MY MEDICAL PROBLEMS

It can be said that, the Doctors are representatives of God as they are saving thousands of life from ailments. There is a special bond between patients and the Doctors which can be said, close to a divine relation ship. But we go to Doctors only when we are sick. Some times Doctors fail to diagnose and the patients are put into great risks. I would like to mention here my own medical experiences.
I had severe chest pain in 1990. I rushed to the General Hospital Neyveli. At the hospital my blood pressure was checked and ECG was taken. The blood pressure was 200/120 and no abnormality was found in the ECG.I was an inpatient for three days. In fact it was my first heart attack (later in Chennai when I had a second heart attack, the ECG indicated an earlier heart attack) and the Doctors in the General Hospital could not find the actual reason for the chest pain. NLC did not have an Eco cardiograph..It is unfortunate that the general Hospital of a big public sector organization like NLC did not have a cardiologist.
At Chennai in 1996 I had a second heart attack. I had a bypass heart surgery on 3rd May 1996, in a well known city hospital. Around 10.30 pm after the surgery on the same day my pressure came down needing more volume of blood. At 11 pm around 700ml of blood was drained and pressure was going down. Suspecting of surgical bleeding at 11.30pm, I was taken to the operation theatre by the night shift duty doctor. My chest was opened again for further investigations.
The pericardium cavity was full of blood. The chest was filled with blood and clots around one liter. The distal anatomises of the OM graft was found to be bleeding a little away from the toe. After evacuating all the clots and blood, the sutures were redone. After that the post operative period was smooth. The bleeding occurred due to poor suturing done by the surgeons. Any one can imagine the stress and tension, that my family members had undergone due to criminal negligence by the doctors. Still we need the doctors We have to go to them for treatments. We thank the doctor and his small team in the night duty for their timely action ,that saved my life.

My Family

I married A.K.Seethalekshmi daughter of Aziyath Kunjukunju pillai Kurup and Kallianai Ammain August 27th 1962.

My eldest son Srikumar, took his MS from a Moscow university .
Kumar Vishwanathan married Ladka and they are having a son Nathan and they settled in Czech Republic.

Kumar Vishwanathan is the President and Founder of LIFE TOGETHER, a Roma-Czech NGO. More informations can be got from Google search "kumar vishwanathan'


We have twin daughters Sreelatha and Sreejaya.

Sreelatha married Ramesh Kenath and they are having two sons Rajath and Roshan and they settled in USA, both are working as software engineers.

Srijaya married Balakrihnan Nair having a daughter Aswathi. Balakrishnan Nair is working as Chief Sub Editor, in Press Trust of India , Chennai. Srijaya is in teaching profession in MGR Universty, Chennai

Suresh Kumar my youngest son, married Manjushree.

Neyveli Work Force

In NLC during the period from 1959 to till I retired in1993,I had the opportunity to work with people of three generations. In 1959 , in the initial stage of the project, the Engineers except a few seniors ,were in the age group 25 to 30 years. The work force were above 40 of years and some were above 50.Many were from nearby villagers, and they did not have any skill but all of them committed to work and wanted to learn. Some of them traditionally were blacksmiths and carpenters, and they had some skill. But all of them totally wanted to learn the work. We could easily work with them as they were committed to work. In 1959 along with me only four graduate engineers were recruited. Many others were diploma holders. At that time clubbed accommodations were only given. Three or four will be given clubbed accomadation in an independent house in the temporary colony in Gangaikondan or in Mandakuppam. Transport was a bottle neck. Two NLC buses were plying between the Temporary colonies and New Township under construction. Only Civil Engineers were allowed to travel in the bus.. Others had to find their own transport to go to the work spots. Food was another problem.

All had to depend on the Ramaswamy Iyer’s hotel near the railway station..
Then salary for fresh graduate Engineers were Rs 315/per month inclusive of all allowances. An Assistant Executive Engineer was getting around Rs 400/pm and an Executive Engineer around Rs 600/pm. For me two meals and breakfast came to be around Rs 50/pm. I was saving around Rs 200/ easily per month. I married Seethalakhmi in !962.Even then the monthly expenditure did not exceed more than Rs200/ pm. Petrol was costing 70 paisa in 1969.With Rs 50/ petrol cost ,I could go to Kerala in my car from Neyveli I got promotion as Assistant Executive Engineer in 1965 and posted to work in the Chemical units and to take up the maintenance of high voltage electrical machineries like HV switchgears, transformers, HV cables.Sri S Ramalingam took up the maintenave of high voltage motors ,and generators in the chemical units. Later Sri Ramalingam resigned from NLC and joined in Madras Refinaries.He reitred from MRL in 1995 as CMD.
After Sri Ramalingam resigned ,Sri N.Sivaprakam joined in the chemical units of NLC to maintain the HV Motors.We formed a very good team along with Sri M.Balakrishnan Nambiar, who was in charge of the Electrical testing Department.
All maintenance works were done through department workers only. Workers were never reluctant to do difficult jobs like 33kv cable jointing or transporting heavy transformers weighing more than 40tons to Central Repair Shop for repairs. Even laying the 33kv cable for jointing was done with the department workmen. Contract systems were never in vogue in those days in any plants if the works were perennial in nature.Some non- perennial jobs like painting the sub-stations etc were done through contractors .The workers never refused to do the works given. They were having close rapport with first line supervisors.and never reluctant to do the works.I worked till 1980 in the chemical plants. In 1980 I was promoted as Executive Engineer and transferred to Central Electrical Repair Shop.

The Central Electrical Repair Shop took up the repairs of all electrical equipments of power stations Mines units, chemical units and Township. The failures of the conveyor 630KW 3.3kv motors were very high. Day and night pressure from the Mines units would be coming even from the Directors level, for repairing the failed crtical motors, at the shortest possible time. CERS had to cope up with the pressure. It was undoubtedly a good experiance to work in CERS, but the fact of the situation was that the responsibility was so high and nobody could officially survive without showing tangible results. For want of equipments from CERS if production was affected, it was the end of the future of the Officer in charge of CERS.The expectations of the management for results from service units were very high and. therefore it was imperative to show reults.Those days around 4000 failed electrical eqiupments were delivered every year after repairs.It was never being an easy task.It was possilble because of hardworking of the Executives Foremen and workmen in CERS.
The failures of the conveyor HV motors in Mines were never analyzed properly. I think till 1990 no suitable motors for use in lignite mine's conveyors which could give trouble free performance were designed in India. For NLC mine's condition the HV motors could have been designed for higher thermal withstand capability ,both stator and rotor coils with cast resin F-class insulations, the slip ring chambers more pressurized to prevent ingress of dust and lignite and no wear and tear, flash free slip rings using suitable carbon brushes. Maximum number of conveyor HV motors were supplied by NGEF Bangalore. In spite of taking all issues with the firm by NLC ,no efforts were made by them to improve the performance of these motors even in the subsequet supply of motors.
In 1986 I was promoted as Dy Chief Engineer I along with Mr. Mohamed Kunju were posted to work in the new Thermal Power Station11 in 1986. Mr Kunju was a Mechanical Engineer and posted to the construction department of the power station. Only one 210 MW unit was commissioned then and six more yet to be commissioned before the targeted date in 1992. I was given the job of organizing the Electrical Maintenance from scratch.In TS 11 the Engineers and workmen were almost all in the age group between25 to 30 years old. The workmen almost all were ITI Holders and skilled. The work culture in TS11 was quite different from the chemical units. The best way of ensuring relaible and consistent maintenace was off-loading some non -perennial works to contractors.Highly skilled works were carried out through depatmental workmen. In 1990 I was promoted as Chief Engineer and in 1992 I got promotion as Dy General Manager( Maintenance) and took over the maintenance of Electrcal, Mechanical and Civil Branches and operation and maintenance of lignite handling systems(LHS) in TS11. Basically I was not a Power Engineer, but a maintenance engineer,and I was acceptable to all in the Power station. I was only a team player. I believed in delegating resposiblity and authoriity to my people working with me.I trusted my people.They have never disappoined the organisation. Capabalities have no monopoly,no expiring dates or full-stops.Identify the people who are fit in certain jobs. Each and every one has one talent or many.No one can be discarded.

Maintenance engineering for Thermal power-plant facilities is changing from time-based mangement to condition-based management. The maintenance engineering has been moving away from conventional way of maintenanceOptimizing maintenance management can save the Power station from considerable percentage of its maintenance charge. Breakdown of machineries can take a toll in the revenue through loss in productivity. Costly downtimes can be reduced if a proper maintenance management system is in place Training of power station maintenance management is necessary for the maintenance Engineers and techicians in power plants.The power generation growth of NLC is seemed to be not encouraging. From 1993 to till 2003 only 420 MW added to its capacity. The growth of any profit making organization like NLC should have been not less 50 percentage added to its total capacity in every five years. NLC is putting up a coal based Thermal Power Plant at Tuticorin with a capacity of 1000 MW as a joint venture with Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). NLC may consider for going for more coal based power stations instead of lignite based power stations. India is not saving its natural resources for the future generations.


The iron ore is exported to China and other counties. At the same time we are told that within 200 years India will exhaust all iron ores. Even it is low grade iron ore or coal, India should not export its natural resources to other countries. Similarly the lignite has to be preserved for future India, and it should be judiciously used at present. Perhaps when boiler technology and efficiency improve , consumption of lignite per unit generation may go down.It is now one kg per unit generation. That means for generation of 210MW with 24 hours full generation the consumption of lignite is around 5000tons.

MY HEALTH PROBLEMS
For some the Doctors are representatives of God. There is a special bond between patients and the Doctors which can be said as a divine relationship. Patients need to maintain good relationship with the family Doctors. But we think about Doctors only when we are sick. In many hospitals Doctors are overstressed and they become unfriendly. In a few cases Doctors fail to diagnose correctly and the patients are put into great risks. I would like to mention here my own experiences in NLC the General Hospital. Mostly all senior Doctors in NLC Hospitals were known to me . I had no doubts about thier professional capabilities .

I had severe chest pain in 1990. I was rushed to the General Hospital Neyveli immediately. At the hospital my blood pressure was checked and ECG was taken. The blood pressure was 200/120 and no abnormality was found in the ECG as per the doctor. I was an inpatient for three days. In fact it was my first heart attack (later in Chennai when I had a second heart attack in 1996, the ECG indicated an earlier heart attack) and the Doctors in the General Hospital could not find the actual reason for the chest pain. NLC did not have an Eco cardiograph.It is unfortunate that the General Hospital of a big public sector organization like NLC did not have a cardiologist.

I retired from NLC on 30 9 1993.
After my retirement,I settled in Chennai with my family

Corruption In Public Sector

Generally the Executives and staff in Public sector undertakings are very honest. They are dedicated to works Many works are executed as per the contract, and works are satisfactorily completed before final payment is made.. But corruption is entrenched in some people. When opportunities surface, these people may become corrupt. The organisation or establishment has to expose the corrupt officers.The presence of Vigilance should be felt..Those who do not follow the approved procedures and are found to be guilty of corruption should be punished .The corruption can take place in placing orders for procurements and services.Corruption takes place in recruitment's of some categories of labourers and staffs.As far as the procurements of goods and services are concerned there are established rules.The approved rules are General Financial Rules 2005 and Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 1978 as amended from time to time lay down the procedures and powers of the various Ministries and Departments of the Government of India in matters relating to handling of public money. Rules 135 to 185 of the General Financial Rules, 2005 specifically deal with procurement of goods and services and outsourcing of services. The PSEs follow these rules in matters relating to procurement of goods and services. Direct contact with the officers in their chambers by the supplier of goods or contractor should be banned. PSEs should sign Integrity Pact with Transparency International.All discussions with the contractors are to be done by the concerned committees and should be transparent.Communication through E-Mail , fax or video conference should be made compulsory.Call centers would be helpful for exchange of informations.With no corruption, the firm satisfies purchase qualification will win the contract. If corruption and large manipulation succeed, it easy for the not so qualified firm to secure a contract, so in effect, the quality of work executed and ,spares/ machineries or material supplied,or service received, will be suffered.

Thirty Four Years in Neyveli Lignite Corporation

In 1959, I joined in Neyveli Lignite Corporation as Special grade apprentice. After two months training I was posted to work in shifts in the Mines sub-stations. NlC is an integrated project having Mines 1 and Mines 2 , Thermal power stations 1 and 2, Fertilizer plant and Briquetting and Low temperature Carbonization plant. Thermal station 2 and Mines 2 came in only in 1987. Now NLC is having the biggest open-cast mechanised lignite mines in India,mining 24 million tonnes of lignite annually and generating power with installed capacity of 2490 MW.
India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said that all Public Sector Enterprises are India's modern temples.India adapted a socialist pattern of economy till our country was opened to global economy in early nineties The socialist pattern of society did not reach the poor to improve thier quality of life.The economy did not grow either.
Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) have assumed the role in supplying essential goods and services to the public . They sometimes are mandated to take on social responsibility. The performance of some PSEs has been affected by the lack of clarity of the commercial and social objectives. Many PSEs have become a financial burden on the government,and failed due to mal administration, high corruption and labour unrest.Quality and capability of the people at the top are very important for sustaining the growth of any PSEs.The top people should have high integrity with a proven track records of managerial ability. No Engineer though technically excellent, can be a good managers unless he or she has the leadership quality and very good communicating capability. But managers with leadership quality and having engineering qualifications will be the best for top Executives posts in PSEs.
There was strong pressure to change for open economy.In early nineties our economy was opened for competition.

My Education in India

My parents, Gangadharan and Sobhana left for Malaya after I and Sukumaran joined in the Middle school.I and Sukumaran joined in St John’s Middle school ,Mattam ,Mavelikara in August 1947 in form two and form one respectively after getting approval from the District education Officer. We passed the entrance examination conducted by the school for selection. We both knew some Malayalam and therefore we did not have difficulties to get through the selection process.. In home we both had Malayalam tuition by a Malayalam pundit Sri Gopala Paniker. He was a retired teacher in a Malayalam school. He was a scholar also in Malayalam. We had tuition for a year.The medium of instruction in all schools in Travancore was in Malayalam in 1947. We picked up Malayalam very fast. Those days form three examination was centralized and is called ESLC examination. I got first class in ESLC. In the same year in 1949 our school became high school.. I continued to study in the same school .I stood first in all subjects in all classes and got first class and first in SSLC in the School. I got admission in first group (Maths, and science) in University Intermediate College, Trivandrum and stayed in the University hostel.near Palayam.In 1955, I got admission in the Birla Institute of Technology Mesra Ranchi, Bihar. There were sixty students in Electrical and sixty in Mechanical batch. I took electrical engineering as my subject .Ours were the first batch of the Institute. BIT Ranchi was an all India Institute and selection then was made on marks and based on state allocation. . Students from almost all states in India were admitted. Travancore Cochin state had two seat then. Later this state wise allocation was terminated and competitive all India test was conducted. I passed out engineering graduation in first class with distinction in May1959 Three teaching staff in the engineering college had influenced my life very much to lead a disciplined life. One was the Principal Major M.C.Pande. He never tolerated indiscipline. He said in many of his speech that ‘ if discipline in society or individual fails ,the society or the individual will crumble like a piece of glass falling on ground “ He endorsed the students to follow discipline in their professional life.He told the final year students not to pose as an engineers to the workforce, but to learn from every one.In one occasion he suspended a relative of then President of India for ragging. Later he issued transfer certificate to that student and sent him away. In another case he dismissed a second year student for molesting a construction work woman.In all these cases he consulted a few students and the staff disciplinary committee before taking action Other two are Prof: Janakiram Head of Department Mechanical Engineering and Dr Manohar Head of Department Civil Engineering. They thought the students, that no Engineers can achieve success in professional life unless one cultivates the leadership quality in oneself..Their advice to the final year students at the valedictory function were “do not cave in under pressure and need to have positive mindset, and think big, when one enters the reality of life’. Student’s life was over when one enters a job. But learning had to be continued even after leaving the school or college.Qualification is only a foundation, learning is the tool, and knowledge is the quality of the tool to work with for the upliftment of social and economical order of mankind.

Kerala - God's own Home

From the house we could hear the roaring of the Arabian Sea. The exotic fragrance of elanji flowers filled the air in the house.Kerala is famous for its rivers, backwaters and endless beaches.. No land in this world is so beautiful as Kerala .Kerala is called 'God's own land' The punja paddy field west of Karavallil house is known as 'punja paadam' `or Evoor paadam. Only one crop is cultivated before south west monsoon. Second crop with a rice variety called 'kulappala' which grows above the water with the level of water rising, was tried by the farmers but there were no takers for this variety of rice because of its taste. In the west of Karavallil house there is a canal connecting river Achhankoil and Kayamkulam lake . This canal is made for navigation and transportation of goods from the inland areas to the Kayamkulam market..



In rainy season the Paadam is filled with monsoon rainwater. It looked like a big lake stretching from Karipuzha to Pattiyoor a distance of six to seven miles and width of about one mile.The coconut trees every where stretch to the waters,as if to look at its images in the mirrors of water. The coconut trees dance in the monsoon wind and the trees seem to be dancing to the tunes of the roaring Arabian sea in the west. .This water view from Karavallil is so thrilling and so enchanting and we see the beauty of the nature. Many 'Kalivallom' boats roared by children singing' vallam kali' songs.. The nature has gifted the rice field, filled with monsoon rain water for the children to engage for boat race during Onam season.It is appropriate to call KERALA as the GOD'S OWN HOME.