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VI(ZA)GNETTES

The town of Visakhapatnam received a severe jolt when it was bombed by the Japanese planes on April 6, 1942. To safeguard the town, allied forces were deployed in large numbers. At that time, the Grand Trunk Road which was the only connecting road between Visakhapatnam and Anakapalle was submerged under the backwaters of the Bay. Troops used ferries to transport men and material. But it proved to be long and painstaking. To speed up the transportation process, the military engineers constructed a wooden bridge exclusively for military purpose, which was located near the Chavulamadum. The bridge was then called as the Sappers Bridge. Even after the war, the bridge served as the main link between the two towns. It was subsequently dismantled to construct a flyover. (Contributed by B.V. Ramamurty)

Apart from having many credentials, Andhra University had some of the best teachers that one could talk of. Sarvepalli Gopal recorded in his biography of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: “The list of recruits of Andhra University in the thirties is a roll call of distinguished Indians in the sixties and seventies.” C.V. Raman was made honorary professor of Physics in charge of preparing the syllabus in science. M. Visweswaraya was honorary professor of technology (AU was the first in south India to start a course in technology). S.C. Chawla from Lahore came to teach mathematics and Ludwig Wolf of Berlin University then in exile was brought along with T.R. Seshadri to teach chemistry.

Humayun Kabir, Hiren Mukherjee, V.K.R.V. Rao and M.H. Gopal were recrutied to teach social sciences and humanities. The credit goes to two people, the founding Vice-Chancellor of the university C.R. Reddy and the immediate succeeding V-C Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. The then cricketing hero C.K. Nayudu also agreed to coach the university team at the behest of Radhakrishnan. However, it did not materialise after Radhakrishnan left the campus. (Centre for Policy Studies)

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