Unsung Indian Hero II.
By Rummuser. Filed in People, Tambrams |Tags: Access Equity, Books, Dilbert, Ford Foundation, IIT, Outreach programme, Princeton, Ramakrishnan Ramaswamy, Scholars Without Borders, Scot Adams
This is the kind of story that Jerry Davich and Denis Berlien give in their book ‘Connections – Everyone Happens For A Reason’.
A few years ago when I was looking to purchase a particular book and went searching for it on the internet, I was directed to ‘Scholars Without Borders’ . Bingo, I was able to get the book but had problems paying for it with one particular credit card and had to use another. When I complained about the inconvenience, the man behind the website wrote to me a very nice letter and explained the problem and assured me that the matter would shortly be resolved and in the meanwhile, if I had other requirements, he would be perfectly happy to send the books in advance and await payment by cheque or demand draft. This kind of trust from a total stranger was new to me and I tried to find more about the man, Ramakrishnan Ramaswamy and discovered that he was a fellow Tambram and a teacher to boot.
Ram is a bit greyer and thinner on top now, and every now and then tries to compete with me with a greying beard. Otherwise the photo is quite a resemblance to him. If I had asked him for a photograph, he would have had a fit so I stole it from the web!
I have a high repect for teachers, as I am sure Magpie would vouch for, and decided to make friends with Ramakrishnan Ramaswamy and I have not regretted it for a moment. We spoke to each other on the phone and met when Ram came down to Pune and have been in reasonably good touch via email, SMS and Facebook.
Ram is an amazing person fully deserving to feature among my list of heroes for reasons slightly different from the last hero about who I had posted. Let me give some background.
Ram is an Army-brat. Born to an Officer of the Indian Army, he has had the kind of life and career that a typical Indian middle class person has. Focus and emphasis on education above all, and an unusual vision about their station in life.
Ram is a graduate of one of India’s prestigious institutions of higher education, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. The Indian Institute of Technology, is the IIT that Scot Adams character Asok, in the comic strip ‘Dilbert’ comes from.
Like many graduates of IIT, Ram too went to the USA for higher studies and got his PhD from, a great Ivy league institution of higher learning, the Princeton University. AND, hold your breath, Ram’s subject is not an ordinary one that anyone and everyone can study and get degrees in. Physics is the subject and Ram’s own specialty, hold your breath again, is Chaos Theory.
Unlike most IIT graduates who go to the USA for higher studies and settle down there, Ram decided to return to India and teach. He is currently Professor, School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi India, and I am told on excellent authority, that he is a highly respected and effective teacher of a difficult subject.
So far, so good. This does not make him my hero. What makes Ram a hero for me is his dedication to spreading education via books to places where books are difficult to procure. This is his where his Scholars Without Borders comes in and that is precisely what they do. I have bought many books from them and Ram has always told me that he will get any book for me from anywhere in the world as long as I am willing to pay for it. He has not let me down so far, though now, the initiative is no longer receiving his personal day to day attention, as his staff attend to the nitty gritty of the business.
Ram’s obsession with this particular aspect of education has got him due recognition and funding from the Ford Foundation which has enabled him to set up an initiative called ‘Access Equity’.
Ram is a remarkable person and I am very proud and happy to count him as my friend. For all his achievements and status, Ram is an ordinary guy, simple and humble to the extreme. Unfortunately, he is extremely busy with his teaching, his obsession, guest lectures all over the place, and rafting down the Ganges! The last one, a totally unprofessorlike hobby but in which he seems to take great delight in. Unfortunate because, I do not get to meet and talk to him as much as I would like to.
Ram, I hope you won’t blush. I salute you. You can buy me a Pav Bhaji when we next meet.
Tuesday, November 17th 2009 at 15:56 |
Ramana, you are a fortunate man to have such amazing friends in your life. Thank you for sharing the story of Ram.
Rummuser Reply:
November 18th, 2009 at 21:26
As far as Ram is concerned, that is an understatement. I however agree that I am indeed a very fortunate man for having some remarkable friends in my life.
Wednesday, November 18th 2009 at 04:42 |
Granymarr beat me to the same comment. Having said that I suspect that we all know some very remarkable people. Some people are more obviously remarkable than others but I know people for example who have dealt with adversity with a stoicism and sense of humour which is truly remarkable. Ram sounds a grand fellow and bringing education to people is a great thing.
On that subject I don’t suppose any of you heard the story about the African child who after attending school then walked about fifteen miles home and set up a classroom for the children in her own village. At the end of every school day she would spend more hours teaching the other children in her village all that she had herself learned at school that day. I heard this story in the radio recently while driving and I had difficulty seeing for the tears welling up at the remarkable nature of this young girl who has apparently now been doing this for years. She was recently given money to open a proper classroom in her village and has become a sort of headteacher. Some people are truly wonderfull.
Rummuser Reply:
November 18th, 2009 at 21:25
Bunc, there are zillions of such stories in the developing world. Somehow all those stories still do not seem to make for some significant change in the living conditions. That world is yet to hit the tipping point, or is it the critical mass?
Wednesday, November 18th 2009 at 09:24 |
Someone to track down rare books would be a hero to me also. Or is the giving of books the hero part? They both sound good to me.
Rummuser Reply:
November 18th, 2009 at 21:23
Ram is kind of a Robin Hood Looney. There is more than meets the eye in the man. I love the total man.
Wednesday, November 18th 2009 at 10:55 |
Like Ram, my son got his PhD in physics from Princeton.
Someone mentioned that Brooke Shields went to Princeton. (Brooke is well known here in the U.S. as a model & an actor on TV.) Paul said “I remember Brooke Shields.” The other guy said, “But does Brooke remember you?” HaHa
Rummuser Reply:
November 18th, 2009 at 21:21
No problems there BHB. You can tell people that you know me and I know you!
Wednesday, November 18th 2009 at 11:10 |
Ram studied in the USA using American tax payers money. He should have stayed back and contributed like his other Indian students did. Ford is an American family which made its money in the USA. Why should it finance something in India when there is plenty needing to be done in the USA? Already Indians are taking American jobs away and Ram is encouraging more Indians to study and take away more jobs. And you call him your hero?
Rummuser Reply:
November 18th, 2009 at 21:21
Murphy, my regular reader Looney has responded to you in some detail, and I would just like to add a little information. The Ford brand of motor cars were sold all over the world. In India it was and continues to be a very popular brand even now. i would not know, but perhaps the Ford Foundation is also doing much good work in the USA.
Wednesday, November 18th 2009 at 11:34 |
Murphy, without those foreign students studying hard while Americans slack off, our high tech industries would collapse. I have given many training courses to engineers in Detroit at many companies. It is always a room full of Chinese and Indian engineers (and a few other stray nationalities) with a token white or two who may or may not be American born. There are reasons why only a few American are capable and/or willing to go for advanced degrees in science and engineering, so please don’t blame the foreigners. Even when American born whites get the degrees, they are the first to move out of the technical areas into management where they don’t need to worry about science and math. Finally, Princeton is a private school, so the tuition isn’t American tax payers money. At the public universities the foreign students pay full tuition so it isn’t fair to blame them either.
As for charity being done overseas, well, the US government floods our poor communities with resources. A private charity has far more potential to do good overseas.
Wednesday, November 18th 2009 at 21:23 |
He is a Physicist! He is likely to press the wrong button if he were to ask for a spell check!
Thursday, November 19th 2009 at 07:32 |
I would not be surprised to learn that Ram holds you in equally high esteem, Ramana.
Rummuser Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 20:06
If he does, he is keeping it to himself. Just kidding! He thinks that I am cat’s whiskers too!