I do not own a college, nor I know anything about Engineering. My grandfather through his munificence started an engineering college way back in the 1950's. He was a philanthropist and an industrial magnet. He was addressed as Textile King by his peers when he was alive. Karumuttu Thiagarajan, as he was known in those days and even now remembered for his excellence in management, started colleges for engineering, arts and science and teachers training college in his town Madurai.
He wanted the colleges to impart first class education to the people around. When great universities in most parts of the country demanded caption fees, he was determined not to accept a single penny by way of capitation. While most colleges got unduly high amounts as bribes for an appointment of professors, lecturers and staff. He forbade his principals and correspondents not to take a single pie. That way he built up his institutions. They now speak of his disposition and thousands of students have passed out of these colleges. Many would have been dead and gone. The portals of his institutions reverberate his name and echo his voice.
As such, I am proud to be one of his granddaughters. As a girl, I used to visit him along with my mother. I stood aghast at his simplicity and his greatness both simultaneously reflected in his personality. He was o fond of my mother and used to call her the most brilliant of his children.
I had been very discreet in not letting anyone know that I am his granddaughter. Somehow it has become pronouncedly known that I am from his brood, might be the looks I would have inherited, or the mannerism I would have imbibed.
Year in and year after, I get calls from relatives and friends asking me to recommend to the management for seats. I try to shy away from them. The compassion that is within me rises up and bids me write a letter to the management for a seat for the most deserving student. The people at the helm, incidentally my uncle and his wife, consider my
inputs and are kind enough to admit a boy or a girl every year.Thanks to both of them.
He wanted the colleges to impart first class education to the people around. When great universities in most parts of the country demanded caption fees, he was determined not to accept a single penny by way of capitation. While most colleges got unduly high amounts as bribes for an appointment of professors, lecturers and staff. He forbade his principals and correspondents not to take a single pie. That way he built up his institutions. They now speak of his disposition and thousands of students have passed out of these colleges. Many would have been dead and gone. The portals of his institutions reverberate his name and echo his voice.
As such, I am proud to be one of his granddaughters. As a girl, I used to visit him along with my mother. I stood aghast at his simplicity and his greatness both simultaneously reflected in his personality. He was o fond of my mother and used to call her the most brilliant of his children.
I had been very discreet in not letting anyone know that I am his granddaughter. Somehow it has become pronouncedly known that I am from his brood, might be the looks I would have inherited, or the mannerism I would have imbibed.
Year in and year after, I get calls from relatives and friends asking me to recommend to the management for seats. I try to shy away from them. The compassion that is within me rises up and bids me write a letter to the management for a seat for the most deserving student. The people at the helm, incidentally my uncle and his wife, consider my
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