Dr A Sukumaran Nair (my father)
My father is a born-teacher, a true inter-disciplinarian and a colourful personality. Gentle, simple and content, he has been my role model even from school days. My affinity to the teaching profession and also music were acquired from him. He holds 5 masters degrees- in mathematics, education, psychology, sociology and politics. His PhD is in the area of psychometry, on developing a non-verbal group test of intelligence. He later guided over 35 PhDs. He also studied electrical engineering for a while at the Trivandrum Engineering College, however he went back to studying mathematics after an year. This makes my interaction with him very special as I myself studied electrical engineering. During my formative years, the greatest education came from after-dinner discussions with him. Great men like Feynman, George Gamov, Sir James Jeans, C V Raman and subjects ranging from History, Education, Mathematics, Politics, Philosophy … all figured in the 9-11 sadas. I still cannot forget how easily he introduced Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle without any equations, in a very philosophical way. On mathematics, it was he who inspired my thinking on visual mathematics. If he started off in the age of computers, I am sure he would have been a world leader in the area. Even today when I struggle with understanding nuances of PCA (principal component analysis), he surprises me with his deep insight in closely related factor analysis and factor matrix rotation. On music, he is an encyclopaedia. One can rarely find a traditional Carnatic composition that is not known to him, nor hum a raga that he cannot identify. He sings well and also used to play the Veena (I suppose he is out of touch now). Other than classical songs, he loves KPAC songs and Devarajan Mash’s songs are his favourites (they were classmates and friends). As an administrator he was an innovator. He was never a file processing machine. He always experimented with new ideas. He bore the brunt of typical Kerala first-reaction. He championed the idea of Pre-degree Board, only to be attacked ferociously. Later it came back in a new form. He championed the major self-finacing initiative as Vice-Chancellor of Mahathma Gandhi University. His model was for Govt/Universities to start such courses so that any fee/social justice issues could be handled as per Govt Policies. He was physically attacked. Even though the intellectual-recognition-machinery never had its due spot light on him, he is blessed with a large number of students and also colleagues who more than make up for the above.
He recently wrote a book on “Frontiers of new Education” Read it here.
2. Dr K P P Pillai
Dr K P P Pillai was formerly Professor of Electrical Engineering at College of Engg, Trivandrum, Principal at the same college, and practically the founding Director of LBS Centre for Science and Technology. A teacher known for his depth of knowledge (especially in the highly mathematical Field Theory), an Engineering Consultant sought after by Industries, a prolific researcher whose 1960s paper in IEE Proceedings is cited even in the new millenium, an institution builder par excellence, Dr K P P Pillai is a towering figure in the field of Technical education in the country. A director of dramas, a polygot, an ardent practitioner of Yoga, a great motivator of young teachers ... Dr Pillai remains as my mentor for the past 20+ years. I am in the process of compiling his papers and articles which I hope will be uploaded soon, along with a more detailed write-up about him.
3. Dr R P R Nair
Dr. R.P.R. Nair is one of the greatest teachers of technology is our country. He retired as a Professor of Civil Engineering from Govt Engineering College Trichur. He is a PhD from IISc, Bangalore and has taught in various Govt Engineering colleges in Kerala, for a short while being a structural consultant at LBS centre. In each of the colleges where he taught, his fans are testimony to his unique guru status. In his send-off meeting on the occasion of retirement, some of the students he taught in the beginning of his teaching career had come with family from far off places.
Dr. RPR Nair is a phenomena that has been instrumental keeping many structures study and aesthetic and at the same time keeping many academic minds charged and motivated . The spark of his energy, whether in structural engineering or academics, continues to deliver even after his retirement in 1998.
On the academic front., Dr. RPR Nair has taught a wide variety of subjects ranging from COBOL programming to structural engineering. He was always equally interested in the subject matter as well as its curricular transaction. His classes on COBOL programming to date stands in my memory as best example of animation – he would walk in with paper files printed on waste paper to serve as tangible examples of input data files for the programs. The students would almost create COBOL syntax themselves correctly, unknowingly.
On the technological front (I admit, I am not a civil engineer to comment on it), I understand that Dr. R.P.R Nair’s contributions in structural engineering designs have been outstanding. His interest in high-rise structures and his specialty of merging structural and aesthetic elements in construction are evident from many of the structures designed by him, including the HQ building of the LBS Centre for Science & Technology at Thiruvananthapuram.
Dr. RPR Nair exists as a gentle breeze of inspiration and excellence. As a person fortunate enough to be his student, I strongly believe that the solution to maladies of technical education in our country is simple to formulate, but difficult to achieve. We need more RPRs.
4. Others
I plan to write soon on some of my other Gurus starting with Dr K Gomathi.