An Engineer’s Dream

By Bhartur Iyengar

This book deals with the reminiscences of my early life and professional career. My earliest recollection begins with an obscure village where my father was working just before his retirement. I did not attend school while in that village. My uncle’s initiative took us to Mysore, the capital of Mysore state at that time. I completed my school and college education there. I then joined India’s top institution and did electrical engineering. Post graduation, I served as a lecturer, design engineer, and plant engineer in several organizations and retired as a general manager in a premier electronics company in India. I have outlined here the challenges I faced during my preliminary and advanced studies. I have tried to describe the peculiarities in the various jobs I held. When I call my book "An Engineer’s Dream," I do not mean the dreams that portray the images or emotions that occur in one’s sleep. I specifically refer to the aims, aspirations, and ambitions of an individual. These may be explicitly stated or be held confidentially within one’s mind. Every person will surely have some aim (s). It may vary from person to person and from time to time for the same person, depending on the circumstances. I have analyzed “My dreams” in the preface to this book. The needed requisites for the fulfillment of one’s dreams are Will, Patience, Perseverance, Self-confidence, and Faith. I am happy to state that I have fulfilled my dreams.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Release date: Mar 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781977211781

Bhartur Iyengar

Bhartur Iyengar graduated from Mysore University and then completed electrical engineering from a premier institution in India. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, India. He served as a lecturer, design engineer, and plant engineer in several organizations and retired as a general manager in a premier electronics company in India. After retirement, he served as a consultant for several projects, companies, research laboratories, international school, and township developers. He is widely travelled in India and outside India. He has presented several technical papers and given lectures in various places. Some of his papers on religion and scriptures have been widely circulated, and some published in a Kannada periodical. He is a life member of several organizations and has held important positions like secretary, vice president, president, and advisor in some of them. His interests include music, scriptures, attending discourses, reading, writing, travel, photography, sports, and gardening.

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An Engineer’s Dream

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2019 bhartur iyengar

v4.0

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ISBN: 978-1-9772-1178-1

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Table of Contents

Preface

Section 1: Early Years and Education

1. Introduction

2. Schooling

3. College – Intermediate and B.Sc.

4. The Indian Scene

5. Technical Education

6. Thanksgiving

Section 2: Professional Career

1. Pune College - Teaching

2. Bombay Power - Systems Engineer

3. Switchgear India - Design Engineer

4. Cement India - Electrical Engineer

5. IEAC - Electrical Engineer

6. IEAC - Plant Engineer

7. IEAC - Services Engineer

8. IEAC - Divisional Engineer

9. IEAC - Plant Manager

10. IEAC - Services for Components

11. IEAC - Chief Engineer

12. IEAC - External Projects Manager

13. IEAC - Consultancy Division Chief

14. IEAC - Additional General Manager

15. IEAC - General Manager

Section 3: Post-Retirement

1. Research Laboratory

2. Electronics Factory

3. International School

4. Township Developers

5. Others

A. Captive Power Plant A

B. Captive Power Plant B

C. Modernization of Electrical System – Communication Factory

D. Captive Power Plant C

Section 4: General

1. Disciplinary Action

2. The Errant Mechanic

3. Trade Unions

4. Supervisors

5. Accidents

6. Senior Officers

7. Fine Arts

8. The Dwelling House Saga

9. Story of My Car

10. Top Management Seminars/Papers/Talks- Top Management Activities

11. Family Achievements and Satisfaction

A small note regarding the title of this book

An Engineer’s Dream

I am an engineer by profession. When I mention dream, I do not refer to the images or emotions that occur in one’s sleep. I specifically refer to the aims, aspirations and ambitions in one’s mind. This may be explicitly stated or be held confidentially within one’s mind. Every person will surely have some aim/s. It may vary from person to person and from time to time for the same person depending on the circumstances. When we moved from a small village to a capital city, we felt the huge contrast in living styles and standards. I innately had a feeling that my parents and sister were undergoing extreme stress in managing the large family in a city and needed relief.

My first dream was to get over the handicap of late schooling and be on par with other children. I had to overcome the disadvantage of my puny size and low economic status. I realized over time that there were many social barriers to getting opportunities for higher education. All families felt that the only course for a decent living was by having their children become engineers or doctors. We could not afford to lag behind.

My second dream was to get a good technical qualification.

My third dream was to get a good steady job early and to alleviate the financial hardship faced by the family.

My fourth dream was to have a good life partner.

My fifth dream was to have my own house.

My sixth dream was to have my own car.

My seventh dream was to provide a good education for our daughter.

My eighth dream was to have our daughter married to a nice person.

My ninth dream was to travel extensively.

My tenth dream was to pursue music and other fine arts and scriptural studies.

My eleventh dream was, most importantly, to imbibe and follow the sterling qualities of Honesty, Integrity Truthfulness, Compassion, and Godliness shown by our elders.

My twelfth dream was to write book/s to share my experiences/knowledge with friends, relatives, and readers. I feel happy to mention that my dreams are now fulfilled. I am confident that my future dreams will also be fulfilled. The needed requisites are Will, Patience, Perseverance, Self-Confidence and Total Faith.

Preface

Many of my friends and relatives have been suggesting that I should share my life’s experiences by writing a book. I thought about this and gave myself a memory test, trying to recapitulate various events and personalities I came across. The present book is the result of that effort.

I plan to treat the subject in five segments:

My life’s story relating to my education and professional career

My life’s story relating to my family, friends and acquaintances

Indian religions, gods, saints, festivals, temples and customs

Travel and places

General essays

The present book covers A above. The book is in four sections:

Section 1 deals with my early years and education

Section 2 deals with my professional career

Section 3 deals with my post-retirement period

Section 4 deals with general subjects

Names of companies, employees and designations have been changed for the sake of privacy.

I have been very fortunate in getting encouragement, help, guidance and loving support from my family, teachers, friends, peers and relatives. It will not be possible to mention everyone by name. I always cherish their help and good wishes and remain grateful to them.

I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to Outskirts Press for their assistance in getting this book ready in an excellent style.

I owe thanks to:

My wife, Shanthi

Daughter, Sheela

Son-in-law, Dan

for their constant encouragement and help in getting this book ready.

I dedicate this book in all humility to my dear parents, late Sri. B. K. Rangaiyengar and late Smt. B. R. Seethamma

to my dear sister, late Smt. H. R. Nagarathna

and

to my dear parents-in-law,

late Sri. M. R. Narayanaswamy and late Smt. N. Lalitha.

Section 1:

Early Years and Education

1

Introduction

I hail from a middle class family in South India. My father, Bhartur Rangaiyengar, affectionately called Ranganna (we, his children, used to call him Anna), had an excellent performance in school, but could not pursue higher education owing to economic reasons. Instead, he took the Sanitary Board examination and joined the health department. He was a voracious reader. He had practically completed reading the entire classic works in Mysore Public Library.

He was very tall, well-built and had a fair complexion. On many occasions, he was mistaken for a European. He was a good tennis player and horse rider. He was known for his extreme compassion. He did not believe in mere superficial rituals. He was a Karma Yogi. My sister, Nagarathna, recalls an incident of when Father was coming home after a tiring day at work, and he saw a man collapse on the road with an epileptic seizure. Father sat on the road, put the man on his lap, covered him with his brand new wool coat, and then took him home. Anna was a man of few words. My mother, Seethamma, lovingly called Seetha (we, her children, used to call her Manni) did not have formal schooling. She was good in music. She collected and wrote down numerous songs. Ranganna and Seetha represented a study in contrast. My mother was very short and had a dark complexion. She hailed from a very orthodox family. She was a good conversationalist and would readily make friends with all. She was given to ritualistic practices.

The common factor between them was their extreme generosity and forbearance. They worked hard at providing a good education for their children. They instilled moral and ethical values through personal examples.

Nagarathna, my eldest sister was treated with abundant love by my parents. She had an extremely fair complexion and was very beautiful. She had a charming and kindly look. She was highly accomplished in music, rangoli, knitting, cross-stitch, decoration and other fine arts. Her handwriting would often be mistaken for style printing. She was highly disciplined and very meticulous in everything she did. She was a perfectionist.

She was married at a very young age to RamaswamyIyengar who was a doctor. Tragedy struck with the passing away of her husband shortly after marriage. In those days of orthodoxy and conservatism, it was blasphemous to think of remarriage or sending her for higher education. The result was that she spent her entire life as a recluse, offering herself to the service of society. Whatever the occasion in any house, be it of a friend or relative whether a joyous occasion like marriage, upanayanam, housewarming, childbirth, betrothal etc. or a solemn occasion like death, sickness, or hospitalization, one could find Nagarathna present there with her helping hand. She would render this service without any expectation of appreciation or reward and without the slightest discrimination. She gladly provided this service to near or far relations, outsiders, rich or poor. She was the epitome of compassion.

My father-in-law, Narayanaswamy, called Dore (called by children as Anna), was born the eldest son of the famous lawyer and philanthropist M. S. Rangacharya, who(along with his dutiful wife Thayamma) devoted his entire life and resources for service to society. My mother-in-law, Lalitha, was the eldest daughter of chief engineer, S. Biligirirao (who was known as the right hand of Mirza Ismail, the Dewan of Mysore) and Rukkamma.

Dore was considered a front-ranking advocate in Mysore. He was a man of very few words, so much so, one wondered how he would argue his cases before a judge. He was meticulous in his dress and habits. He always advocated (and practised) the motto of not poking one’s nose in other peoples’ business. He was a voracious reader. For sheer love of the rich literature in Urdu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and Russian he learnt these languages (with the help of primers) and attained such proficiency that he would regularly subscribe to magazines in these languages. This was apart from his fabulous collection of books in English and Kannada on diverse subjects like Vedas and Upanishads, drama, poetry and modern fiction.

Lalitha was a very kind person, generous to a fault. She was very fastidious about the rituals of various festivals. She was good in music (vocal and violin). She presented her violin to me.

My wife, Shanthi, daughter Sheela and I had the good fortune of having extreme love and affections showered upon us by Ranganna, Seetha, Nagarathna, Dore, and Lalitha. We could not ask for more. We always considered them as role models with regard to compassion, generosity, art, literary interest, and high moral and ethical standards.

2

Schooling

It was 1940. My father had just retired from service in Bethamangala, a small town in Karnataka. My maternal uncle (Mama-Narayanaiyengar) was living in Mysore. He insisted that we should move to Mysore immediately to facilitate the schooling of children. He arranged for a rented accommodation close to his house. Mysore was the capital of the state. It was beautiful with well laid out roads and gardens, an exquisite palace and imposing Chamundi Hills. I immediately fell in love with the place. Mama took me under his personal care and got busy with my education program. He took me to the middle school headmaster (HM) and requested him to admit me into the school. The HM said Naryanaiyengar, your boy does not have the requisite primary education. I can admit him at best to primary school. Mama took this as a personal affront and vowed that he would train me as a private candidate and enable me to pass the Lower Secondary Examination. (This was referred to as L. S or Five Rupees Examination). He was an unsparing teacher. After the examination results declared me as having passed in First Class, it looked as if he was more elated than me. The excellent grounding he provided in English, Sanskrit and Arithmetic proved a solid foundation for my future studies. Sometimes I muse over the fact that I really missed all the fun of early schooling and games etc. After LS, I joined a prestigious high school that was very close to our house. Thanks to the Merit cum means free studentship and scholarship facility, I was able to pursue my school and college education without hindrance. I cannot forget the kind headmaster who taught geography in such an easy and likeable manner; the physics teacher, who combined a lot of wit and humor while describing properties of matter; and the stern chemistry teacher. Who can forget the English teacher? As soon as he entered the classroom, he would wipe the blackboard and write in bold type Procrastination is the thief of time (with a Kannada proverb-Naale endare naasha).

The Sanskrit Pundit was a terror. In HS second year, I got a 46 percent mark in Sanskrit. I was scared to face Mama who had taken great pains to groom me in Sanskrit. Early the next morning, I went to the pundit’s house and called out Sir, Sir.

I heard a booming voice from inside saying, Who is that? and the door was opened. He asked What do you want?.

Sir, I got my marks card and saw my Sanskrit score as 46 percent I said.

What do I have to do with that?.

Sir, I was wondering whether by mistake 64 was entered as 46?.

He sternly told me that that