KOCHI: In the passing of eminent space scientist K Kasturirangan, the SRV High School in Kochi has lost an illustrious alumni.
The school held a special place in his heart and he had always been in touch with the Old Students’ Association (OSA) office-bearers to enquire about the activities happening there.
“Right from the launch of OSA in 2003, Kasturirangan had been actively associated with the efforts to improve his alma mater,” former SRV OSA president and Krishna Hospital director Dr A K Sabapathy tells TNIE.
Kasturirangan joined SRV in Class 3, in 1947, he recalls.
“He did Classes 1 and 2 at a school in Tripunithura. He studied up to Class 5 in SRV and left for Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1950. I was in Class 9 then.”
The former Isro chief had always said the schooling he had at SRV during his formative years played a great role in moulding his life, Dr Sabapathy says.
For good measure, Kasturirangan decided to show his gratitude by setting up a Science and Technology Museum at the school.
“He got Rs 1 crore sanctioned from the MP fund (he was a Rajya Sabha member from 2003-09) and set up the museum to ensure that the students passing out from SRV would have developed a scientific temper. The museum was inaugurated in 2006 by the then President A P J Abdul Kalam,” Dr Sabapathy says.
In an interview with TNIE during the 175th anniversary of the school, Kasturirangan had fondly remembered his SRV years as the most eventful.
“In our class, a few tables were kept apart for the members of the Cochin royal family. These boys used to come in a limousine and enter the class just a minute before the lessons. This was to keep a level of separation between the children of the royal family and the commoners,” Kasturirangan had reminisced.
He had also mentioned a meeting with the Cochin Maharaja at a function during his stint as the chairman of ISRO.
“He too was a student around the time I was at SRV. We exchanged some very pleasant experiences of sharing the same class between royalty and commoners,” the space scientist had said.
While he took a keen interest in the school’s activities, he could not visit the institution often as he spent much of his time in Bengaluru, Dr Sabapathy points out.
“But SRV, which has produced many illustrious personalities over the years, held a very high place in his heart. We mourn his loss which has left a big void,” he said.