“Sir, I don’t think I can do that.” The frogs, still alive, had been brought into the classroom for dissection, and the Science Master was looking over the frog that had been placed right in front of the young Chinny Krishna. The frog was alive and the task at hand was first to kill the frog with a pin – and then to dissect it.
It had been an eventful time already for thirteen-year-old Chinny. Just a few months before, the boy had watched in alarm as a bus carrying members of the football team capsized. Without hesitating, Chinny, who was big for his age, ran straight to the bus, and pulled first one, then the other, of two brothers, both team players, out of the bus. The boys were bleeding badly, and Chinny’s white shirt was drenched in blood. Off they went to the hospital. Thanks to his quick action, both boys’ lives were saved.
Shortly after that dramatic rescue – at St. Joseph’s European High School, in Bangalore, in the south of India, the Science Master stood by Chinny’s table, requiring him to kill an animal. Coming from a family with a deep love for animals, this was a task that he simply could not do. He repeated, “Sir, I can’t do that.” The Science Master, unhesitatingly, sent him off to the principal’s office, with a note that said simply “Six of the best!”
“Six of the best” meant six strikes on one hand with a cane. Corporal punishment was very common for schoolboys in those days – in the 1950’s. The principal recognized him and asked, “Aren’t you the one who pulled the two boys out of the bus a few weeks ago?”
During their conversation, the young Chinny attempted to make the point that biology is the study of life, and that it wasn’t logical to study life by killing an animal. This point though didn’t seem to resonate very much.
The principal did not cane him; however, he did say firmly, about killing and dissecting the frog “You have to do it. I don’t think you can continue in this school if you refuse.”
Out the door
For refusing to harm the frog, Chinny was expelled from school, although he was allowed to complete the school year before leaving.
The reason he was allowed to stay until the end of the year was that if he had been expelled halfway through the year, he would not have been admitted to any other school that year, and that would have had lasting repercussions for his entire future. As a student in the eleventh grade, the next year he would be in the twelfth grade. His attendance at school would have had a bearing on which university he could attend – and on all his future prospects in life.
Chinny and his older brother, Suresh, who was also a brilliant student, were the only two boys in the school who were vegetarians and who did not eat meat. It was known that their family cared about animals.
St Joseph’s was a boarding school in Bangalore, India. Chinny’s parents lived in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, with his younger sister. His mother had spent a great deal of time and effort getting him into that school, which was an excellent school, and she was really devastated by what had happened. It was hard to talk on the phone in India in those days, so they exchanged letters. Clearly, she was profoundly upset and very worried about her son’s future.
Chinny knew of another school called Clarence High School. So, he took it upon himself to speak with the principal there and explain the situation. The principal at that school was from Australia and had been a lifeguard there. He did not seem too bothered by the frog incident. He pointed out to Chinny that, if he were admitted to Clarence High School, he would still lose six marks, which would be subtracted from his grade. Chinny was fine with that. He joined the school.
A bright future despite a rocky start
The young Chinny’s future life was, in fact, spectacularly successful. After high school, he spent five years in the U.S., first attending a university and then working as a research scientist. He then returned to India and started a highly successful company that created a global business, Aspick Engineering, which has among its many remarkable projects, manufactured some of the parts used in India’s satellites.
The young Chinny also succeeded his father, Captain Sundaram, as the head of Blue Cross of India, which was the first and remains the largest and best known of the thousands of modern animal rescue groups that are active in India today.
Dr. Chinny Krishna, along with a few others, has been instrumental in the passage of India’s very enlightened animal welfare laws and regulations. He is a dynamic force in the worldwide animal welfare movement.
Finally banning dissection
In 1998, thanks in large measure to the hard work fought over many decades by Dr. Chinny Krishna against experimentation on animals, dissection was finally banned in all schools in India below university level. The first step, in 1996, had been to make dissection optional for the students, then, finally, in 1998, dissection was finally banned for good.
Dr. Chinny Krishna also created the computer program Compu-frog – and other programs featuring animals commonly used in dissection. These inventive programs enabled students to learn all the information required – through computer images alone — without any real animals being killed or dissected.
Continued in Part Two….
