Memories of TNAU remain fresh in their minds
"Coimbatore was never as warm as this.The sky used to be a gentle grey and there was a slight drizzle constantly," K.Gopalakrishnan from Chennai, an alumnus of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, says.This was Coimbatore of the 1950s, where pollution was nil, roads peaceful and life good.Rosy memories of the city were resurrected from the ashes of the past as the 1954-1957 B.Sc Agriculture batch of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University got together, five decades after their graduation.Most of them hardly recognised one another. Well into their 70s, they came with their children and grandchildren in order to meet old friends and revive their association with the university."This is a unique programme as few of us got the opportunity to meet in these 50 years," said M.Aravindakshan, who served as the Chairman of the Coconut Development Board and Director of the Kerala Agricultural University."We used to hire a bi-cycle for one rupee and cycle to the city to watch movies," Mr. Gopalakrishnan added. He was doing business related to agriculture in Chennai.The only girl student in the class of 94 was Sivakami Vadivelu, who the rest of the batch remembered as the one who never entered the class until the teacher walked in."I was never used to a co-education set up. So, I used to wait outside the classroom until the teacher came along," she said with a smile.She retired as the Head of the Department of Nematology at TNAU. "Now there are more girl students for B.Sc Agriculture," she added.Evaluating the present agricultural education, the older generation felt that the competition was much less during their days. The agriculture graduates these days had to be all-round professionals.
They had to be tech-savvy and should apply technological concepts to agriculture. The syllabus had been restructured and reoriented, with a lot of IT components included in it.Unlike popular perception, a lot of youngsters were getting back to the farms and want to do something for the agricultural future of the nation. The scope for agriculture had grown far beyond what it was in their days, they said.Retired professor and founder of the Seed Science and Technology Department of the college, V.Ramakrishnan, was also present at the function. His association with Coimbatore stretches well beyond 50 years. Aged 81, he made it a point to attend the rare occasions when he could meet his old students and contemporaries.
