Unassuming raja

THE TRIBUNE
Friday, February 3, 2006, Chandigarh, India

Unassuming Raja
by K.S. Parthasarathy

DURING the seventies, there was only one BEST bus service connecting Dadar to Trombay where the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is located. It was less frequent. In the morning, if one missed BARC staff bus starting from Dadar, one had to wait a while to reach BARC.

Mr Puri (name changed) missed the bus that day. He had just joined BARC as a Scientific Assistant. He wanted to go to Trombay urgently. Taxi service was too expensive. Also, he did not have enough cash with him that day. He eagerly waited at the main junction, hoping to get a lift.

Shortly, he saw a car with the BARC name plate coming from a distance. He frantically waved his hand, virtually jumping before it. The driver ignored him. But after a few yards the vehicle stopped. A bespectacled gentleman seated behind beckoned him.
Mr Puri ran fast and got in to the front seat. He cursed BEST loudly.

BARC laboratories should have been somewhere in the city and not in far away Trombay, he grumbled. His co-passenger was busy reading some book. Puri, who was at his ebullient best, interrupted him a few times. Puri visibly annoyed the driver. He didn’t care. His co-passenger wore an amused look.

As the car approached the BARC gate, his co-passenger tapped Puri’s shoulder from behind. “Where do you want to get down”? “Is it Ok, if I drop you at the next junction”? “That is OK, gentleman” Puri responded. He had his own mannerisms.

Puri forgot the episode. He made friends with everyone. Head held high, he was over 6ft; he was an imposing figure and he knew it. He thought he was a born leader and was always in the front for every activity.

Two weeks later, the staff assembled near the Central Complex Building. It was Dr Bhabha’s birthday; the Founder’s day was the day of stock-taking for the staff.

Puri and his boisterous friends arrived well in advance. They occupied the front row. The function started on time. As the Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) stood up to speak, Puri felt that the face was vaguely familiar; he hastily ran back to be out of sight! He suffered from the mother of all shocks.

He realised that the gentleman who gave him a lift two weeks ago, was Dr Raja Ramanna, the then Chairman of the AEC.