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As soon as I was admitted to our Village High School in Muthukur, I started hearing about the Griggs Memorial Tournament (GMT). More of which in a later post.
I gathered that it was an inter-school sports and games competition of our Nellore District. Like a mini-Ranji Trophy thing. I don't know if it has survived to this day. But by its popularity and fame it must have been near about a century old by now. Maybe a little less. As soon as our new session started, everybody would be looking forward to it. It peaked around its January Finals, leaving enough time for our Annual Exams in March.
The name Griggs meant nothing to me. I even didn't know whether it ought to be Grigg's or Griggs or Griggs'.
And one day I asked my Father, who was our sports-loving HM, who or what this Griggs was. He fell diplomatically silent. And since he was the Court of Last Resort for me, I too kept silent.
But the curiosity persisted and peaked when I visited my old school 3 years ago and met the then (Lady) HM and donated money and gifts in my Father's name.
Could Griggs be looking like this?:
or like this?:
It was always a matter of the cup and the s(lip).
http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/topfiles/awards.php
I know who was who of about 25 odd people in whose names these prizes are given. That is because I was there for 40 years which were the formative years of the institution...more or less.
Take, for instance:
One cash prize of Rs.3,000.00 is awarded to the woman student who has obtained the highest CGPA at the end of the X semester among the women students graduating in the year with M.Sc. degree in Applied Geology, Exploration Geophysics, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics.
The prize of the value of Rs. 500.00 is awarded to the woman student who is adjudged to be the best all-rounder among the women students at the end of the VIII Semester or X Semester as the case may be, among the women students graduating from all the B.Tech.(Hons)/B.Arch(Hons) courses.
- Mark Twain's Notebook
...Posted by Ishani
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I gathered that it was an inter-school sports and games competition of our Nellore District. Like a mini-Ranji Trophy thing. I don't know if it has survived to this day. But by its popularity and fame it must have been near about a century old by now. Maybe a little less. As soon as our new session started, everybody would be looking forward to it. It peaked around its January Finals, leaving enough time for our Annual Exams in March.
The name Griggs meant nothing to me. I even didn't know whether it ought to be Grigg's or Griggs or Griggs'.
And one day I asked my Father, who was our sports-loving HM, who or what this Griggs was. He fell diplomatically silent. And since he was the Court of Last Resort for me, I too kept silent.
But the curiosity persisted and peaked when I visited my old school 3 years ago and met the then (Lady) HM and donated money and gifts in my Father's name.
Could Griggs be looking like this?:
for, certainly he was a sports-loving saheb.
And this morning I Googled for Griggs and got close to 10 million hits. Well, I didn't browse all those sites.
And so was no wiser.
This, I thought, was a shame. Everyone in Nellore of my generation heard his name since it was a household word for all school-going kids, but none knew nor cared who he was!
Perhaps, unlike Cotton Dora (Sir Arthur Cotton) who transformed the agriculture of AP a century and half ago by constructing interlinked irrigation canals and anicuts on the river Godavari, and is even now revered as God by farmers of the Godavari District, my Griggs must have been a mini-achiever...for, food comes before games.
A couple of years back, my IAS B-i-L (retd) wished to immortalize his father's name. His father was a Padma Sri and a Doctorate in Agriculture who was instrumental in fetching the Rice Revolution (from Philippines) to India a half-century ago..."Guduru Venkatachalam"...1920 results in 0.15 seconds.
His 6 sons are all brilliant and well-placed all over the world. They forgathered in India for their father's birth centenary. And held celebrations in Bhubaneswar, Chennai, and Hyderabad (which I attended). These were graced by scientists, engineers, ex-governors of RBI and other dignitaries. Songs and dances and speechifying.
My B-i-L also made arrangements for release of India Post Stamps and First Day Covers on the occasion.
And a bust was unveiled at the Utkal University Ag Dept at Bhubaneswar.
Everything went well and the Padmasri was duly immortalized.
While the preparations were going on, I happened to visit my B-i-L at Chennai for an hour and he asked me my advice (few do) about the plan he had to institute a Prize in his father's name at the Utkal University.
I had something to say in this matter. I told him that it was a brilliant idea, but he should insist on the Administrators of the relevant University to print a brief write-up at the back of the Prize Certificate who this 'Padmasri G. V. Chalam' was and what his achievements were, if any.
He agreed and later told me that he gave them a brief write-up...which I am sure was dust-binned.
There were two prestigious Gold Medals in our AU, Vizagh, when I passed out and away. One for the B.Sc (Hons) of all streams called the Sripati Medal and the other for the M.Sc. called the Metcalf Medal. I myself never got any medal or prize apart from that bouquet I was talking about:
It was always a matter of the cup and the s(lip).
But in our batch both these were won by my friend and benefactor, K. Linga Murty. And when he showed me his medals (and apologized for knocking me out), I got curious and asked him who this Sripatijee and Metcalf Saheb were.
And, like my Father, he kept quiet. And I thought it was a shame.
IIT KGP gives away 100 and more medals and prizes and awards every year in the name of someone or the other:
I know who was who of about 25 odd people in whose names these prizes are given. That is because I was there for 40 years which were the formative years of the institution...more or less.
Take, for instance:
SHARMILA BOSE MEMORIAL PRIZE
One cash prize of Rs.3,000.00 is awarded to the woman student who has obtained the highest CGPA at the end of the X semester among the women students graduating in the year with M.Sc. degree in Applied Geology, Exploration Geophysics, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics.
Quite a few times a lady student of our Physics Dept used to win this award. And I would ask her who this Sharmila Bose was. And there would be utter silence.
Sharmila Bose, nee Ghosh, was our student who stood first when she passed her M. Sc. Physics in 1982 (KK's batch...KK, like me, missed it by a cat's whisker). She was a campus student. My wife and I had decided to invite their whole batch of 20 odd students to the lawns of our Qrs. C1-97 for an Idli-Party (made at home by my wife with my assistance). They gobbled up close to 200 idlis. And after that, they sang songs, told jokes, and held quiz sessions till we chased them away.
Sharmila sang the Rabindra Sangeet song: "Mahua Boney". Her voice still rings in my ear, and my wife and I used to recall that Mad Idli Party many times since that was the first party we ventured to host at our home sweet home...there were many later on.
Sharmila's father was Professor D. P. Ghosh of ME. There is a prize instituted in his name.
She married the son of Professor H. N. Bose (HNB) of Physics. There is a prize instituted in his name.
After their marriage, the couple left for the US, and got a cute son. And within a couple of years Sharmila passed away in the US...Blood Cancer.
Here is another:
PROF. R.G. CHATTERJEE MEMORIAL GOLD MEDAL
RGC (Raamda) and I shared office for a year and he was the most popular B. Tech. Teacher then. And figures in my blogs.
But who cares?
When I was the UG Chairman of our Dept, I suggested in a meeting to the Dean that a brief write-up about the person in whose name the Award is instituted be collected from the donor and printed on the reverse of the Certificate that goes with the award.
But, who listens to an woolgathering gps?
There is another anomaly. Look at this:
SUHASINI DEVI MEMORIAL PRIZE
The prize of the value of Rs. 500.00 is awarded to the woman student who is adjudged to be the best all-rounder among the women students at the end of the VIII Semester or X Semester as the case may be, among the women students graduating from all the B.Tech.(Hons)/B.Arch(Hons) courses.
Since I don't know who this lady, Suhasini Devi, is and what her KGP-Connection was, I guess she must be before my time.
But Rs. 500!!!
Even a midsize doll for Ishani costs more nowadays:
Price: Rs.2999
But when the cash award was instituted, it must have fetched a decent gold coin.
Inflation.
The IIT authorities periodically try to hunt and write to the donors of various gold and silver medals to enhance their donations (endowments) so that the interest on them can foot the ever-increasing bills for silver and gold...and threaten that, otherwise, the gold or silver medals would be converted into cash awards. But they can't trace the good old donors...
I have a suggestion.
IITs routinely increase the fees they collect from their students:
NEW DELHI: The Standing Committee of the IIT Council, the supreme decision-making body of IITs, at its meeting on Monday, recommended an 80% hike, or Rs 40,000, in annual tuition fees for the IIT undergraduate programme. The annual fees would now rise to Rs 90,000 once the IIT Council accepts the recommendation.
And IITs are funded by the Central Govt.
The pay scales of teachers and employees are also periodically increased to meet the inflation. Had I not retired (happily) 7 years ago, I would be drawing a whopping Rs 70,000 per month as my pay (leaving perks).
So there is no funds-crunch at IITs.
My suggestion is that IITs should thankfully receive the monies donated by private donors (at one go) and periodically foot the bills for the inflation-adjusted gold, silver or cash awards.
After all they do it for the Gold and Silver Medals and Proficiency Prizes they themselves give, like, say the President's Gold Medal.
Right? That would be a nice gesture to the departed souls who loved their IITs.
Death, where is thy sting?
"A Chinese man died after his camel turned on him and bit him on his head in a north-east China city"
...ToI, Page 13, Wednesday 26 December
"Rise early. It is the early bird that catches the worm. Don't be fooled by this absurd saw; I once knew a man who tried it. He got up at sunrise and a horse bit him."
- Mark Twain's Notebook
...Posted by Ishani
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