It was a formal
meeting in the seminar hall of the School of Chemical Sciences on
January 26 this year. It’s one of the rarest functions in the
Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.
Yes, it was to
felicitate the 25th anniversary of Prof. Sabu Thomas as a
successful researcher, organized by his Alumni. He has guided 62
Ph.D. students till date. In addition to all the laurels, this year
he received the MRSI (Material Research Society of India) medal and
CRSI (Chemical Research Society of India) bronze medal. The
honourable Vice chancellor, Prof A. V. George, honoured Sabu sir with a Ponnaada and memento to celebrate the occasion.
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| Behind every successful man... |
Starting from
CUSAT...
Sabu sir started
talking about his B.Tech. life in the Cochin University. He said he
still refers to the lecture notes dictated by George sir and Rany
teacher. He talked about his first job in a company and recollected
his life in the IIT, Kharagpur while doing Ph.D. with Prof. S. K. De.
He described how he started his teaching life in the M. G.
University. And he talked about his career experience and enlightened
us the need for hard work and dedication to be a successful
scientist.
Prof. Kuruvilla
welcomed the gathering. Prof. M. Padmanabhan, former director of SCS,
delivered the presidential address. He said that Prof. Thomas was one
of the very active teachers in the department. Prof K. E. George,
Mr. M. R. Unni, Registrar of M. G. University, Dr. Nandakumar
Kalarikkal and Dr. Siby Varghese, felicitated Sabu sir. At the end
of the formal meeting, Prof. Unnikrishnan G. extended gratitude to
everyone. Dr. Beena Mathew and Dr. Mahesh were
also present in the function. The inaugural function was followed by
a talk on polymer nanocomposites by Prof. Rany Joseph. All the support was
rendered by the current researchers Hanna Maria, Deepa Lakshmi, Anu
Treesa, Lakshmi Priya, Cinthil, Sharika, Jiji, Anju Augustine,
Jithin, Shainu, Runcy, Martin, Stanly and others.
I’m sorry that I
can’t give you an exact replica of what people said during the
speeches and discussion. A word-to-word reporting will be boring and
in fact it is not the intention of this write-up. Anyway, it was all
about Sabu sir; his sincerity, research interest, hard work, positive
attitude, and so on. All the speeches, starting from welcome to the
vote of thanks were actually the recollection of their memories
associated with Sabu sir. Do you really want to know what is
happening during the alumni meet? Then attend the next meet.
They make me sign
and then stamp it themselves..
The Registrar was so
jovial throughout his speech. He said..…If I reject a request, and
if anyone dares to approach me further on that file, naturally he’ll
be furious and will argue with me. Normally I’ll not change the
opinion that I’ve already made. But if it’s Sabu sir’s file,
he’ll be there in my office with his popular smile. He’ll talk
to me, and finally I’ll write “yes” on his file. Nowadays Dr.
Nandakumar also accompanies him; another smiling face. They’ll talk
to me and will melt my anger. I’ll sign the paper; they’ll stamp
it themselves and will leave the office. So now when I see them at my
office, I sign their paper immediately, because I know, anyway
finally I’m going to sign their paper. Then why should I waste
time?….
Sharing
memories
We gathered again
after the lunch for an informal meeting. Everyone shared their
experiences during the research and discussed how the research life
influenced their later life; both academic and personal. Of course,
every memory was linked to Sabu sir in one way or the other. Dr. Anne
talked at the end. Christy was a silent spectator throughout the
entire event. Hope next time, Christy and Martin will tell us their
opinion about a workaholic father. And I remember no one invited Sabu
sir to make his remarks. Don’t know why…
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| With his popular smile... |
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| Sweet memories... |
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| No food, what to do? |
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| See, how pretty she was... |
