Shashidhar Gowda

Was it Dr. Prasanna? I think so, he told my parents, that I would born between 16 and 17, I still have not come across another accurate guess like that one! I was born 20 minutes after the mid night on 16 Oct 1978, in the government hospital, Sagar. After almost 18 hours of labor pain.

According to my mom, I used to like flowers when I was kid, used to pluck them and stick them on the head and run here and there! I think I should one day sit with my mom and ask other stuff as to what and how I was.

Liking flowers was not confined to sticking them on the head! I remember once I ran into a trouble due to my extra obsession with the flowers! It was a evening in the rainy season, clouds and showers, slippery backyards, green grass grown to cover all foot ways, millions of mosquitoes zzzuuuuyyyyyhhhhhh zzzuuuuyyyyyhhhhhh-ing and biting every possible place on the body! But nothing of that was new to us in my grandpa’s home in Magekoppa, we had collected some jasmine flowers that evening and Gowri aunty was making garlands, sitting in the hall, and a kerosene lamp (called deepa in Kannada) in front, I took a jasmine and smelled it, smelled it again, again and again, by the time I realized the smell was not going away, the jasmine flower had gone into my nostril and I was finindg it difficult to breath!  Panic started, oh my God! This kid! What have you done! I don’t remember all of what my aunties shouted! My uncle Chandrashekar was going to college, that time he had just come home and almost everyone saw a savior in him, he took a hair pin, straightened it and bent one end, put me on ground face up, held the kerosene lamp in one hand and with a little struggle and with his instant operating equipment, removed the jasmine, thanks Doddamava! I will never forget that incident and thge red jasmine tree, I felt so sad when that tree was cut and the part of land where that tree stood went to my grandpa’s neighbor.   

Krishnamurthy and Gurumurthy, called by some people as Murthy-Dwiyaru, were my teachers from 1st to 7th standard at Melavarige school, though other teachers like Thimmappa, Balayya came for one or two years, Murthy’s were there for all 7 years. It was a huge struggle for my mom to get me ready and send to school during my 1st standard, I did not like going to school at all, mom used to carry me and drop me near school and Krishnamurthy teacher, who was our family friend that time, used to pull me into the building. I don’t remember what used to happen inside the classroom, but I used to wait for bell sound, which soon became my favorite. Arunkumar (Son of Veerappa Gowdru) used to come to school with me and he was in 2nd standard, he was more punctual and did not have allergy or fear for the school and teachers, perhaps because he did not take any of them seriously, evident from what he did down the line.

Shalini demanded slates and showed interest in learning much before she joined the school, she used to bend her head and sit to write, she learnt writing all alphabets and numbers but could not spell/pronounce them as she did not practice, whatever she could do was great because no one had asked her to do and she did on her own interest. Krishnamurthy teacher spotted her skills and asked my parents to join her to school from the following year. After she started coming school I became a bit more disciplined and started liking going to school, probably someone would have told how shameful was it on my part not to go to school, while my little sister had mastered the alphabets and enjoyed going to school. Couple of years later Rekha too started coming to school, so we became three, Shalini and I used to come to thr road in front of our home and shout for Rekha to come as she had to come from ajjana mane, Rekha was kind enough to keep lunch boxes of all three of us, we used to hand over boxes to her as she kept them safe and guarded. During lunch hours we used to go near Melavarige lake with lot of other children, to eat. Few years we used to walk home for lunch.

Between 4th and 7th standard, both Shalini and I proved to be the most intelligent students, and that was because of the strict monitoring and tuition we got at home, our father used to beat us if we fail in completing home work, by the time the teachers at school completed 5th chapter we at home would have completed the entire book, and that was true for any subject. Our school mates used to wonder how on earth could we read from 7th standard books, while we were in 4th, little did they know that they just needed to know alphabets and grammar to be able to read. I remember many instances where Balayya teacher asked us to teach other students and designate us to be monitors of our classes. And Thimmappa teacher was very fond of me because of the plants I used to grow at home in plastic covers; I always love plants, trees gardening, and agriculture.

With Gururaj and his father I had gone to Bharathi High School (BHS), to join to 8th, Guru’s dad mentioned there that we both were brilliant students, and teachers in BHS said the brilliancy from Melavarige school was not of much use. Most students come from government middle schools and know little, so in BHS they taught us right from English and Hindi alphabets, Kannada grammar and basics of maths and science.

Most of the teachers in BHS were even teachers to my mom and Doddamava. Every one of them were experienced, well educated and had award winning quality of teaching. BRD and NSG took special interest in me when the doctor in medical check up found out that I had a health issue, and counseled my family to get the proper medical help. In teaching and career guidance BPS and HKS were extremely good; they both were very passionate about their student’s development, these two have had a great influence on me. During high school days Doddamava too influenced me by making me understand the importance of discipline, hard work and being up-to-date. My mom throughout all these years every day combed my hair, molished my head and cooked for us, getting up early in the morning.

In BHS I made friends with Guru, Raghu (Bhatta) and Mallikarjun. I am fortunate enough to have Guru and Raghu still in my circle, but it was so sad and unfortunate that Mallikarjun fell down from a tree and died in a hospital. I came in 3rd place to the school in SSLC exam; it was a surprise to me, my family and teachers! As it was not expected. I wanted to go to Siddaganga mat in Tumkur after SSLC, but my mom did not want to send me away, so I joined Govt. Junior college Sagara for PUC and took PCMB subjects. PUC was not that eventful, and the focus and concentration I had on studies in BHS was somehow gone and I became somewhat dull at studies.

Can't miss writing on my connection with Bilekal, Mallikarjun's house and Sheshagiri Bhatru house. Spent a lot of time during both school days and holidays there, as Malikarjun was very friendly, had lot of skills and had a TV in his house! which was rarest of the rare things those days. And Visheveshawara Bhatru loved playing chess, so Guru, Mallikarjun and I used to go to his house a lot of times, his son Adarsha is a very good friend of mine and I can't forget the fun I had when I visited him and his wife Hema in Marlboro (Boston) when I was in USA.

By the time PUC was completed in 1996, I had realized that I had to study either engineering or at least computer science in degree to be able to make a descent career, but neither did I have sufficient score in PUC nor financial support to do engineering. Doddamava managed to get some influence and also paid donation for my LB college admission into BSc Computer Science; later Sannamava (Murugendra) shared the donation.

In BSc, Raghu hegde, Ravi and I were always a group, though both of them were more intelligent and hard working in studies than I was. I know some of our other classmates used to call us thrimurthy’s. Madhu and Praveen were sufficiently close to us as well, so they remained in our circle beyond college.

MCA was my target after BSc, I had gone to Tumkur and Shimoga and had collected prospectus from the colleges, but again the financial situation at home was not encouraging, so decided to go for work. Sannamava initiated the whole process; he initially had spoken to Mohana Gowdru who asked him to send me to work in his ‘Adike Mandi’ as helper and I felt insulted so much! After a degree in computer science, I think I was proud to have felt insulted.

Sannamava spoke to Suma Aunty’s father, who was an Engineer in PWD, in Sagara and asked him if I could go to Suma Aunty-Somashekar uncle’s house in Bangalore, stay there and search for jobs, my dad spoke to Somashekar uncle as well and then it was decided that I’d move to Bangalore. It was a very sentimental evening; I started from home with new hopes, and felt like a girl leaving to her husband’s home for the first time, my mom cried too. Rekha had come to Sagara to send me off, and while she was standing beside the bus, somehow the window glass broke and fell on her, some pieces went deep in her arm and injured, she had to be taken to hospital and get the glass pieces removed, and some scar marks have remained on her hand permanently.

My father and I took a 279 number bus from majestic city bus stop and got down in Sanjaynagar, I think Somashekar uncle had come to bus stop to pick us up. I had a couple of bags, some clothes and a diary of the autohraphes my BSc classmates wrote.

It was big struggle searching for jobs, I registered with some consultants who obviously failed to do any justice to the money I paid, I roamed around Bangalore and gave enumerable interviews, the problem was that I did not have any focus or guidance as to what kind of jobs I had to get into, I attended interviews for computer operator jobs, door to door marketing, teaching faculty, school teacher and whatever that I saw the advertisements for. I did the door to door marketing job for a week and had a good (and some bad) experience, then I joined a high school to teach computer science, worked there for almost 3 months and while working there I attended interviews for developer position with AppleSoft and subsequently accepted, and that’s how my career started, it’ll be 10 years in another 4 months!

Being in uncle’s house was a good experience, uncle and aunty helped me in every way they could, apart from staying and eating in their house for free, I also sometimes took small loans from them. I really enjoyed company of putti (Arpitha) she was just going to nursery when I arrived in their hose, she was innocent and cute, I used to drop her to school and when she could not walk or when it’s already late I used to carry her on my shoulders. I was with them for almost 14 months.

Since I came to Bangalore in late 1999, I’ve gained many friends; I’ve traveled a few places, seen many companies, and seen ups and downs in both personal and professional life, learnt more and more. I am deeply involved in shaping my career and family in the last 10 years, and lot of events that have occurred during this time deserve their own elaborate writing, I would like to write them soon, one by one. So I am may not continue this very note beyond this to a great extent.