NIGERIA - CLUELESS AT LAGOS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

NIGERIA  -  CLUELESS AT LAGOS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

The announcement reverberated in the cabin. The BOAC flight from Rome would be landing at Lagos International Airport within twenty minutes. Rekha sat there with trepidation. She had begun the long journey two days ago from Trivandrum. She was alone. She was traveling to join her husband who had left for Nigeria two weeks after their marriage. It took six months to obtain the documents for travel.

She had flown from Trivandrum to Bombay and had boarded the flight to Rome. She had never been abroad and she had rarely traveled alone even within India. She found it a blessing that her baggage was booked for Lagos. She could switch flights with ease. The food served during the flights was not ethnic. It was  not to her liking either.

Rekha hoped Roy, her husband would be waiting for her at Lagos Airport. She knew Roy was employed at a place 500 KM from Lagos. The year was 1972. Access through telephone was non existent. Letters through post conveyed news across. Brief messages could be sent through telegraph. Roy’s father had sent a telegram to him that Rekha was on her way to join him. Though telegrams reached destinations quickly, the place where Roy was employed had no telegraph office. The telegram reached the telegraph office 100 KM from the destination. The onward journey for the telegram was through the postman who visited Roy’s place twice a week. The message reached Roy on the afternoon of the date of arrival of Rekha at Lagos.

Roy knew Rekha would be helpless at Lagos if he was not there to receive her.  He found himself in a helpless situation. He did the best he could. He rushed to Lagos.

Rekha had to resolve a major issue at the baggage claim area. Her baggage had not reached Lagos. The airline apologized profusely and promised to restore her baggage to her without delay.  She found to her dismay that Roy was not on hand to receive her. She did not know what to do. Fortunately a family ( they did not know each other before) who had traveled from Trivandrum to Lagos along with her extended a helping hand and offered to drop her at her husband’s place.  Their destination was 200 KM from Roy’s place. Since there was nothing else she could do she joined the family and they had set off for Roy’s place.

Roy reached the airport in the evening. Rekha was not there. He was clueless. The passenger manifest confirmed Rekha's arrival at the airport. Roy waited there for some time. He did not dare to send a message to his people at Kerala that Rekha was missing at the airport. It would have scared them out of their wits. As he went on enquiring at the airport someone recollected that Rekha had joined a family who had promised to drop her at her destination. Roy drove back to his place at a furious pace.

The family who had  offered to drop Rekha at Roy’s place found the house locked. There were no neighbours. They left a message there and took Rekha along with them to their house.

Roy on his return found the message. It had set his mind at rest. He did not waste a moment. He drove all the way to the good Samaritan’s place and finally the husband and wife were together.

The missing baggage travelled all over the world and it was restored to Rekha after four months. Rekha had a harrowing time as  the baggage contained all her dresses. 

BETUL TWINS - SYMBOL OF RISING INDIA

Betul was a nondescript town in Madhya Pradesh in India while I had been a student at the University of Saugor, Sagar during 1970-72. The state was one of the largest in India. Rich in resources, it remained backward in all respects. Betul had nothing of significance and showed a disinclination for any kind of development.

Newspaper reports from Betul on 21^st June 2012 places the town on a higher plateau.

“Conjoined twins Stuti and Aradhana were successfully separated after a 12-hour complex surgery conducted by a team of 34 medical experts, including 23 doctors, drawn from India and abroad. The complicated surgical procedure was carried out at Missionary hospital in Padhar, Betul. “

The sisters were born on May 2, 2011 to Maya Yadav, a resident of Chudiya village under Chicholi block of Betul district. Since the woman and her husband, a poor farmer, were unable to bear the huge expenses required for the delicate surgery, they had donated them to the hospital. The hospital management readily accepted them and decided to go for surgery to separate the conjoined twins who were joined at heart and liver. 

In a four phase operation, the twins were first given anaesthesia.  After nearly two hours, a team of surgeons separated their heart that was again transplanted into them in two pieces.

The surgeons separated their livers through a critical surgery during the third phase. In the last phase their other body parts were separated and sealed as required under such surgeries.  Stuti was finally separated from Aradhana and was kept in the ICU while Aradhana remained inside the operation theatre. The twins are kept on ventilators and will be under close medical observation for 48 hours.

We have to be proud of the team of doctors who had strived for twelve hours to achieve the impossible. We can take pride in the fact that this has happened in one of the most backward regions in India. Betul is undoubtedly the symbol of rising India. 

(Based on report in The Hindu of   June 21, 2012 published from Thiruvananthapuram)

KERALA UNIVERSITY - DISCRIMINATION IN MODERATION

Much before the IT boom happened parents in Kerala were a harried lot. They had struggled hard to find a job despite the fact they were well educated. Kerala had the highest literacy rate in India. Though they had tried their best to join an engineering college or medical college, warped and restrictive policies of successive governments had kept the number of admissions and number of engineering colleges and medical colleges in the state very low.  It was demand far outstripping availability all the time. Harsh reality forced them join Arts and Science courses and come out as graduates or post graduates. The jobs on offer were predominantly clerical either in the government sector or in the banking sector. The swelling number of educated unemployed ensured a policy of selection by elimination. It was the dream of all parents in Kerala – it still is -  to see that  their children somehow become an engineer or a doctor. While the society looked down on a clerk or a teacher, doctors and engineers were viewed with reverence as they made money much more than the average Keralite.

When our son grew up and passed SSLC examination in 1994 with distinction we encouraged him take up Biology, Physics and Chemistry group for his Pre Degree Course. As we wanted him to have a go at both medical and engineering admissions – medical seats available were limited - he was encouraged to take up Mathematics as an additional subject. The hitch was that while he was allowed to take it up as an additional subject he was not allowed to attend classes in the college for the subject. The general perception those days was that while one had to attend the classes in the college for ensuring attendance that permitted him to write the university examination, special coaching at the residence of reputed teachers alone made him get through the entrance examination that opened the doors of prosperity in the form of admission to engineering or medical colleges. The poor boy had to wake up at 3.00 AM to start attending coaching classes from 4.00AM. The morning session would be over by 8.30 AM. He would rush to the college often forgoing breakfast to attend classes there.

There was no let up in the evening. As soon as the sessions were over at the college he had to rush to the coaching classes that began at 5.00 PM and lasted till 9.00PM. We found him reaching home at around 10.00PM. The punishing schedule made him go to sleep the moment he reached home. The two years of Pre- degree was sheer hell for the boy.  To be fair our son was studious. We observed that he was making a sincere effort to secure a high rank in the entrance examination to ensure his entry to a medical or an engineering college. However the results belied our hopes and dreams. His rank in the medical stream was very low. He had a good rank in the engineering stream. However he could secure 46% only for Mathematics in the Pre degree examination of 1996.  The rules of admission those days were that unless one had 50% marks for Mathematics in the Pre degree examination he would not be admitted to an engineering college in Kerala even if he had secured a good rank in the entrance examination.

The Kerala University was very magnanimous that year. The University found that quite a large number of students with a good rank in the entrance examination would be unable to join the engineering colleges in Kerala  for the simple reason that their marks in the Pre degree examination was below the mandatory 50%. The University issued an order granting a moderation of 4% for Mathematics for the regular students of Pre degree that year. It meant that if a student who had taken up the Mathematics, Physics and chemistry group for Pre degree in the regular batch had succeeded in obtaining 46% marks only for the Pre degree examination that year he would be granted an additional 4% to raise his marks to 50% to secure admission to an engineering college. Our son was a regular student in the Biology batch.Though he had secured 46% in Mathematics he was denied the magnanimous moderation  because he had taken up Mathematics as an additional subject.

Finding the discrimination unjust we had submitted a request to the Vice Chancellor of the university to extend the moderation to all the students who had appeared in the examination no matter whether they were regular or otherwise. The Vice Chancellor promptly forwarded the request to the Controller of Examinations of the University. We learned later that the exalted official while declining the request took a firm view that those who did not know how to get 50% marks in the Pre degree examination for Mathematics could not be allowed to join an engineering college in Kerala conveniently forgetting that he had authorized granting of moderation to regular students who had obtained 46% marks for Mathematics.

We had presented the issue to almost all the newspapers in the state. None of them were prepared to publish the matter and antagonize the University. However one kind soul advised us to file a suit at the High Court where he was certain justice would not be denied. We did not file a suit because we did not have the resources to file a suit and fight the University that had enormous resources at its command.