N. Krishnaswamy

Indian Police Service (Retd.)


Biography My Son Natesan My Police Work My Social Work Awards / Recognitions Extras Photo Gallery

The receipt of awards and rewards are occurrences that are few and far between in a police career. The brickbats so far out-number the bouquets that one receives, that it is litlle surprise that the policeman generally ends up at best an incurable cynic and at worst a person who is insensitive to the point of being inhuman. A fortunate few tide over these ups and downs thanks to being blessed with a sense of humour that makes them accept  success and  failure not only with the same equanimity, but as as comic interludes in the  drama of life.  I must consider myself as on of these fortunate, and set out below some of the more pleasant awrds and rewards that came my way.

A sustained effort to maintain a clean record of average performance has been seen to be enough to bring an IPS officer the President’s Medal for Meritorious Service after around 15 years of service and the Presidents Medal for Distinguished Service after around 20 years. The fact that many officers with less than average records also get these awards, would therefore seem to be a recognition that mere survival in the higher echelons of the Police for over 15 or 20 years have in themselves come to be considered meritorious and distingushed enough to win these awards.  I  myself received these Medals from the Governor of Tamilnadu, after the passage aof these periods of time with the usual public fanfare of Police  Medal Parades as evidenced in the photographs below :

Of course there was the usual rush of congratulary phone calls and letters on both occasions, but one message which I received from my daughter Uma on the latter occasion remains with me as a special memory :

Another award which I received many tears later  and value much more than the above ones is the For Ths Sake Of Honour Award I received in 2005 from Rotary for my post-retirement work for the blind. The following is the Citation that accompanied  this award :

President and the members

of

ROTARY CLUB OF CHENNAI EAST R.A. PURAM RI Dist.: 3230

Confer 'FOR THE SAKE HONOUR' AWARD

on

Mr.N.Krishnaswamy IPS (Retd.) on 2nd May 2004

The Man with a Vision for the Blind

This is perhaps the best way to describe the modest Mr.N Krishnaswamy, IPS (Retd), who is the Managing Trustee, Vidya Vrikshah. His obsession to make the blind "see" letters and numbers using a unique method is evident whenever you got him to speak about his service to the blind. His commitment and enthusiasm to work remains the same in the Indian Blind Service (IBS) as it was when he was with the Indian Police Service (IPS).

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it". This is a famous quote by Edith Wharton, American novelist. This great man decided to be the mirror and reflect his vision on the computer screen towards the blind so that they may also see what the rest of the world sees everyday.

His years of working with the computers while in the police service, (incidentally he was the first Police Officer in India to launch a computer software that helped in tracking down criminals) came in as a great advantage. He keeps telling anyone he meets, "...there are around 4 million blind persons in India. To cater to their educational and training needs, there are just 400 institutions. Most are under-funded, poorly organised, lack initiative and a progressive outlook. So how are we going to help our blind brothers and sisters"?

His idea of using the Multilingual Editor for the disabled which is available free of cost to all users - individuals, associations, institutions, schools and training centers has actually speeded up the process and now has the potential of reaching every house in the nation that gives shelter to a blind person. This new development should demolish numerous misconceptions about disabled persons in general, and the blind in particular. Computer literacy has become a window to new job opportunities so far denied to people with visual impairment.

When this author met him, he showed him how easy it was to type a document in any language and to gefa Braille print out for the same. When the author saw the printout he said "we are blind to this, but this the blind can see". While he is glad that his idea has been implemented in 30 schools in Tamil Nadu out of which 8 are the regular school for the blind, he is sad when he says, "...but there are more blind people waiting to be educated out there in the whole of India. My dreams will be fulfilled only when each one of them is benefited by this project".

He that does good for good's sake, seeks neither praise nor reward, but he is sure of both in the end." - William Penn. We at Rotary Club of Chennai East R.A Puram are not only glad to have honored you Sir with this "For the Sake of Honor Award" but also promise to help your dreams come true in whatever ways we can. Your Vision is also our Vision now.

 

Rtn. N.Ramanathan                                          Rtn PL Lakshmanan                                 Rtn. Muthu Viswanathan

Presiddent                                                         Director, Vocational Service                   Secretary