S Viswanadham, Ex- RRSSC
My first job was with ISRO in 86, I was in early 20’s then. My first interaction with KU sir was in Janardhan Towers located on Residency Road Bangalore. To be honest I never thought he was our Director, all thru the time of our interaction he was very cheerful, always smiling and made us all at ease. Never felt we were talking to our boss.
From then on I continued the ISRO journey for over 3 years under his able guidance and dynamic leadership. Sometime during 1988, A Remote Sensing Symposium at the National Level was conducted in CAZRI campus, Jodhpur where one of the Regional Remote Sensing Center (RRSSC) was located. I was part of the Systems/Technology team in Jodhpur’s RRSSC center.
KU sir was one of the keynote speakers for the symposium. Before an hour where he was supposed to speak, he came over to me and spent 15-20 minutes enquiring about various current and future projects the center is handling. I am sure he was fully aware of those projects, thru me he just wants to get his thoughts refreshed. In another 5 minutes or so he prepared his speech and delivered an outstanding keynote address, we all were moved by his intellectual acumen as he took just few minutes to prepare and deliver an outstanding keynote address. In his address he talked about the role of digital image processing in exploring natural resources of our country.
After the end of the day he was kind enough to visit our house in Jodhpur. Few months back before the symposium I got married and my mother was with us as well. He enjoyed thoroughly the typical Andhra food items served to him, he extended his best wishes to me and my wife and left from my place to the airport. My mother always remembered him and used to inquire about his well being in my every subsequent visit to my parents house.
Sharing one of the pictures of myself with KU and KR sir during T.N. Seshan’s visit to our RRSSC center in Bangalore.
I am thankful to god in giving me an opportunity to work under his able guidance and leadership.