Even as the country mourns the brutal killing of Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sandeep Singh by Pakistanis, city folks remembered one of their brave sons who laid down his life in the 1971 Bangladesh war.
The sacrifices of Vikram Burn Appalaswamy, a hero of the 1971 war and an alumnus of Nizam College here, were fondly recalled by his friends and classmates, who started a memorial lecture series in the name of the late Indian Army officer.
Lt. Vikram graduated from Nizam College in 1969 and joined the Indian Army in 1970. He was martyred fighting the Pakistanis on December 9, 1971 in the Barmer sector of Rajasthan during the Indo-Pak war. A street in the Narayanguda area of the city was later named after him.
The lecture, second in the series, was delivered at Nizam College by his classmate V.R.K. Prasad, who served the Indian Army and is presently the Vice-Chancellor of ICFAI University, Nagaland.
Speaking on the theme ‘Life after College’, Col. Prasad touched upon various aspects of life that lay ahead once students left college. On ‘job life’, he dwelt upon the importance of skills required for the 21st century.
He concluded by laying emphasis on ‘attitude’ with a pictorial presentation of a 61-year-old Australian farmer running for five days and nights at a stretch to win the 875-km Melbourne-Sydney Marathon competing with top notch athletes of the country.
Former City Police Commissioner, M.V. Krishna Rao, who was Lt. Vikram’s classmate, shared his thoughts and memories.
Nizam College Principal T.L.N. Swamy announced a prize to be given away in memory of Lt. Vikram to the B.Sc (MPC) topper at the college. In fact, the war hero pursued the course from 1966 to 1969.
