*Professor Ram Shastry*

*Professor Ram Shastry* Flashback to 1954 - A tall gangling young lecturer, Ram Shastry with a very marked Telugu lilt to his English, taught us Physics at IIT Kharagpur. He was an excellent teacher despite his accented English and also served as the warden of Azad Hall. A (hilarious) general body meeting of the hostel was held sometime late1954 to discuss burgeoning mess bills which had climbed from rupees thirty to an astronomic forty rupees per month. Ram Shastry had to pacify the irate students. He patiently explained the reasons for the increase 'What to do, everythingu become costly, ricu, saltu, pepperu, vegetablesu all cost more." The students were mesmerised by the accent'u and kept quiet. The meeting passed off peacefully. The anecdote became part of the early IIT student lore as a memorable event'u! Ram Shastri was deputed for a year to MIT, Cambridge Massachusetts on a post doctoral fellowship. He came back a changed man. He had broad shoulders (filled out thanks to nourishing US food) and sported a marked American accent. His bold visage was unrecognizable from the figure he cut a year earlier. He sounded totally American until he came to the deadly word 'against', when he reverted to his original Telugu persona. He pronounced it as 'againistu" and we were relieved that our beloved Prof had become normal. Ram Shastri left IIT Kharagpur in the early sixties and joined the Physics Department of the newly set up IIT Madras. He retired years later as a much loved Professor after an excellent career. His son graduated from IIT Madras in 1977. One may wonder the reason for a long spiel about a Physics teacher of long ago: HIs granddaughter Usha was born in USA, graduated from Yale, did a Master's degree at Cambridge and later attended the Law School at Yale where she met and married a classmate. Usha Chilukuri is the wife of JD Vance, Trump's running mate. Yes, the accomplished grand daughter of a Physics teacher of seventy years ago, could well become the Second Lady of the USA! (KGP WhatsApp group post) ...........