Non engineering students has mastered software development

He doesn't hold any degree in software engineering, yet sitting at home and surfing the net, he mastered software development. MK Narayana Swamy after completing one year ITI certificate course from NIIE, Mysore, started his venture in the field of software by developing software for good number of clients in Mysore. Some of the software developed by him 10 years back are still used by many customers.

Being an employee of Central Excise Department for 13 years, had developed a software titled, 'CE-RAM' for Central Excise Department with his colleague Jayakrishna (who is now an Inspector in Central Excise) in 2001 to monitor the Excise revenue. He says, the software was installed at more than 65 locations in Karnataka and was in successful use for almost five years.

He started in electronics just by reading a 100 page hand written book, which later changed his life. He quit his Govt job in 2006 to pursue his career in embedded systems.

He says, 'Engineering is my passion, specialization does not matter, be it software or electronics or mechanical, everything is engineering to me. My friends Geethesh and Ganesh Raaja are my Gurus in electronics. I along with Geethesh, have won two embedded software competitions in 2004, under the guidance of Ganesh Raaja, who was an embedded systems expert then, gave a kick start to my electronics career.'

After joining Cypress Semiconductor, a US based MNC located in Bangalore, he lead the company's capacitive sensing applications group in India for three years and filed three US Patents in the field of Capacitive Sensing.

He has travelled several countries to train customers, distributors and students. He has conducted interviews for thousands of students in various technical colleges across India covering IITs, NITs, BITs and other top colleges to recruit candidates for Cypress Semiconductor, Bangalore and has hired 100+ engineers in the past five years and mentored them.

He recently quit his MNC job along with Geethesh and has started an Embedded Learning Institute named METI (Mysore Embedded Technology Institute) in Mysore, as he wanted to be part of the process which can fix the existing gap between academics and industry.

  

Mentally-unsound women are empowered here

 The deplorable state of destitute women, especially those who are mentally unsound, is
highly agonising subjected to neglect and apathy. But, here is an organisation which not only takes care of homeless mentally unsound women but also empowers them by making them self-reliant.

The organisation named, 'Manasa', (situated at No 4, Lalithadripura Road, KC Layout,Mysore) is involved exclusively for the rehabilitation of homeless and mentally ill   women, ushering in a new lease of life. It is run under the auspices of the Karuna Trust.

Mentally-retarded women are first brought to 'Nirashrithara Parihara Kendra' (Beggars' Home) where they are subjected to medical examination and evaluation. They are provided with medicines alongside therapy and psychiatric counselling.

Once their aggressive behaviour is brought under control, these women will be taught to make candles, greeting cards, door-mats, flower vase, hangers, broom-sticks, embroidery, paper bags, knitting and several others things. According to the Organisation memebers it helps them after rehabilitated to lead life.

At present there are 55 such mentally retarded  women and so far, the Trust has rescued 229 homeless mentally retarded patients from various parts and has rehabilitated 174 patients, in which 17 members are no integrated. Those of whom who are unwilling to go back to their homes will be sent to Orphanages which take care of them till the end of their lives.

There are 12 social workers to take care of these 55 women. They take these women out for a walk daily and involve them in group activities like discussion, prayers, cleaning and various other activities.

Social worker Rekha says, 'Rehabilitation of these homeless, mentally-retarted women and
bringing them back to mainstream of the society by providing medical care is the
motto of 'Manasa'. If normal people come and spend some time with them, it
will aid in their quick recovery.'

Another worker Mamtha says, 'Though some are very aggressive in the beginning, it is
a challenging task to bring them under control. After counseling and suitable medical treatment they become normal.'

The 'Manasa' project was started by Karuna Trust in 2006. The project consists of a Home for treatment and care for mentally ill women-transit care centre, transit care centre, Community Mental Health programme involves equipping Medical Officers in the Primary Health Centres to give treatment in community level. Mental health care will be provided in coordination with nearby primary health centres and doctors who volunteer to offer help.

Century old Sharadavilas college facing short of students

If the declining students strength of Sarada Vilas High School is anything to go by, then the great institution that has produced stalwarts like Infosys founder NR Narayan Murthy, Litterateur Dr SL Bhyrappa, MLA V Sreenivas Prasad, Cine Actor Ambareesh and a host of others, may be relegated into the pages of history in near future.

The separate schools for boys and girls that once boasted as the most sought after institution with a total of about 2,500 students studying in its premises, now cuts a sorry figure. The schools now have just a little more than 500 students studying in it. The number of divisions of class 8, 9 and 10 have come down from 13 to 2-3.

During its hey days, parents used to do everything possible to get admission for their wards into the school. There used to be long queues for admission. But of late, the intake of students for the High School started declining for various reasons and at present there are are only around 171 students studying in Sarada Vilas Girls High School and around 254 students in Boys High School.

The Sarada Vilas Patha Shala was started wayback in 1856, while the High School was started in 1919 for both boys and girls. The Institution is an aided High School following roaster system. Many of them have obtained distinction bringing name and fame for the college and the Institute retained its glory for several years.

Most of the children who were studying in this school were from economically weaker sections residing at Ashokapuram, Vidyaranyapuram, Nanjumalige, Krishnamurthy Puram and surrounding areas.
 
President of the Institute Parathasarathy acknowledged that there is a drastic decline in number of students enrollment compared to past. Though there are separate mediums for English and Kannada, the decline in student strength began since 2006 and has been going on relentlessly year after year.

Citing several reasons, Manager Anantha Ramu said that 'Opening of new schools in the surroundings is one of the main reason for this decline. The new schools also targeted the weaker section of the society resulting in a large scale migration of students'.

He swims to glory even in his twilight years

For most of the people life comes to end after retirement. But for 72-year-old

MVV Swamy, life began only after his retirement ! Swamy unmindful of his age, indulged himself in various adventure sports after his retirement, bagging around 300 medals, of which two third of them at national level games.

After retiring as Civil Engineer, Karnataka Public Works Development, he thought of achieving something in life and began his life from 'ground zero' in adventure activities. He took to swimming, cycling, boating, rock climbing, bungi jumping, parasailing, running, walking, and trekking.

In a span of just 12 years he became an astounding sportsperson to the extent of representing the State several times at national level athletic events held in several places all over the country such as Assam, Rajasthan, Harayana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Bombay and Madhya Pradesh.

Having mastered swimming he became an expert in free style, back

stroke, butterfly, breast stroke, diving winning medals in events like the 100 mts swimming, 200 mts, 400 mts, back stroke and individual medley. He swims very gracefully and enthusiastically in the pool drawing the attention of budding sports persons.

He keeps himself busy everyday in various activities. He exercises everyday for three hours which involves swimming, walking and running. Once in a week he practices rowing and cycling and climbs the Chamundi Hills once a month. Being a member of Youth Hostel Association of India, Gangotri, he frequently goes for

trekking with the group.

His another hobby is reading. He can read any newspaper or book at a stretch without taking any break. He says, by reading, he can enrich his knowledge and learn new things. He also took part in a life saving course held at Bangalore recently. His life companion 65-year-old wife Prema Swamy is a musician.

'I thought of doing something, which incidentally began after I retired. Now I can walk, run, swim continuously for 3 to 4 hours and I am free from several health ailments. Age is not a barrier for achievement, it all depends on the mind. If health is lost everything is lost. Specially, aging people should remain fit and lead a happy life.'

'For several people life becomes dull after retirement. They sit in park suffering loneliness. Instead they can involve themselves in one or other activity keeping themselves engaged and adding colour to life,' he adds.