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Vadodara varsity on cloud nine

Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD: The Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara is one happy place. One of its products, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, popularly known as Venki, was declared the co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

“We knew one day he would win a Nobel,” said an elated Nandlal Singh, a physics professor.

The students and teachers in the university were highly impressed by Dr. Ramakrishnan’s ideas when he visited his alma mater to deliver a lecture on “Biophysical Approaches in Deciphering Spectre of Biological Macro-Molecules and Macro-Molecular Complexes” on January 31, 2005.

Hailing from Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Ramakrishnan was brought up in Gujarat’s Vadodara. Here, he attended Rosary School before graduating in Physics in 1971. He shifted to the United States for further studies, recalls retired nuclear physics professor J.S. Bandukwala.

Dr. Ramakrishnan’s father was a professor in the science faculty at MSU, while mother Rajlaxmi, a “pioneer” in child nutrition, was professor in the home science and later the bio-chemistry departments.

“Both Venki and his sister, Lalitha, who is a researcher in medicine in the U.S., still look after the family of a lady in Vadodara who had taken care of them in their childhood,” Prof. Bandukwala said.

Dr. Ramakrishnan also sends money every year to Prof. Bandukwala for the education of some poor Muslim girls to ensure their studies were not affected by poverty.

“It is not just sending money, he would also periodically enquire about their academic progress in various subjects, particularly in science, mathematics and English. This shows the kind of concern he has for poor people,” he said.

Dr. Ramakrishnan was equally concerned when Vadodara was hit by the 2002 communal riots in which, Prof. Bandukwala’s house was ravaged by hooligans.

However, marring the happy mood is the bitter feeling about the way the university treated Dr. Ramakrishnan’s father. Both his parents retired in 1985 and left for the U.S., where his mother died a few years later. His father is living in Seattle, Washington.

Just before retirement, the university launched an inquiry against Dr. Ramakrishnan’s father for alleged misappropriation of funds. Later, he was found innocent, but “will the scars go away easily,” Prof. Bandukwala asked. “This is also an example how we treat our scientists,” he said, recalling that Dr. Ramakrishnan’s father was not even given a farewell when he retired.

Music and spirituality

Though a family of scientists, they were involved in music and spirituality as well. “They were close to the last Kanchi Shankaracharya and to Carnatic music maestro M.S. Subbulakshmi,” Prof. Bandukwala said.

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