Milkha Singh Ascends to the Ultimate Podium in life, at age 91 - Long Live Milkha Singh.

Images courtesy : Wikipedia and PTI.

The Flying Sikh ascended to the ultimate podium of his legendary and endearing life, at age 91, to join his life partner at the heavenly abode to which she had departed just a week ago.  They both succumbed to the dreaded Covid 19 pandemic that was wreaked on the world from Wuhan, China. After getting affected with Covid 19 and fighting it out to become Covid negative, Milkha Singh most unfortunately succumbed to the Covid 19 complications at the PGIMER hospital in Chandigarh on 18th June, 2021, at 11 PM. Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the nation in paying his tributes to the legendary athlete, ‘befittingly described as independent India's first sporting superstar’. The PM tweeted ‘ In the passing away of Shri Milkha Singh Ji, we have lost a colossal sportsperson, who captured the nation’s imagination and had a special place in the hearts of countless Indians. His inspiring personality endeared himself to millions. Anguished by his passing away’.

Milkha Singh was given a befitting epithet of ‘Flying Sikh’ by General Ayub Khan - the military ruler of Pakistan, the land where  Milkha Singh was born in the British India. Milkha Singh has inspired and will continue to inspire generation of Indian athletes. He has shown the path that with determination, passion, commitment, sacrifice and undying zeal to achieve what you have set out to achieve, success is sure to come by. What is more inspiring is that Milkha Singh was a teenager and one of those millions of displaced Indians who had to leave behind their land of birth to migrate to India during the partition of India by the British. Milkha Singh lost both his parents and three of his siblings in that merciless killings that spawned for weeks during the partition of India. The last words that young Milkha Singh heard his father speak to him, before he was brutally killed in that deadly act of inhuman violence that was perpetrated on the Hindus and Muslims in Pakistan during the partition and the resulting migration to India, was ‘ Bhag Milkha Bhag ‘. These words from his father proved to be providential for Milkha Singh, who on the orders of his father ran for safety and migrated to India, Jalandhar, in the Military Truck and lived a life that began from penury with existential crisis, which compelled him even to cheat and steal and in the process be jailed at Tihar Jail in Delhi. But then those prophetic  ‘Bhag Milkha Bhag’ words saw him through this testing period, which was filled with unending trials and tribulations that ultimately led to those extraordinary triumphs and achievements, which are now legendary and revered across India. The extraordinary life of Milkha Singh came to an end on the 18th June due to the Covid 19 complications. The achievements of Milkha Singh, when seen contextually are that much more heralding and therefore it is no wonder that he has been an inspiration for generation of athletes and will continue to be so for many more generations.

Having inspired millions of his admirers as Flying Sikh for nine decades, putting his body to those extreme tests of endurance, which have been so beautifully portrayed in the scripts of Prasun Joshi on the celluloid in his biopic ‘Bhag Milkha Bhag’ enacted by Farhan Akhtar, who plays his role in the film, it is time for the nonagenarian Milkha Singh to rest in peace eternally as ‘ RelaxSingh’ in the heavenly abode, which is now home to him. Milkha Singh had put his body to the toughest of tests and conditions while practising passionately for achieving those unparalleled successes in athletics, which helped him not just in winning the four Asian Championship Gold medals and the Common Wealth Gold Medal in 1958, but so also in breaking the world record on way to his legendary achievements at the 1960 Rome Olympics in 400 metres sprint, in which he missed the podium by a whisker. The film Bhag Milkha Bhag, so beautifully has characterised and captured those great moments of trials, tribulations and triumphs of Milkha Singh. Flying Sikh will continue to inspire millions of his followers, who are constantly trying to emulate his endearing feats, and will continue to do so for generations to come. 

Much before the biopic Bhag Milkha Bhag that was produced in 2013 by Bollywood, the All India Radio - part of India's largest public broadcasting agency Prasar Bharati, had produced a multi-part radio autobiography of Milkha Singh and this radio program was recorded by the great Milkha Singh himself for the AIR. The news of the demise of the legendary Sardar, made Prasar Bharati to go back in time to sift through its archives, a treasure trove of memories, and post their homage to the Flying Sikh by posting their three parts radio autobiography that Singh had recorded for the agency, on their You Tube Channel. Here is the link to this wonderful radio autobiography of Milkha Singh in his own words for those who may be interested.  This autobiography, titled 'The Flying Sikh', is divided into three parts. In this radio interview Milkha Singh goes on to narrate his career as a former track and field sprinter, remembering his experiences at the Asian Games, the '56 Melbourne Summer Olympics, the '60 Summer Olympics in Rome, and the '64 Tokyo Olympics, among others.

Milkha Singhs achievements and the bollywood film - Bhag Milkha Bhag, in a way can be considered as an outcome of a providential blessing of his parents and three of his siblings, who were so mercilessly murdered in that hour of madness, which the undivided British India witnessed during its partition. The last word that the young Milkha Singh heard from his father, who along with his mother and siblings were brutally murdered while attempting to cross over from their home in Pakistan to India, was ‘Bhag Milkha Bhag’. Providentially the young Milkha Singh did manage to run away from that scene of death and madness to survive that horror to leave behind a legacy to be heralded for generations. 

Milkha Singh was born in to a very large family of 15 children in a village called Govindpuri near Muzaffargarh city in the undivided Punjab on the Pakistani side, on 20th November 1929. Milkha Singh had grown up in this village, which was part of the undivided British India. But then the partition of India changed all that. Milkha Singh’s family was one of those innumerable families of Hindus and Sikhs who were caught in the midst of that horrendous partition of India which resulted in the creation of a new Muslim nation, Pakistan, in 1947. A tale of unspeakable horror and merciless killings continued for days and weeks, during the partition in which millions of Hindus and Sikhs, including Milkha Singh’s family, were trying to migrate to India from Pakistan. Both the parents of Milkha Singh and so also three of his siblings were killed during this period. Milkha survived this massacre to tell his story. Milkha Singh, in one of his interviews recalled the partition horror and remembered the last words of his father, before falling prey to that senseless massacre. His father even while he was dying said  "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag", exhorting his son to run for his life. The teenager Milkha ran - first to save his life, and then to herald his own successful career in athletics. 

Milkha Singh landed in Ferozepur in a military truck after a nightmare journey from Multan in a train soaked in blood. Still a teenager boy, Milkha had to pass through testing times after he arrived in India. He lived a life of penury often times forced to steal ration to feed his empty stomach until managing to join the Indian army after several failed attempts. It was in the Army that Milkha Singh discovered his athletic abilities, when he joined EME, Secunderabad. It was here that he was short listed as one of the 10 members, out of the 500 people who participated in 10 kilometres run. His performance came to the notice of Havaldar Gurdev Singh, who became his first coach. Gurudev Singh took Milkha Singh under his tutelage and started coaching him for athletics, particularly 200 and 400 metres sprint. Very soon Milkha Singh made his mark by winning the competition at inter-services meet, which resulted in his selection for an India camp in 1956. It also earned him a berth for the Melbourne Olympics. Thus began his tryst with the 400m athletics sprint. It was here that Milkha was exposed to the greatest of world athletes and watching these greats streak past, Milkha Singh harboured an ambition to run as fast as them. Milkha Singh was eliminated in the heats in the 1956 Olympics at Melbourne. However this exposure to world athletes instilled an ambition in Milkha that helped him train that much harder and often times Milkha Singh continued his training till he dropped down and out. The uni-focus ambition and desire to excel and run as fast as the worlds best and his obsession to win, helped Milkha to set national records. One of the athletes who inspired him majorly at the Melbourne 1956 Olympics was Charles Jenkins, who had barely managed to finish third in the two heats before to get selected for the finals in 400 metres event. In the finals Jenkins left every one behind to win the Gold Medal, he also added another medal in the 4x400 metres relay. Milkha Singh who was eliminated in the heats thus harboured an ambition to try and emulate Jenkins, who notwithstanding his relatively poor performance in the heats managed to pull all his strength in the finals to win the coveted 400 metres Olympics Gold Medal. 

Milkha Singh soon started creating a space of his own with extraordinary exploits on the track and field, which are now legendary in India. He won five golds in international athletic championships and was awarded the Helms World Trophy in 1959 for winning 77 of his 80 international races. His first Gold medal came at the 1958 Asian Games, which was held in Tokyo, Japan. Milkha Singh won two Gold medals at this event in 400 metres and 200 metres, which was soon followed by the Gold medal in 400 metres - India's first Commonwealth gold, in 1958at the Commonwealth Games in Cardiff. He was running in the sixth and outermost lane, at Cardiff Arms Park in this event which was being witnessed by a record  70,000 plus audiences. Major attraction of this event was the world record holder, South Africa’s Malcom Spence, who was pipped by Milkha Singh in this race. Milkha Singh clocked a record 46.71 seconds to win the Gold Medal while Malcom Spence had to contend with a silver clocking 46.90 seconds. Thus Milkha Singh created history by becoming the first Indian to win the Gold medal for the country in the Common Wealth Games. He received his his Gold medal from Queen Elizabeth. After the race, addressing the BBC, he said ‘ he had fulfilled his duty towards his motherland’.

The year 1960 is inextricably linked to Milkha Singh in the annals of athletics history of India. He was once again selected for the Rome Olympics Indian squad and this time he successfully sailed through the 400 metres heats rounds to get selected for the finals. In one of most fascinating finals that has ever been witnessed in Olympics, four of the six finalists in the 400 metres surpassed the world record with the American athlete Otis  Crandall Davis, winning the Gold medal in 44.90 seconds. He was tied with Karl Kaufman of Germany, who too finished the race winning the Silver in 44.90 seconds. Malcolm Spence, the South African athlete, who was beaten by Milkha Singh at the 1958 Common Wealth Games, won the Bronze Medal with a timing of 45.50 seconds, leaving behind Milkha Singh by one tenth of s second. Milkha Singh who clocked 45.60 seconds in the race ended up in the fourth position, which considering the background from which he grew was heralded as one of the greatest of any athletics race by an Indian. 

It was in this very year 1960, that Milkha Singh got an opportunity to go nostalgic when he was given an invitation to participate in an athletics event in Pakistan. He was invited to take part in the 200m event at an International Athletic competition in Lahore, Pakistan. Ever since that traumatic partition experience of fleeing to India from Pakistan, where he had lost his parents and three of his siblings in the partition violence, Milkha Singh had not been to Pakistan, where he was born. The trauma of the partition, which he had witnessed while fleeing from Pakistan to India, haunted him badly and therefore Milkha Singh, initially refused to go to Pakistan to take part in this event. However, he eventually did go to Pakistan. The local hero - Pakistan's Abdul Khaliq, was one of his main opponents in the race. Despite the thunderous and roaring support from the local audience in the stadium for Abdul Khaliq, Milkha Singh went on to win that race, while Khaliq took the bronze medal. The race was also witnessed by General, Ayub Khan, Pakistan's second president, who awarded Milkha Singh and other winners their medals. It was here that Singh received the nickname that would stick with him for the rest of his life. In one of the interviews Milkha Singh recalled that Gen. Ayub said to him “ Milkha, you came to Pakistan and did not run. You actually flew in Pakistan. Pakistan bestows upon you the title of the Flying Sikh.' If Milkha Singh is known as the Flying Sikh in the whole world today, the credit goes to General Ayub and to Pakistan," Singh had told the BBC later. In this very interview he also said that even though he never won an Olympic medal, his only wish was that "someone else should win that medal for India". 

Bollywood is one platform which always looks for a plot to make Merry at the box office and one story that appealed to the industry was that of the legendary Milkha Singh. Those words Bhag Milkha Bhag, which remained etched in the young mind of Milkha Singh became a befitting title for the biographical film on the Flying Sikh, which was produced by Rajiv Tandon and Director by Rakesh Mishra. The script for this film was written by Prasoon Joshi and Farhan Akhtar played the role of the protagonist and brought the life and works of Milkha Singh to the people of India in melodramatic way thus heralding the success of Milkha Singh to Indians. It was therefore no wonder that the whole of the Bollywood industry joined the PM and others in expressing their sorrow at the demise of Milkha Singh. Farhan Akhtar, who played the role of Milkha Singh in the film, said that he had spent a lot of time with him and got to know Singh personally while playing the lead role in the 2013 biopic ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’. He added “ A part of me is still refusing to accept that you are no more. Maybe it's the stubborn side I inherited from you...the side that when it sets it's mind on something, just never gives up. And the truth is that you will always be alive”. All those who have known Milkha Singh, have described him as a large-hearted and down-to-earth man, who exemplified and showed that hard work, honesty and determination one can touch the sky and realise ones dream and aspirations.

The Covid 19 pandemic has rampaged the world and taken away many a precious lives and that most unfortunately included Milkha Singh and his wife as well. Milkha Singh was admitted to the ICU at the Covid-19 Hospital of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh with Covid symptoms and dipping oxygen levels on June 3. He managed to recover from Covid while his wife had succumbed to it. However, due to post- Covid complications, Milkha Singh was shifted out of Covid Hospital to medical ICU at PHIMER. Despite the best of efforts by the medical team, Milkha Singh could not recover from his critical condition and after a brave fight, he left for his heavenly abode at 11.30 pm on 18th June 2021. His death was announced by Prof. Jagat Ram, Director, PGIMER who also expressed his deepest condolences on the sad demise of this 'most revered' sporting icon, who he said will be remembered for his exceptional accomplishments on and off the field and his endearing and humane personality.

Last Sunday, 13th June, wife and life time companion of Milkha Singh, Mrs. Nirmal Kaur, who was also a former national volleyball captain, had died due to Covid complications. His family members issued a statement, which read “He fought hard but God has his ways and it was perhaps true love and companionship that both our mother Nirmal ji and now Dad have passed away in a matter of 5 days”. An era has ended with the passing away of Milkha Singh but his legacy will leave on for eternity and will continue to inspire generations of new athletes to follow his path. 

Long live Milkha Singh. Rest in Peace.

Prof. Richard Ernst - The 1991 Nobel Prize Chemistry Winner, A Tribute.

Prof. Richard Ernst - The 1991 Nobel Prize Chemistry Winner and the man who delivered lecture at NSC Mumbai in 2013, Deceased, on 4th June, 2021 - A Tribute.

Images - Courtesy Nehru Science Centre and Suhas Naik Satum. 

Within two months of my assuming the charge of the Director, Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai (13th February,2013) I had the honour and privilege to host two high profile lectures by two extraordinary people - Sunita Williams, Indian American, NASA Astronaut (4th April 2013) and Dr Richard Ernst (24th April, 2013) the 1991 Nobel Prize winning scientist in Chemistry, who singularly was awarded the coveted Prize “for his contributions to the development of the methodology of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy."  Dr Ernst’s contribution laid the foundation for the evolution of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a noble medical diagnostic tool, which precisely and non invasively depicts and produces the images of tissue and organs in the body. The news of the death of Prof Richard Ernst has refreshed my memory of the lecture that Dr Ernst delivered at the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai on 24th April, 2013.  Dr Richard Ernst died at the age of 87, in the very city - Winterthur, outside Zurich, Switzerland, where he was born.

Three weeks before the lecture by Dr Ernst, we had hosted the lecture of Ms Sunita Williams on 4th April, 2013, which was followed by a mega press conference and interaction. These two events, particularly the press interaction of Sunita, Williams, helped our Centre get great publicity and good will. Dr. Ernst’s lecture and his unending patience to oblige almost every student with his autograph, post his outstanding and highly motivational and inspirational lecture, is something which everyone who attended the lecture will always remember. Dr Ernst’s talk, titled ‘Science and Society’, was interspersed with wit, humour and a personal touch. We were able to host the lecture of Dr Richard Ernst courtesy, Prof RV Hosur, TIFR, who had the honour to work with Prof Ernst and know him very closely in person. Just before his arrival in India, Prof Ernst had sent an email to Prof Hosur, indicating what he had in mind to speak and his email makes an interesting read which reveals his wittier part. He wrote ; “ Because I am not too certain to whom I will have to lecture in Mumbai and on which level, I prepared one lengthy show with about 500 slides with the title: Academic Opportunities in Preparation of a Prosperous Future to be cut on the spot to an acceptable length. It contains some historical information on NMR and on my personal history, some more recent scientific stuff, some slides on MRI, some slides on Tibetan art, some slides on our responsibility as scientists, some slides to illustrate my view of India with its attraction and its problems regarding its future science place”. Here comes the wittier part of his email. He wrote “ Of course, the entire lecture would take about 2-3 hours and would put everybody to sleep, including myself”.  It is a different matter that although he spoke for more than 90 minutes, at our Centre,  to a packed audience, forget about putting the audience to sleep, contrarily every minute of his lecture was applauded by not just the 300 plus students, teachers, parents and dignitaries who were seated in the main auditorium but also by another 200 plus students who witnessed the event through the CCTV in the neighbouring hall on a large screen - since they could not be accommodated in our main auditorium.

Although it has been 8 years since the lecture, I vividly remember one of the answers that he gave to a student. In response to a query as to what motivated him to be a scientist, Dr Ernst had an interesting story, which he shared with the students to a thunderous applause and laughter all around. He said “like most kids he too was curious and one such experience of a curious surprise was the beginning of his interest in science”. He added  “ In our attic, I discovered a box full of chemicals, which belonged to an uncle. I took the chemicals in the basement and started to play with them and I was excited by what happened - a huge explosion. Fortunately I survived and so did our house and thus began my love for chemistry”. He continued “experimenting is one best way to get attracted to Science, which is what made him take to Science”. He urged the teachers and some parents - who were in attendance,  to let the students perform experiments. He said, sometimes people say chemistry is too dangerous – you can’t do this and that with children – but that’s not really true. There are a few rules, which one has to obey, but otherwise you can do a lot of experiments and experience the joy of discovery very often in chemistry.”

Dr Ernst also spoke about his love for Asian arts, particularly, Tibetan scroll paintings -  called thangkas, a unique and most exciting form of religious art, which exhibit outstanding creative talents of the artists. He showed images of quite a few of his collections of the Thangka paintings. 

The family of Dr Ernst - his wife Ms Magdalena announced that Dr Ernst had died on Friday, 4th June,  2021, to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich - ETH Zurich, with which he was closely associated as the Professor Emeritus. The ETH, Zurich announced the death of Dr Ernst on their website, on Tuesday, 8th June, 2021. Dr Ernst is survived by his wife and three daughters. In his Nobel Prize autobiography, Dr Ernst praised the support of his wife in binding together his family and in helping him in concentrate on his passion for science. He said “I am extremely grateful for the encouragement and for the occasional readjustment of my standards of value by my wife Magdalena who stayed with me so far for more than 28 years despite all the problems of being married to a selfish work-addict with an unpredictable temper”. He added, “Magdalena has, without much input from my side, educated our three children: Anna Magdalena (kindergarten teacher), Katharina Elisabeth (elementary school teacher), and Hans-Martin Walter (still in high school). I am not surprised that they show no intention to follow in my footsteps, although if I had a second chance myself, I would certainly try to repeat my present career.”

Beginning in the late 1950s, but accelerating at an ever-faster pace in the twenty first century, science and technology has dramatically transformed modern medicine. However, before the World War II, the typical physician had a modest toolkit which only consisted of a thermometer, stethoscope, sphygmomanometer, and an occasional access to x-ray machines and electrocardiograph. Along with these medical devices a limited cabinet of pharmaceuticals assisted the physician of the 1940s, including sulfa drugs and negligible quantity of penicillin. After the War, biological research was transformed with the efforts of great scientists like Dr Ernst and others that helped in creating a new armamentarium of biophysics instruments- Electron Microscopes, Ultracentrifuges, Mass Spectrometers and new agents such as radioactive isotopes. A revolution in microelectronics and semiconductors initiated during the War together with the development of computers led the way to new fields of biomedical imaging such as Ultrasound, Computerized Tomography (CT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners and most importantly the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging which is now famously referred to and known as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). 

NMR - nuclear magnetic resonance, is a phenomenon that exploits the fact that all atomic nuclei that contain odd numbers of protons or neutrons have intrinsic magnetic characteristics. The NMR and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are perhaps the most important non-invasive diagnostic tools in today's medicine. The basic components of any MRI system are the magnet, RF transmitter, gradient coil, and the receiver coil, along with a computer to analyse the incoming signal and produce image. MRI is a diagnostic technique that provides profound insights by revealing the picture of the inside of the body - without using X-rays or other potentially harmful radiation, for aiding the medical professionals. Dr Richard Ernst rightfully can be considered as the father of MRI, since it was he who developed the technique to make sense of the images by filtering out the noise component, using the Fourier Transforms and computers. 

The MRI has proven to be invaluable for the diagnosis of a broad range of medical conditions in all parts of the body, including neurological and behavioral disorders, musculoskeletal injuries, cancer, heart and vascular diseases. MRI is also used to create maps of biochemical compounds within any cross section of the human body. These maps give basic biomedical and anatomical information that provide new knowledge to allow early diagnosis of many diseases, including the dreaded cancer. Since MRI has the ability to provide information about the state of health of organs and tissues, in addition to giving details of their shape and appearance, this imaging technique has major advantages over other diagnostic methods. And in all these cases, MRI works with no harmful intervention.

The MRI is significant and applicable to the human body because we are all filled with small biological magnets, the most abundant and responsive of which is the nucleus of the hydrogen atom, the proton. Remember that the human body is made up of nearly 70% of water, which consists of hydrogen. The principles of MRI take advantage of the random distribution of hydrogen protons, which possess fundamental magnetic properties. This process involves three basic steps. First, MRI generates a steady-state condition within the body by placing the body in a very strong (30,000 times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field) and steady magnetic field. Secondly, it changes the steady-state orientation of protons by stimulating the body with radio frequency energy. Thirdly, it terminates the radio frequency stimulation and listens to the body transmitting information about itself at the special resonant frequency using an appropriately designed antenna coil. The transmitted signal is detected and serves as the basis of the construction of internal images of the body using the mathematical analysis of Fourier Transforms and using computers to process this information.

Earlier in the twentieth century, Scientists tried to improve and expand on the amazing images produced by X-rays through the discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. The first successful nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiment was made in 1946, independently by two scientists in the United States. Felix Bloch, working at Stanford University, and Edward Mills Purcell, from Harvard University, found that when certain nuclei were placed in a magnetic field they absorbed energy in the radio frequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum, and re-emitted this energy when the nuclei was transferred to their original state. They studied the hydrogen atom, because of its favorable nuclear properties. They chose to study the proton - the nucleus of the hydrogen atom (H), because the hydrogen nucleus is composed of a single proton and it has a significant magnetic moment. Hydrogen would turn out to be the most important element for MRI because of its favourable nuclear properties, nearly universal presence and its abundance in the human body as part of water (H2O). Befittingly Bloch and Purcell were awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize for physics, and their discoveries led to the NMR in condensed matter. There have been three other Nobel prizes associated with the fundamental discoveries arising from NMR and the most important one is the 1991 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which was awarded to Richard Ernst for his contributions to the development of high resolution NMR spectroscopy, an important analytical tool in chemistry. The significance of his works can be seen in the citation of the Nobel Prize which said “ NMR spectroscopy has, during the last 20 years, developed into perhaps the most important instrumental measuring technique within chemistry. This has occurred because of a dramatic increase in both the sensitivity and the resolution of the instruments, two areas in which Prof. Ernst has contributed more than anybody else." The findings of Dr Ernst helped NMR spectroscopy to be used in all branches of chemistry, at universities as well as in industrial laboratories.

In the initial period the NMR was more of an esoteric tool when Ernst had completed his PhD in 1962 and there was no sight of its use in solving complicated chemical structures. The main Achilles heel of NMR was that radio signals sent out from these magnetic nuclei were very feeble, and so it was extremely difficult for an experimental observer to discriminate these weak signals from noise. As the sensitivity of NMR was disappointingly low, small amounts of nuclei were almost impossible to detect. It is here that Dr Ernst made a profound contribution in vastly improving the sensitivity of the signal. A major breakthrough occurred in 1966 when Ernst and Anderson, USA, discovered that the sensitivity of NMR spectra could be increased dramatically if the slow radiofrequency sweep that the sample was exposed to was replaced by short and intense radiofrequency pulses. The signal was then measured as a function of time after the pulse. The next pulse and signal acquisition were started after a few seconds, and the signals after each pulse were summed in a computer. The NMR signal measured as a function of time is not amenable to a simple interpretation. It is however possible to analyze what resonance frequencies are present in such a signal – and to convert it to an NMR spectrum – by a mathematical operation using the Fourier transformation, FT, which was performed rapidly in computer. This discovery by Ernst and his associates forms the basis of modern NMR spectroscopy. The ten-fold, and sometimes hundred-fold, increase in sensitivity has made it possible to study small amounts of material.  The enormous potential of the new technique – called FT NMR – quickly became obvious to NMR spectroscopists. The chemical research community got access to it in the early seventies through commercial FT NMR instruments.

By the end of the sixties, NMR spectroscopists had begun to use new magnet designs, based on superconducting materials, and the quality of spectra – expressed both in terms of sensitivity and resolution – improved quickly during the seventies. Consequently, more complex systems could be studied and more sophishcated questions answered. However, if this finding was to move to very large molecules, macromolecules, another breakthrough was necessary. This breakthrough again carried the signature of Ernst. Inspired by a lecture of Jean Jeener, Belgium, at a summer school at the beginning of the seventies, Ernst and co-workers showed in 1975-76 how “two-dimensional” (2D) NMR experiments could be performed. Their demonstration of the 2D FT NMR opened entirely new possibilities for chemical research and the rest what they say is history. 

Richard Ernst was born on 13th August,1933 in Winterthur, northeastern Switzerland, near Zurich, and he was the oldest of the three children (two sisters and Richard)born to Robert Ernst and Irma Brunner. Richard Ernst’s father taught architecture at the technical high school of Winterthur. By the age of 13 years, Richard developed interest in music and chemistry. However his love for music was short lived and he decided to become a chemist rather than a musician and a composer. Richard completed his high school in Winterthur and subsequently he enrolled at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (“the Federal Institute”), and in 1956, he was awarded a diploma in chemistry. He continued his education at the Federal Institute and, in 1962, was awarded a PhD degree. Between obtaining these 2 degrees, Ernst spent some time in military service as well. He completed his doctorate in physical chemistry in 1962 with a dissertation on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in the discipline of physical chemistry. After completing his doctorate, Ernst spent the next year (1962-1963) as a researcher and teacher at the Federal Institute. However, in 1963, Ernst left Switzerland for the United States to become a research scientist and worked in the private sector at Varian Associates in Palo Alto, California, where he worked until 1968. In 1968, he returned to Switzerland to join the faculty of the Federal Institute to direct a research group on NMR at the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry. He went on to become a full professor at the Federal Institute (ETH, Zurich) in 1976.

As stated in the earlier paragraphs, Ernst's work on NMR spectroscopy began in the early 1960s at the Federal Institute. His contributions to the field—increasing the sensitivity and the resolution of the instruments—have made it possible to determine both the nature of a nucleus and the local structure of the molecule of which the nucleus is a part. In 1966, Ernst and a colleague found that NMR spectroscopy could be more effective if the slow sweeping radio waves traditionally used to bombard a sample were replaced by short, intense pulses. They used a computer to perform a complex series of mathematical operations (Fourier transformations) in the received signal. This improved the sensitivity by as much as 100-fold. Ernst's second major contribution to the field of NMR spectroscopy was made in the mid-1970s, when he developed 2-dimensional NMR techniques to study exceedingly large molecules. By the 1990s, various NMR techniques were in use to determine the 3-dimensional structure of organic and inorganic compounds and large complex molecules such as proteins; to study the interaction between biological molecules and metal ions, water molecules, drug molecules, and other substances; to identify chemical species; and to study the rates of chemical reactions.

Throughout his life, Ernst had an extremely broad range of interests and commitments. From his early youth, chemistry and art enthralled him in equal measure. During a trip to Asia, he developed a great interest in Tibetan art - Thangka Paintings, which he went on to collect, study and restore. Although not a Buddhist himself, Ernst was a great admirer of Tibetan Buddhism and thus his interest in India. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, on the invitation of Prof Ernst, visited the ETH Zurich, as its guest in the year 2005. Ernst had a great interest for classical music. He was also concerned about the social issues and their context. He once said that he had never intended his research to be the exclusive reserve of the ivory tower of academia, but wanted it to be used in the development of meaningful and useful applications. He was considered a perfectionist. One of his recipes for success was that he put his all into everything he did, and did nothing by halves – anything else was a waste of time for him.

Ernst is credited with numerous inventions and holds several patents in the field. Besides the Nobel Prize, he has received many honors and awards, including honorary doctorates, the Marcel Benoist Prize (1986), the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1991), and the Louise Gross Horwitz Prize (1991) of Columbia University (New York City). In 2002, Ghana issued a stamp to honor him as Nobel laureate. It was truly an honour and privilege for us to host his lecture at the the Nehru Science Centre, and I am certain that of the 400 plus students who attended his lecture, there will be more than a couple who may have made a choice to be a chemist, inspired his lecture and interaction. I join countless other scientific fraternity across the globe in praying for the noble soul of Prof Richard Ernst to rest in peace, while the humanity continues to be benefitted for perpetuity with his invention, that paved the way for MRI.

RIP 

 Buddha Purnima, Super Moon, Lunar Eclipse  and a Blood Red Moon - 26th May 2021, View from Mumbai. 

Today - 26th May, 2021, is an auspicious occasion for all of us, since it happens to be the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Gautam Buddha. I take this opportunity to wish all my friends a very happy Buddha Purnima. This auspicious occasion of Buddha Purnima, as the very name suggests, falls on ‘Purnima’ or a full moon day and this year this Purnima is quite special. Today besides being a Purnima or a full moon it also happens to be the day when our Earths satellite - the moon, is at its closest distance to the earth and that is why this Purnima is also referred to as the Super Moon. Incidentally in some parts of the globe, we will also witness a total lunar eclipse today and that makes this day even more special, particularly for those sky watchers who will be in the path of the total lunar eclipse, since it will provide an outstanding celestial spectacle to watch and enjoy. Keeping in mind our commitment to you all our esteemed visitors, the Nehru Science Centre used this opportunity to live webcast - through our Facebook live programme, today’s Super-moon as seen from the terrace of the Nehru Science Centre, building. Despite the lockdown and so also this day being a holiday, four of our staff members including the Director reached the office in the evening and made arrangements for the telescope and other arrangements for webcasting the event live. Most unfortunately today was a bad day for the sky observation in Mumbai. The unending clouds that populated the eastern sky of Mumbai were relentless in ensuring the bright moon was completely covered under the darkness of the thick and unending movement of the sky. Fortunately, there were some moments when the clouds made way and we could some how manage to show our audience a glimpse of the Super Moon. 

We also managed to capture some good images of the Super Moon today, which is also referred to as the Flower Moon and Red Blood Moon. These images are shared here for your perusal. 

In the current times of the Covid pandemic, there is almost zero attention span - with dime a dozen TV channels and social media beaming non stop Covid content 24x7, seven days a week - for any other news other than the Covid, which is now in its second wave in India. The Covid fear and so also the unending fear mongering news about this pandemic, is not coming down any time soon. In fact even the Yaas cyclone, which made a land fall on the coast of Orissa with devastating effect - with huge loss of property and some lives, will soon be forgotten to the Covid fear. Under these circumstances I am not sure how many people will even know that today an extraordinary celestial spectacle got played out in the sky. The Full Moon that showed up today is also called as the Flower Moon. This name comes from the Native American names for full moons, the almanac of which was first published in the 1930s. According to the Maine Farmer's Almanac, the full moon that occurs in month of May is referred to as the Flower Moon, because of the spring season and the abundance of the flowers, that bloom during this season. There are also other names, which are given to the full moon that occurs in the month of May namely ; Full Corn Planting Moon as well as the Milk Moon. 

The Flower Moon or the Super Full Moon, which was witnessed today also was accompanied by the total,lunar eclipse. The Lunar eclipse, however was visible only in the region covering some parts of South America, North America, parts of Asia - Far East Asia, Australia, Antarctica, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. For all those who are in the path of the total lunar eclipse ( not for major part of India) the moon will have appeared slightly reddish orange in colour particularly during the eclipse time and therefore this moon is also called as the Red Blood Moon. In India, however, most parts of the country could not witness the total lunar eclipse since the eclipse occurred during the day time. The partial phase of the lunar eclipse in India began at 3.15 pm and ended at 6.23 pm, while the total phase began at 4.39 pm and ended at 4.58 pm. Some parts of the North East may be have managed to witness partial eclipse at the horizon, just after the sun set subject to the condition that the sky was clear.

The Lunar eclipse is one of those regular celestial spectacle, which happens because of a natural phenomenon of the ever changing positions of the Blue Planet Earth, Moon (that we have all romantcised, specially our Bollywood with scores of romantic songs composed on the moon) and our life giving Sun. The rotation, revolution and movement of these three celestial bodies resulted in the Super Moon today - 26th May, 2021, which was seen across many parts of the world including India and our amchi Mumbai. In some areas - as stated above, people must have witnessed the super-moon, a total lunar eclipse and a Red Blood moon. This moon, which was seen today, is also called the Flower moon in America. The accompanying photos to this article are the images of the moon, which I have taken today and in one or two images you will see the dark clouds which are trying to cover the moon. Today the Mumbai Sky was very cloudy and the moon and clouds were constantly playing hide and seek and whenever the moon came out of the clouds we managed to show it live to our audience. The images that accompany this article are taken from my mobile camera from the terrace of the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai. 

The most lucky sky watchers who fell in the path of totality of the moon and  where there were no clouds to eclipse the moon are lucky and they will have seen the Red Blood moon, Lunar eclipse and the Super moon, all in one package. The Red Blood moon, refers to the reddish or copper tint that the moon will be painted with. This happens when the moon passes through the Earth's shadow during the eclipse. When the Moon is completely covered by Earth’s shadow the moon will darkened but it doesn’t go completely black. Instead, the moon takes on a red color, which is why total lunar eclipses are sometimes called red or blood moons. As known to all of us, the Sunlight contains all colors of visible light - VIBGYOR, that we see in the rainbows. The particles of gas that make up Earth’s atmosphere are more likely to scatter blue wavelengths of light, while the Red wavelengths pass through. This is called Rayleigh scattering, and this is the reason why the sky is blue and sunrises and sunsets are often red. In the case of a lunar eclipse, red light can pass through the Earth’s atmosphere and is refracted – or bent – toward the Moon, while blue light is filtered out. This leaves the moon with a pale reddish hue during an eclipse and that is why the moon is appears Reddish and hence it is called the Blood Moon.

The Lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are so aligned that for a period of time, the full Moon passes through the shadow of Earth in space - Earth’s Umbra. Moon, the only natural satellite of our planet Earth, orbits around the Earth in an elliptical orbit and therefore the Moon sometimes comes closest to our Earth and at times remains farthest from the Earth. The closest point when the Moon comes towards the Earth is called the perigee, while the furthest point that the moon remains away from Earth is called the apogee. When a full moon falls on the perigee, the moon appears far bigger and brighter in the sky in comparison with other full Moons and therefore such a full moon is called as a ‘supermoon’. This phenomenon is not actually that rare as made out to be by the media. Just last month we had another Super Moon, which was called the Super Pink Moon. However the Super Moon that we witnessed today was slightly bigger than the Super Pink Moon , which we witnessed last month, since the perigee distance of todays moon was much more closer than last months moon. 

Super moon is a term that has only taken off in the past ten years. Back in March 2011, NASA published an article describing a “ a super full moon”. The precise time of Full Moon that month occurred 59 minutes before perigee, that is, the Moon’s closest approach to Earth as it travels along its elliptical orbit - a near perfect coincidence that happens only every 18 years or so. This must have seemed a worthwhile curiosity to report in 2011. However even today, ten years later, the Super Moon craze is yet to die down. For the records the so called Super Moon that we witnessed today is definitely not on the scale of Super moon that NASA reported in 2011.

Incidentally this year - 2021, people will be able to witness two lunar eclipses. The first eclipse - Chandra graham, occurred  today - May 26, 2021, while the second will take place on November 19, 2021. Today’s total lunar eclipse or blood moon was partially visible from eastern Asia, Australia, the Pacific Ocean, and much of the Americas. To witness a lunar eclipse, one has to be on the night side of the Earth, while the Moon passes through the shadow of the Earth, The best place to see todays eclipse was the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Australia, the East Coast of Asia and the West Coast of the Americas. For most people in India, todays moon was below the eastern horizon during the total lunar eclipse time and therefore we were not be able to view the total lunar eclipse and thus the blood Moon.

Once again wishing you all a very happy Buddha Purnima.Stay Safe Stay Home.

 Prof. Srikumar Banerjee : Scientist and Administrator Par Excellence - A Tribute.

This morning I woke up to a tragic message that was posted by Dr Jayaraman, Retired Nuclear Scientist BARC, in the National Centre for Science Communicators WhatsApp group. He posted the news of the sudden demise of Dr Sreekumar Banerjee, former Chairman Department of Atomic Energy and Secretary Atomic Energy Commission, Government of India. Dr Banerjee was an outstanding material science scientist and an equally outstanding administrator with an unparalleled simplicity, who headed the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and so also the Department of Atomic Energy. He was a pillar of strength for the NCSC, more particularly because he had majorly supported the Nehru Science Centre and NCSC in organising two recent mega conferences - a conference on recent trends in Nuclear Energy to commemorate the 80th birth anniversary of Dr R Chidambaram and another mega conference - Centenary Tribute conference to the father of space programs in India - Dr Vikram Sarabhai. These two conferences were organised jointly by the NCSC with the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai and the later one day conference was successfully organised at our Centre - Nehru Science Centre in 2019. Dr Sreekumar Banerjee, not only helped us with the financial support for the conference but he also delivered an outstanding lecture on the occasion. 

Just before this conference, the Nehru Science Centre was the venue for the mega opening of the Vigyan Samagam Exhibition, which was jointly organised by the DAE, DST and NCSM. Dr Banerjee was among several distinguished dignitaries who were present for the inaugural function of this extraordinary exhibition, which show cased seven frontiers of science and technology mega science projects in which India is a partner and most of these projects are supported and funded by DAE, of which Dr Sreekumar Banerjee was the head

The death of Dr Srikumar Banerjee, in a way is a travesty of justice. Dr Banerjee and his wife were affected by the Covid pandemic and were both admitted to the hospital in March this year. Just last month, my friend Pallav Bagla had conducted an interview with Dr Srikumar Banerjee and his wife on their experience of Covid and how they recovered from the Covid infection, which had forced them to be admitted in the hospital. Dr Banerji spoke in his inimitable style and credited the medical doctors and all other health workers at the hospital for his recovery and his interview was so motivational to most people who were so afraid of the Covid pandemic and so also it’s fear and the unending worries of fatalities. His personal experience of how, helped by Indian health workers, one can win over Covid was truly inspirational particularly in times of dime a dozen fear mongering information that has flooded the social media. Dr Banerjee and his wife had completely recovered from Covid and suddenly this news of his untimely death came as a shock to most people. Dr Banerjee suffered a massive heart attack early this morning at 3 AM on 23rd May, 2021, at the Fortis Hospital, where he was admitted. Unfortunately, he could not survive the heart attack and this news spread thick and fast and reached us around 7 AM.

The Nehru science Centre has been very fortunate to have hosted the lectures and interactions of most of the top notch nuclear scientists of the country including Dr Banerjee, particularly in the recent past. I am reminded of at least three recent programs at our Centre where Dr Banerjee not only supported our Centre but also delivered lectures and interacted with students. As recently as October 2019, Dr Banerjee was a pillar of strength and support for the Nehru science Centre and the NCSC who joined hands to organise the centenary conference in memory of Vikram Sarabhai. Such a massive conference and that too involving the best of scientists and administrators of the country and so also the famed daughter of Dr Sarabhai - Mallika Sarabhai, could never have been made possible without the patronage, mentoring and financial support of Dr Srikumar Banerjee, for whom we remain eternally grateful. 

Dr. Srikumar Banerjee, was born on April 25, 1946 and a precocious student that he was, Prof Banerjee joined the prestigious IIT Kharagpur for his BTech in Metallurgical Engineering, which he completed in 1967. In the same year he was selected for the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, which he joined in August 1967, as a Scientific Officer in the Metallurgy Division. Dr Banerjee subsequently completed his PhD from IIT, Kharagpur. Dr Banerjee has made significant contribution to phase transformation and structure-property correlations in titanium, zirconium and shape-memory alloys. His contributions to devitrification in zirconium base glasses have been highly creative. His work on irradiation-induced order-disorder transformation and phase separation in nickel-molybdenum alloys is considered to be highly original at BARC. Dr Banerjee went onto hold several important positions of research at the BARC with which he continued to be associated until his last. He became Head, Metallurgy Division, and the Associate Director, Materials Group. Dr Banerjee was recognised for his contributions and made the Director, BARC in 2004. During his tenure as the Director of BARC, he established an internationally recognized research group on Phase Transformation at BARC. As Director, BARC, he organised research in Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Design of Innovative Reactors, Applications of Radiation and Isotope Technology in Agriculture, Health Care, and Food Preservation and Industry. Dr Banerjee went on to become the Chairman, DAE and Secretary to the Atomic Energy Commission, Government of India. He was involved in both the nuclear programs of the DAE in 1974 and 1998. He was also a very passionate teacher, who has taught Physical Metallurgy, Materials Characterization and Mechanical Behaviour of Materials in the BARC Training School, and has supervised 10 scientists for the Ph D degree. 

His interest in education resulted in the development of the CBS, a DAE and Mumbai University joint project, which was founded among others by Prof Shrikumar Banerjee, Prof SM Chitre and others. Prof Banerjee has also held visiting positions at University of Sussex, Brighton, UK (1978-79), Max-Planck Institut for Metallforschung-Institute fur Physik, Stuttgart, Germany (1979-80), and University of Cincinnati, USA (1992), The Ohio State University, and Forschungszentrum, Juelich, Germany. True to his outstanding contributions, Dr Banerjee has won several coveted awards and recognitions and some of the important awards and recognition that he was won include ; INSA Young Scientist Medal (1976); National Metallurgists' Day award (1981); SS Bhatnagar Prize in Engg. Sciences (1989); Materials Research Society of India (MRSI) Medal (1990); GD Birla Gold Medal of the Indian Institute of Metals (1997); INSA Prize for Materials Science (2001); MRSI Superconductivity and Materials Science Prize (2003); Indian Nuclear Society Award (2003); MRSI Distinguished Materials Scientist of the Year Award (2008); Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT, Kharagpur (2005), and Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by the Burdwan University (2005). Dr Banerjee was also conferred with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India in the year 2005. He has also been recognised globally and some such recognitions which he received include Acta Metallurgica Outstanding Paper Award (1984) and Humboldt Research Prize (2004). 

Dr Banerjee is a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Banglaore, National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad, Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Maharashtra Academy of Sciences (MASc) and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS).

Last year the Covid Pandemic also took away another great Nuclear Scientist, Dr Sekhar Basu, who succumbed to the Covid Pandemic in September 2020 and now we have lost Dr Sreekumar Banerjee. In his demise India has lost a great son who along with his colleague scientists at BARC and DAE have helped the nation to pride itself in technological excellence including the nuclear deterrence that we now posses that has made the world to look at us in equal measures with those of the developed nations. 

I join the grieving scientific community in expressing our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family of Dr Banerjee and praying for his noble soul to rest in eternal peace in the heavenly abode, which will now be home to Prof. Banerjee.

Om Shanti.

 Tribute to Soli Sorabjee - Quintessential Parsee and a Legal Luminary with Diverse interests.

Images : courtesy Wiki and Dr Pheroza Godrej.

The Covid 19 infection  has taken away  life of the nonagenarian legal luminary - Padma Vibhushan, Soli Sorabjee, who has left behind a constitutional legal legacy that will be remembered for generations to come. Providentially he died in a private hospital in south Delhi, on Friday, 30th April, the International Day of Jazz, a western music of which, Sorabjee was a great connoisseur. The tragic news of the demise of Soli Sorabjee was soon followed by a series of flowing tributes that came in thick and fast on tweeter and other social media platforms and so also in the main stream media. The Honourable President of India - Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji tweeted ‘In passing of Soli Sorabjee, we lost an icon of India’s legal system. He was among select few who deeply influenced the evolution of the constitutional law and justice system. Awarded with Padma Vibhushan, he was among most eminent jurists. Condolences to his family and associates”. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi Ji, joined the President and wrote his tribute on Twitter: “Shri Soli Sorabjee was an outstanding lawyer and intellectual. Through law, he was at the forefront of helping the poor and downtrodden. He will be remembered for his noteworthy tenures as India’s Attorney General. Saddened by his demise. Condolences to his family and admirers.” The Chief Justice of India - Shri NV Ramana, was joined by his fellow Judges of the Supreme Court - Justices Surya Kant and AS Bopanna, in paying their homage to Sorabjee just before the start of the day’s court proceedings via video conference, where they said, “It’s a very sad news that human rights fighter Soli has passed away this morning. We pray for the gentle soul.” Political leaders - cutting across party lines, legal luminaries, businessmen and innumerable others joined in to pay their homage to Soli Sorabjee. I join them all in paying my humble respect and tribute to Soli Sorabjee. 

Soli Sorabjee was one among many Parsi community leaders who have continued that great tradition of contributing to the city of Mumbai, which is known for its vibrant economic and cultural richness and even more vibrancy in its diversity. Sorabjee’s contributions to the legal fraternity in India is quintessentially as profound as other major contributions and the legacy of the Parsee community to India in general and Mumbai in particular. The contributions of Parsee community have been beautifully evidenced and succinctly summed up in the words of the father of the nation - Mahatma Gandhi ji, who said ; “It is one of the supreme wonders of God that, though the Parsee community does not number more than a hundred thousand in the whole world, it has made a name for itself everywhere by virtue of its many illustrious qualities. It can be said that it is this community, which holds power in India. Bombay is the real capital of India, it owes its prosperity mainly to the Parsees.” Soli Sorabjee embodied the saying of the Mahatma and his legacy will be ever remembered. 

As pointed out by the Mahatma, it is the contributions of the Parsees, among others, that makes the city of Mumbai very special. One such institution among many others, which embody the artistic and cultural vibrancy of the city of Mumbai that also owes its genesis to a great Parsee - Cowasjee Jehangir,  is the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA, Mumbai) an institution of international repute that functions under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. I was quite fortunate to have headed this institution - NGMA, Mumbai, from February 2013-October 2018. During this tenure, I also had an honour to  share the platform with Soli Sorabjee on one occasion when he along with Dr Farukh Udwadia and Cyrus Poonawala were invited for the opening of two exhibitions ‘ACROSS OCEANS & FLOWING SILKS: FROM CANTON TO BOMBAY 18th – 20th CENTURIES” and ‘NO PARSI IS AN ISLAND’ at NGMA, Mumbai. The former exhibition was curated by Dr Pheroza Godrej, who incidentally was also the Chairperson of NGMA, Mumbai and the later by Ranjit Hoskote and Nancy Adajania. These exhibitions were inaugurated on 26th December, 2013 at NGMA Mumbai and I had the honour to be holding the additional charge as the Director of NGMA Mumbai  when these two monumental exhibitions were presented. These two exhibitions coincided with the 10th World Zoroastrian Congress, which opened in Mumbai on 27th December, 2013.

It was therefore no wonder that both the two exhibitions at NGMA Mumbai, received an overwhelming response from visitors - particularly Parsees, who thronged every nook and corner of the NGMA premises during the opening ceremony, which was addressed by Soli Sorabjee, and so also all through the Zoroastrian Congress meet in Mumbai. The inaugural address by the two distinguished Parsee luminaries - Dr Farukh Udwadia and Soli Sorabjee, in a way not only paved the way for the success of the NGMA exhibition but also set the ball rolling for the 27th World Zoroastrian Congress, which brought together Parsis from across the world to Mumbai to discuss culture and the issues that Parsee community faces. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the two exhibitions at NGMA, Dr Farukh Udwadia articulated his thoughts on the historical circumstances under which the Parsee community had to endear religious persecution from the Islamic invasion that led to the Parsees fleeing from their Persian land to the unknown territory in the Gujrat coast in India and how the community has, ever since, mixed and mingled so very well with the Indian community. Dr Udwadia also spoke on the genesis of how the pastoral city of Bombay (Mumbai now) was converted into the modern vibrant city, courtesy the Parsees and other leaders who helped build ships and crossed seas to trade with the Chinese, primarily the Opium trade. It was the reference to the Opium trade and so also the theme of the exhibition that enticed Soli Sorabjee to regale his audience with unending episodes of laughter during his inaugural speech. Soli Sorabjee said that Farookh Udwadia’s romanticism of the Opium trade and how it helped the Parsee community to grow wealthy has tempted him to kind of a try tasting Opium and that if he gets addicted to it, like the Chineses, who better to bring him out of the Opium addiction than his fellow Parsee Doctor, Farukh Udwadia - the best Doctor in Mumbai. 

Soli Sorabjee opened his speech by saying that the Parsees as a community in India are ‘contemptible in their low numbers, magnificent in their achievement’. He cited reference of some of the greatest Parsees who contributed to India and to the city of Mumbai. It was a pleasant surprise for me that he first took the name of Homi Bhabha - the scientist, and narrated his monumental contributions in starting the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, which laid the foundations for the Atomic Research in India. He cited several other examples of the multitudes of Parsees and their contributions in diverse fields from shipping ( the Wadias ), business - Tata’s, Godrej and others, Judiciary, Jurist - Dinshah Fardunji Mulla and Karl Khandelwal, Aviation - Aspy Engineer, who won the Aga Khan Cup defeating another Parsi Aviation aficionado - JRD Tata. He highlighted that all the three Engineer brothers - Minor, Aspy and Ronnie,  served the Indian Airforce. Aspy Engineer went on to be the Chief of the IAF and then during his term as MD of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - HAL, the indigenously designed Marut aircraft took to air. He spoke about other Parsees namely ; Admiral Jal Cursetji, who is remembered as the Chief of Naval Staff in whose tenure the Coast Guard was formed and the Navy took over the responsibility of maritime air reconnaissance. Sorabjee also spoke about the sense of humour that the Parsees have which he embodies. He spoke about Field Marshal Manekshah and the great musician Zubin Mehta. He did not forget to mention the names of the Parsee couple known for their Jazz - Chris Perry and Lorna Cordeiro. Speaking of Jazz, he turned to the lady who introduced him and said ‘ you have told many good things about me while introducing me for which I am very happy and grateful but you missed one of the  most important thing - I am the President of the Capital Jazz, The Jazz India Delhi Chapter. The glow on his face when he spoke about Jazz was emblematic of his love for this western music. It is therefore definitely a providential coincidence that he died on the International Day of Jazz. Sorabjee’s speech was laced with unending humour, which meant that there were spells of laughter all around in the audience all through his inaugural speech. This made the opening ceremony of the exhibition one of the most memorable that I have been a part of and this will remain etched in my memory. Sorabjee even said that Napoleons Cook was a Parsee. He added - tongue in cheek,  May be the British intelligence planted him in the Napoleons army.

Soli Sorabjee was born on 9th March 1930,  in the city of Bombay (Mumbai now) and did his schooling and subsequently joined for his college at St Xavier College, Mumbai. He then completed his Law at the Government Law college in Mumbai in 1952 and was then admitted to the Bar at the Bombay High Court in 1953. Among the several cases for which Sorabjee will be remembered one of them is his association with Nani Palkhivala, who he assisted, in the landmark Keshavananda Bharati case, which was adjudicated by a 13 member bench. In 1971, Sorabjee was designated a senior advocate in the Supreme Court. He subsequently served as the Solicitor General of India from 1977 to 1980

In his seven decades long innings at the Bar, Sorabjee has appeared in several cases, particularly the civil liberties cases. He is famously known for the S R Bommai, former Chief Minister of Karnataka, case which sets out the primacy of the federal structure of our democracy. It was in the year 1994 that Sorabjee argued for SR Bommai against the Union of India against the proclamation of President’s rule. Until then it was generally believed that the office of the Governor of the state - Karnataka, enjoys special protection under the Constitution. This meant that there will be likelihood of the misuse of the office of the Governor of a state by the Centre for proclamation of the Governors rule. This is exactly what had happened with Mr Bommai and Sorabjee won this historic case for his client and thus began a new era of the office of the Governor coming under the subject of judicial review, despite the protection that the office of the Governor enjoys under the constitution. The Bommai case continues to be the guiding factor and is still the operative law for scrutinising actions of Governors. In the Bhopal Gas Tragedy case, which resulted in the loss of many innocent lives, Sorabjee represented the victims, leading the criminal prosecution against Union Carbide which had engaged a battery of stalwart legal,luminaries which included Nani Palkhiwala, Fali Nariman, Anil Divan. Sorabjee successfully defended the gas victims before the 1989 settlement was reached under the Supreme Court’s supervision, clinching a substantial compensation of $470 million.  It must be remembered that Sorabjee too was approached by the Union Carbide Corporation Company to appear on their behalf, which he rejected out rightly. 

Sorabjee’s conviction for protection of the human rights were visible in most cases, which he passionately fought in the courts of law. He also represented the 1984 Sikh riots victims in the Court and that too for free. However, as Attorney General, Sorabjee came in for huge criticism for advising the NDA government not to pursue the extradition of Warren Anderson, which he firmly believed would be a long and arduous protracted legal problem, which the Government would find it too difficult to follow. In another case involving Ms. Maneka Gandhi against the Union of India — known as the passport impounding case — Sorabjee, despite appearing for the government, defended the petitioner’s right to be heard. The court in this case held that ‘due process is substantive and not merely procedural when it comes to personal liberty’.

There is one case which Sorabjee fought and won for the Government, which I have personally referred while dealing with a similar case in our office. This case relates to one of our employee who was a probationer and was completely found to be wanting and therefore his continuance would serve no purpose to the office. However our administration was of the opinion that the probationer must be served with warnings and memorandum, bringing to his notice his drawbacks. Having read a similar case which Sorabjee defended for the Government, I was convinced that Sorabjee’s argument that a probationer has no right of hearing and principles of natural justice do not apply to his termination unless there is some allegation of inefficiency or laziness, I was not inclined to take the advice of our administration much to the consternation of my head quarters. The argument of Sorabjee had appealed to the judge who came down on the probationer’s advocate and asked him if the authorities had called his client a ‘lazy fellow’.

Sorabjee will be remembered for his work on human rights globally. In recognition of his achievements to fight for the civil liberties and human rights, in the year 1997, Sorabjee was appointed by the United Nations as a Special Rapporteur for Nigeria to report on the human rights conditions in that country. Sorabjee also served as the chairman of the UN sub-committee on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights during the period 1998-2004. Soli Sorabjee has the distinction of serving as the Attorney General for India on two occasions – first for a brief period from 1989 to 1990 and again from 1998 to 2004. 

Sorabjee was very found of Atalji, and said that his personality and popularity transcended borders. In one of his innumerable news paper articles that Sorabjee wrote, he recalls that he had several interactions with Atal Ji the Prime Minister. One such occasion was when Atal Ji wanted Sorabjee’s view on J Jayalalithaa’s persistent pressure on him to impose President’s Rule in Tamil Nadu or issue directions against M  Karunanidhi. Sorabjee advised Atal Ji that such action would be legally untenable. Sorabjee came to the rescue of the government as a gallant attorney general on several occasions. The famous BALCO case is another example of Sorabjee’s legal brilliance, where he was pitted against some of the best legal luminaries in the country, yet he won the case for the government. The case involved an important question of judicial intervention in executive decisions or action. The case was argued for about two weeks and there was a battery of senior counsel challenging the government’s action. Sorabjee represented the Government of India in the Supreme Court and successfully repelled the legal challenge. So pleased was the Prime Minister - Atal Vajpayee Ji, who was actually on an official tour to Japan, that he called up from Japan to congratulate and thank Sorabjee for winning the case for the government. In one of his articles Sorabjee speaks of this incident and says “ I am not aware of any prime minister phoning his law officer from abroad to congratulate him for winning a case for the government”. Sorabjee has shared several such anecdotal experiences that he had in his legal career and one such incident is his experience of getting counselled by Shri Morarji Desai - the Prime Minister, to quit his alcohol habits, which unfortunately Sorabjee could not abide.

Sorabjee continued to be a member of the United Nations Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities since 1998. He also served as member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague from 2000 to 2006. Sorabjee will ever be remembered as a champion of freedom of speech and expression. Whenever there were cases, which pertained to defending of the freedom of press, Sorabjee was always there to fight for such cases and he had been involved in many landmark cases in the Supreme Court of India and has also been successful in revoking censorship orders and bans on publications. It is for his extraordinary service for his defense of freedom of speech and the protection of human rights that Sorabjee was honored with the second most prominent civilian award of the country - Padma Vibhushan award, which was conferred on him in March, 2002.

Sorabjee was also known for his plain speak, even if that was at divergence with the thoughts of his close friends. One such incident is his forthright support to the CJI and other Supreme Court Judges during a time when it had become quite fashionable to level baseless allegations against the CJI. He said “ If we do not trust judges of the Supreme Court, then God save the country. We must put a lid upon the unfortunate controversy and save the institution, the office of the Chief Justice of India, from further damage”. He added in one of his articles “It is unfortunate that some, at lavish dinner parties, are raising fingers for untenable reasons against the three judges of the Supreme Court who gave the report, without understanding the genesis and purpose of the in-house procedure. More unfortunate is my good friend Karan Thapar’s conclusion that it is a sad day for the judiciary. Let me remind him that the in-house procedure is published on the website of the Supreme Court has stood the test of time”.

Sorabjee had other interests too and prime among them was his unending love for Jazz. He was truly a great aficionado of Jazz and played the Clarinet quite well. His vast collections of the Jazz in various formats were a treat for all Jazz lovers, which his neighbour in Delhi, Shri Abhishek Singhvi has written in his obituary note that was published in the Times of India yesterday. Sorabjee recalls that when he met the US President in the Rashtrapati Bhavan - when he was the attorney general of India, Sorabjee spoke to Bill Clinton about jazz musician, Lester Young, who was nicknamed the “President”. Clinton was pleasantly surprised that an Indian attorney general was familiar with an American musician, whose nickname was President. Sorabjee has mentioned that Jazz was his first love and that he loved playing his Clarinet, which he stopped playing because of his breathing problems. Sorabjee was one of the prime organisers of the annual Jazz Yatra, a week-long music festival, which was held every year from 1978 to 2003. Sorabjee believed that jazz deeply influenced the way he practised the law. Sorabjee has said that Jazz helped him improvise, as the situation demanded in court. He was very found of Rudy Cotton and Chic Choclate, exponents of Jazz and he firmly believed that there should be a memorial concert for them which he organised. 

With the passing away of Soli Sorabjee a legal era has ended. However his legacy of freedom will live on in India and Sorabjee will ever be remembered.

Rest in peace Soli Sorabjee.