Great Alumni of

Madras Christian College, Chennai!

--Ventriloquist Shanthakumar--

The Madras Christian College (MCC), my Alma mater, is a liberal Arts and Sciences College in Madras (Chennai).  Founded in 1837, MCC is one of the Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institution (deemed university) from its 365 acre campus in Tambaram, Chennai.

Some students came here as Rajahs and Zamindars but many ventured here from poor and middle class background as well.  But the motivation imparted by the College and its noble teachers transformed the students to accomplish great things in life.

One of the uniqueness of this college is that the teachers’ love for their wards was not just confined to the four walls of the classroom but could be seen extended in the hostels and also continued their association even after they settled in life.  The missionary teachers were intellectual giants trained in some of the leading Universities in Europe. Further, there were ample avenues to develop leadership qualities and debating skills in classrooms, hostels and other associations.

One of the yardsticks to estimate the greatness of any College is by enumerating the high positions its alumni could occupy and their contribution to the nation in diverse fields.  It is quite obvious that the alumni of this College accomplished so much that other Colleges could do nothing about but only envy.

Former Presidents of our country, S. Radhakrishnan and Varahagiri Venkata Giri, Army General K. Sunderji, Central Finance Ministers, John Mathai and T.T. Krishanamachari, Chief Election Commissioner T.N. Seshan, CPI-M leader Prakash Karat, Pepsi Company Indra K. Nooyi, Apollo Hospital Pratap C. Reddy, artist K.C.S. Paniker and actor Gemini Ganesan are among the galaxy of great alumni. 

More than 18 Alumni of this prestigious college became Vice Chancellors of various Universities of our country.  Let us peep into the life of a few celebrity alumni for the sake of motivating and rejuvenating our valuable readers.

S.R. Ranganathan (B.A. & M.A. Mathematics 1909-1914): (1892-1972)

Professor Edward Ross led his students into the richness of statistical applications.  One of his eminent students was S.R. Ranganathan, who pioneered the Library Science Movement in India.  But he was born in a poor family and lost his father due to illness when Ranganathan was only 6 years old. 

Poverty prevented him from continuing his Post Graduation.  But Ross having witnessed this brilliant young mind was prepared to pay his tuition fees.  When education has stooped to the level of a business, this news is indeed refreshing and awesome.  Ranganathan passed the examination in flying colours, in spite of his sickness, viz. anemia and piles.

Later Ranganathan worked as an Assistant Professor in Presidency College at Chennai though his career as an educator was somewhat hindered by his disability of stammering.  In 1923, it was Prof. Ross who coaxed him to apply for the post of Librarian in Madras University. 

Among the 900 applicants for the Librarian post, none had any formal training in librarianship and Ranganathan's handful of papers satisfied the search committee's requirement that the candidate should have a research background. His sole knowledge of librarianship came from an Encyclopedia Britannica article he had read days before the interview. 

Ranganathan found, the solitude of the position was intolerable. After merely a matter of weeks, complaining of total boredom, he went to the university administration to plead that he wanted his teaching position back. A deal was struck that Ranganthan would travel to London to study contemporary western practices in librarianship and that, if he returned and still rejected librarianship for a career, he would get the Mathematics lectureship again.

Ranganathan traveled to University College London where his mathematical mind latched onto the problem of classification.  As an outsider, he focused on what he perceived to be flaws with the popular decimal classification and began to explore new possibilities on his own.  In England, he began drafting the system that was ultimately to become the Colon Classification.

Ranganathan returned with great zeal for libraries and a vision of its importance for the Indian nation. He held the position of Librarian at the University of Madras for twenty long years. During that time, he helped to set up the Madras Library Association in 1928 and lobbied actively for the establishment of free public libraries throughout India and for the creation of a comprehensive national library.

Ranganathan married when he was fifteen years old in 1907.  But his wife died in an accident in 1928.  Ranganathan was considered to be a workaholic. During his two decades in Madras, he consistently worked 13-hour days, seven days a week, without taking a vacation during the entire period. Although he married for the second time by the end of 1928, he returned to work that very afternoon following the marriage ceremony.

His notable contributions to the field of Library and Information Science, particularly his five laws of library science and the development of the first major analytic-synthetic classification system, the Colon Classification. He is considered to be the Father of Library Science, documentation and information science in India and is widely known throughout the rest of the world.

Ranganathan’s house was sparsely furnished and lacked electricity, although he could have easily afforded these amenities. The money he saved through years of frugal living was spent to endow a Mathematics Fellowship at MCC in honour of his mathematics Prof. Ross in 1925 and the Sarada Ranganathan Chair of Library Science at the University of Madras in 1956.  He also presented a portrait of his illustrious teacher, Prof. Ross to the college.

In 1957 he was elected as an honorary member of the International Federation for Information and Documentation and was made a Vice President of the Library Association of Great Britain for life. 

His birthday is observed every year as the National Library Day in India. In 1935 the Government of India bestowed on him the honorific title, Rao Sahib and the public service award Padmashri in 1957.  In 1965, the Indian Government honoured him with a rare title of "National Research Professor”.  After his death, the FID, in 1976, established the Ranganathan Award in his memory.  In 1992, during his centenary celebration, a stamp with his picture was released in his honour.

Dr. Dhayalan Devanesan (Pre University 1962-1963): (Born in 1945)

Dhayalan is the son of Dr. Chandran Devanesan, the first Indian Principal of MCC who became the Vice Chancellor of North Eastern Hill University.  Dhayalan studied Pre-University in MCC and medicine in Vellore Christian Medical College.

He proceeded to Australia to do a diploma in Public Health in Sydney University in 1973.  Later, he worked among the Aboriginal communities in the deserts of Central Australia for 30 years since 1974 and hence was popularly called “Flying Doctor”.  

In the beginning, a few leaders of that community approached him and asked, “Are you a white man or a black man?”  Then, they said, “We know you look black but you are the doctor commanding the nurses and the aircraft, so you must be white!”

But after a few months, they came and said, “After observing you and the way you treat us, we now know that you are black.  Not only are you black, you are ‘Yapa’ (one of us)!”

He made several journeys across the desert and later, he was made a member of the Warlpiri tribe.  This made him determine to make a difference to the appalling health Aborigines suffered.  They had high infant mortality rates apart from all the chronic diseases due to poor living conditions.  He delved into the history of these people.

Aborigines had migrated from Africa 70,000 years ago.  In 1770, they saw a ship near Sydney, headed by Captain James Cook.  Little did they realize that this was the beginning of the end of their ancient way of life.  Cook reported to the world that the land was not inhabited by people, ignoring the inconvenient truth that the land was well populated.  As per the doctrine promulgated later in 1835, Aborigines did not own the land and is the reason why there are no treaties or constitutional rights for the original inhabitants.

In 1788, the first fleet with 11 ships and 7,544 convicts from England arrived and settled.  A short time after their arrival, epidemics of various diseases broke out.  There were increasing clashes between the Aborigines and the new settlers.  This resulted in 90% decline in the Aboriginal population.  The landing of the first fleet in 1788 is celebrated as Australian Day but to the Aboriginal people, it is a “Sorry Day” being a reminder that white Australia has a black history!

In 1937, the black man was allowed to live like the white man but without basic rights such as equal wages.  Only in 1967, Aborigines were recognized as citizens.  But alcohol and drugs introduced by the early settlers created further health problems for these people.

Now the Government, NGOs and church groups wanted to help them but the Aborigines felt that these programmes continued to alienate them from their culture and heritage.  So, Dr. Dhayalan needed to work with these people and develop programmes that provided cultural safety.  He became the first coordinator of the Aboriginal Heal Worker (AHW).  As such, the students of this community selected to become doctors and nurses were taught various medical skills and usage of radio telephone to call the senior doctors.

The traditional medicine in the form of plants used by Aborigines was found to be effective.  They were recognized and included with the western medicine.  Further, the people were encouraged by Dr. Dhayalan to use their imagination and creativity to draw and paint like the paintings of their fore fathers 25,000 years ago found inside the caves which were rare and spectacular.  Soon, their paintings stimulated one of the most incredible art movements in the world.

In 1994, Dhayalan was asked to develop the entire Government policy towards Aboriginal communities.  He held various discussions and conducted a workshop involving these people.  The Aboriginal Council was then formed to build a plan for their own community.  Thus, Dhayalan fostered both for their survival and their cultural survival.

Though Dhayalan initially incurred the wrath of local Government for standing up for the rights of Aborigines, he is the first person of Indian origin to be appointed by the Government to the “Order of Australia” in 1997. 

During the 175^th year Anniversary of MCC, he was invited to release the Special Magazine prepared for the occasion. A charitable organization “Roof for the roofless” which was run by his mother Savithri Devanesan and younger brother in Chennai is now looked after by him.

Dr. C.S. Lakshmi (MA 1964-1966): (Born in 1944)

Lakshmi is an Indian feminist writer and independent researcher in women’s studies.  She writes under the pseudonym “Ambai” (அம்பை).  After studying in MCC, she obtained her PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.  Then she worked as teacher and Lecturer in Tamilnadu.  She is married to Vishnu Mathur, a film maker and lives in Mumbai.

Lakshmi’s parents were blessed with a baby boy first and a girl a few years later.  When they were eagerly expecting a boy again, Lakshmi was born.  Her father was definitely not happy.  In fact, he did not even carry her as a child for a long time.  As she was not fair, he used to call her with a pet name, “Blackie”!  She turned out to be the only one in her family to be admitted in a Tamil medium school. 

Lakshmi was part of a traditional Brahmin family.  So, when she applied for post-graduation in MCC, Chennai her father opposed it, as he thought, he might lose control on her.  However, her mother asked her whether her further studies in MCC would enhance her life and when Lakshmi affirmed, she immediately pledged her jewels without the knowledge of her husband and took Lakshmi to Chennai to admit her in a good hostel.

The harassment by her own family would have gone deep into her sub-conscious mind and came forth as diamonds of imagination and creativity.

In 1962, Lakshmi published her first work, “Nandimalai Charalilae” (நந்திமலை சாரலிலே) and in 1976, she wrote a novel, “Andhi Maalai” (அந்தி மாலை), which received Kalaimagal Prize.  In 1967, she wrote “Siragukal muriyum” (சிறகுகள் முறியும்), in 1976, she compiled her short stories and in 1984, her research work was published in English under the title, “The face behind the mask”. In 1988, her second short story collection titled “Veetin Moolaiyil oru samaiyalarai” (வீட்டில் மூலையில் ஒரு சமையலறை) was released.

Her works “A purple sea” (1992) and “In a forest, a deer” (2006) were translated into English by Lakshmi Holmstrom and the Vodafone Book Award was bestowed upon her for the second book.  It was indeed a moment of pride for Lakshmi when she received the 2008 Life Time Achievement Award from the Canada based Tamil Literary Garden.

So far, Lakshmi has written more than 8 books in English and 7 books in Tamil apart from many research works published in newspapers, like “The Hindu” and “The Times of India”.  In 1992, she became a visiting Fellow in the University of Chicago.  

In the nineties, she worked in two research projects sponsored by the Ford Foundation and the Homi J Bhabha Fellowship.  In 1988, she founded an NGO named “Sparrow” for documenting and archiving the work of female writers and artists.

Conclusion:

The stories of the above three alumni do inspire us to commit ourselves and accomplish greater things in our lives.  So let us learn to emulate them by converting our adversities into opportunities.  Remember… No pain, no gain!  Let us spare no time in serving the humanity and above all, earn a good name for our Alma mater as these alumni did… in style!!

“Success is not just about what you accomplish in your life but what you inspire others to do!”