Remembering Dr. H.A.B. Parpia on his birth centenary
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Remembering Dr. H.A.B. Parpia on his birth centenary

September 4, 2022

By Bhamy V. Shenoy

September 5th is the birth centenary of late Dr. H.A.B Parpia, former Director of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysuru, Founder-President of People’s Education Trust (PET) and Founding President of Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP). This occasion gives Mysureans an opportunity to recall the significant contribution of Dr. Parpia to preserve the old charm of Mysuru till his last days.

One factor which might have motivated him for his grassroots involvement (not armchair activism) might have been his spending time at Mahatma Gandhi’s Sevagram when he was 13 years old. Thanks to Sevagram, he imbibed many qualities — punctuality, mentoring young talents, courtesy to all, never exceeding time allotted to deliver talks and above all to give back to society. Parpia never hesitated to stand for principles he believed in even if he was the only one in the group — just like Mahatma Gandhi.

Once during a visit to K.R. Hospital he offered to the Superintendent that he would come and clean the toilets when he could not bear the smell and she should join. Despite holding high positions he never felt below his dignity to participate in several protests organised by MGP. 

Dr. H.A.B. Parpia, at the age of 90 years, participating in MGP’s Save People’s Park protest in 2012.

Dr. Parpia passed away on July 9 at the age of 91 years. Just two weeks before his demise, he was busy writing letters to different authorities questioning the justification for awarding high grade to Amity University by NAAC. Since one year, he was collecting information on the amount of money spent on different Ministers in Karnataka using RTI.

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It was because of Dr. Parpiaʼs efforts as a member of MGP education committee that today students in Karnataka are able to get their answer sheets  to ensure they have been evaluated correctly. These efforts were helped by an honest Education Minister H.G. Govinde Gowda and concerned Education Secretary S.V. Ranganath.

Dr. Parpia was also instrumental in convincing the Education Department to stop announcing ranks based on public examination marks. He never believed that examination marks are the true indicator of oneʼs capacity. It is unfortunate that private schools/coaching centres are again highlighting “ranks” to promote themselves.

He constantly worried about the worsening traffic situation in Mysuru. Whenever there was a new Police Commissioner, Dr. Parpia gave a lot of information which he had collected from different countries on how to improve traffic conditions. Unfortunately, only few took interest. Because of his initiative, NIE conducted the first scientific traffic study of Mysuru.

FROM LEFT: Dr. H.A.B. Parpia, G.T. Narayana Rao, Prof. J.R. Laxman Rao, T.S. Satyan and Prof. K. Srinivasan during Save Mysuru protest in front of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) in July, 2004.

Soon after the Bangalore Agenda Task Force was constituted, he wrote a vision paper for Mysuru to convince the then Chief Minister S.M. Krishna to have a Mysore Agenda Task Force (MATF). He succeeded. He was one of the most active members of MATF constantly pushing the bureaucrats to improve governance.

In our city, we have streets, circles and layouts named after freedom fighters, literary giants, political leaders, sports persons, etc. But it is very rare to find any named after social activists. By naming a street after Dr. Parpia on his centenary, not only do we recognise his contributions, but also show why Mysuru needs such social activists. This will be an inspiration to our scientists and professionals to get involved in thankless task of holding a mirror to the society as Dr. Parpia did selflessly and bravely after his retirement.

6 COMMENTS ON THIS POST To “Remembering Dr. H.A.B. Parpia on his birth centenary”

  1. Howdy, Modi! says:

    I started reading until I came across linking this person with the MGP-the Grahachara out put of deluders and retirees, which Barmy thinks it as a major achievement. Then I knew why Barmy is prattling this about.
    The CFTRI has been a white elephant sucking in government money and achieving nothing.

  2. Ananda Vadivelu says:

    Thanks for the lovely post Dr. Bhamy Shenoy

  3. Mann Ki Baat! says:

    @Vadivelu
    Where are you from? Tamil Nadu, I guess. know Kannada at all? I guess not!
    Parpia did nothing at the CFTRI- when in power and did nothing when retired.; yes, it was a massive white elephant,
    If he wanted to clean those dirty toilets mentioned, he should have done it to show that he was sincere. Mere talk.t
    If exam marks are not the rue indicators of a student’s intellectual capability, then what is it that indicates and how to assess the student? Parpia should have pioneered it with years of demonstrations. He did not.
    Barmy Shenoy must have sat in the IIT competitive test to get entry into IIT Madras then, ,which meant that he was judged by his marks in that test!
    Parpia studied in the US, where grades are everything -a minimum B average or better required to pass the MS degree and to get to the PhD, candidature, exams and a good grade is required . He progressed through good grades! Grades made him at the UCLA. Otherwise, he was no body! May be his grades were not good enough for the really best university there-Berkley!
    Although bleating about congestion, he used his car I suppose. I wonder whether his American wife walked. Americans do not walk! She was whizzing through by sitting in her car,. I met her once, did not like her.
    These eco warriors and so called concerned citizens who are wealthy, in their retirement, like Barmy Shenoy, choose to do what they do,, mere talkers and debaters, to attract attention, and produce no tangible achievements. The MGP is a con front developed by rich retirees and used in various ways to draw attention to those involved there. They do not come out of their towers and do real hard social care slogs. We read their meaningless series like where Mysore is going, just to get noticed.
    People like Barmy Shenoy used it as a front to stand for an election. He wants to do it again. Hence his open letter to Narendra Modi about his support for pumped gas supply in Mysore. He prattled there about his Texas degree-achieved through grades, but quoted experience in the cold and obscure territory of former Soviet Union! Modi rightly ignored it!! Well done PM!!
    There are real societal problems in Mysore and India. If Barmy cared, he should come down from his high pedestal, get his hands dirty and do real social work. Otherwise, no one deserves a building or a street named after him.

  4. Mann Ki Baat! says:

    Corrections and apology: In the above post,:
    Instead: “”Grades made him at the UCLA”, should read: “Grades made him at the UC Berkley” And, for: “May be his grades were not good enough for the really best university there- Berkley”, I meant: May be his grades were not good enough for the really best university there–Harvard, as it excelled in all sciences, particularly related to microbiology, and chemistry -applied to food related areas.

  5. Howdy, Modi! says:

    Agree with the above poster.
    Hypocrites like Parpia and Shenoy who used their better grades-call them grades, points or marks, as the bridge to go to USA, study there, again based on grades -some may argue there or based on relative comparisons, again on points/marks, and when they finish what they wanted to, draw up the bridge for others, arguing that this bridge based on grades/points/marks are no good and do not reflect the student’s abilities!
    Just research through the background of Parpia, at least one of his sons, went to Kanpur IIT, you do not get in there without good grades/points/marks, to Purdue university again the same basis and works in Texas.
    Visiting Sevagram as a volunteer was not enough. The question, what did he do ACTUALLY through his sweats-not pontification or talks, to ensure that he made the difference to the society he lived in?
    But some may argue, if a road can be named after Sudha Murthy, why not Parpia too? Well, Sudha Murthy donated crores, thanks to her husband’s IT sweatshop called Infosys, where IT techies slog to produce codes for the outsourced work from Western companies. The Murthy’s could donated hundreds of millions of USDs as dowry to their son-in-law who has failed to become the PM of Britain, as voters realised the arrogance derived from dirty money. What applies to Parpia should apply to Shenoy as well -the moralising credtins, arm chair preachers and attention seekers. Mysore is full of these rich retirees.

  6. Gautam says:

    Hello Barmy Shenoy!
    You arrived in 1980s to Mysore to settle as a non-Mysorean with a massive crowd of other non-Mysoreans, mostly rich retirees, who splashed their retirement cash, ad were mainly responsible to the destruction of this city, as your rush necessitated removal of forest and trees which adorned the perimeter of this city. From there, Mysore sunk to a slippery slope of development and destruction of its natural assets..
    Some home truths about Parpia
    When he was the director the CFTRI, he was approached by science students of the city colleges, inviting him for a talk to them about the work done at his Institute, the science -base of it etc.. We from our college approached him several times. We could not get 10 minutes slot to see him at the CFTRI. He declined every one of the invitations.
    Just as a comparison. In Bangalore, college representatives used to approach Sir C V Raman, the Nobel Laureate for talks in 1960s. Buy that time his research on light scattering as applied to leaser beams were hot topic around the world, He listened every one of the groups of students, and where possible visited their colleges. Today, hthe laser scattering is a powerful forensics weapon in Western countries-thanks to his discovery.
    He could have been instrumental in ensuring that the postgraduate centre , Manasangothri became the centre of excellence in Chemistry and microbiology, by lending his expertise and those of his colleagues. HE DID NOTHING. He could have worked with the science academics in the city colleges and in the university to enhance the standards of science delivery in academia. HE WAS NOT BOTHERED.
    Only, after his retirement, he started prattling about this and that, the marks particularly , which was bull shit any way, as marks and grades have been here in some form in different advanced countries. He was just an old man, a rich retiree , trying to find a role for himself. He was not successful.
    Home truths about yourself
    Having arrived in the city to settle here, you too were looking for a role. Your Grahachara outfit, has been a meaningless nonsense, used to serve your self as an attention demanding person, also of that retire d Major General, a civil engineer, whose contribution was construction of culverts in the Northern borders and of course the Prakash guy, who wrote a very series on Mysore about its development.
    Has PM Modi replied to your open letter you produced in the SOM a few months ago? PM Modi was in th e city a few weeks ago.
    I agree with other posters above that Parpia deserves no recognition, as he singularly failed to advance quality science education in the city when he the director of the CFTRI, and when he was approached with requests to do so.

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