Science of the times
Rajeshwari Chatterjee's wonderful
book is both a work of sociology and
history
Prashanth G.N.
The Hindu
Thursday, January 29, 2004
RAJESHWARI CHATTERJEE puts us to
shame. At 82, she has the drive that
some of us 50 years younger cannot
muster. Her intellect, analytical
capabilities, range of information,
grasp, acute sense of description,
and above all, instinct for history,
is stunning. You can go on listening
to so much that she has to say on
science and sociology in the last 80
years that you come away feeling this
"applied scientist" can give most
sociologists a run for their money
too. "I had the fortune of a free
family," she remarked when asked how
she carried such imagination.
Rajeshwari Chatterjee: formidable
intellect -- Photos: K. Bhagya
Prakash
Dr. Chatterjee released her first
work of sociology, A Thousand
Streams: A Personal History last
week. The book narrates her life and
times, and by way of that, the life
and times of British and Post-
Independent India, specifically
Mysore region, from the 1920s to the
present. She conceived this work at
the Nevada University library where
she saw a notice seeking projects on
history.
Dr. Chatterjee did her Ph.D. in
Electrical Engineering from the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbour,
in 1953, and like many others,
returned to India. Scholars then were
expected to work for any public
institution in India for at least
three years, "though when I first
stepped into America, I just loved
that country".
She got a job at the Indian Institute
of Science in 1953 and stayed on
there till 1982. In that time she
worked with illustrious colleagues
such as Satish Dhawan, "whose real
love was mechanical engineering",
C.R. Subramanyam, "who built BEL
brick by brick", B.S. Ramakrishna,
"who became the first Vice-Chancellor
of Hyderabad Central University", and
K.K. Ayya, who "pioneered dairy
research in India". "They were the
ones who built science in independent
India. They came in at a time when
even screws were made in Germany and
metal plates in Scotland and England.
They were not just outsourcing, like
today. They were the hardware workers
from the workshop." She described how
Satish Dhawan survived the Partition
when he made it to the U.S. from
Lahore in the nick of time; how
Ramakrishna came from the small town
of Vizianagaram; how Ayya would work
in cowsheds before making it to
National Dairy Research Institute,
Karnal... "No one writes about the
early scientists, people who came
with very unusual, humble
backgrounds...who made technical
India possible," observed Dr.
Chatterjee, who herself has written
seven technical books, published 100
papers, received international awards
and has been a guide to 20 Ph.D.s,
most of whom are in top positions
today. Two books she has dedicated to
the great J.C. Bose, who, she said
had done the earliest work in her
area -- microwaves.
Dr. Chatterjee, who spent virtually
every spare minute at the IISc.
library, was incidentally the first
woman faculty member at the
institute. Interestingly, most of her
students were men. "People felt then
that women should marry early.
Middle-school was seen as adequate."
She herself was lucky to have a
grandmother extremely progressive for
her times. The book outlines the life
of Kamalamma Dasappa, the third woman
graduate in Old Mysore, who worked
for the Mahila Seva Samaja for 50
years trying to educate child widows
and abandoned wives. Kamalamma once
wrote that rich and poor women were
equally illiterate. "She was trying
to fight that."
Dr. Chatterjee observed: "Education
was important in our house. The word
`marriage' was never mentioned.
Anybody could read anything." She was
also fortunate to have an uncle in
B.M. Sri, the litterateur, on whom
her book has interesting
observations. He was important in
spirit to her, though he never spoke
much. It is interesting that her
grandmother asked her to do history,
while B.M. Sri suggested science. "I
always loved history. But there were
no jobs. I had to do science."
Apart from Dr. Chatterjee, there was
only one other woman science graduate
(Pappu Subba Rao's daughter) at that
time, at Madras University. "No one
ever thought that girls should take
up engineering," she pointed out,
noting also that the anti-Brahmin
movement then made it difficult for
Brahmins to secure jobs. "That is why
B.M. Sri tried to get me a job by
talking to the Vice-Chancellor of
Mysore University."
Dr. Chatterjee, had, by then, applied
for a scholarship from the Government
of India and the Mysore State. (The
Second World War was raging even as
Subhas Chandra Bose was on radio from
Saigon.) She secured the scholarship
to go to the U.S.. Her book narrates
her experience. "I went on an
American troopship -- from Bombay to
Colombo, Singapore, Hong Kong, and
Shanghai to San Francisco. On the
journey and in America is where we
learnt to eat non-vegetarian. Then, a
lot of friends came from orthodox
families. The only vegetarian food
the Americans ate was boiled
vegetables," she recalls. This was
quite something for a girl whose
father had settled down for some time
in Nanjangud, with Nanjangud Tooth
Powder B.V. Pundit for a friend.
After her return to India in 1953,
she was among the first to take up
work on microwave engineering.
"Calcutta till then was where science
was happening. J.C. Bose, J.C. Ghosh,
M.N. Saha...were all there. Even C.V.
Raman got his Nobel Prize for his
work done in Calcutta. Only when he
came to IISc., he wanted all the
money for physics. He was a genius
all right, but how could he do that?"
Bangalore was lucky as the Maharaja
of Mysore, and then the Nizam,
supported Jamshedji Tata's effort to
set up IISc. "when the British gave
him absolutely no support".
Indian Institute of Science was where
she met another stalwart, her future
husband Chatterjee. A specialist in
Applied Physics, he had done some
unusual work: servicing radio
equipment clogged with sand from
North Africa "where the Italians were
at war", and teaching radio
engineering to British soldiers.
There is much more to document from
Dr. Chatterjee's astounding memory.
Even if it seems late, it is not a
matter of regret to discover an
extraordinary intellectual on a quiet
road in Bangalore -- one who knows
how a cultural practice works as much
as an instrument of science. It is
not hard to understand why: "We used
to have a number of American and
British friends from the missions. My
grandmother would have separate
porcelain vessels for the friends.
She would personally wash and dry the
vessels. All because -- not she --
the cook and the servants believed in
madi." That was how progressive they
were. In those days.
More at:
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/01/29/stories/2004012900890200.htm
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