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Narasimha Rao Telikicherla was the eldest son
of Telikicherla Suryanarayana Sastri and Appala Narasamma. He was born in
1890s. There was a wild streak in him, which prevented him from completing
his education. In the last quarter of the 19th Century English education
was becoming important and it was considered essential to pass the
matriculation examination to get a decent employment. It is relevant to
recall a popular litany from those days, which describes the situation,
The
Matriculation Examinatio
Is a very great botheration,
For the young generation
Of the Indian nation
Whose chief profession
Is
cultivation.
Narasimha Rao was, however, not interested in studies. Often, he would
leave home on one pretext or another to roam free from the shackles that
his parents tried to put on him. Several times Suryanarayana Sastri had to
stir out of his village in pursuit of his truant son to bring him back and
chastise him. Somehow Narasimha Rao learnt the rudiments of English and
the three Rs. He was a teenager when the Bengal Nagpur Railway Company
laid its East Coast line from Kharagpur to Visakhapatnam. Curious
villagers would gather round the workers to watch the proceedings. At one
of the sites, Narasimha Rao, who was a keen onlooker, was noticed by the
British Railway Engineer and offered a job on the spot. Thus began his
railway career. In the railway he was known as TNR, which led to the
saying in his friends' circle that BNR came to Andhra along with TNR.
TNR
rose to become a section controller, a job for which only Europeans and
Anglo-Indians were preferred at the time, and posted in Bilaspur. A
section controller's job is to order the running of trains within a given
section of the railway, by instructing the station masters of railway
stations on the section from to time. He has to arrange crossing and
precedence of trains to ensure punctuality of passenger trains with due
regard to the rules of working trains safely. A high degree of alertness,
initiative and presence of mind is required from the section controller.
On one occasion (circa 1930), a collision occurred between two goods
trains on the section under his charge. TNR was accused of negligence in
his duties, which, it was alleged, had caused the accident and placed
under suspension. In the departmental enquiry that followed his younger
brothers, who had now graduated came to his assistance but he was declared
guilty, demoted to office clerk and transferred to Chakradharpur. He
retired in circa 1940 and expired at Chakradharpur in 1946.
TNR's
family life was even more tragic. His first wife, Kameswaramma, died
leaving a son Kameswara Rao (Kam babu) and a daughter Rajeswari. Rajeswari
was married to one Madhavarao and died at a young age leaving behind a
daughter called Tulasi. TNR remarried late in life Chandra(Surya)kantam,
who had a daughter Sita by him and survived him.
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