNR Government Arts and Science College, affiliated to Osmania University then, during 1962-63 Academic Years to become a student of Osmania University for the first time. SR and BGNR College, under the private management, was the first college that was set up in Khammam as there were no colleges in the Telangana region except in Hyderabad in 1956. 

After entering the portals of a degree college I felt elevated. Telugu, English, General Knowledge the three compulsory subjects were taught in combined sessions. Physics and Chemistry subjects were taught commonly for both the MPC and BPC students. Mathematics was taught for only MPC students. We were enthused by the poems of William Shakespeare and William Wordsworth. I still remember the instruments like Pipette, Burette, and Common Balance which we used for chemistry practical sessions.

PUC results were out and I could not secure a seat in any Engineering College with the poor marks I got. Hence I took admission into BSc (MPC) in the same College. In those days if anyone asked as to what a degree student was studying the answer invariably was “First Year…Rest year!  As there was no public examination at the end of the first year degree, students were automatically promoted to the second year. At the end of second year university examinations in six papers for Languages and General Studies were held. In the final year there used to be examinations for the optional subjects and in all one need to appear in ten papers. There were no holidays in between two examinations (like these days) except on a Sunday. We had to memorize the three years study to appear for the final examination and for languages and general studies two years study!

After completing first year BSc I moved to Hyderabad. I took admission in New Science College in June 1964 in B Sc second year. The College was established on July 17, 1956 by Melkote and Sudarshan under the banner the New Vidya Samithi.  It had many prominent lecturers as faculty members and it is no exaggeration to say that we had the best of teaching staff, which no other college had then.

We had Andhra Mahabharata Upanyasalu as Telugu Text and Adavi Bapiraju novel Narayanarao as non-detailed besides Halikudu as the drama text.  Out English Text was a compilation edited by EF Dad and it had an essay by AG Gardner “on other people jobs”. EM Foster’s “A passage to India” was our Non-detailed Text.  For mathematics, we were to study in three parts, Algebra, Trigonometry and Coordinate Geometry. We had Organic, Inorganic and Physical parts in Chemistry (Theory). Three different lecturers used to teach these three parts. I still remember the Benzene Ring drawn by Organic Chemistry lecturer on the black board. Inorganic was taught by Principal Sudarshan himself.

While I was in Degree final year there was a clash between the Student union leaders over OU Vice Chancellor Prof DS Reddy continuance. One group was lead by K Keshava Rao, former Congress leader and now TRS Rajya Sabha member and Former Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy and the other group was lead by M Sridhar Reddy, Pulla Reddy Jansangh Narayana Das and other left wing student leaders. In 1966, the then Chief Minister K Brahmananda Reddy removed Prof DS Reddy who was VC of OU since 1957. In his place a Principal from a Guntur College was appointed. He came and could not take the charge as students were protesting. Keshava Rao and Jaipal Reddy supported the decision taken by Brahmananda Reddy. The only fault committed by Prof DS Reddy was to ask for autonomy for OU! Brahmananda Reddy tried bringing an Amendment to the Act to remove Prof DS Reddy who in turn approached the High Court and then Supreme Court and finally won the case. He continued as VC till 1969. In 1968 when Telangana agitation took birth he was the VC and later Prof Ravada Satyanarayana became the VC. When the Court ordered continuance of Prof DS Reddy as VC, the university had given grace marks to the students. Though I did not write the examinations, I got 15 Marks in all the subjects due to grace marks.

After my BSc in Hyderabad I did my MA from Nagpur and later joined in job as a Librarian. For the professional degree I again joined OU Arts College during July-Aug. 1973 in Library Science Course. Our classes were held either in Arts College or in the Library building. It was a great experience. The final examinations were held in July 1974 and I got University Second rank in August when the results were declared.

That was how my association with OU started 52 years ago came to an end 42 years ago. I fondly remember those days in OU, the college campus, student union politics, attending a talk by Ram Manohar Lohia, association with Professor Haragopal who was senior to me by two years, travelling to Arts College by bus, wonderful time spent with friends, playing Cricket…and there were many, many more memories that haunt me till date. What a wonderful time it was!

Thanks to Osmania University, starting my career as a Librarian I had the opportunity to work with a Governor (Kumud Ben Joshi), two Chief Ministers (Dr M Channa Reddy and K Chandrashekhar Rao) besides opportunities to work in various other capacities. END