Osmania University Vice Chancellor’s Visit at a ‘Fun Raiser’
Dr. D. Ravinder Yadav (his wife Rajasvi beside him) receiving a proclamation from the US Congressman Al Green’s office from Harinath Medi, President of the Osmania University Alumni Associations of North America (his wife Manju beside him) and on left, Aziz Jamaluddin, the oldest Alumni in Houston
By Jawahar Malhotra
HOUSTON: Everybody expected Harinath Medi to deliver a welcome address to the members of the Osmania University Alumni Association Houston who came to the dinner reception last Sunday evening, But nobody expected him to carry off the opening monologue with hilarious couplets in his rusty Hindustani, with approving “wah, wahs” and “shabash” called out from the guests. Medi emphasized that the gathering was a ‘funraiser’ and not a ‘fundraiser’.
They had come to meet and greet, as the invite said, Dr. Dandeboina Ravinder Yadav, the Vice-Chancellor of the Osmania University from Hyderabad, Deccan. With their spouses in tow, the mostly 60s and above crowd renewed ties and got comfortable at Ashiana restaurant in the city’s west side on Sunday, June 12. The 90 guests had snacks and drinks before the speeches and a buffet dinner afterwards.
Dr. Yadav and his wife Rajasvi started their tour of 10 cities in the US on May 26, and will visit three after this stopover in Houston before returning to Hyderabad on July 20. On the trip he intended to interact with the OU alumni and explore possibilities of collaborations between OU and various institutions and universities in the US.
Dr. Yadav spoke of his 21-point agenda for the development of the university in the coming two years. The new agenda includes setting up new institutional wings like Civil Services academy, a reading room complex for students, revising academic programs and establishing an online learning platform. He also envisions transforming parts of the Arts College into a museum for old photos of OU. Another idea was to name buildings and rooms or venues for donors.
The trip was coordinated by Medi who is the President of the Osmania University Alumni Associations of North America or OUAANA. The Houston visit was kicked off with a musical interlude by the local group Hearbeats USA (Geetha Krishnamurti and Nadeem Ashrafi) and introductions by Ragini, Medi’s daughter-in-law. Sanjay Reddy, a 1988 graduate, spoke fondly of how cheap his yearly tuition was then – Rs 128 – and how the education had put him and many more like him in a good position to move ahead in their careers and lives. It laid the responsibility on them, he concluded, to help OU now.