When Prof Swamy was left red-faced
A teacher’s heart swells with pride when his pupil courts fame and wins fulsome praise from people across the globe. However, if the student earns a bad name, the teacher is left red-faced. Something similar played out at Mumbai University when the anchor introduced BJP MP Dr Subramanian Swamy to the audience at an event organised by Indo-Israel Friendship Association recently. Also an economist who taught at Harvard University and has several former students across the globe, he wasn’t thrilled at the mention of one his famous former pupils. The student in question was former Union finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram
Teacher gets fitting farewell
It was a small, yet important, function as one of the ‘finest teachers’ was felicitated by his students, colleagues and even his ‘Guru’ in Mumbai recently. The felicitation event of Professor Dr. JB Joshi seemed more like a family function, even as it featured luminaries such as former and current chairman of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), fellow scientist Dr RA Mashelkar and his ‘Guru’ Dr. MM Sharma, known as the Father of Chemical Engineering in India. As director of ICT (formerly UDCT), Dr Joshi made the institute autonomous and the premier institute of chemical research and put it on the world map. A teacher for 50 years, a scientist, an industrial consultant and a philanthropist, the recipient of Padma Bhushan wears many hats.
14 Metro routes soon
While 60 per cent of tunnelling work for the underground Metro line in Mumbai has already been completed, the administration is planning to complete 80 per cent work by this year-end and in all, 14 metro routes would be made operational in the MMR — Mumbai Metropolitan Region — within next six years, MMRDA authorities have said. Apart from Metro lines, a host of other measures, including building flyovers, bridges, broad roads, multi-modal corridors to ensure end-to-end connectivity using public transport, are also in the works, the authorities said at a seminar on infrastructure development in Mumbai.
Flood of humanity in donation drive
Several NGOs and organisations have been conducting drives to raise funds for the marooned in flood-ravaged Maharashtra. One such group, Janakalyan Samiti, recently organised a similar fund-raising event at a suburban railway station in Mumbai. What visibly moved the volunteers as they stood with donation boxes was when a beggar stepped forward to ask why they were collecting money for people. On being told that the funds were meant for the flood-hit, she put all her coins inside the donation box before vanishing into the crowd.