Rich tributes were paid to Ila Rao (91), former Head of the Department of English, Andhra University, who passed away on Monday night by several academicians and her former students.
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She is survived by her daughter Gayatri Rao and son Naren Rao. Her husband Col. T.V. Rama Rao died more than a decade ago.
In a virtual condolence meeting on Tuesday, students of the 1970-1972 reunion batch recalled depth of the scholarship of Ila Rao.
P.R. Narayanaswami, chairman of the reunion batch, said that apart from being a good teacher of English, Ila Rao had excelled in extracurricular activities. She was one of the first lady NCC officers in the country in the late 1950s. She also made a mark as a good musician and a dramatist by staging plays in the Andhra University Open-Air theatre, Mr. Narayanaswami said.
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Vice chairman of the batch P. Vasanthalakshmi, K. Ratan Kumar, B.V.A. Naidu, P. Prasad, P. Devaraju, Jayashree, P. Kamaraju, B. Kasturi, Anne Vijayalakshmi, V. Sriramamurthy P.M. Kuriakose, K. Ashok Kumar Reddy, C.K .Narayan Reddy, K.Neeraja, K. Janaki Naidu, K. Nirupa Rani and Sudipta Banerjee have participated in the condolence meeting.
The meeting resolved to institute prizes in memory of Prof. K. Lakshmi Devi and Prof. Ila Rao.