Ivisited Dr.T.M.A Pai Museum in Manipal today....Smriti Bhavan..... Really his life is a big inspiration for many people.Even Ibelongs to that long list. 'Manipal-inspired by life' came true for me too once studying this great man whose vision was beyond time...
Our Dr. T M A Pai, Tonse Madhava Ananth Pai, born on April 30, 1898, was one of the architects of modern Karnataka. He was, from the economic and social standpoint, an ordinary man. The triumph of Dr. Pai was in breathing new life into the Indian context, in establishing in a rural track like Manipal an education complex with the dimensions of a University, an ultra-modern hospital, small industries and outstanding banking institutions.Dr. Pai practised surgery for 15 years. But realizing the dire need to assure economic security to the poor and also to teach them lessons in savings, he gave up his medical practice in favour of banking. Soon he established the Syndicate Bank which helped greatly in transforming the lot of the poor section of the society.In 1933 Dr. Pai bought 107 acres of land on top of a rocky hill 3 miles to the east of Udupi, which at that time had no takers. Soon he established an institution called Canara Land Investment for the development of this barren land. The place then called "Mannapalla" in the local Tulu vernacular, meaning mud pond, became Manipal, the modern name for the region atop the hill.Initially the Pai brothers established a few small scale diverse industries there : a tile factory, an agricultural improvement society, a T. B. sanatorium (1934) and a weaving factory. Of these the tile factory survives till today, the rest failed to click and vanished in due course of time. Dr. Pai also opened an elementary school (1936) and Hindu Orphanage (1938) both of which were later closed down. But the Higher Primary School and High School (1939), today have become the Manipal Pre- University College. In 1948 he started the " Academy of General Education ". After having established a High School in Manipal he thought of opening a college in Udupi. He had to convince the stern university officials, particularly the Vice Chancellor of the Madras University, that the efforts to start the college were genuine. with his spirit of adventure and perseverance, he started the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College in 1949 amidst many challenging circumstances. This success inspired him to start a medical college in Manipal in private sector. Persuading the parents of students to bear the cost of their education, Dr. Pai started the Kasturba Medical College on a self-financing basis. On the basis of the financing formula of the Kasturaba Medical College (both in Mangalore and Manipal) three more professional colleges followed : the Manipal Engineering College (1957) (now called Manipal Instiute of Technology), the Udupi Law College(1957) (now Vaikunta Baliga College of Law) and the Manipal College of Education (1965) (now Dr. T M A Pai College of Education). For giving full-fledged medical education in Manipal a hospital with adequate facilities was a necessity. Therefore he established the Kasturaba General Hospital. Now Manipal also has colleges in Pharmacy, Dental Science, Nursing, Hotel Administration, Management institutes and numerous other institutes which train students in specialized courses. It is difficult to believe that once upon a time Manipal was nothing but a grazing ground for the cattle. But today there is no other place in India where modern amenities are so densely congregated as here : education, banking, business, employment and health-care. One finds buses departing every five minutes, and brimming with people on the sides, hospital wards filled to overflowing with patients and their relatives, buzzing groups of medical and engineering students, workers employed in industries, banks, workshops and in the press. Students from different parts of the country and the world are studying in the colleges here - from Malayasia, East Africa, US and Iran. This is the story of the success of Manipal, the story of the metamorphosis of a wilderness into a teeming township. It is a unique example of the genius and organizational skill that is latent in the heart of rural India. Of the few born planners that India could boast of, Madhava Pai was certainly one and one of the greatest. His eventful life came to its close on May 29, 1979.From the institutions started by him, flourishing still as model institutions, serve to remind the generations in future that there was a miracle man called dr. T M A Pai.
