Vijay Kumar. P 10H, Saraswati Nilayam Jawahar Nagar Trivandrum 695 003

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EDUCATION

Schooling

The person, who has influenced me the greatest during the formative years, is surely the principal of the institution where I did my entire schooling - Loyola School, Trivandrum. Fr. C.P. Varkey S.J., is renowned for his theories in the aspect of behaving with and bringing up children. An author of several books on the subject, I have little doubt that, like many others, I too would have been a subject of his study -- of how to handle truant children.

In the early years till high school, I was known to be an intense trouble maker and also very poor in academics. While the latter was to stay through the years at school, the former soon gave with the responsibilities that came by – the most significant amongst them being School Leader of this prestigious school. This brought with it sense of responsibility and from the large number of speaking opportunities that followed, the boost to self-confidence was immense.

The National Cadet Corp was a deep-rooted passion. Being the Leader and Cadet Flight Sergeant of the troop which was adjudged the best in drill and turnout in the state (at the Annual Training Camp), gave an opportunity to be leading the Kerala Air wing contingent at the Independence Day parade. Getting selected but not being able to participate in the RD camp in Delhi, continues to remain a regret. But, surely the independent decision to refrain from going was correct, since otherwise, I might have ended up losing a year (the camp being precariously close to the final examinations).

Participation in cultural activities and athletics (both at the district and state levels) brought with it a sense of competitiveness, fortunately, without the frenzy that is often witnessed in schools these days.

My years in Loyola were filled with an immense number of wonderful experiences and today they remain as very pleasant nostalgic memories. In the year I completed my tenth, the principal of the school retired and left town. But even today, he unfailing comes to my little apartment for a meal, to talk to my wife and daughter about – by his admission – one of his favourite pupils.

For one who consistently fared far below average in academics – this is a matter of pride!!

Pre Degree

If the years in Loyola are memorable, so are those in Ivanios - though for all the wrong reasons. The two years I spent doing my Pre Degree were the most boring - with absolutely no extra-curricular activities of any kind. I really cannot remember any significant activity beyond all the cycling done along with friends, hopping from one tuition to the next.

Engineering

The welcome change after the two dull years, was perhaps largely on account of the passion I developed for Basket Ball. Having initially joined at TKM Engineering College and been a a regular at the BB court in Fathima College, the bug really bit. After moving to Trivandrum Engineering college, the passion only grew and by the third semester, I was playing for one of the best teams in the state – thanks to my height perhaps :-). With several Youth India and University players, we were regular finalists in most of the tournaments we played in. We used to regular coach, play and practice with the Kerala Police and KSEB teams, which had several players representing the National Team. But no – never managed to be in the starting five for CET. The three seasons of fitness training with Mr. Ali (we called him pulli), was an experience in itself. Besides the game too, life was good fun with lots of excitement happening all the time – the perks associated with being a mechie – at least in those days :).

Business Management

A very close-knit group, the friendships developed at the business school continue to bring cheer to our lives. The two years in the School of Management, at the Cochin University of Science and Technology were well spent. The classes were not difficult to endure :), the activities were balanced and hostel life was absolutely exciting. The most interesting activity was organising Talentime – an inter-collegiate cultural festival having a participation of about 400 students from across south India. Being the President of the Management Students Association and also the Chairman of Talentime was a phenomenal learning experience.

It continues to surprise my friends from school that I was a merit scholar at the University and did get a scholarship to study there - on account of the performance in the entrance test. Basketball continued to be a passion and at the South Zone Inter-University BB tournament at the Sport Authority of India in Bangalore, I had the opportunity to captain the University team. We (expectedly) lost the very first game against Andhra University, but scoring a tournament high of 34 points was certainly gratifying.

Technology was a fascination and my programming days began with the little programmable calculators that Casio used to make - in those days, the desktop PCs had not yet made an entry. Between Engineering and MBA (partly simultaneous with the MBA) I did a Post Graduate Diploma programme in Systems Management at NIIT. While at SMS, I managed to convince some of my friends (who surprisingly agreed) and together we went for training classes in C, C++. However, when the pretty instructor resigned, I realised there was no more hope for company, and with that ended all technology pursuits.