The Hindu Business Line : <I>Remembering Raman </I>

Year 1922. I was 12 years old when my family moved to Kolkata, or Calcutta, as it was called those days. Our house was in Bow Bazar, Chatterjee Block.

C.V. Raman, or mama, as we used to call him, was our neighbour. I used to help mami off and on. They had a three-year-old son, named Chandru. Raman used to do research in the nearby lab. He always wore a white turban and travelled by rickshaw. Raman used to have his lunch at home, along with Chandru.

One day, seeing Raman sitting alone at lunch, I asked him, "Where is Chandru?" Unhurriedly, he said, "Oh, give this key to the durwan (guard) and ask him to fetch Chandru. He must be sitting at the window and watching things." I asked him, "What mama, you forgot about him?" Raman said, "The child is chamathu (well-behaved). He doesn't cry."

Music lover

Raman had his laboratory in the second floor. None of us ventured there. He had good music gyan. I have heard that he had himself made a violin.

His wife Lokasundari played the veena well. At times, mama would ask her to play a raga. To say `enough', he would ring a bell. Standing on the steps, I would ask mami what mama was doing. "Research about colours," she would say.

The Proposal

This is something that Lokasundari had told my mother. After studying in Chennai, Raman served as a school inspector. One day, he was inspecting a school in Coimbatore, going from class to class, and asking children questions. He was impressed by the answer given by Lokasundari. It seems he asked her in class whether she would marry him.

She said that he had to ask her parents. Raman met her parents and then married Lokasundari, when she was only 13. She had studied up to metric. She taught my mother reading, writing and also a few handicrafts.

As for food, Raman never paid any attention to what was on the plate; nor did he know what he wanted. It was mami who took care of him, as if he were a child.

I think he was successful in his research, and then go on to win a Nobel Prize, only because his wife devoted total attention to his well-being. When the mami was unwell, Raman learnt that sea breeze would do her good, and then took her on a sea voyage. Wonder if that was when he went to receive the Nobel...

(Reminiscences of Lakshmi Kutti, Noida, in her letter dated October 21, 2006, translated from Tamil by D. Murali)

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Remembering Raman