006 - MY STORY,

Open Letter to PM Modi:

Dear PM Mr Modi,

Introduction:

Prime Minister, I have to tell you my story so you know where I am coming from

Introducing myself, I am Ram Chander Krishnaswamy was born on 10th Dec 1946, almost four years before your Birthday on 17th September 1950. I was born after World War II ended on 2nd September 1945 and before India got its independence from the British Rule. I was born in Port Blair Andaman Islands, the only Indian Territory that the Japanese Occupied and terrorised like they did in Korea, China, Singapore etc. 

My Grandfather's two younger brothers were living in Port Blair then and the Cellular Jail was full of Indian Freedom Fighters from all over India. One of my uncles owned a small radio & Camera shop and the Japanese put him in Jail accusing him and another Muslim man of being spies and passing information to the British Forces. My uncle pleaded that he did nothing. On the 3rd Day both of them were taken by a military vehicle before dawn to a beach nearby. The soldiers made them dig holes in the sand. They were asked to jump in and keep digging until they were both neck deep. They were made to stand at each end facing each other and the soldiers shovelled the sand and filled the pit and only the their heads were left above the sand.

The Japanese Officer yelled at them in broken English that he was going to count ten and told them to confess or else both would be beheaded.

The Urdu speaking Muslim man pleaded guilty and then said  "Maaf Kar do Bhaiya" to my uncle and my uncle saw the soldier draw his sword swing and chopped the head off the other accused, with the head flying in the air and blood pouring out of the headless corpse like a fountain. That is how brutal the Japanese were to Indians. They were the worst racists in the world at that time and believed they were a superior race

Representative Picture

"The Muslim man saved a Hindus life" Both were Indians first. This uncle of mine died at age 95 but this nightmare haunted him all his life and as a kid I have seen him burst into tears many times for no reason. He would go lie down in his bed on his tummy and cry like a baby. That is what sever trauma does to people.

My Grand uncle has told me many stories of how badly the Japanese treated all the Indians on the Island. I believe the Indian men were not allowed to wear stitched clothes. All Indian men were told to wrap Jute Rice bags around their waists. Every morning Indian men were forced to collect their own night soils in a tin and take it to the rice fields and stomp on the shit all day every day. Others were forced to dig tunnels in every hill to be used as air raid shelters by Jap soldiers. Indian prisoners were also forced to build Bunkers along the coast to shoot at any allied forces warship

My Dad worked for the British Army Supply Dept in Madras as Quartermaster Sergeant. My ancestors were Professional Coconut tree climbers. A Backward class Telugu speaking community in Tamil Nadu that cut coconuts. He was the only son and had five sisters and was the only highly educated person in the family. He was an "SSLC Failed" but spoke pretty good English. 

My Family in 1944 before I was Born

When the Japanese surrendered my dad was on the ship that took British soldiers from Madras to Port Blair. When they landed each soldier was presented by a Japanese soldier with a Bayonet as a Sign of surrender. We still have this bayonet at home in Madras.

Japanese WW II Bayonet

My Father was put in charge of the Cellular Jail ( that was full of political prisoners, meaning India's Freedom fighters ) reporting to a British Boss. My memory tells me he was Mr Young and a Good man as my father always said.

Most prisoners of the Cellular Jail were freedom fighters such as Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, Yogendra Shukla, Batukeshwar Dutt, Babarao Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Bhai Parmanand, Sohan Singh, Subodh Roy and Trailokyanath Chakravarty etc (from Google Search - I don't know any of them)

Everyone was busy cleaning up the mess left behind by the Japanese in Andamans and before anyone realised it was 15th August 1947 and Indian was free from the British Rule having won its freedom "Finally". It was Independence Day

Independence Day - 15th August 1947 

Bharata Mata Ki Jai

My Grand Uncle who survived the beheading was also a keen photographer and had his Roli Flex camera and took my first ever photo in 1948

Me in 1948

India was Free, everyone was free band everyone was a Proud Indian

I grew up in Port Blair a Hindi Speaking Kala Pani, Born to Telugu speaking Parents.

Soon after Independence all Political Prisoners locked up in the Cellular Jail were let free and my Dad was hero worshiped by one and all. They said he brought them their freedom. Now that the jail was more that 60% empty four out of the seven wings were quickly converted into a make shift hospital and my Dad was incharge of the Jail as well as the Temp Hospital and there was only one Bengali Doctor on the whole Island.

My Dad's Own Company Car - This was called a 15 Hundred weight in army parlance

My School Bus in Port Blair was an army truck like this

One By One all the British officers who were my dad's Bosses left Port Blair and new High Commissioners and Deputy High Commissioners who were all Indian IAS Officers were appointed and took Charge.

My Dads good time had ended and he was dumped from his job and transferred into treasury as an accounts clerk and then made stevedore/labour force officer etc etc. He was experiencing discrimination at the hands of the Upper Caste Hindu Bosses as he was a low caste man. He never got his promotions and was a disillusioned man and always said the British were very fair people not these buggers.

He sent me off to Madras in 1955 for schooling and retired in 1958 I think. Just a few months before his retirement he was appointed as Asst Commissioner Andaman and Nicobar Islands by a New High Commissioner who realised that he had been wronged & held back by the previous boss.

I went by ship to Madras and on landing I told my mother "I wanted to go back as I don't like this Place. It was a cultural shock. No one spoke Hindi. Everyone including my family members spoke mostly in Tamil. I was denied admission at St.Bedes because I knew only English and did not know Tamil or Hindi which I had to study as second language. So my younger sister and I had to join a 100% Tamil Medium school in 3rd Std just to learn Tamil and joined St.Bedes in 1956 in 5th Std

Andaman and Nicobar Islands being Union Territory every one was an Indian period. Not a Hindu or Muslim or Christian, not a

Punjabi or a Gujarati or a Madarasi or Malayalee. It was an awesome loving and harmonious community to grow up in.

Unfortunately Andamans was called Kalapani meaning Black waters. The British referred to andamans as kalapani as the cellular jail held the most active and troublesome Freedom Fighters. There was no escape as it took four days for a steam ship to reach Madras or Kolkata from Port Blair and the sea was infested with sharks; any one who attempted to cross the seas to get back to India was dead meat.

At St Bedes one day a Senior asked me, where did you learn to speak fluent Hindi and I said Andamans where I was born and he said Oh You are a "Kala Pani"

To him Kala Pani was Black waters or Solitary Confinement in Andamans Jail and the only Reason he knew this was because of the Hindi Movie KalaPani starring Dev Anand and Nalini Jaywant. (Find out more about Kalapani Movie by clicking here)

He saw me as a Backward caste Hindu Born to Telugu Parents, a Kalapani speaking Hindi now living in Tamil speaking Madras and Studying in a Catholic school St Bedes. In his awkward ming I was all Mixed up and not pure like he was. (Sad). I was an Indian and that was all that meant to me but he was a proud Tamilian first.

Basically each and every one of us Indians is a Product of the Environment that we were brought up in. One could grow up in North India thinking all south Indians are Madarasi's and stupid or you could grow up in Tamil nadu thinking all Malayalees are evil and enemies (Feuding kingdoms). In Madras there is a saying "If you see a Malayalee and a Cobra, Kill the Malayalee first". That was the level of distrust in Tamil Nadu.

Finished school in Dec 1962 and got admission to IIT Madras on my own merit. No Coaching. No Tuitions. No Reservations. In fact I saw a movie with my friend the night before and got scolded by my mother for not sleeping early to wake up with a fresh mind. We Watched Cleopatra at Saffire Theatre which allowed us to watch continuous shows for Rs 2.50 all day.

Getting into IIT was a Cake Walk but was not easy to cope. Thats is another  story for another time. One thing I appreciated at IITM most, was the main emphasis then was about National Integration. To me I felt I was back in Andamans surrounded by students from all over India. we were all "INDIANS in Thought Word and Deed " Unfortunately IITs today are nothing more that the Kota Coaching schools. National Integration concept has been ditched, Students are dumped into a Hostel room for the term of their lives on Campus where as we had the luxury of moving to a different hostel and a different room each year. Not only that each hostel had its own mess and elected Mess secretary who made sure the inmates of the hostelk got what they wanted to eat.

Some brilliant administrator decided to Build a "Mega Mess" and students had to walk from 20 different hostels in the rain and in the hot sun Day and night and queue up for hours to eat the garbage they dished out. This was a commercial enterprise and the contractors paid bribes to get the contract amd students had no say in management of this mess. IITM Admin could not have picked a better name than "MEGA MESS" as that is what it was. I Criticised the Mega mess in an article in the alumni news paper and then Director Prof Anant quickly renamed Mega Mess to Himalayas.

First Five IIT's

The first five IITs were Unique in Concept. During the early years, the IITs benefited in varying degrees from material assistance and academic cooperation from developed countries — IIT Bombay from the Soviet Union, IIT Madras from Germany, IIT Kanpur from the United States, and IIT Delhi from the United Kingdom. The Nation should Salute the Visionaries who created IITs. Click here to read the History of IITs

Unfortunately IITs today have mushroomed in every state and are like Pan bidi Shops in every street corner as Politicians pandered to demands to gain votes and the Directors of IITs are men of straw as they are appointed by politicians and take orders from HRD Ministry. IITs used to be autonomous biot anymore and some politician thrust reservation on IITs destroying the very fabric of IITs for good.

IITs became a Global Phenomenon for one and only Reason the calibre of Alumni that entered iits in the first 10 to 15 years. Majority of Students who enter IITs today ( I am not saying all) are mere automatons or Robots Trained at Kota from almost Kindergarten time, students who can cram class notes regurgitate score distinctions and thump their chests. there are no more Foreign Professors teaching just Indian Phds most of whom have never held a real job in Engineering or Technology

IITs today are for the children of Rich people who can afford the exorbitant Coaching schools at Kota, who are trained to succeed at exams but not in life. IIts are on a slippery slide and Post Covid all new graduates are not going anywhere and will be stuck in India with no employments. Upto 2020 we have seen a spate of suicides of Students in IITs on a regular basis and Sucides news in IITs is as common as Farmer's suicides in India. From 2021 we will be reading more and more of IIT alumni committing suicide. This is my prediction. Click here to see my Blog on Suicides in IITs and Kota Coaching schools