Leaves of Memory from life at APRJC, Sagar

                                                                                  

After  I finished my tenth class I joined intermediate in   degrees college in Pedanandiadu. I didn’t stay long  in that village  and fortunately got a seat in Sagar. There I went and joined in CEC in Telugu medium   at the advice of  some person there.   Though I faced no problem academically , the first few days seemed new away from my village and familiar people. All the meritorious students from various places came there together. That experience really lifted me out of my  ‘frog in the well’ mentality and the tough competition raised my energies and raised my spirits. I began studying there and soon adjusted to the new surroundings. For all students who  studied there it was an unforgettable experience.

There I came into touch with literature and some good friends who helped me. One of my friends was one Satya  Venkata Rao with whom I studied right and ninth class in Pedanandipadu. Later on we also studied degree course   in Silver jubilee government degree college.  I also should acknowledge the help of my senior Haribabu whose help was important in joining in Sagar and later  at Kurnool. The model question papers which he sent prior to exam helped me crack the entrance tests conducted statewide. He, being a person who knew me from my childhood  always had remained my well wisher and used to advise me which I disregarded at that time. 

   In  Sagar we used to read a lot, talk a lot and did our best in excelling in our studies. It made a strong impression upon my mind and some of the people with who I came into contact  there remained my life long friends. Although many were friendly, I could not keep up my relation with them due to many reasons such as my political activity in later life, a sort of self-isolation and pursuing my own goals or deviating from them.  Sagar made me identify my linguistic skills and hone them to an extent. The strong foundation by teachers helped me remain good both in Telugu and English.

Sagar  remains  the first and the best impression upon my mindscape. I still remember certain people like Timma Reddy , Krishna Reddy, Venkata Rao, Nagachary, Murali Krishna and many others. We also promised  to meet one another after ten years in the same place . but I could not go there due to my political activity at that time but I happened to see it again during one trip I made as part of the movement against nuclear power reactor which was  supposed to have come up near Sagar. Later on the plan was dropped for some or other reason.

There we used to   visit the school attached to a church on the annual day of the particular school. We were cut off from our parents and native villages and towns but studied well. There were petty jealousies but strong loyalties created an inseparable bond among all the students .

Only one thing that shattered me at the end  that  I scored the least mark in civics in annual examination although I used to top earlier.  When I went to get my TC, some how I felt wretched. Later on I slowly recovered but not completely from that academic disappointment for a long time.

                                                                               

 While I was staying at Sagar, we depended completely on cards and inland letters which is now called ‘snail mail’ to correspond with my family. Once I posted an inland  letter  without writing an address  and waited for money order. After a week one of my batch mates came and handed over that letter to me. When writing about the past, it is difficult to select incidents because one doesn’t understand their  proper significance. Some incidents which seemed   significant at that time now appear trivial whereas so called trifles appear important by hindsight.

 We had taken a photograph of our group at that time. The faces there look innocent and  now after four decades   if I remember it I find  mixed feelings. I came to know that some of my batch mates  such  Gupta, Ramalingeswara Rao  and Chenna Reddy died young  due to ill-health or psychological depression. It is extremely unfortunate that they had gone so early  without realizing promises they and their parents had nurtured for them.

While recapitulating some of the things, it becomes hazy. The universe then seemed closed and compact and we were immune to the turbulence of the external  world. The lack of  adequate communication facilities made us focus only on studies  and remain free from distractions.

Sagar really made me stronger academically, live on my own and certainly moulded my personality to an extent in positive as well as negative  aspects. My reserved nature some times appeared pride to others and caused some strained relations with some of my classmates occasionally. But in general I must give credit to Sagar friend that their treatment had been  cordial and after all we were struggling to gaze into future or at the stars  at that time, hence some jostling was unavoidable.

It has been a truism that students of Sagar always nurture a sort of amity and unity although later life obviously created some inevitable divergence depending on concrete  conditions of their lives and the twists and turns their specific lives have taken. We were like atoms which travelled into the vast universe and   I met some of them later and some never.              

 There also I saw  Divakar who became a revolutionary singer and later died for the cause he believed in. The small world of  residential college  at Sagar produced many people who became academicians, doctors, engineers, bureaucrats , police  officers, writers and even revolutionaries. I do remember many of them only at that age. “Bliss was  in that dawn to be alive/ To be young was very heaven. “