My tryst with Dengue

My tryst with Dengue

The novel Corona Virus continues to hog international headlines and the number of casualties is now inching towards one thousand, even as two Indians, on board the Ship, stranded in Japan, are reported to have shown positive for the virus. In this season of heightened alertness on global public health emergency, which is of international concern, I am reminded of another viral infectious disease, Dengue - a mosquito borne viral infection -, which causes flu-like illness, and occasionally develops into a potentially lethal complication leading to fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF). I became one of its victims, some time during the year 2018 and here I am sharing my tryst with dengue.

एक मच्छर आदमींको हिजड़ा बाना देता हैं। meaning - One Mosquito can make a masculine man a transgender - (No disrespect to the LGBT community please). With this cinematic dialog, Nana Patekar highlighted the nuisance value of the mosquito - the carrier of dengue virus - which could temporarily incapacitate any sound body and so it did to me confining me to the bed at home and subsequently at the Nanavati Hospital for well over two weeks, with Dengue Fever.

Unfortunately, though not ostensibly fatal, the scare that the Dengue offers is palpable, particularly to the family members of those afflicted with suspected Dengue. The highly publicised death of an affluent veteran Bollywood Director, Mr. Yash Chopra, due to Dengue, gained such ill fame that, I had no way but to yield to the advice of friends and family- particularly my wife- to immediately shift from the family physician that I was consulting to consult doctors at the Nanavati hospital, since my platelet counts were consistently falling. The Nanavati Hospital was already handling a number of dengue cases.  I had no way but to yield to my wife’s dictate and as my fate would have it the Doctor at the Nanavati Hospital saw my reports and after preliminary investigation wasted no time in advising me to be admitted immediately and thus I landed in room 306 of the hospital. By then four of my blood reports were consistently showing fall in platelet counts and the last report revealed platelet count of 50,000. Thus began my tryst with Dengue at the Nanavati Hospital, which incidentally was for the first time ever in that I have ever been admitted to a hospital in my entire lifespan. 

Dr Desai, the physician at the Nanavati Hospital, who attended to me and his  entire team of sisters and support staff at the hospital were overwhelmingly supportive in ensuring that I fight it out and come victorious sooner than later. My days at the hospital were spent with unending stream of messages, well wishes and phone calls that kept coming from friends and relatives. It took six days for me to be discharged from the hospital and another week or so to recover from weakness. Subsequently it was time for me to record my gratitude and appreciation to all my friends and well wishers, who had kept boosting my confidence and kept calling, sending messages and several of them visited me at the hospital. I had then posted a brief note on my experience with dengue and also thanked everyone of them and posted it on Facebook. The current Corona virus saga has tempted me to write about it on my blogpost to highlight the importance of health workers in times of such health calamities and once again pay my reverence to each of them, particularly the nurses. The year 2020, which happens to be the bicentennial birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, has been designated as the “Year of the Nurse and midwife”, in honor of Florence Nightingale, by the Executive Board, of the World Health Organisation (WHO). This proposal will be presented to Member States of the 72nd World Health Assembly for consideration and endorsement. 

Dengue is a mosquito-borne, viral infection, which causes flu-like illness, and occasionally develops into a potentially lethal complication leading to fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF). Dengue is commonly referred to as the break-bone fever’ हड्डी थोड बुखार। The global incidence of dengue has grown dramatically in recent decades. The incidence of dengue has increased 30-fold over the last 50 years. It is estimated that close to 100 million infections are known to occur annually in over 100 (only 9 counties in 1955) endemic countries and almost half of the world’s population is known to be at risk with Dengue.

The Dengue virus belongs to the family Flaviviridae, having four serotypes, which are spread by the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes. It causes a wide spectrum of illness from mild asymptomatic illness to severe fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS). Approximately 2.5 billion people live in dengue-risk regions with about 100 million new cases reported each year worldwide including India which has always been at the receiving end of the dengue virus.

The origin of the word “dengue” - a Spanish word - is believed to have come from the word dinga from the Swahili phrase “Ka-dinga pepo” - meaning “cramp-like seizure” - which describes the disease as being caused by an evil spirit. The first clinically recognized dengue epidemics occurred almost simultaneously in Asia, Africa, and North America in the 1780s. Benjamin Rush is believed to be the first person to have reported the incidence of the clinical case of dengue in the 1780 epidemic in Philadelphia. He coined the term “break bone fever” for the dengue, which has now become quite common a phrase, even in India.

In India, the first epidemic of clinical dengue-like illness was recorded in Madras (now Chennai) in 1780 and the first virologically proved epidemic of dengue fever occurred in Calcutta (Kolkata now)and Eastern Coast of India in 1963-1964.  Subsequently the Dengue spread its tentacles northwards and reached Delhi in 1967 and Kanpur in 1968. Simultaneously it also spread to the southern part of the country and gradually the whole country was involved with wide spread epidemics followed by endemic/hyperendemic prevalence of all the four serotypes of Dengue Virus (DV). The DHF started simmering in various parts of India since 1988. The first major wide spread epidemics of DHF/DSS occurred in India in 1996 involving areas around Delhi and Lucknow and ever since it has spread to most parts of the country.  The epidemiology of dengue virus and its prevalent serotypes has been ever changing.

Dengue disease continued to spread to newer areas, newer populations with increasing magnitude, epidemic after epidemic. Every aspect of dengue viral infection continues to be a challenge; the pathogenesis of severe dengue disease is not known and therefore no vaccine is yet available for protection and the vector control measures are inadequate. Dengue virus was isolated in India in 1944, but the scientific studies addressing various problems of dengue disease have been carried out at limited number of centres. Though clinical studies have reported on dengue disease in India, but these are largely based on diagnosis made by kits of doubtful specificity and sensitivity. A lot more remains to be achieved for creating an impact.

Like in the cases of most epidemics and outbreaks including the current novel Corona Virus outbreak,  enhancing public awareness on most infectious microbial diseases is one of the major challenges for the global health professionals. This global public health problem can be controlled with active participation of the community and with no finger pointing of blame to any one country including China in the current case of nCoV. There is an urgent need to organise health education programmes about infectious diseases and epidemics to increase community knowledge and sensitize the community to participate in integrated vector control programmes. It is time that a whole lot of stakeholders join hands and work as a team to combat this menace before it takes a huge toll on the public health system in India.

Don Bradman: The Gods God

Don Bradman: The Gods God

On the occasion of the 111th birth day of the legendary Sir Don Bradman, Google has paid its tribute to the legend and listed him on their Google Doodle on their home page. I join Google and million others to pay my tribute to the one and only Don Bradman. India and Australia share an extraordinary parallel in hero worshipping of their cricket legends. In India, cricket legend, Bharat Ratna, Sachin Tendulkar is considered as God by many of the cricket lovers and for Sachin, Sir Don was his God.

In the 1930's, with the country in deep economic depression and still grieving for the thousands killed in World War I, Bradman's achievements were a cause for Australian National pride. The spirit of the Don is evidenced from a statement by the former Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, who, during his visit to Sir Donald a few days before Bradman’s death, said “He had a great impact on Australian life, especially during the desperate years of the Depression. His prowess on the cricket field lifted the hopes and spirits of the people, who at times felt they had little else”.

The Nobel Laureate, Nelson Mandela, also the recipient of the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour of India, was an avid follower of the Don. One of Mandela's first questions to the former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, when Fraser met him in Cape Town's, Polls Moor Prison in 1986, was, “Tell me, Mr Fraser is Donald Bradman still alive?” Such was the charm and following of Bradman all across the globe. Four years later, when Mandela was released from the prison, Fraser handed over Don's signed bat for Mandela, which read “To Nelson Mandela in recognition of a great unfished innings – Don Bradman”.

In a career that spanned from 1928 to 1948, Bradman's winning scores, and rare failures, were the cause for celebration and despair that made National headlines, and delayed business and government meetings in Australia. Experts were found wanting in search for words of praise for his legendary batting skills.

Donald George Bradman was born in Cootamundra, NSW, on 27th August 1908, the youngest of five children of George and Emily Bradman. He was just 21 years old when he scored the highest number of runs by a single batsman in one day's play (309 runs not out) in the third Ashes test on 11 July 1930. He enjoys an unprecedented record average for the tests, which reads a staggering 99.94. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that was involved in broadcasting several of his memorable innings, has its postal address in all capital cities of Australia with a Post Office Box number 9994, Bradman's Test batting average (99.94). Bradman, known for his powerful forearms and swift footwork, was self-taught. He was a batting champion in high school at 12 and on the National team at 20, subsequently recording unprecedented scores and averages in the 52 international games that he played, which will remain eternally etched in the annals of cricket history.

He played his historic last innings, where he scored a rare “DUCK” bowled second ball by Eric Hollies, at the Oval, London in 1948. He scored runs on uncovered, uneven pitches at a staggering average, which represents the mental toughness that this man had. Even when England devastated Australia in the infamous body-line series of 1932-33, it was Bradman who stood apart with an average of 56 wearing protective gear, which can hardly be compared to the safety that modern gear provides. Bradman's achievements have been contextualised by comparing them with those of other sporting legends in a book, ''The Best of the Best,'' by Charles Davis, a Melbourne sports statistician. He has rated stars from different sports by measuring champions who were so far ahead of their rivals that they were in a class of their own. As per Davis's calculations, Bradman led the elite club of career-long achievers with a 4.4 rating followed by a fair distance by the legendary Brazilian soccer player Pelé at 3.7 and American Basketball player, Michael Jordan at 3.4.

A small museum has now been established at Bowral, where the Don grew up, with his consent, alongside the cricket field to record his career, which is now a tourist favourite. We had the offer and honour to present our Cricket Exhibition at the Bradman Museum but for reasons beyond our control we could not present our exhibition.

Sir Don played just five Tests against India, which was the first Cricket series tour for Independent Indian cricket team. The India-Australia series in 1947-48, was to be the last season at home for Don Bradman. The Indian fans who had heard legendary tales on the achievements of the Don were more keen to see how many runs 'Sir Don' would get against their team rather than what the outcome of the tour would be. The Don didn't disappoint, scoring over 700 runs as well as getting his 100th first class hundred playing against the Indians during this tour. The Don showed his class by welcoming the Indian touring team with a century, scoring 156 for South Australia.

In the year 2016 we (Nehru Science Centre) had the honour to present “Cricket Connects: India Australia” exhibition as a part of the Festival of India at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and I was privileged to curate this exhibition. The richly illustrated exhibition catalogue can be downloaded for free from our website : www.nehrusciencecentre.gov.in

Although the Don has not played in India, he remains the most venerated cricketer in India for generations of cricketers including Sachin Tendulkar.

 
May he continue to throng the hearts of millions.

Doodles and creativity

Doodles and creativity

Scribbling or doodling on the margins of papers including books - some times called the Freudian slip - has been a pastime for many including yours truly. My post today “Doodles and Creativity”, owes its debt to my friend R G Kulkarni, my Sainik School classmate.

One of the groups among the many that each one of us are a part of, in the social media whatsApp groups, is the Ajeets 77 group. This group was formed by our friends Arjun Misale and Shrishail Deginal to connect the 1970 to 77 batch of Sainik School Bijapur, our cherished alma mater. This morning R G Kulkarni (510), a member of this group, a highly successful businessman and a great achiever and the only scientist nerd of our batch who belonged to the class of “Ranchoddas” of “Three Idiots fame” during the school days, now on a sojourn to USofA and keeps posting images and write up on his visit, posted a wonderful photograph of the Space Needle. His posting of the Space needle image has prompted me script this post.

The Space Needle, an iconic structure that forms the skyline of Seattle, measuring 605 feet tall was built in less than a year. This monumental structure owes its genesis to the humble doodle. It is intriguing to note that the shape of this remarkable structure was conceived by Eddie Carlson in Stuttgart, Germany in the form of a doodle in 1959. Carlson was the Chairman of the Seattle World’s Fair Commission and while he was dining at Stuttgart atop a city’s broadcast tower he got this idea that he scribbled as a doodle. His doodle creation was later given its current form and shape by three architects ; John Graham Jr. Victor Steinbrueck, and John Ridley and built with private funding in record time.

It is interesting note that some of history’s most influential people were doodlers and in most libraries one can notice scribbled figures that decorate the margins of the books. Notable doodlers include some of the U.S. presidents and legendary authors and our very own Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose paintings owe their debt to his doodling habits. Some may say doodling is kid stuff produced while not paying attention. The truth is your daydream drawing gives you an unobstructed view into your own mind. It was perhaps this day dreaming that led to the discovery of the Ulam Spiral.

Doodling has left an indelible mark in mathematics as well. The Ulam spiral, a popular visual aid for mathematicians, was developed by the mathematician, Stanislaw Ulam, based on a doodle that he made while listening to the fellow mathematician at the mathematics conference in 1964. Ulam was an important mathematician of the twentieth century. Born in Poland in 1909, he was a key player in the Manhattan project. In his doodle, Ulam drew the positive integers on a square spiral of the number line, with 0 at the center. Then he marked the primes on this folded up number line and immediately noticed that under this unusual transformation, many primes tend to fall on diagonal line fragments. Ulam explored his curious doodle a bit further using one of the very first powerful computers and went on to produce some of the very first purely mathematical computer graphics. Ulam wrote a short paper titled "A Visual Display of Some Properties of the Distribution of Primes" in 1964 and used the computer images to illustrate his findings.

Rabindranath Tagore’s artistic adventure began with doodles that turned crossed-out words and lines into images that assumed expressive and sometimes grotesque forms. I was privileged to host the 150th birth centennial exhibition of Tagore at the NGMA Mumbai during April 2013. “The Last Harvest” (aptly titled since the paintings were his last creative constructs that he began to paint at the age of 60 plus) exhibition developed under the auspices of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Rabindranath Tagore, showcased the paintings by Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore at the age of 67, to use his own words, "fell under the enchantment of lines" when he discovered that his hand was moving automatically across the pages of his manuscripts transforming the scratches and erasures (doodles) into designs. For the next 12 years of his life he harnessed his new-found love for painting and produced nearly 2,000 paintings all of which owe their genesis to his doodling. Tagore’s paintings are now the national treasures.

These days doodle has found its way to the hearts and minds of most netizens courtesy the Google Doodles. The humble Google Doodle has become synonymous with Google as a company and a brand. Important commemorative events are marked by unique designs (Doodles) that appear on Google’s homepage. There is also an interesting history to the usage of doodles on the Google home page. The first Google Doodle appeared on Google’s front page on August 30th 1998. It was used as an out of office marker by Google creators Larry Page, and Sergey Brin.

Thank you RG for sending the image of the Space needle, which prompted me to write this post and take some inexcusable shelter that I too possess some artistic talents since I too have resorted to doodles some of which have found place in the margins of books that I possess and also in those books that I read and returned back to the libraries in the college. Most times I used to feel guilty that a person who is more or less unlettered in the field of practical art has been given the unique responsibility to be the Director of one of the premier art institutions of the country the NGMA Mumbai, but then from now on I shall take shelter to my habits of doodling and try and not be guilty about my inability as an artist.

Happy doodling to one and all cutting across ages.

Floods in Gods own Country : Are we responsible for the Natures (Gods) Fury?

Floods in Gods own Country : Are we responsible for the Natures (Gods) Fury?

Kerala, “Gods own country”, the idyllic tourist destination, is facing one of its worst floods in nearly a century, with torrential rains killing more than 300 people, and shuttering just about everything. The monsoon floods have inundated most districts of Kerala and severely affected men and material, inflicting an estimated economic loss of 8000 plus crores of Rupees. Is this because of the torrential rains alone. May not be. Most ecological experts are attributing the devastating floods and landslides to the extensive quarrying, mining, mushrooming of high-rises on the hillside as part of tourism and illegal encroachment of forestland by human environmental fundamentalists. It is therefore not the “Gods fury” that is responsible for the catastrophic consequences but the act of the environmental fundamentalists, who do not understand the value of coexistence with nature. A closer look at the regions impacted by this unprecedented catastrophe shows that they are majorly part of the western ghats and most of these places were classified as ecologically-sensitive zones (ESZs) by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), also known as the Gadgil Committee.

The WGEEP panel under the chairmanship of Prof Madhav Gadgil, ecologist and founder of the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, commissioned by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India, painstakingly crafted their monumental report addressing some of the ecological consequences in the very regions that are now adversely affected. Prof Gadgil, in his preface to the report, says “the report embodies among other things (i) categorisation of the Western Ghats into three zones of varied ecological sensitivity, based upon careful analysis done by WGEEP, (ii) broad sectoral guidelines for each of these zones, and (iii) a broad framework for establishment of the Western Ghats Ecology Authority”.

This report was submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in 2011. The report recommended that the whole Western Ghat be divided into 3 zones, and that no new mining licences should be given in zone 1 and 2. It further said that the Government must stop all existing mines in Zone 1 by 2016 and it must also stop illegal mining activities immediately. Unfortunately no action was taken on the report since the recommendations in the report were considered as a bitter pill, which no Government would wish to swallow, particularly because the implementation of the report would hurt the powerful mining lobby of South West India with deep pockets and high level political connections. The report therefore started gathering dust and the ministry also did not release this report to the media for public discussion. An RTI activist from Kerala learnt of this report and sought for the report from the union Ministry under the RTI. The government did not furnish the information citing security concerns. Undeterred, the applicant agitated the matter right up to the CIC and finally the CIC ordered the government to make the report public, which the Ministry earnestly followed.

The Gadgil committee report sparked much controversy in Kerala especially as the opposition CPI-M accused the report of being too environment centric. This resulted in no action by the Government. The Supreme Court intervened in the matter and directed the government to act on the report. The result was formation of another committee, the Kasturirangan committee, which was set up to review the Gadgil committee report and suggest changes so that the states can implement the recommendations of the Gadgil report, keeping in mind the welfare of the inhabitants as well. Kasturirangan led-High Level Working Report (HLWG) was submitted in April 2013. The Ecologists say the HLWG is a dilution of Gadgil report and, therefore, unacceptable. There were agitations and protests even against the Kasturirangan report by quarry owners and farmers specially in the Idukki and Wayanad districts, the very districts that are now worst affected. Political leaders and mining companies too joined hands to fight against the report resulting in hardly any action on either of the reports.

Would the consequences of the torrential rains be the same as we are now witnessing had the Gadgil report been acted upon? Well my guess is as good as most of my friends. Professor Gadgil himself however feels the current catastrophe is man made. Let us hope we learn lessons from this tragedy.

A brighter side to this tragedy is the exemplary role played by the rescue teams. The brave heart Indian army, the common Samaritans and the NDRF team. They are reaching out far and wide to the most afflicted areas. Kudos to the untiring team of our defence personnel including my fellow Ajeet (alumni of the Sainik School Bijapur), Wing Commander Girish Komar, who is working with his 7 helicopters team untiringly and has managed to rescue 1000s of people and will continue to do so till they manage to reach out to the last needy person. Nation owes its debt to such committed armed forces and other Samaritan’s and governmental and non governmental agencies who are committed as ever in ensuring the safety and security of their countrymen. Jai Hind.

Eulogy for Ajit Wadekar : The man who is responsible for Indian Cricket Team “Come of Ages”

The year 1971 will inextricably be linked with Ajit Wadekar who passed away yesterday after a prolonged illness at the Jaslok hospital in Mumbai. This year will also be etched in the annals of Indian Cricket history since it marked the coming of age for the Indian cricket team, which until then had pedantic performances to show as visitors, specially playing against their former rulers the English team. All this was changed under the leadership of Ajit Wadekar.

Ever since India’s debut in the test cricket at the Lord's, England, on 25 June 1932, for nearly forty years, India continued to be a weak team in comparison with other Test cricket teams, such as Australia and England. The year 1971 was a watershed year for Indian cricket. It was in that year under the new captain – Ajit Wadekar – India registered her first-ever away-series victories in the West Indies and England to inject a refreshing self-belief in the Indian cricket, hitherto unseen. The team backed up the two back to back series victories over seas with a series win against England in India a year later thus achieving a remarkable three series wins on the trot under the stewardship of Ajit Wadekar.

The scene of the historic series (1971) victory against the English at the Oval in London was ecstatic with scores of Indian fans thronging to the ground, where Ajit Wadekar’s team had beaten England by four wickets to end the hosts' run of 26 Test matches without defeat. Ajit Wadekar became an overnight hero and continued to be so until his demise.

In his relatively brief cricketing career that spanned 37 Tests, Wadekar scored just one century which came against New Zealand in Wellington in February 1968, a knock that helped India win their first ever Test series away from home. His team’s (which included the legendary Sunil Gavaskar) outstanding performance during the 1971 series, when the Indian team conquered the mighty West Indian team at their fearsome dreadful pace pitches and followed it up with the victory against their former rulers the English team in England, will ever remain a talking point when cricket history is discussed. It is for this very reason that one of the sections included in the Cricket exhibition that I had the honour to curate for Australia and England was this historic tour titled “Coming of Age”.

Ajit Wadekar also has a special relationship with the science museums (NCSM). He was the chief guest for opening an exhibition titled “Science of Sports” which was opened at the Nehru Science Centre somewhere during 1998. Dr R Chidambaram, former Secretary DAE, was the guest of honour. Dr Chidambaram a cricket buff himself was full of praise for Ajit Wadekar and fondly recollected his memories of the 1971 series that India played against the mighty West Indians and England, during his brief interaction at the opening of the exhibition at the Nehru Science Centre.

On its return from England, there was demand that the “Cricket Connects: India –England” exhibition must be presented at the Nehru Science Centre. The first person that came to our mind for the opening of the exhibition was Ajit Wadekar. My colleague Saket met Ajit Wadekar with a copy of the exhibition catalogue and delivered my request letter to him for the opening of the exhibition. He fondly remembered his earlier visit to the Nehru Science Centre and was pleasantly surprised that the science museum is also involved in curating Cricket Exhibition. He was highly appreciative of the exhibition catalogue and was all praise for the exhibition, the photos of which were shown to him. He immediately gave his consent for the opening of the exhibition and commended us to also invite his neighbour -another cricket hero of yesteryears- Dilip Vengsarkar for the opening. Vengsarkar too agreed immediately to be present for the opening of the exhibition. As luck would have it, Ajit had passed on the copy of our England Cricket exhibition catalogue to the hero of the 1971 series, Sunil Gavaskar, who also stays in the same building on the Worli Sea Face. We were in for a very pleasant surprise when the PR manager of Sunny Gavaskar called me and informed that Sunny Bhai too wishes to be present for the opening of the exhibition. All this happened because Ajit Wadekar had put in words of appreciation about the exhibition to Sunil Gavaskar and also had passed on the exhibition catalogue to him.

Unfortunately, on the scheduled day of the opening of the exhibition, Ajit Wadekar had an unavoidable commitment at Chandigarh and could not attend the opening. However, we had the august presence of Dilip Vengasarkar and Sunil Gavaskar. Ajit Wadekar spoke to me in person on the day of the opening and expressed that his apologies be communicated to the audience for his absence. Long live Ajit Wadekar.

We join countless others in expressing our heartfelt condolences to the family of the departed soul and offer our prayers for the departed soul to rest in eternal peace.

श्रद्धांजली for the अजातशत्रु : Atal Bihari Vajpayee

श्रद्धांजली for the अजातशत्रु : Atal Bihari Vajpayee

The pious month of August - when our tryst with destiny was shaped in 1947- finds a special reverential place in the hearts and minds of every Indians, not just in India but globally. This August, however, has left an indelible mark and taken away three of the leading political lights - Shri M Karunanidhi, Somnath Chatterjee and our beloved former PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee - who were part of the countless millions from across the country with diverse political ideologies, thoughts, religion, language etc. who shaped our tryst with destiny. They have left us for their heavenly abode bidding adieu to the nation in whose service they spent their entire life. They were, and will continue to be, held in reverence as the statesmen and leading light of the vibrancy of our democracy for which countless million freedom fighters fought, some until the peril of their life, for India’s independence and our cherished democracy.

Among the three stalwarts Atal Behari Vajpayee - former PM, Poet, politician, pragmatist orator and statesman- who passed away at the advance age of 93 on the 16th of August, after a prolonged illness, at the AIIMS, New Delhi, commands a special obituary and here I am, paying my part of the श्रद्धांजलि for the great son of India.

A sea of humanity poured into the precincts of the BJP office in Delhi, where the mortal remains of the अजातशत्रु, our beloved former PM, Atal Ji was placed for our countrymen to pay their last respect to the departed leader. Leaders - cutting across party lines joined hundreds of thousand others to pay their last respect to the departed soul. Not withstanding their opposing ideologies, thoughts, religion, language etc. and at times vitriolic grandstanding, almost every opposition leader joined innumerable BJP Karyakartas and their leaders to pay glowing rich tributes to the one and only Atal Ji. The funeral procession on its way to the स्मृति स्थल, where Atal Ji was cremated with full state honours, was even more momentous. Leading or accompanying the procession, on a four plus kilometres distance, on foot, was his protege, Shri Narendra Modi ji, the Prime Minister of India, who was joined by a galaxy of other distinguished leaders from across the length and breadth of the country on whose faces gloom was palpable. The state funeral was graced by political leaders of all the parties from across India including several international leaders and diplomats who joined the nation in paying their last respect to the departed soul.

Atal Ji, fondly remembered as the Poet Prime Minister of India was blessed with brilliant oratory skills. His words could easily sway hearts and minds of people. It was this oratory skill that had attracted us - Umesh, Sangamnath and I (as college college students) to his election rally in Gulbarga, giving a miss to our classes. We had endured an inordinately long delay of more than 4 hours along with thousand others to listen to him. That was the year 1977, a watershed year for the Indian democracy, which was grievously wounded during the Emergency. Our impatient wait turned out to be one of the most rewarding one, which the three of us, the closest of friends, have continued to cherish till date. Atal Ji’s poetic articulation of his thoughts to critic his primary opponent - the indomitable Smt Indira Gandhi, the then PM of India - was tempered by the good will ofgeniality contrary to what we now see, not just in the electioneering but also in the parliamentary debates. Atalji’ language was as mellifluous as his inimitable oratory skills. There has never been a looking back for my friends, Umesh and Sangamnath, who have steadfastly remained a compulsive diehard BJP supporters ever since, even long after Atalji gave up active politics. Such was the impact of his oration on our relatively young minds and so it must have been for millions of others.

A seasoned politician and an outstanding parliamentarian, contrary to what some - aberration few- may feel, Atal Ji was known for his cultural moderation, liberal views and political equanimity. Vajpayee ji will ever be remembered for his contribution in ushering in the coalition era and stitching disparate alliances to form a government. The coalition era and the alliances - be it NDA or the UPA - that we are witnessing today, largely vow their genesis to Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was the master of coalition politics who steered his party to garner regional political party’s support that ultimately became the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Atal Ji deservingly became the first non-Congress prime minister to complete a full five year term in office, a historic accomplishment considering the failed earlier attempts of the non congress governments. Atal ji’s never say quits attitude (फिरसुबह होंगी the film that he and Advani ji saw together post Atal Ji defeat in the by-election) complemented with the efforts of his 65 years friend and fellow compatriot Advani ji, and hundreds of thousands of his party workers has perhaps paved the way for BJP and his protege, Shri Narendra Modi ji, to form the BJP led Government with a majority of its own, just over a decade later. Vajpayee’s legacy and his contribution in ushering in the coalition era and proving that even disparate alliances could serve and survive the entire tenure of a government will continue to be remembered.

Born into a middle class family in Gwalior on yet another auspicious day the 25th December 1924, Vajpayee’s first brush with politics came in 1942 when he joined the Quit India Movement against the British. After completing his education, he became a journalist and then joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), a fore runner of the BJP, formed by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951. From being political secretary to Mookerjee, to raising to the pinnacle of Indian democracy of becoming the PM of the largest democracy of the world, Atal Ji has endeared all of it in his long political career during which he was elected nine times to the Lok Sabha and he also served two terms in the Rajya Sabha. He led his party (BJP) to its first national electoral victory in 1996, but his government lasted just 13 days before he resigned as the PM of India in the face of a no-confidence motion. He returned to power in 1998 to once again form the Government and ruled for another brief tenure of 13 months forging an alliance with 22 parties, mostly regional parties, with disparate local appeal. It was during this period that India successfully conducted the nuclear tests at Pokhran and he famously rephrased Lal Bahadur Shastri’s quote जय जवान जय किसान as जय जवान जय किसान जय विज्ञान। He was once again elected to form another Government, which lasted for its full term and he served as India's prime minister from 1999 to 2004.

Atal Ji is survived by not just his adopted daughter and his grand daughter but a nation full of adoring and admiring citizens who deeply mourn and grieve his death. He will forever be remembered with immense respect and gratitude. Long live Atal Ji.

Centenary of Nelson Mandela

Centenary of Nelson Mandela

On this historic day, the birth centenary of Nelson Mandela (born on 18th July 1918), while paying tribute to the Nobel Laureate Mandela, I am reminded of the Cricket Connects: India South Africa exhibition that the we at the Nehru Science Centre had the honour to co curate with Suresh Menon and Prashant Kidambi. This exhibition - a part of the India-South Africa Festival of India, was organised at the Wanderer stadium in Johannesburg and at the Kingsmead Durban in the year 2014. The fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa had led to the establishment of a non-racial democratic government, under the leadership of Nelson Mandela. It also marked the end of cricket isolation that the South African team was subjected to leading to the redemption of the international cricketing ties for South Africa.

Within four months of re-joining the ICC, a South African team under Clive Rice toured India, in 1991, for a three match ODI series. The South African team landed in Kolkata and a bus journey that should have taken half an hour to reach their hotel, took over four hours as thousands lined the streets of Kolkata to welcome the team. Throughout their stay in Kolkata, the team were greeted by banners proclaiming love, anticipation, welcome, hospitality. Allan Donald, then a promising fast bowler wrote about the crowd of six or seven thousand gathered outside the team hotel. “Long live India-South Africa Friendship” seemed the most popular banner wherever the team travelled in India.

India’s inaugural tour of South Africa the following year (1992)– the first official tour by a non-White team to that country – was labelled the “Friendship Tour”. It all began with another moving scene – with fans lining the streets of Durban and giving the motorcade with the Indian players a memorable welcome.

During the course of our research for the exhibition we had collected a number of archival images including that of Nelson Mandela’s visit to India, from several sources. As a mark of our respect and remembrance, I am honoured to share some of the images of Nelson Mandela that we collected and used in our Cricket exhibition with my FB friends. Incidentally this was the first of the Cricket Connects exhibition, which was followed by an exhibition to Australia in 2016 and to England in 2017, that I had the honour to curate.

Long live Madiba.

Harvesting the Power of science and technology in Art authenticity : Are Indian Museums ready for it?

Harvesting the Power of science and technology in Art authenticity : Are Indian Museums ready for it?

Indian Museums - the National Museum, Indian Museum, CSMVS, Salarjung Museum, Allahabad Museum and several others spread across the length and breadth of the country - have an enviable range of collections of art and cultural objects the canvas of which spans the vast history of India. A visit to any of these museums provides a glimpse of the Indian premiership in art, architecture craftsmanship and culture. Then there are the art galleries and academies, premier among them the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi with its branches in Bangalore and Mumbai, that boast of an outstanding range of collection of contemporary and modern art.

It was not until long ago that most of these precious art collections in our museums were not adequately documented. Fortunately, with a little nudge from the Ministry of Culture, documentation has now taken a front seat and most museums have started documenting their collections. Documentation makes the collections of the museums accessible to the people, to whose collective ancestral ownership these belong, and will also help in establishing their provenance.

Unfortunately documentation has mostly been alien to our Indian culture and ethos and never been an integral part of our DNA, may be because of the historicity of our oral tradition. Improper or lack of documentation is a major concern for the safety and security of the national treasures that are in the custodianship of our museums. Documentation of all the art and cultural objects - in all its multifaceted forms including use of appropriate technologies - helps not just in provenance establishment but also in reducing the possibility of cultural illicit trafficking of the art and archeological objects. Therefore it has become incumbent on Museum professionals to adopt technological tools, that harvest the entire range of electromagnetic spectrum, to document their objects so that provenance and authenticity of these objects are very well established beyond any reasonable doubts.

Most museum professionals are privy to the whispers that roughly half of the artwork circulating on the international market is believed to be fake. The problem stems from the genesis that the current methods of authentication leave plenty of gaps in the system. Works of art disappear and then mysteriously reappear on the market. Talented forgers easily pass off fakes as the real thing. And collectors are left wondering whether the expensive works of art they acquire, even after due diligence, are actually worth the hefty price tag. According to Richard Newman, head of scientific research at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, every museum may contain artefacts that are not what they appear to be. “There are a lot of objects on display at the moment whose attributions are a little bit shaky,” he says.

It is in this backdrop that I earnestly feel that a healthy debate must start among the museum professionals in India on the use of science and technological tools in supplementing domain experts knowledge in authenticity of art objects. This is all the more relevant, particularly in modern days, when forgeries have become an inescapable problem in the art world. Unfortunately in India, most museums have continued to rely only on curators and experts knowledge (which is restricted to the physicality of what their eyes can physically see) to establish authenticity. But then even the best of experts can occasionally go wrong. No one is infallible, an aphorism advocated by Robert Jackson, Supreme Court Judge, US of A, exemplifies the possibility of the experts going wrong. Therefore relying exclusively on the experts wisdom, in art authenticity, may not necessarily be perfect and errors if any could be too costly to bear.

Multidisciplinary studies involving collaboration between art and natural sciences are helping curators archeologists and scientists to join hands in firmly establishing a cooperation between archaeology, art history and conservation-restoration on one hand and physics, chemistry and biology on the other. Within this collaboration material analysis is of increasing importance as the booming development of analytical methods has brought a great number of new instrumental microanalytical techniques with non-sampling (without taking original sample material) and in-situ applicability to an artifact. X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) plays a unique role in that cooperation: It can be carried out in air, in most cases the analysis is non-destructive or even non- invasive, which means that no changes or alterations occur before, during or after the investigation of an object. Miniaturisation, which has helped the electronics industry is also helping in the development of x-ray tubes as well as x-ray detectors which are just a few kilograms and below. Therefore, devices can be easily transported to an archaeological site or into museums, libraries and galleries for analytical investigations.

The technology is also helping the forgers to go to great lengths to reproduce the materials and processes of the appropriate historical period, thus increasing the possibility of error in judgment by the experts. It is here that technology can come in handy while planning an investigation. The museum curator has to identify which properties of an artifact might yield clues to its origin and this can be done using non-destructive techniques. Many familiar materials characterization techniques, in particular X-ray radiography, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF), are therefore extremely useful in the museum laboratory during investigation. The surface of an object often gives an indication of how it was made. A researcher can relate this information to when and where an artifact was made, because the technical processes available to various civilizations throughout history are well documented. Manufacturing processes leave telltale marks, such as casting where there may be some 'flash' or extra metal as a result of the molten material flowing into a small gap between molds, or turning by lathe, which leaves concentric lines, as does a pottery wheel. If sheet metal was the starting material, there may still be marks from the hammer that was used to beat it into shape. Some surface details are not visible to the naked eye, so an optical microscope or SEM can be used.

Museums across the developed world have started harvesting the above mentioned technological tools in establishing art authenticity. Is it time for us in India to do so is the moot question, which the museum professionals and the Ministry of Culture must try and address. From the limited conversation that I have had with several museum professionals and few scientists from NIAS and TIFR, my experience is that most museum professionals do not fully subscribe to the idea of use of the S&T tools for establishing authenticity. They are of the opinion that experts and experts alone must be responsible for art authenticity and that technology can not substitute curators scholarship. Their apprehension is understandable but then no one is advocating that technology should replace experts opinion, rather it should only be used to supplement and aid experts. A parallel can be drawn here to the role the medical diagnostic tools play in aiding the doctors in accurate diagnosis and how effective they have been in improving health care. Have the diagnostic tools replaced the doctors? The answer is an emphatic NO and so will it be in the case of art authenticity. Science and Technology will only aid museum experts and will never replace them nor will it reduce the importance of the curators. Will the two join hands we will have to wait and see.

Is it the beginning of an end for the historic Esplanade Mansion / Watson Hotel, or it can revive?

Is it the beginning of an end for the historic Esplanade Mansion / Watson Hotel, or it can revive?

The erstwhile legendary Watson Hotel (currently the Esplanade Mansion), an architectural landmark - one among the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles , located in the precincts of the Kalaghoda premises in Mumbai that also includes the NGMA, was very recently added to the Global list of heritage sites by the UNESCO World Heritage committee - came face to face with its worst fears, when the fourth-floor balcony of the building came crumbling down on Sunday, crushing the kali peeli taxi parked below. Miraculously the loss was limited, since the waiting to happen accident occurred on a Sunday. Will this accident pave way for the restoration and revival of this historic heritage structure or it will be the beginning of the end of this structure, will be known in the years to come?

The Watson Hotel, currently in its Esplanade Mansion avatar, was named after its proud Swish owner, Mr. John Watson, who conceived the establishment of the hotel during the 1860s. The hotel was constructed using the cast iron frame, which was designed and fabricated in England and transported to India and assembled at its current site location in Bombay to establish the historic Watson Hotel. The hotel had 131 rooms when it opened its doors to its ‘European Only’ clientele in February 1871. The Watson Hotel can be described as the first 5-star hotel of Bombay (Mumbai), which was patronised by the elite European clients during the early years of its establishment. It went on to become one of the important historic colonial constructs that came to be known for the best of interiors that provided a world-class ambiance to its patrons. The Watson Hotel attracted some of the most prominent and illustrious western visitors that included among others Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling and Richard F Burton whose translated works on Kama Sutra became legendary. Mark Twain eloquently talks about the scene at the Watson Hotel, in a chapter in his book “Following the Equator” and describes about the interior opulence at the lobbies and halls of the hotel and how princely the guests at the hotel were treated by the native servants who manned most parts of the Hotel.

The name and fame of Watson Hotel reached far and wide and in the process became the first venue in India, to screen the Lumiere Brothers wonder invention “Cinematographe”, the moving pictures, on the 7th of July 1896, to an audience of wealthy Europeans who paid a rupee each to watch a show that had been billed as “the Marvel of the century”. This very year was a disastrous year for India, which witnessed the worst famine that killed millions of people. The city of Bombay was also hit by the bubonic plague epidemic in September, leading to the death of thousands of people. However, for the Watson Hotel the year turned out to be a blessing in disguise and most of its rooms remained fully occupied with the cool confines of the Watson Hotel making things safer and much better for the European clients.

Bollywood, which drives the Indian Cinema and with Cricket weaves a common bond for the entire country owes its debt to the Watson Hotel where the Lumiere Brothers screened their first moving images cinema. This remarkable piece of film history in India has been documented in the National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC), a project of the Film’s Division of the Ministry of I&B, in Mumbai. The NCSM, my parent body, was tasked to curate and develop this cinema museum on turnkey basis and in one of the exhibits in the “Cinema Across India” section we have used a projection mapping technique to present the debut of the first ever film screening in India that happened at the historic Watson Hotel. The Museum Advisory Committee under the chairmanship of Shyam Benegal and other illustrious members that include among others Adoor Gopalkrishna, were the guiding force in the development of the Cinema Museum.

The genesis for the initial success of the Watson’s Hotel was due to the economic prosperity of the city, which goes back to the mid-19th century that witnessed a booming cotton trade in Mumbai. More and more traders from Europe started visiting the city and the fear of mosquitoes, tropical diseases and the lack of good hotels that matched the safety, style and tenor of the hotels in Europe helped the Watson Hotel in achieving a roaring business. The Hotel continued to practise its racial discrimination disallowing native Indians and making it a Europeans only Hotel.

The success however was short-lived. The hotel’s decline was gradual, but stark. It started with the death of its founder, J H Watson, which was followed by the subsequent sale of the hotel. The major cause, however, for the Watson Hotels fading away, was the stiff competition from the Taj Mahal Hotel that was set up by the legendary businessman Jamset Ji Tata in the year 1903. The historic Taj Mahal, Hotel, was opened with 400 rooms with major attractions like electric lifts, lights, bars, smoking rooms and a hotel orchestra. The Watson Hotel was formally closed down in the 1960s. The popular myth among most Mumbaikars is that the legendary Jamset Tata was denied entry to the Watson Hotel, which practiced a racial discrimination policy and restricted the hotel only to the Europeans. As a result, the Mumbaikars say, Jamset Ji built the historic Taj Mahal Hotel, which stands tall even today and is considered as the best of Hotels not just in India but globally, that was responsible for the ultimate closure of the Watson Hotel in the 1960s.

The Watson Hotel, with a history of almost 150 years, has now turned into a labyrinth of mostly lawyers offices (courtesy the buildings proximity to the High Court) and other small office space. Today, all that is left of Watson’s heydays is its magnificent iron pillars and the famed wooden staircase. Everything else has been broken up into small rooms, which have been rented out to tailors, photocopy shops and lawyers. The Esplanade Mansion, the name by which the Watson Hotel is now known, a grade II Heritage building, is perhaps the only remaining structure in India with a framework built entirely of cast iron.

If this building continues in its current status, with no proactive measures to restore this magnificent piece of heritage structure, the day may perhaps not be very far when this heritage building is gone once and for all.

“Aircraft Carrier: Warrior of the Sea” opened at the Nehru Science Centre.

“Aircraft Carrier: Warrior of the Sea” opened at the Nehru Science Centre.

Vice Admiral Srikant, recipient of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM), the Commandant at the prestigious National Defence College, New Delhi, a Navigation and Direction Specialist and an expert submariner who commanded the first indigenously built submarine, formally inaugurated our new Science Odyssey, Large Format Film “Aircraft Carrier: Warrior of the Sea” on 30th June 2018 at the Nehru Science Centre. Speaking on the occasion Srikant spoke about the history of Indian navy and the pivotal role the navy plays in the defence preparedness of our country. He highlighted the significant achievements of the Indian navy including its role during the Bangladesh liberation war that India fought with the Pakistanis.

Every six months a new documentary film is opened at the the Science Odyssey, one of the popular facility at the Nehru Science Centre. It is an unique facility which provides an immersive experience to the visitors. It uses a large format film that provides a crystal clear image that stretches to the limits of ones' peripheral vision. There are variants of the Large Format Theatre. Some screens including the one at our centre are "dome" shaped with a screen that curves around the viewers nearly 180 degrees. All the theatres have comfortable stadium-style seats and six channel digital surround sound to complement the visual experience. The images projected onto large format screens emanate from 70mm film frames that boast nearly 10 times the image resolution of the 35mm film that used to be projected in our standard neighborhood cinemas. This allows for an exceptionally large projected image size while maintaining unmatched clarity and depth of field.

Large-format or giant screen theaters use unparalleled sight and sound technologies to deliver the ultimate cinematic experience. Projecting film nearly 10 times the size of a standard movie film frame through specially designed projectors. These projectors are able to present images that span to the edges of viewers' peripheral vision with stunning clarity. Combining this visual sensation with six channel, high-fidelity digital surround-sound provides the sensation of being "in" the picture.

The Large Format Films were originally developed by the Imax Corporation in 1970, this format uses 70mm film run through the projector horizontally, so that the width of the film is the height of the frame. Each frame is 15 perforations wide, hence the format is known as 15/70 and it is almost nine times larger than the conventional 35mm frame. Imax Corp. was long the exclusive maker of 15/70 projectors and cameras, although a few other manufacturers briefly made 15/70 systems. We at the Nehru Science Centre, however, have a 10/70 system which is produced exclusively by Japan's Goto Optical Manufacturing company. Known as the Astrovision, the 10/70 format is found in theaters in Japan, China, India, and Bangladesh. Virtually all films presented in 10/70 theaters have originated in 15/70 and printed to 10/70. These films are entertaining, enriching, while at the same time provide an excellent educational value to the audience.

The Peninsular India is covered on three sides by the Arabian Sea in the west, the Bay of Bengal in the East and the Indian Ocean in the south. Navy therefore plays a pivotal role in guarding our nation. It is in recognition of the importance of naval defence that we chose the Aircraft Carrier film for screening at our centre. The film highlights how important it is to protect and defend the world's oceans, which has become far more complex and challenging in recent years, and naval aviation has become increasingly vital to its success. One of the greatest engineering feats in history, the modern U.S nuclear carrier is a masterpiece of technology and the flagship of the fleet, which is shown in this film. The exercise called The RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, is the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held biennially during June and July of even-
numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii. It is hosted and administered by the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet, headquartered at Pearl Harbor, in conjunction with the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, and Hawaii National Guard forces under the control of the Governor of Hawaii.

RIMPAC brings together dozens of nations for a "unique training opportunity" in the Pacific Ocean. The training is "designed to foster and sustain cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's interconnected oceans. The Indian Navy's association with RIMPAC commenced as an observer in 2006, 2010 and 2012 editions. The 25th edition of the RIMPAC exercise was attended by INS Satpura in 2016.

It is merely a coincidence that the launching of ‘Aircraft Carrier: Guardian of the Seas’ film is happening at the time when RIMPAC 2018 is taking place off the Hawaii. And this year, Indian Naval Ship Sahyadri is participating in the 26th edition of Exercise RIM of PACIFIC. Some 26 nations, 47 surface ships, five submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel will participate in RIMPAC 2018, which started on Thursday, June 28th.

This film gives us glimpse of this maritime warfare exercise very closely and provides a stunning visual context for the story. The visitor will find herself aboard the carrier alongside the 5,000 highly skilled sea and air personnel conducting flight operations in the midst of the simulated war exercises taking place in the film. There has been rarely a topic like this, which is so visually suited and compelling for giant-screen theatres like our Science Odyssey theatre. The film also gives insights about how this mighty ship runs using its nuclear energy based engines, while highlighting the highly complex technology used in the taking-off and landing of aircrafts and use of state-of-art technology in fighter planes and also in the aircraft carrier. This film also features a wide range of sophisticated equipment which are used by the navy.

The opening of the new film by Admiral Srikant was a special day for me. Admiral Srikant and I are the classmates of the batch of 1977 from Sainik School, Bijapur (SSBJ) who spent 7 momentous years of our formative years together at the historic school from 1970 to 1977 before charting our own paths - Srikant taking the path that every Ajeet (all the students of SSBJ are addressed as Ajeets) had a mandate to chart, while I choose the path as a science museum professional, after failing my medical test post the Service Selection Board with a heart murmur, which made me unfit for serving the military. Three other class mates Milind, Pradeep Talikoti and Arvind joined us during the opening of the film and so did four other Ajeets. Forty one years had passed after we had passed out of the school and here we were, five of us from the same batch, meeting at a formal function. I had a special request for Admiral Srikant. I wanted him to address the audience, who had come in large numbers, in his naval uniform so that he would inspire several of the students to pursue Naval career. It was such a great honour for the four of us to see our batchmate Srikant in Naval uniform. Srikant, the Vice Admiral and a three star General with a majestic look, for us was the same old Srikant with not an iota of any change whatsoever. We spoke and spoke at length reminiscing our days of togetherness at school and remembering most of our batch mates. What a nostalgic experience. Long live the spirit of all Ajeets “Ajeet Hai Abhit Hai”.

Eulogy for Prof HY Mohan Ram, preeminent botanist of India.

Eulogy for Prof HY Mohan Ram, preeminent botanist of India.

Professor, Holenarasipur Yoganarasimham Mohan Ram, fondly referred to as HYM, an unassuming botanist and a thoughtful extremely hardworking teacher who was fascinated by nature, particularly of the flora, and a doyen of Indian Botanist, a great human being with varied interest, beyond his first two loves - Botany and his fellow researcher Manasi Ghosh, whom he later married - namely Music, travel, photography and cricket, who belonged to the rare genre of general botanists, left us for his heavenly abode, yesterday, on the 18th, June 2018. The botanical fraternity not just in India but globally and so also the scientific community are deeply saddened by the demise of Prof HYM.

We at the NCSM, National Science Centre, in particular, have lost one of our preeminent patron who distinguished himself in his service to our Council, serving as a member of the apex Governing Body of the Council and so also as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Science Centre, New Delhi, during the nascent days from its beginning until and after its opening on 9th January, 1992. I had the honour of his acquaintance all through this period. The founding director of the National Science Centre, Mr PK Bhaumik, my boss, often used to take me along to Prof HYMs office and house in the Delhi University, and coerce me to speak to him in Kannada. Prof HYM has delivered innumerable number of his lectures at the National Science Centre, one of which, I vividly remember for the Himalayan blunder that my fellow senior curator Mr Rajagopal made while proposing a welcome and introductory speech, just before Prof HYM was to deliver his lecture on “Basics of Tissue Culture” a subject on which Prof HYM had complete command and believed it to be of great importance to the school student community. Raj Gopal, a fellow curator (mechanical Engineer) with forgettable Botany credentials, while welcoming Prof HYM and introducing his talk referred to the title of Professors talk as “Tissues of Basic Culture” rather than “Basics of Tissue Culture”, which was so wittingly corrected by Prof HYM to the tumultuous applause by the students.

Prof HYM was a firm believer in science communication and was an ardent populariser of science, the genesis of which goes back to his college days in Mysore, from where he did his BSc at the St. Philomena’s College in Mysore. That college had a lot of wild plants around it where HYM spent most of his time treading through each of these trees and plants, which further accentuated his interest in plants. He was elected as the Secretary of the Natural Science Society of the College. During this period HYM decided to invite the legendary Sir C V Raman for a lecture to the students of his college. In his capacity as the Secretary of the Natural Science Society, he dared to write a request letter to Sir C V Raman. He wrote “We have started a science club, would you please come and give us an inaugural lecture?”.

Raman too was a firm believer in connecting with the students and he replied, “Yes, provided you give me petrol to come from Bangalore and go back”, which was agreed to by HYM. When asked about the title of his talk, Raman wrote, “I will decide it on the platform.” On the eventful day of Raman’s talk, HYM had kept a beautiful seashell on the table. Raman picked it up and said, “I’ll speak on symmetry in nature. Left handedness and right handedness in shells and even in molecules of biological importance.” Raman, HYM reminisces later, spoke for one hour and the entire audience were absolutely spell bound. Ramans talk had a tremendous impact on every student including HYM. The talk was full of humour and touched not merely students heads but also their hearts. Raman at the end of his lecture told HYM “Look, I must take a promise from you. When you become a scientist or a teacher you must readily agree if you are invited to speak to children or students. Will you give me that promise?” Yes HYM had pledged Sir Raman and this pledge, Prof. HYM continued to honour until his last, speaking to the students and consistently making efforts to popularise Science all through his long career.

Prof HYM had great love for writing and editing and these qualities of Prof HYM was very effectively used by his guide and mentor Prof. F C Steward (a plant physiologist famous for his experiments on cellular totipotency) at the Cornell University, where Prof HYM completed his PhD, in editing a series of his publications. Prof HYM has also written a range of technical and semi- technical literature, including papers, review articles, school textbooks and reminiscences. His extraordinary talent in writing, where he mixes his erudition in Botany with his scholastic and command over English language, can best be seen from a quote from one of his autobiographical articles, which reads “ I wish I could be like a tree; deep rooted and firmly fixed, bearing a lofty bole and a broad canopy, continuously absorbing, synthesizing and renewing, bearing fragrant flowers and delicious fruits, unmindful of stresses and insults, resilient to changes and perpetually giving and not coveting. To this I must add tenacity, based on the remarkable example of a gingko tree, almost at the epicentre of the 1945 Hiroshima nuclear explosion, that sprouted from the root after its trunk had been completely demolished along with everything around it.”

Prof. Mohan Ram was born on the 24th of September 1930 in Karnataka into a large family and one of his illustrious siblings included H Y Sharada Prasad, who made a profound name for himself and his family in Journalism. HY Sharada Prasad also served as an Assistant Editor of ‘Yojana’ and in the PMO as an Information Adviser to four Prime Ministers; namely Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai and also during the initial period of Rajeev Gandhi. HYP part funded HYM in completing his MSc.

On this sad occasion, I join count less number of his students and the other scientific community in praying for his soul to rest in eternal peace and bliss in the botanic serenity of the heavenly abode to which he has departed.

Long live Professor HYM.