ജി.യു.പി.എസ്.അടുക്കത്തുവയൽ/പ്രമുഖരുടെ ഓർമ്മക്കുറിപ്പുകൾ

My Memories of Adkathabail School

Dr. K GANESH RAJ( Rtd. General Manager, Regional Remote Sensing Centre(RRSC) South, NRSC, ISRO at Bengaluru

June month, it was raining heavily, a small boy was going in the heavy rain with a small umbrella to school, he has to pass through big Thalipadpu ground, he held his umbrella tightly and walked faster and further. He Reached Adkathbail UP School fully wet - drenched in rain. But as the school had only bamboo mat as wall, rain had lashed to the class rooms, hence holiday was declared and the boy walked back to home in the heavy rain. That boy is me; I use to enjoy walking in the rain that too bare foot. Our Adkathbail school was hardly 5 minute walk from our house, we use to walk on the sides of national highway (traffic was very less 50 years back), playing with hanging roots of big banyan trees, throwing stones to mango trees on the sides of the road. People use to tell these trees have been planted by King Ashoka hundreds of years ago. Now most of those gigantic trees have gone due to road widening. I studied from 1 st Standard to 5 th Standard in Adkathbail School. Our entire family starting from my father, elder brothers, elder sisters studied here. Later my nieces, nephews studied here, now my sister’s granddaughter is studying in the school.

I use to enjoy going to school to listen to lessons and to play with friends. I was a Kannada medium student, we had English as language from 3 rd Standard and Hindi from 5 th . But to be honest – I found both English and Hindi very tough. Science I liked the most – probably due to our teacher Late Rajivi who was my 4 th standard Class Teacher and Science Teacher. One interesting incident I remember very well is the following: Rajivi teacher asked entire class to draw a ‘pot’ and to show her , I hurriedly drew some pot like figure and showed her, she scolded me ‘ go draw neatly and show’ I went back took time focussed well and drew a beautiful ‘pot’, she was happy she told ‘ always focus and do things you can succeed’(saadisidare sabalavannadaru nugabahudu) her advise now also I follow. We used to study with interest and enjoy playing in the ground. My father and mother both encouraged me to study well. Father will make us to read loudly the lessons daily in the evening and morning, if you do any mistake, he used to correct us (my brother was 2 classes senior to me). Most of the teachers used to teach with lot of interest. But our text books (being in Kannada) use to come late. School we use to get bread and milk for all students. Most of the students used to go home for lunch and come back, we also used to go home have lunch and come back. Our school timings were very convenient 10AM to 1PM and 2 to 4PM on Friday 10 AM to 12-30PM and 2-30 to 4-30PM, Saturday and Sunday Holiday.

I had very good friends like Jayarama, Prakasha, Varada, Babu; most of us are not serious about reading, playing was our main motto. Come home keep the school bag (cloth bag) and run for playing cricket, kabaddi etc. On holidays we used to play and play from the morning to night. In school celebration of Independence Day and Republic Day used to be quite interesting, we students used to contribute small amount of money and purchase colour papers, cut those papers in to long pieces join and decorate the class. After thecelebrations teachers will give us ‘Ladu (Laddu)’ eat that and run back to homefor playing.

I remember teachers like Rajivi, Chandravathi, Lilli, Pramoda, Seetharama Shetty Mastru, Kumara Mastru. They all taught with interest and try to

motivate us, but most of us were not studious. But I feel the basic education I got from here helped me to shape my carrier later. I moved to BEM High

School for 6 th Standard and later to Government College for Pre Degree, BSc and MSc(Geology). After getting MSc Degree with 2 nd Rank from Calicut

University, got job in ISRO in 1984. Worked in ISRO in various projects and programmes and retired as Scientist-H and General Manager Regional Remote

sensing Center South, Bengaluru in July 2021. I thank Teachers and friends of Adkathbail School for shaping me. I am glad to see the progress achieved by our School in last few decades. I wish All The Best to Students, Teachers and Parents.

Brief Bio-data of Dr. K. Ganesha Raj

‘Geospatial Applications Scientist of ISRO with more than 35 years of Experience’

Qualification:

Primary Education at GUP School Adkathabail; High School at BEM High School, Kasaragod
Studied in Govt. College Kasaragod, Kerala and took Masters Degree in Geology from Calicut University with Second Rank
Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Geology (Remote Sensing Applications in Studying Earthquakes) from Gulbarga University, Karnataka.

Professional Experience:

Started the career with ISRO in 1984 under National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS). The major areas of working included Ground Water, Environment, Geology, Land & Water Resources Management, Earthquakes, Landslides, City planning, Societal Applications etc.
Worked as Programme Manager of Village Resource Centres Programme of ISRO.
Worked as Director, RESPOND (Sponsored Research) at ISRO Hq interfacing with Universities/Institutes towards sponsoring research projects of relevance to Space Programme
Worked as General Manager, Regional Remote Sensing Centre(RRSC) South, NRSC, ISRO at Bengaluru and retired on July 31, 2021.
Consultant/Adviser for CSR activities till August 2022 at New Space India Ltd (NSIL)

Publications

Published more than 130 Scientific Papers in International/National Journals/Seminar Proceedings more than 70 technical reports.

Awards

Received ISRO Team Excellence Awards for

(1) Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Project &

(2) Village Resource Centre Programme.

ISRO-Astronautical Society of India Award - 2019 for Space Science & Applications.
Fellow of Karnataka Science & Technology Academy

Others

Life Member of Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS), Environmental Association of Bengaluru (EAB) and Astronautical Society of India.