‘Hobbies are the Real Stress-Busters'

Mahendra Sarup has been a regular contributor of articles for Dignity Dialogue. In this interaction, he tells us something about himself, likes and dislikes and family.

- Mahendra Sarup

Could you tell us something about your childhood and education?

My childhood memories are not so very pleasant from the time when there was only a missionary school in the sleepy town of Uttar Pradesh. Prior to independence, there were hardly any schools in small towns. My father is an engineer with uP Hydel got posted to various towns. I recall that the first school where I formally got admitted in 1947 to Class V was the government school at Meerut. After changing a few more schools on transfers, I finally completed my high school from Aligarh in 1953. Thereafter, I stayed back to pursue my further studies, leading to BSc and BSc (Mechanical) Engineering degrees from Aligarh Muslim University. I was a fullfledged engineer in 1961.

What about your career?

After working with the Central Water and Power Commission for three years, I got selected through UPSC to the Indian Ordnance Factories Services (MoD) in 1964. I served there for 33 years in various capacities and retired as General Manager in 1997. The overall experience covered the entire gamut of production technology related to highly sophisticated defense equipment.

What do your family members do?

My wife, Rekha, is an MA in Political Science and a housewife. My son, Rakesh (54), is an electrical engineer and works for TCS. He has two sons. The eldest one is now an electronics and communications engineer who graduated with first-class distinction from SRM University, Chennai. My daughter, Rati (53), is also a computer science engineer, married, and settled down with family in the US. She has two sons. The younger daughter, Radhika (45), is an MBA, married and also settled down in the uS with family. She has two daughters.