One of the makers of modern India. 'MV' was a genius. Perfectly honest and devoted to his work, he set new standards of efficiency. This is the story of a poor boy that became the Grand Old Man of India.

This happened some years ago in the United States of America. Some Indians stood at the foot of a seventy-five-foot ladder in a factory. They were visiting important factories in the States to study th9ir working.

Officers of the factory were with them, explaining how the factory worked In one part Of the factory, the officer said "If you want to see how this machine works you will have to climb to the top,"

That meant that they had to climb up the seventy-five-foot ladder, past four stories.

The leader of the Indians was "Very well, let us climb," he said.

The others were very much surprised. He was the oldest of them all; most of them trembled at the thought of climbing up the steel ladder.

The old gentleman briskly stepped towards the ladder, and started to climb. Many of the others stayed back. A few followed as a matter of duty, but some of them soon gave it up. The old gentleman reached the top, completed the inspection and briskly climbed down. Only three others completed the feat.

It was always so with the gentleman - anything he undertook he did systematically and very well. No difficulty, any danger could keep him back.

The old gentleman went up the ladder!

He was Doctor Sri M. Visvesvaraya -or, Sir M.V., as he was popularly known.

Mysore (Karnataka), in South India, has made great progress.

The Krishnarajasagara Dam - or KR or Brindavana, as it is also called - has amazed and enchanted thousands of visitors from all countries. It is one of the biggest dams in India. It waters a hundred and twenty thousand acres of land. It supplies electricity to hundreds of towns and villages.

The Bhadravati Iron and Steel Works is today an asset to India.

The sandal oil and the sandal soap of Mysore are famous all over the world. The Mysore Sandal Oil Factory and the Mysore Soap Factory export sandal oil and sandal soap to many countries.

Mysore University is one of the oldest in India. The State Bank of Mysore (it was first named the Bank of Mysore) has branches, not only all over Karnataka, but also in every big city in India.

The man who gave even one of these would deserve admiration and gratitude.

But all these were the gifts of one man - and he gave these to his country about fifty-five years ago, when it was still not free and when few people here cared to study science.