Wall of Fame

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We have all heard of "Hall of Fame":

"A structure housing memorials to famous or illustrious individuals usually chosen by a group of electors"

...Webster

When I started living in 1958 in my uncle's home for pursuing my so-called studies in Vizagh, my medico friend took me to their Anatomy Department.

There, nailed on the wall, hung a huge teakwood board announcing:

"Swaminathan Memorial Prize".

And my friend asked me to look up:

"See your uncle's name there painted in golden yellow"

And I found it:

1948: Kuppachi Krishna Murty

A year later my friend's own name was there on the Physiology Wall:

"Alagasingar Memorial Prize":

1960: Susarla Prabhakara Sastry

Then on I had this secret wish to see mine own name on some or the other Wall of Fame (we, being Hindus, don't have epitaphs on our tombstones).

Alas...

In 1997, my son stood first in his Class X Exam in KV, IIT KGP.

I went to see if his name was there on the KV Wall.

But, no!

There was only one teakwood board announcing toppers of Class XII.

No board for Class X.

I felt sad.

After four years, when my son was studying in IIT KGP, he took me to his campus KV to show me something sweetly surprising.

There it was: A new teakwood wall-board announcing the Class X winners (with retrospective effect):

1997 - Sreenivas Shreenath

You can guess why this new board came up suddenly on the orders of its then Principal (who was on transfer orders to some other KV some place else)

😊

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