Work Under Progress – II
INTERVIEW : 2nd in the Series of Veterinarians of the MVC: July 11th, 2021
This is the second part of the series of Interviews with Veterinarians of MVC. Here are the excerpts of an interview of Dr. M. Nayeem with Abdul-Aleem.
Dr Mohammed Nayeem M.V.Sc ; PhD, – Former Professor and Head, Department of Physiology and Biochemistry (1996-2000), Madras Veterinary College.
Q: CAREER HIGHLIGHTS :
A: I joined Animal Husbandry Department Tamil Nadu in the year 1964 was posted at Roypuram Veterinary Dispensary in 1965. I was popular with animal owners , the daily attendance increased from 5-6 to nearly 60 during my tenure .
At the Madras Veterinary College I perfected experimental models on dogs to study myocardial infarction, ( open heart surgery ) , performed isolated cardiac perfusions on rats for which I was invited to Madras Medical Mission to guide two students, later for the same work I was invited to the CLRI , Adyar to guide five Ph.Ds . I also guided students from AC Tech. College on animal experimental work.
As a teacher I was nominated for the BEST TEACHER AWARD by the ICAR in 2000 AD in which year I retired from service.
Q: DESIGNATION AT THE TIME OF RETIREMENT :
A: Professor and Head Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Madras Veterinary College.
Q: MEMORIES OF COLLEGE DAYS :
A: I joined a 4 year course leading to B.V.Sc; at Madras Veterinary College from 1958 to 1964 , one year I missed due to prolonged illness. It was a great time I spent with a selected group of students, two from Malaysia and we were always together where ever we went. We were great sports enthusiasts .
Q & A : BATCH /YEAR OF B.V.Sc : 1964
Q: FIELD OF EXPERTISE OR SPECIALIZATION :
A: Cardiovascular physiology ( my Ph.D thesis ) / Rumen physiology ( my M.V.Sc thesis )
Q: Dr. I . M . AZIZUDDIN – Memories, Oral History
A: I first heard about Dr I M Azizuddin when I was a student at Madrasa Azam , one of my uncles , Advocate Mohammed Mahmood, was heard telling my father M. A. Jaleel an Agricultural Scientist, that a great personality, a Principal had expired. Later I learnt that it was about Dr I.M Azizuddin who was the then Principal of Madras Veterinary College (MVC).
Before joining college, I was given a recommendation letter by Khan Bahadur Abdul Hafiz Sahib, late Dr Azizuddin’s father in law, for admission at the MVC. As soon as I joined the college our college subedar Mr Rahman who had served Dr Azizuddin used to very often mention about the great achievements of Dr Azizuddin especially about his administrative capacity and his helpful nature.
During my study days two professors , Dr Ranganathan and Dr Moses ,used to mention about Dr Azizuddin as the one who gave veterinary profession a respectable standing in society especially at the Madras Medical College where he used to be invited as an external examiner. I used to feel quite proud to hear such accolades of this great man.
Q: PERSONAL INTEREST – SPORTS : SUPPORTING HOCKEY PLAYERS :
I took a lot of interest in the development of sports especially Hockey, was the Vice President of ‘Universal Hockey Club, Chennai . This team participated in tournaments at Chitoor, Tirupathy and Tirunelvelli.
‘The Universal Hockey Club’ won several tournaments like Y.M.C.A TROPHY (in the picture below 1986) and Tamil Nadu first division trophy 1984 .
1986 : Players and Officials of the Club. (standing from Left to Right) : Laeeq Ahmed, Aejaz Ahmed, Moheem Basha, Syed Rizwanullah , Kabeer Qadri, Asif Ali , Maqdoom Basha, Ghouse Basha, Mohammed Yousuf , M.A. Nabi ( Secretary ), Dr. Mohammed Nayeem (Vice President) , Liaquat Ali (Treasurer ), Iqbal Ali Dastageer Basha, Umar Shareef Imran Basha and Mohammed Riaz.
Reminiscences: Interesting tit-bits/notes on the officials /team players : M. A. Nabi the Secretary of the Universal Hockey Club, passed away some years back. His son Mohammed Riaz is the famous hockey player from Tamil Nadu who went on to lead as the Captain of the Indian Hockey team during ASIAD and SAGames and was part of the teams at the Olympics. Mohammed Riaz was also honoured with the Arjuna Award by Government of India .
Incidentally , another great hockey player Mohammed Badiuddin, an engineer by profession, the brother in law of Dr I.M Azizuddin, also played great hockey. He was the Captain of the Tamil Nadu Hockey Team for several years, Captain of Southern Railways Hockey Team again for several years ,selected for the Indian National Hockey Team, was the backbone of the Tamil Nadu Hockey team for a long period during that tenure.
Dr Nayeem now aged 81 was born on April 01st, 1940 ,lives with his wife at Chennai and is a proud father of 3 children Mohammed Zubair, Mohammed Zaid and Mohammed Zaki, who are engineers by profession .They have represented their colleges in sports, Zubair in football, Zaid in Cricket and Hockey as Captain, Crescent Engineering College of both the teams and Zaki in Cricket as Captain, Rajalakshmi Engineering College team. Zaki was also a member of Anna University Cricket team which had India’s Test player R Ashwin as a member.
Dr Nayeem lives with his wife in Chennai. Of the three children living with their families, are one son in Chennai, another in Hyderabad and one more in Sharjah, UAE.