A conversation with the past

This photo was taken in 1966. All the people in the photograph, including me, were working in the Bombay and Gujarat telecom circle as engineering supervisors from 1958, and on promotion as assistant engineers. This is when we came to the Bangalore Telephone Exchange in 1965-1966. We were the first batch of Kannada officers who joined the exchange in good number at a middle management level. At that time, the top-level employees were from Tamil Nadu and the bottom-level ones were from Karnataka, resulting in a communication gap in the department of communication!

To bridge this gap, we pondered over the issue and in 1967, we started a ‘Kannada Sangha’, so that we could bring all the members on one cultural platform. We organised cultural events in both Kannada and Tamil, thus integrating the system. Once the idea for the Sangha crystallised, I became the president, KS Lakshminarayana became the secretary and the others, the EC members. We roped in a few Tamil staff members who were good in music and a few Kannada staff members who were good in dance and drama. Some programmes were planned and organised in Ravindra Kalakshetra with the blessings of K Swaminathan, the district manager and CVH Rao, the divisional engineer at that time.

Among the dramas we performed, ‘Sohrab and Rustum’ was outstanding. The dance dramas that came out successfully were ‘Mohini Bhasmasura’ and ‘Anarkali’. The background music was done by SS Krishna Murthy and Eswaran, and Gowramma, a telephone operator, was wonderful as Mohini. Also, the music rendered by Vanitha and Lalitha Jayaraman (both operators) was memorable.

Apart from this, we organised several lectures by well-known literary giants of those days. Of these, the one by AN Krishna Rao (popularly known as Aa Na Kru) is still vivid in my mind. On that occasion, our district manager, Swaminathan, being a magician, brought out a telephone instrument from an empty box and Aa Na Kru asked him why he was not able to provide telephone connections on demand. (Those days, one had to wait for two to three years to get a telephone connection.)

Now, all the people in the picture are retired. I am functioning as a programme secretary in ‘Jnana Jyothi’, a senior citizens forum for BSK Second Stage. SK Narasimhan retired as a vigilance officer from Bombay Telephones and is no more. Devinarayan was a very good classical singer. Once, on a visit to the Gol Gumbaz, he was singing in one corner of the tomb and we could hear it in the diagonally opposite corner. Unfortunately, he is not with us now. MNS Rao retired as the DGM from Calicut Telephones, and is an active member of ‘Jnana Jyothi’. BVN Rao is the senior most amongst us, and is assisting his son-in-law, who is a businessman. KS Lakshminarayana, who was the brain behind the Sangha, is no more. SS Rao retired as the director from the Bangalore Telephone Exchange and is my neighbour, and a good advisor in all matters. He is also a ‘Jnana Jyothi’ member. MSS Sastry, who retired as the divisional engineer administration in Bengaluru, is no more. Now, those of us who are around often meet and exchange pleasantries as those days are evergreen in our minds.

When I think of Bengaluru then and now, I can’t help but notice the growth that has taken place. The City was in its infant stages then and did not know how to go about developing. It wasn’t until the 80s that it began to develop. Everything was done manually until then and it was harder. To make a call to the US, it would take two to three days! How times have changed!

(The author can be contacted on 9449011300.)

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