(** based on my recollections, so some inaccuracies in dates, places and names may exist!)
Born on March 8, 1934, in the princely state of Hyderabad, and given his birth name by a Hindu spiritual leader, he was throughout his life - in most people's opinion and in just a couple of words simply - a ‘nice guy’.
The youngest in a family of five, he lost his mother as a child. He went to school and grew up in Hyderabad in the company of academics, poets such as Harindranath Chattopadhyay and went to school with prolific film director, Shyam Benegal. These associations likely inculcated in him a flair for poetry (funny ones in particular), on-demand jokes and riddles, and stage performances - especially magic shows..
He studied at an Urdu-medium school and developed his passion for magic from the visiting street magicians passing by his family home. Learning from them and spending his pocket money to buy some magic items, he actively organized neighborhood shows during festivals and events. His father was a renowned professor of mathematics at the Nizam’s college in Hyderabad, and this inspired him to pursue a Master’s degree in Physics after which he taught briefly at the Regional Engineering College in Warangal. Involvement in education would become a lifelong passion for him and he referred to himself as 'professor'.
In 1956 with the reorganization of the Indian states along linguistic lines, the state of Hyderabad was split into Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka. Around this time his eldest brother moved to Maharashtra and soon after he followed. With independent India aspiring to become self-reliant in nuclear science and technology and the creation of the Atomic Energy Establishment in Trombay led by Dr. Homi Bhabha, he joined this establishment as part of the first batch of scientist trainees. Getting married around the same time, he moved to ‘Bombay’.
In 1966, he was to be nominated for a key scientific exchange mission to Vienna on Dr. Bhabha’s own recommendation. This opportunity never materialized with Dr. Bhabha’s tragic airline accident in Europe that also left the nuclear establishment without a leader. In 1969, he spent a year away from his family as a researcher at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, New York, but subsequent opportunities were cut short when the US halted research ties with India after the Pokhran nuclear test in 1971. He continued his research at BARC with one of the research reactors achieving criticality and inspiring him to pursue and complete his Ph.D. thesis quite late in his career.
Residing in Anushakti Nagar, the serene residential quarters of BARC, complete with lush greenery, hills and ponds, which had several young scientists and their families, he took the lead to facilitate picnics, treks, sports meets, annual day celebrations and more. He remained a key force in ensuring that scientists’ children got quality education and was an active volunteer in the management of the AECS schools which saw its golden years with a highly motivated group of teachers, educators and parents focused on all-round development of children. He led the preparation of students for the government sponsored National Talent Search scholarships that provided funding for the higher education of several BARC students.
At a personal level, he played tennis regularly, and could be seen on to the tennis courts at the brink of dawn. He rarely missed his game day, and even in monsoons he could be seen with his band of tennis-maniacs, mopping the courts to catch a quick game before it poured again! The one day he stayed away from the courts was in 1984, when Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated and it was his way of mourning the event.
He helped innumerable people on a variety of issues. He campaigned hard to get employment for the son of a lower-job-grade BARC employee after that employee’s death, lobbied for a bhelpuri seller to get a license to sell his products in the colony and to begin a small operation which has now grown to a much larger establishment, and personally attested numerous job and immigration applications including one for a cook who was visiting the US for employment and thereafter moved his entire family over to the US. Every Holi, he would be at the hasya kavi sammelan, a festival of funny poems. No wedding, birthday or even a scientific convention was complete without his magic show performance featuring playing cards that diminished in size and eventually vanished, the currency machine that converted blank paper into money, the cut rope that would be magically restored, and his popular and challenging memory feat to recall twenty words in the exact order after being read out to him twice. Trips he and the family took for weddings and other ceremonies invariably had one suitcase full of magic trick equipment.
Post-retirement life outside of the BARC residential quarters seemed to affect him negatively. He missed his tennis and his friends, his involvement in education activities, which he could not easily pursue. He visited his children in the US frequently and enjoyed traveling and browsing through magic and tennis books and videos from the public libraries. He suffered through trying times due to MSA (multiple system atrophy), which led to the degeneration of his cognitive skills and physical abilities over a period of time. He did not like being dependent on others, especially my mother who took great care of him, but he always continued his routine of helping with household chores such as the laundry, repairing electronic items, and getting the groceries. He enjoyed viewing tennis matches on television and always rooted for no player in particular, but for the match to go to five sets so that everyone got to view a longer and more interesting duel!
When I speak to people about my dad, the common theme that comes out is how he helped them in some manner or the other and what a 'nice guy' he was throughout his eventful life.
(He left us in 2007 after a prolonged neurological illness.)
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