Dr. Abdul Kalam
on Dr. C. V. Raman
Well, while Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the President of India, then, was here with us at
Madras Christian College in February 2007, he fervently exhorted the student community to have the courage and the guts to dream big!
And with just around
a week to go for yet another graduation ceremony at MCC, me thought of putting
down a lovely anecdote that Dr. Kalam shared with us all at the graduation
ceremony here at MCC in February 2007, on the legendary scientist of our times,
Sir. C. V. Raman!
Since I am in the
midst students, I thought of sharing with you an incident about Sir CV Raman – a
Nobel Laureate in Physics for discovering Raman Effect. Raman gives the view
that the color of sky is blue due to molecular diffraction which determines the
observed luminosity and in great measures also its color. This led to the birth
of the Raman Effect.
Raman was in the
first batch of Bharat Ratna Award winners. The award ceremony was to take place
in the last week of January, soon after the Republic Day celebrations of 1954.
The then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad wrote to Raman inviting him to be the
personal guest in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, when Raman came to Delhi for the
award ceremony. Sir CV Raman wrote a polite letter, regretting his inability to
go.
Raman had a noble
reason for his inability to attend the investiture ceremony. He explained to
the President that he was guiding a Ph.D. student and that thesis was
positively due by the last day of January. The student was valiantly trying to
wrap it all up and Raman felt, he had to be by the side of the research
student, see that the thesis was finished, sign the thesis as the guide and
then have it submitted.
Here was a
scientist who gave up the pomp of a glittering ceremony associated with the
highest honour, because he felt that his duty required him to be by the side of
the student. It is this unique trait of giving value to science that builds
science.
How beautiful,
ain’t it? A Scientist who gave up the pomp of a glittering ceremony because
duty called him!
Well, looking at
it from yet another lovelier perspective, Dr. C. V. Raman was indeed giving wings
to his student! He wanted to make his students fly! To this end, he wanted to
stay back to help his student get his wings! How noble a task! How noble a
mission!
And that’s what a
teacher is for! Ain’t it? To help their students get wings! ‘Wings of Fire’, as
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam would call them!
Well, I am so
tempted to quote from Dr. Kalam’s book titled, Ignited Minds, where yet again, he shares more thoughts on Sir. C.
V. Raman.
Says Dr. Kalam -
Sir C. V. Raman
started his career in the Office of the Accountant General, Calcutta. But the
scientist in him would not let him rest and he was always probing for answers
to some of the problems that interested him. Fortunately, he was supported by
the great educationist Ashutosh Mukherjee, who encouraged Sir C. V. Raman to
pursue his research. It is noteworthy that the Raman Effect, the discovery of
which brought him the Nobel Prize, did not come out of a grand establishment
set up at vast expense. I believe the urge to show to the world the excellence
of Indian minds would have been a major motivating factor for Sir C. V. Raman.
Here I would like
to quote Sir C. V. Raman, who said in 1969 while addressing young graduates, ‘I
would like to tell the young men and women before me not to lose hope and
courage. Success can only come to you by courageous devotion to the task lying
in front of you. I can assert without fear of contradiction that the quality of
the Indian mind is equal to the quality of any Teutonic, Nordic or Anglo-Saxon
mind.
What we lack is perhaps courage, what we lack is perhaps driving force,
which takes one anywhere. We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex. I
think what is needed in India today is the destruction of that defeatist
spirit.
We need a spirit of victory, a spirit that will carry us to our rightful
place under the sun, a spirit which can recognize that we, as inheritors of a
proud civilization, are entitled to our rightful place on this planet. If that indomitable
spirit were to arise nothing can hold us from achieving our rightful destiny.’
Well, I
personally feel that, The ‘Raman Effect’, then, goes beyond science both
literally and figuratively. And yes! This noble ‘Raman Effect’ would sure be
felt by generations and generations of teachers and students in the years to
come!
Such is his
nobility! Such his commitment! Such his vision!
To be continued…
image: hindipandadotcom, abdulkalamdotnicdotin
The entire text of Dr. Kalam's Speech at MCC can be accessed in our past blog post HERE.
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