Well,
The first time I heard of Dr Raghunath Anant Mashelkar was when I was in XIth.
Ms Geeta Shastry, our professor who was the convener of science-forum, called me and two other boys and said, “You are to attend the session of Goa Science Congress to be held at Margao and prepare to report of it." We protested since it meant 'spoiling’ our entire Sunday and missing out on our weekly cricket match. "No way”, she said,''People like Dr Mashelkar, Dr Gowarikar and Dr Swaminathan would be coming, and you don’t get such chance often."
We made plans to attend the seminar for half an hour and then to skip out to Colva beach, barely 10 km away and have some fun. However, once into the seminar, we got so captivated that not only we sit till the end but also came back full of inspiration. That was the first time I saw Dr Mashelkar.
Over the years, I have followed his career closely and never missed an opportunity to listen to his speeches. They are full of optimism for our country, our people. And they are not empty bubbles, mind you. They are backed by his impeccable credentials. He speaks from the heart, with hard data strewn in between.
This man has come up literally from dust... Born on the 1st January 1943, in Marcel (Goa), he went barefoot till SSC, worried about Rs 20/- to pay exam dues, studied under street-lights...and yet excelled in education, ranking 11th in Merit list in HSSC. After completing one of the fastest Ph.D.’s in chemical engineering, he gave up a promising career in the UK to return to India at the behest of the then PM Indira Gandhi.
He joined the prestigious National Chemical Laboratory in Pune, subsequently becoming its Director. Currently, he is the Director-General of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), which runs about 40-odd laboratories of national significance and is one of the largest chain of public sector laboratories anywhere in the world.
Dr. Mashelkar has made outstanding original contributions to polymer engineering, notably in the modeling of polymerization reactors, diffusion in polymeric media, transport studies in swelling polymers as well as non-Newtonian flows. In particular, his engineering analysis of secondary flows and particle motion/deformation are considered both innovative and pragmatically important.
Dr. Mashelkar has been the recipient of many prestigious awards from the Government and corporate sectors from India and abroad as well. He is the 36th Indian scientist and 3rd Indian engineer to have been conferred the honour of Fellow of Royal Society (FRS).
In a moment of immature impulsiveness, I once to wrote to Dr Mashelkar, putting forward some of my ideas and suggestions. The moment I posted it, I was horrified and wanted to take it back.About a month later, I got a reply...a handwritten letter from Dr Mashelkar himself! He said he agreed with many of my views and had accepted some of the suggestions.It was a very handsome gesture on the part of a technocrat who must be very busy.
A few days ago, while searching on the internet for some info about Indian scientists, I came across the complete CV of Dr Mashelkar. It runs into about 40 pages…He has 235 research publications, 20 books and 30 patents to his credit ( as on 25-12-2005).
Reading the biodata of Dr Mashelkar makes one wonder how a single man could do so many things in one life time… and it inspires us to give our best.
Yours,
-Gautam.
