Rising to the Challenge

For all that he has achieved, Dr. Vijaya Kumar is an unassuming personality. Seated in an office where one wall is fully lined with books and another adorns his favourite autographed poster of Grand Slam title winner Chris Evert, one can instantly understand him a little better. A true academician, who is crystal clear about his choices and a leader who believes in empowering others; Yo! interacts with him.

THE MAN, HIS MISSION

‘I was born near Vijayawada and lived around the area during my early years. During the China war in 1962, I wanted to be part of the army and save the country. However, it was a school trip to Nagarjuna Sagar in the eighth standard, that set the course of my life. I was enamoured with the engineering marvel and from then on would actually write ‘BE Civil’ next to my name. The first hurdle came when I wanted to get into Engineering and my father put me in a science course at Loyola college. My repeated requests to him went unheard, and so by design I would score less marks in every subject except Math. I finally told them that it was either Engineering or farming, there would be nothing in between. A family friend helped convince my parents and finally I took up Engineering. During my studies I remember working on two projects distinctly. One was a project on disaster management that I took up at IIT Madras and planned out construction of shelters and also a helipad. I learnt to predict the weather using isobars, and could actually predict the Divi cyclone three weeks in advance. Another project that was important to me during my study days was my thesis at Andhra University in 1987. I worked on the usage of industrial waste for construction.’

VIJAY NIRMAN’S BEGINNING