Hard to Believe Chinna is no more with us!
It is hard to reconcile with the fact that “Chinna Baba” as he was affectionately called by this name by his parents, brothers, sisters as well as those who saw him grow up from a baby has left this world. I am sure he has joined the Mighty Lord in the Heavenly Abode.
Chinna was a voracious reader, having completed the Arabian Nights at a very tender age of eight years and was in a position to transcribe it ‘verbatim’ parts if not all of it. The price he paid for such reading habits was coming with ‘jaundice’.
From very young age Chinna was a very generous person. During the Great Bengal Famine of 1943 he asked my mother to send his entire pocket money collection to Bengal Governor Wavell’s Bengal Relief Fund!
When I borrowed from Besant Theosophical Society School at Rajghat , Banaras for the summer holiday of 1945 one hundred library books from the Swiss librarian Thompson I must have read no more than ten of them where as my sister Parvathi and Chinna read almost all of the books that included classics such as Dumas, Dickens, Jane-Eyre, Tennyson and Shakespeare. Indeed such voracious reading cost him eye sight and bulging lenses.
Chinna excelled not merely in his reading but also in competitive public examinations. Even as a ‘home school student’ he stood University First in the entire School Final Examinations of Banaras Hindu University with Distinctions in Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry and perhaps in Sanskrit (I am not sure of this though he may have got nearly 75% ). His scholastic brilliance continued with University 3rd in Inter Science and getting the coveted CHANCELLOR’S GOLD MEDAL in Banaras Hindu University. This medal is given to a candidate who gets the highest percentage of marks in ALL OF THE MASTER’S EXAMINATIONS CONDUCTED BY BHU IN THAT YEAR that include all disciplines such Sciences, Arts, Engineering, Pharmacy Law etc. He was the first Telugu speaking student to achieve this honor!
Chinna’s scholastic endeavors took him to Columbia University and later to John Hopkins where he earned his Doctorate of Science degree. My research of his publications indicated he has 4,400 publications (listed in Google), may be several were mimeographed publications, even so it is a phenomenal number!
Our prayers are for HIS SOUL TO REST IN PEACE.
Loving brother – Pedda baba (June 21, 09)