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From the social impact-driven, religious ideology of Ramakrishna Mission, since his schooldays, to turning into a legend within the Indian expertise schooling panorama, Professor S. Sadagopan, an educator and thought chief, has launched into an insightful journey. In a dialog with Sudeshna Das, consulting editor at EFY, he candidly shares the story of his life
Hailing from Mylapore, a neighbourhood exuding old-world allure within the coronary heart of Chennai, India, Professor S. Sadagopan was born in 1951 into an informed, middle-class household. Regardless of dropping his father at a younger age, he spent his youth amidst the quaint environment of Mylapore. His resilient mom, now aged 96, single-handedly raised him, instilling a robust basis for his future endeavours.
“I misplaced my father once I was seventeen. Simply on the day of the loss of life, he mentioned that he was dying as a contented father as he had instilled a greater worth system in me. He used to say that, for us, God is sort of a site visitors cop and God is just not confused. So clearly, there are solely inexperienced and crimson and no amber in his sign. This lesson made me very intuition-driven. Earlier than making any determination, intuitively, I see if it’s inexperienced or crimson. I don’t query it; I think about it the Lord’s want. My mom raised me nearly single-handedly. It was fairly robust, however she has performed it extraordinarily effectively. She is a giant, large motivator and an influencer on my life.”
Touring down the early years
“Mylapore was known as a spot for intellectuals. It was a pleasant neighbourhood with an previous sandstone church and a good looking sea seashore. The church traces its origin again to St. Thomas!” Prof. Sadagopan describes. He began his education in a 100-year-old institute, named P S Excessive Faculty, in the identical locality. Later, he was related to the Ramakrishna Mission Faculty in Chennai.
The affiliation with Ramakrishna Mission made a deep influence on Prof. Sadagopan. The ideologies of Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda stay the guiding consider Prof. Sadagopan’s journey of life. He received serious about meditation and commenced volunteering for social causes throughout his faculty days underneath completely different initiatives by Ramakrishna Mission. “As a college scholar, I received into the behavior of volunteering. I volunteered within the free medical centre cum dispensary run by the Ramakrishna Mission. I used to distribute medicines as per the prescriptions.”
Prof. Sadagopan is to this point fairly fascinated by the libraries at his faculty and Ramakrishna Mission. He nonetheless remembers the wonderful lecturers that mentored him and inspired him on a lifelong religious journey. Prof. Sadagopan opines, “My experiences in school and Ramakrishna Mission formed my persona.”
“I’ve realized rather a lot whereas volunteering with Ramakrishna Mission for a charitable dispensary mission. The sufferers needed to pay 5 paise for availing of the session. Even in these days, 5 paise was a nominal quantity, however amassing the identical concerned a number of work. So, I requested Swamiji the explanation behind making the service chargeable with a nominal quantity. He defined that these ‘5 paisa’ contributions from every affected person have been hardly making any distinction in our total price. Nonetheless, that contribution would make sure the sincerity and regularity of the sufferers for that service. Truly, after paying that nominal price they valued the service extra and stopped losing medicines. It was a touching lesson for me.”
Pursuing the engineering dream
Prof. Sadagopan accomplished his education in 1967 and joined the School of Engineering, Guindy, College of Madras, India, to pursue BE (Hons) (1973). He narrates “It is among the oldest engineering schools within the nation. I used to be a day scholar there. My home was about 5 kilometres away and I used to commute by bicycle.”
The faculty gave him a a lot wider canvas to color. Whereas remembering his studying days, Prof. Sadagopan says, “In these days, there was no separate pc science division. Nonetheless, we began with analogue computer systems, and later, a really modest IBM 1620 pc in a authorities division. There was a professor in cost who used to permit us further apply time, after workplace hours. Nonetheless, there was not sufficient cash to pay for IBM coaching; so all of us used to dig up the manuals and be taught to program by doing it ourselves.”
Throughout his engineering days, Prof. Sadagopan received alternatives to take part in numerous attention-grabbing tasks and to do an internship at a reputed firm. Nonetheless, the massive library at Guindy was crucial attraction. “I nonetheless bear in mind there was a well-known textbook known as ‘The Dynamics and Thermodynamics of Compressible Fluid Circulation’ by Professor AH Shapiro of MIT.” The librarian was struggling to search out the proper place—was she to place it underneath dynamics, thermodynamics, or fluids? I guided her to resolve this matter and we turned good mates. Consequently, I used to be allowed to borrow extra books. I feel books have been an integral a part of my life.”
Then, the Indian increased schooling system was in an experimental section regarding the engineering syllabus. It allowed Prof. Sadagopan to check extra elective programs and attention-grabbing tasks even exterior the division. He targeted extra on arithmetic and electronics and in addition did some uncommon experiments.
Sdagopan defines himself as a ‘365 day vacation’ particular person as he has been having fun with his examine and work identical to his leisure. “When folks discuss work-life stability, I get amused, as a result of I feel that it seamlessly flows into one another,” he explains. His zeal for studying manifested even in spare time activities, exemplified by his grasp of Hindi and translation of Prabhudutt Brahmachari’s lectures throughout his faculty days.
Shaping up the skilled life
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