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Milking knowledge of life

Sudarshan and Suchismita tell K. SRIMALI that they will cherish their stay in Vijayawada for long

PHOTO: RAJU. V.

DINNER DELIGHT The duo share all their joyous moments with their kids

He is passionate about mountains, building up resources for communities and dairy sector. She is interested in contributing her bit to the reform of school education and making learning a less tedious task for children.

Together, Sudarshan Srinivas and Suchismita, who are just into their forties, have been charting out a course of life for the last 20 years that has been exciting and challenging, though hectic as well.

Having worked for 14 years in the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), including the last four-and-a-half years in Vijayawada as State director with the onerous responsibility of forging a better understanding between his organisation and the State's milk unions, Sudarshan now prepares to lead the bio-fuel business of a leading corporate group with Hyderabad as base.

Suchismita, an educational specialist with Educational Initiatives, an Ahmedabad-based NGO, worked with local schools during the last four years and helped them improve methods of instruction through a variety of tests. Even after moving to Hyderabad, Suchismita promises to continue her association with local schools.

Mixed feelings

Relishing Chinese delicacies in the cosy confines of Aromas in Hotel D.V. Manor, Sudarshan and Suchismita recall the eventful years they had on the campus of St. Stephen's College in Delhi and later on the sprawling premises of Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), before coming to the city in September 2001.

Amidst continuous distraction from five-year-old Ananya Madhur and the occasional intervention of Amartya Gautam, who was just through with his seventh class examinations, Sudarshan and Suchismita say: "It is with a mixed feeling that we are bidding adieu to Vijayawada."

"We liked the landscape and mountains here and loved long drives on the highway towards Guntur side. But we sorely missed the green space that we had in plenty while we were in Anand."

For Sudarshan, a Tamilian who grew up in Simla, and Suchismita, a Delhi-bred Bengali, not being able to converse in Telugu was a problem.

Wondering how they managed it for four years, Suchismita says: "Our children, especially Ananya, picked up some Telugu. Now she blabbers in a mix of English, Hindi and Telugu."

Getting back to the college days, Suchismita points out that she was in B.Sc Mathematics and he was in B.A. Philosophy, with just English as a common class. "But he rarely attended this class, so our meetings were more in activities like judo learning and trekking."

"Though our family backgrounds and languages differed, our parents conceded our proposal to get married soon after graduation when they sensed that we were serious," Suchismita recalls.

While Sudarshan took up a job in a tea plantation in Kerala and later worked with an NGO on wasteland development project for NDDB, Suchismita finished her B.Ed and plunged into the activity dearest to her heart: teaching. Their favourite pastime: Reading.

"We trekked mountains of Garhwal and had good time in the serene precincts of NDDB at Anand, though it was a small village. When we came to Vijayawada, it was a bigger city in comparison. We particularly liked the transport facilities here and the civic infrastructure in general," Sudarshan rounds off.

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