PMP’s educational story began with his father’s. When Mariappa’s college education seemed out of reach, his sister-in-law Hakkalamma sold her gold jewellery to help him study. Mariappa became an electrical engineer. That act of generosity would echo through the next generation.

Back at Jog, dams, factories and generating stations became an open classroom. The books and Meccano set his father brought from England gave that curiosity something to work with.

The Blessed One · printed pages 4–5

PMP remembered the magic lantern as his first do-it-yourself project. His father had brought books from England with complete instructions.

He specified the dimensions to a carpenter at the generating station, wired two 100W bulbs himself, and made do with a smaller lens after travelling 60 miles to Shivamogga on a ration truck.

The project also led to an eyesight correction. Duty engineer Swasbrook noticed PMP holding the drawing close to his face and helped him get to an optician.

Recollected by PMP and imagined afresh!

On graduating in 1960, PMP joined HMT’s planning department. He helped establish time standards in the foundry. It was work that rewarded attention, observation and precision.

His brother Narendra remembered the pride the family felt when the HMT bus came to the house. Leaving that security later was a consequential choice. The same mind that wanted to understand a machine also wanted to build something of its own.

The Blessed One · printed pages 29

After the family returned to Bangalore, Narendra and Prakash shared two intense years of learning. Narendra was nine and Prakash twenty-two when that period began. Books and comics were part of the same world as soldering, candle boats, the typewriter and radios.

Prakash spent a large part of his income on secondhand books and subscriptions. Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Reader’s Digest, Time, Life and Popular Electronics filled the shelves. Narendra read every issue front to back.

Prakash introduced Narendra to comics adapted from the classics, then found full-length versions so he could read the originals. That is how his reading life started.

“That’s how my reading life started.”NARENDRA, PMP’S BROTHER

Recollected by Narendra and imagined afresh!

The Blessed One · printed pages 29

When Prakash brought home an antique portable typewriter from the ಗುಜರಿ (Gujari), Narendra wanted to play with it at once.

But first he had to memorize the QWERTY layout. Only then was he allowed to even touch the keyboard. Decades later, while others were still hunting and pecking, he was touch-typing as if it were second nature.

Prakash had rewarded striving before gratification. That lesson stayed.

Recollected by Narendra and imagined afresh!

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Narendra’s first radio was a crystal set that Prakash showed him how to build. He later upgraded it with a transistor amplifier.

Then came the family’s (only) radio — their trusty EKCO. Prakash dismantled it to configure a servo-based auto tuner — that showed up in car radios decades later.

Most importantly, it showed enormous confidence in his ability to succeed. At risk was the family’s only source of entertainment. That took a lot of courage! In retrospect, that was a predictor of how he would tackle every new portal in his life.

Recollected by Narendra and imagined afresh!

In 1965, S.V. Swami Electronics and S.V. Swami Industries began as an ITI ancillary unit. Transformer work led to new opportunities; solving the problem of fading labels led to a durable nameplate business.

After leaving HMT, Prakash set up his own workshop. He recalled an order for one hundred transformers from HMT’s Kerala unit, a hand-winding machine he fabricated, borrowed working capital and a wooden cot pressed into service as a table. Narendra remembers him making soldering irons for NGEF.

The workshop made soldering irons for NGEF and transformers. The winder was a tool used to make them.

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On a European trip in the 1980s, PMP and Shantha missed their familiar rice meals. In Shivakumar’s account, PMP found a solution in the thermos he had packed.

After breakfast he put rice and boiling water into the flask and sealed it. They went sightseeing. By lunchtime, the rice was ready. Chutney pudi, pickles and easily available yoghurt completed the meal.

It is a small story, and a revealing one. The engineer’s instinct was not reserved for the factory. It could make an unfamiliar place feel a little more like home.

Recollected by Shivakumar and imagined afresh!

In 2005, PMP, Prashanth and Amitha founded Discovery Village. Kanakapura came first, followed by Nandi Hills and Kabini. Nature, hands-on learning and resourceful building met in one family collaboration.

Prashanth and Amitha imagined a place away from city routines, where children and families could reconnect with nature. For PMP, it offered a chance to bring his architectural ideas to life. Their interests met in Discovery Village.

A story from Nandi captures his persistence. After meeting a farmer who needed a prosthetic leg, PMP arranged help. When the first plan fell through, he brought a Rotary camp to the village instead. The farmer and four other people benefited.

The Blessed One · printed pages xvii–xix

After Shivakumar’s Bhagavad Gita summary and English translation reached Swami Paramarthananda, the Swamiji wrote back with his congratulations and blessings. Shivakumar asked for a meeting, and the Swamiji invited them to Chennai.

Prakash, Prashanth, Omprakash and Shivakumar travelled from Bengaluru in 2015. They found the apartment, spent the intervening time at Marina Beach, and returned to ring the bell at the appointed hour.

Prakash told Swamiji that he had completed his Gita study and was now studying the Upanishads. A long friendship, a shared intellectual life and a continuing spiritual practice met in that small Chennai apartment.

“For all of us it was an opportunity of a lifetime.”SHIVAKUMAR, “VISIT TO THE SWAMIJI”

Imagined reconstruction based on Shivakumar’s account.