At Bangalore Branch my friend and colleague PS Sudha
Sudha passed say two years ago
In her memory I share my communication with her as under
Talking to an old friend after five decades....gave me a strength and security....
It was yesterday afternoon I found Sudha adding members to a Facebook group who were not eligible to be included in the said group where I am an Admin.I found Sudha online in Facebook messenger.Although I avoid talking to women over phone , here her past association with me kindled me Call her and talk. It was a good talk she was happy and I told her about the group etc.
It was in 1968 that I met Sudha at Bangalore Branch of Bank of India where I joined as a clerk. Being young ,Swift,active,slim and good in all nature I used to be attracted towards her as my guide and she would teach me basics of Banking like credits, Debits,Ledgers , statements etc Those days we had no computers and a typewriter used to be there. she used to tell me ...Vijayaraghavan ...don’t play with the machine and spoil it as she knew about the machine and typing too.Her handwriting used to be good and she was a very systematic and hardworking employee of the Branch liked by all including the customers.
I remember she would ask me the following....
Vijayaraghavan ...Are you from Palghat?
Vijayaraghavan..... Are you a graduate?
Why did you leave the Representative Job??
Etc
Probably she was of my same age and had worked as a teacher before joining the bank and was thus much disciplined than I was.
Her personal friendly questions or enquiries used to make me feel happy and consider her as a sister.
She was in my Branch till 1971 when she got married and went to Calcutta .she was my colleague and more a sister to me.
While we were recollecting our happy past I told her about my having had four sisters and left with just one in Bangalore .I too remembered her about my late sister Lakshmi who was in RBI and used to come to our Bank.During some casual talk I told we have more Doctors in family than patients .She asked me like my sister enquiring ...ongalukku enna health problem? ( What health problem do you have ??) I felt happy andsatisfied hearing my own sister enquiring about my health which no one else in the family does . I had to confess having Diabetes under control for last 10 years due to metabolic changes and she told me her too having sugar etc consoling me.She was telling about her younger brother Sridhar who was with me in Bangalore,Bihar,Sangli,Mylapore , etc who stays in Adyar Sridhar Periyagaram was my junior in St Joseph’s College,Bangalore..She was telling Sridhar going to his son’s Ph D graduation in USA next week and said his daughter also settled there.Sudha’s daughter is in Bangalore and son in USA. I enquired about her mother whom I have met long back and other family members known to me and she replied.
She talked to me like my own family member ....told about her stay in Calcutta for over 30 years, her long acquaintances there,her recollection of the happy days we spent at Bank during 1968 onwards.I had attended her marriage at Bangalore in 1971.
One thing which touched my heart was her concern for my health which she enquired. When someone known to us enquires about our health we gain strength and security notwithstanding any health problems we have . So that was an old friend or sister who spoke to me.I had to tell my wife who was overhearing the talk that I was talking to my old friend and sister Sudha.
Later wrote to her
Sudha ...
Being your contemporary I recollected some persons with whom we have worked or lived like a family.I used to feel happy to write names of colleagues in Establishment Book on 1 st of every month ...
Let me release the list.
Mr G Thiagarajan Accountant He stays in Ashoknagar I heard .He appointed me in the Bank and I had privilege to work with him in Inspection and Audit Dept.
Mr KV Thiagarajan I met him in Mylapore years back.
Mr M R Chowk ...
Mr R K Nagaraja Rao
Ms K Balsara must be In Bangalore
Mr H Nandakumar He was my Officer
Mr K Sarvothama I met him last in Bombay when I was in Audit.
Mr M R Chandrasekhar...I met him in Coimbatore sometime when I was Southern Audit .He recognized me and conveyed me good wishes for future in Bank.
Mr Mahajan,Mr D N Halady,Mr K S Srinivasan
Others
S Viswanathan my friend do it know where he is
KV Kalyanaraman
Mr Dwarakanath
Mr Padmanabhan I saw him attending marriage of Parthasarathy here
H J Krushnaswany
NR Parameshwaran
T N TN Sarangapany
Gowda MGH
My friend L Raghavendra Rao
Sundararaja Rao
T T Shenoy
VK Karkera
D’Souza
Naimpally
Nagarkar
Basrur
Baig
Selvaraj
Shanmugam
Shivanna
Keeper
Sidhe Gowda
Vinod Khartri
Carvalho
G Narayanan I met him at IOB in 2008
After you left Sridhar was with me in Bangalore later Bihar,Coimbatore,Chennai etc
So I voted you
Hope you are better
Take care
Regards
Wrote to Sudha
I too feel proud of the Institution St Joseph’s College Bangalore where I had the privilege of being a student getting graduated in Science during 1967. The college it was providing ample opportunities for students to pursue higher studies after graduation and have found many continuing further studies and reaching heights in academic fields . The discipline and the mastery over English language gained there enabled many students reach top positions in society . Incidentally ,I mention Sri G. Narayanan and Sri P Padmanabhan Subramanianm
and a few others who turned out to be stalwarts in Banking industry reaching the topmost position . I have a few others who turned out to be scientists,Physicians/Surgeons,Attorneys,Chartered Accountants and politicians who were groomed at the St Joseph’s. One of my colleagues ...Mr C S Vaidyanathan is a Senior Advocate in Supreme Court..India.Obviously the teachers to name a few Professor Gangadharan,Rev Fr D’Souza,T.Balasubramanian,K S Sundaresan ,Srinivasan ,Maths Bala,Chemistry HPR Setty,Physics Gopalan,etc remain stored in our memories who made us what we are today . In general all Josephites have climbed the ladder of success and established well in life providing good academic education , job,life,etc to their children and as I find many of them are educated and well settled abroad. It is doubtful if our grandchildren and others would get the chance to study at St Joseph’s but am sure would remember the institution where the parents studied. I state many of my siblings and relatives too studied at St Joseph’s and-one a faculty member thus feel privileged being old students of such an institution.I may state my father in law ,his brothers and three brothers in law are from St Joseph’s College , Tirucirapalli which too is a landmark institution and a few top people in Bank of India studied there .It has been our efforts of 1967 BSc graduates to meet and commemorate the institution but have not been successful so far as we are all spread over various countries of the world.All my best wishes on this occasion to sri.Padmanabhan Subramanian and his colleagues and the teachers
College where I studied
