A trip back in time

From the albums

This photo was taken at our senior MSc class socials in 1970. There were only 20 students for MSc Zoology under Bangalore University — eight boys and the others, girls. The Zoology department was on the ground floor of the stone building in the Central College campus. Above the Zoology department was the Botany one.

    The library was at the far end of the campus towards State Bank of Mysore. Those days, the library would be bustling with students, browsing through books and making notes. The Natural Science block was a stone building while all the other blocks were brick red buildings. For girls, there was a special room with good seats, a mirror and more, and we’d utilise it during lunch and in our free hours. There were two women attendants who would help girls get snacks from the canteen which was beyond the library building. Surprising as it may sound, during those times, girls didn’t go to canteens or hotels on their own.

There was a huge grass lawn extending from the main gate towards the end of the compound near Mysore Bank circle. In 1969, Gandhi Khan Abdul Gafar Khan addressed us from a podium erected near the Maths block and students were seated on the lawn end to end. The Central College location was very convenient for all of us to commute to Avenue Road book shops and lab suppliers for buying forgotten pencils or drawing sheets or any other lab supplies. Varied sources of entertainment like cinema halls and eateries were aplenty for those who opted for them rather than the classes. Coming to my classmates, one month after our MSc result announcement, 11 of us were appointed as Zoology faculties in various colleges. Narayana Swamy, Sharada and I got into government service under the Department of Collegiate Education.

Cherian and Keshavamurthy joined St Joseph’s College and retired from that college. Vijayalaxmi served and retired as the principal of VV Puram Science College. Geetha Bali and Ravichandra Reddy joined research. Shailendra joined a bank and rose to the rank of Chief Manager. Subramaniam supported his father in his business. Nagamma joined BMS College for Women and was also the Vice Principal of the college. Dr Geetha Bali, after serving as faculty in Bangalore University, was appointed as the Vice Chancellor of Women’s University Bijapur. Dr Ravichandra Reddy also served Bangalore University as the Head and Chairman, Dean of Science and Registrar. Umadevi and Riazuddin are now in the USA.

    Bangalore University Zoology teachers forum brings us together often. Even after all these years, whenever we meet, we discuss the sweet memories of Central College that still linger on.

HS Padma
(The author can be contacted on [e-mail])