Pasco-Hernando State College Volume XIII, Issue I - Spring 2019 | Page 20

Q:
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY INFLUENCES?
I was born and raised in a small rural farming village in South India, with no electricity; hence,
with no amenities. As well-to-do members of the farming community, we lived on the outskirts
of the village—what might be considered serene “suburbs” at the time. There was a county (district)
with my family name in our state.
A:
My mother and grandmother were my first, very important influences. When I was very young,
I believed I had two mothers. I later realized that one was my birth mother; the other, my
grandmother. Interestingly, when I called “Mother,” each responded, according to my needs.
Q:
YOU OFTEN SPEAK OF YOUR GRANDMOTHER AS BEING SPECIAL.
WHY WAS SHE SO INFLUENTIAL?
A:
My grandmother was very smart, despite having no formal
education with no access to a school or library. Her “internet”
consisted of a network of concerned mothers and grandmothers. She
was passionate about education, making me walk two miles through
the fields each way to attend school in a larger, neighboring village.
Frankly, I would have been happy hanging around the farm with my
grandfather. Instead, my grandmother woke me up at 4 a.m. daily
to study by the light of a kerosene lamp. Our alarm clock was the
sound of a train chugging through our village early every morning. My
grandmother was wise and worldly. She encouraged me to listen to
“The Voice of America” on a transistor radio en route to school, even
though Russian influence in India was prevalent at the time.
She insisted I receive advanced education after medical school
in the United States (but only after getting married).
Q:
HOW WAS YOUR CHILDHOOD UNIQUE, COMPARED TO THE
TYPICAL AMERICAN EXPERIENCE?
A:
Like other happy villagers, four generations lived in the same
big, sturdy house. My grandmother was the matriarch. I never
heard the word “divorce” until I went to the city at 16, to attend
medical school.
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PHSC Perspective
Koteswara Rao Musunuru,
with his beloved
grandmother. Her enduring
guidance influenced the
course of his life, through his
childhood to the present.