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DR PABMANABHA VYASAMOORTHY -HE IS C0-OPTING SILVERS TO THE
INFORMATION REVOLUTION
He was
introduced to computers more than three decades ago. Today Dr Padmanabha
Vyasamoorthy
uses them to
bridge the gap between silvers and the outside world. “Seniors experience
alienation and isolation owing to societal changes and they find the rapid
technological transformation intimidating’ the 68 year-old tells Harmony. “I
believe the cyber World can change this to some extent and my mission is to
contribute as much as possible”
After doing
his B Sc from Madras University in 1962, Vyasamoorthy worked as a chemist in a
private com
pany for two
years before switching over to library science. Completing his B Lib Sc in
1966, he joined Technical Teachers Training Institute in Chennai as a
librarian. Ranking first in both B Lib Sc and M Lib Sc-which he completed in
1984-encouraged him to complete his PhD in library and information science from
Gulbarga University in Karnataka. Much earlier, though, in 1970, he left
Chennai, his city of birth, and moved to Hyderabad to join IDL Chemicals (now
Gulf Oil Corporation) as librarian/technical information officer. That’s where
he first started using computers in 1977.
The
potential of computers and information technology held Vyasamoorthy in thrall.
Taking voluntary retirement
in 1992, he did a one year stint with Informatics India Ltd before joining
Satyam Computers. “I started
Satyam’s knowledge management services and set up India’s first knowledge
repository from 1994 to
1996' he recalls. He went on to work on
a four-year project with ICICI Knowledge Park and set up a virtual
information centre in 2001-02-another first in India and trained people for it.
Subsequently, he served as
knowledge management advisor to several organisations including the Andhra
Pradesh Senior Citizens Confederation (APSCCON).
Having spent
most of his working life in Andhra Pradesh, settling down in Secunderabad was a
natural choice for Vyasamoorthy. And his experience with silvers impelled him
to use his passion-computers-to transform their lives through social
networking, discussion forums. In 2002,
he set up an online discussion group:
http://groups.yahoo.corn/group/sss-global. This group has about 535
members and a daily exchange of about 30 messages on varied topics, it was
ranked 7th by Yahoo four years ago as one of the most vibrant among 1,300
similar groups across the world, he says with evident pride.
That’s not
all. Vyasamoorthy, who is also a member of many Hyderabad and Secunderabad-based
senior citizens’
associations, organised a computer training programme for about 45 silvers in
2007. He also contributes senior-specific articles to Sulekha.com, merinews.com,
cplash.com, triond.com and ezinearticles.com, and edits a newsletter called
Blazing Twilight that is circulated among senior citizens’ associations.
Further, he updates his site: http:// apsccon-second-careers.blogspot.com every
week with openings for silvers extracted from jobsahead,com, naukri.com,
monsterindia.com and other sites. Not surprisingly, this connected silver is
always on the lookout for other silvers to join the information revolution-his
calling card is vyasamoorthy@gmail.com
Story by Nisary Mahesh in Harmony Magazine Feb 2010 issue.
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