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Anant Hattangadi (1927- 2018)
Dada is no more. On Wednesday, March 7, 2018
my elder brother Shri Anant Hattangadi breathed his last at Ahmedabad. He had
suffered a paralytic stroke in 2012 from which he never fully recovered and had
been ailing since then. He was 91 when the peaceful end brought him much needed
respite from suffering.
As electrical engineer, by
profession, he worked for 32 years with Indian Railways holding several
important positions culminating as the General Manager of Chittaranjan
Locomotive Works. He had joined the Railways after getting the first rank in the
All India IRSC examination. While in service, he had been conducting various
training courses for engineers at the Railway Technical Institute in Vadodara. It
may not be commonly known that he was in fact the engineer who had designed,
developed and built indigenously the country’s first Electric Locomotive engine
for the long distance trains running in India.
On retiring from the Railways after a long, distinguished service in
1985, he has devoted most of his time writing technical books on topics,
ranging from electrical fires to maintenance of electrical machinery and interesting,
real-life problems in mathematics, which have been published by international
publishers like McGraw Hill and Orient Longmans. I understand these books have
been prescribed as text books in some technical schools in U.S.A
Dada, as we fondly called him, had
shown his flair for technical know-how and skills right from his school days. As
a child of five, he used to receive from his doting father regular gifts of
mechanical toys such as the popular, MECHANO and LEGO toy sets with tiny interlocking,
plastic bricks. At the age of ten, he was doing carpentry and woodwork and had
become adept in handicraft and fretwork. Using his small, portable, fretwork
machine he had built a tabletop model of the Buckingham Palace in plywood. He was
a perfect handyman around the house, doing sometimes even minor electrical
wiring for the neighboring ‘aunties’ to their great delight and lavish praise,
which actually once got my father in neck deep trouble with the local, Government
Inspector for permitting his minor son to carry out electrical work without having
a valid license! I think, it was this early grooming which he received in his
formative years that served him in good stead later in life as an Electrical
Engineer. Under the tutelage of my father, who owned a Radio servicing shop in
Dharwar, he had learnt the rudiments of Radio engineering and he would
regularly assist my father in repairing the radio sets in his shop. At the age
of thirteen, he had even built a small, one-valve, radio receiver, using quartz
crystal and head phones that could actually receive wireless signals from BBC,
which was considered a great achievement in those days!
Dada was great even in his school days
as a promising, young, intelligent student. All through his educational career,
he had passed all his exams with flying colors without missing the first rank
even once. In the College of Engineering in Pune, he holds the record to this
day --- next, perhaps, only to that of the legendry, Indian Engineer, Sir M. Vishweshariah
of Mysore --- of maintaining his “First
Class, First” rank all through his four years in the college. During his stint in the Karnatak College at
Dharwar, he had once set a record of sorts by scoring 110 % marks in the
Physics practical exam., but, as was his wont, he never once boasted about it
either to his friends or to any of us at home; we came to know about it much later
from his some old classmates.
Dada was my ‘role model’ all through
my life. However, though I tried my hardest to reach the heights of his
achievements, both scholastic as well as in life, I have utterly failed in my
attempts, because my brother had set the bar so high that it was well nigh
impossible for an ordinary person with average intelligence like me to have
ever crossed it. Growing up as Dada’s
younger brother, believe me, was no easy task, because I had to face the big
responsibility of fulfilling the great expectations of everyone around that I
would somehow follow closely in his footsteps! However, I must add here that, for
all his great achievements, first as a brilliant student and then as an
outstanding engineer, Dada was always very simple and unassuming. He had won a
Gold Medal in the engineering college and in whatever he did, he had always been
rewarded with grand success and had never known any failure. He often received much
praise for his genius, as also applause for his various accomplishments, from
the family members as well as friends and colleagues, but, he had never allowed
it to go to his head. The way he conducted himself and his general demeanor in
all dealings with people around should be a lesson in humility for many a go-getter
of his ilk.
Dada was a man of few words, but
when they came one could sense they were words of wisdom and concern for others.
Seldom have I seen him lose his temper with anyone or, for that matter, even as
much as raise his voice when he spoke to others. He was a man of remarkable
patience and tenacity. In short, in all of my eighty and odd years, I have
never met more fine a human being than our Dada. As many who knew him well will
tell you, he was a very quiet person, brilliant and sometimes, tough though so
gentle, who could almost accomplish anything once he had made up his mind to do
so. He was staunch and stubborn in certain ways, because he was blessed with a
strong will power. Once he had set himself a goal, there was no force on earth,
no apparently insurmountable difficulty or a road block on the way that could
ever deter him from his chosen path. Yet, he would never force his own ideas or
thoughts on others. He would just make some sort of a general remark or comment
on the situation and if you cared to heed his advice, well, then it was up to
you to do something about it.
"Dear Dada, we may not have been
extremely close and talking freely on a regular basis as other siblings do,
but, I think you should know how important you have always meant to me and that
I have always looked up to you in silent awe and respect. True, I may have been
unable to emulate you in everything you did, but, there is one thing that I
learnt from you for which I will ever remain grateful. You have taught me by your
own example what it means to work hard and never give up until you have achieved
what you set out to accomplish. You have shown me that only hard work pays off
in the end on this earth and no one else can stop you from that. As for me, I
had no other option. This is one great legacy from you which all those who
loved you will always cherish."
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