Medical Library's faithful figure
Manikam (left) has helped generations of medical students over the last 45 years
Mr Manikam Neelakandan, known affectionately to some as "Mike, first joined NUS predecessor institution, the University of Singapore, as a 21-year-old in 1971. The Library Support Officer has chosen to work past the official retirement age, clocking in a hefty 45 years. Otherwise, he would "stay at home, staring at the walls, he said.
He first applied to work at the University because it seemed like a stable place during the uncertain period after Singapore's independence. His first job, though, had him walking, not between tomes of medical literature, but among monkeys and rabbits in a Department of Biochemistry laboratory that was situated where the Singapore Ministry of Health currently stands. The physician researcher he was working with, the late Professor William Das, treated him like a brother. However, he found it distressing when animals died during the testing of drugs and chemicals, and decided to apply for a vacancy at the University's Medical Library three years later. He has never looked back since.
The 65-year-old's job has not changed much over the past four and a half decades'it includes shelving, cataloguing new books and sending journals for binding. But he would not have it any other way. He once harboured dreams of setting up a stall selling his favourite dish'chicken rice'but changed his mind after helping out his wife, Ratha, who used to run a stall selling Indian food staples such as curry puffs and roti prata.
The highlight of his job, Manikam says, is helping library visitors with their requests.
"I feel happy when I serve them…If I fulfil what they want, I feel happy, said Manikam, who recounts helping generations of medical students including Singapore Minister for Environment and Water Resources Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and NUS President Professor Tan Chorh Chuan.
"People find happiness in going for holidays. I find happiness in seeing students and talking to them, he said.
He recalls with pride an instance when he located, in the recesses of the library, a duplicate copy of a journal'which had been sent offsite for binding'for foreign delegates of a conference. They were extremely grateful for his help, as they intended to share it with several hundred delegates at the conference.
When not tending to the needs of the Library and its users, you might see Manikam jogging along the perimeter of Pandan Reservoir near his home. The self-professed sportsman exercises three to four times a week to stay fit. Among the string of sporting events in which he has represented NUS are the javelin throw, cross-country running, badminton, football, sepaktakraw, carrom and darts. Over the years he has accumulated several hundred trophies which take pride of place in his home.
The affable gentleman provides a link between NUS as it was then and now. He will continue to do so for those who are here now and after, for "as long as they'll keep me.
Mr Manikam Neelakandan is one of NUS Everyday Icons ' people who have shaped the University in unique ways ' to be featured in a monthly series to mark NUS' 110th anniversary.
