My One and only Trip to England

That was at the end of January 1969.
Feb 11, 2017

My First Snow 2

 For the past two days it snowed so much in Portland that I could not venture out for a walk, afraid of slipping and falling. In Toledo the land is flat with care one could venture out but  Portland has so many steep ups and downs that it is scary. Our driveway is so steep I have to tumble down fast to avoid falling!

 This brings back the memories of my very first encounter with this white stuff.  That was the early morning of October 26th, 1966 in Moscow, USSR! Let me tell you the story behind this. How a lad from Tenali, India where temperature never goes below 60 degrees Fahrenheit end up so far north of all places in Russia?

 That was in the summer of 1966. I was employed at the TIFR doing research in Mathematics and my domain was complex analysis but it is not specific yet which part of that huge subject I would specialize in. I was reading all sorts of things but at tat time I was studying the Theory of Approximations. One particular theorem captured me, a theorem proved by S. N. Mergelyan, a Soviet mathematician. I was talking excitedly about this marvelous theorem of Mergelyan to my senior colleagues one of whom said that Mergelyan is coming to TIFR(the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) and he would lecture for   a few weeks on this subject. Further I could write down his lecture notes for a future publication. How lucky one could be?

 At the end of one of those lectures he posed some open problems one of which I solved that night and presented the proof to him. This problem was referred to as "the Swiss cheese problem", we shall return to it some time later. He was so impressed with it that he invited me to Moscow to work with him. I come from a family of workers, most of my uncles were bricklayers and my father was a manufacturer of cement bricks and also a contractor to build roads. They were communist sympathizers. So I had some curiosity about the Soviets and wanted to take up the invitation of the Russian professor. Most people at TIFR prefer to go to the western countries because there is no need to learn a new language and the pay is in dollars, a convertible currency. With USSR I have to learn Russian and the ruble  is not convertible, cannot be brought home to help my family. But my curiosity about a communist society and my admiration for Mergelyan's theorem won over me in the end.

My First Snow 1

 I was born in Tenali in Andhra Pradesh, India. It never  snows there, coldest it would ever be 60 degrees Fahrenheit. I remember wearing a sweater when it is 75 F daytime in winter.

 Today in Portland, Oregon where I live nowadays it is snowing. Last night it snowed so much people are moving on cross country skis!  My mind  goes back to October 1966 fifty years ago. That was 50 years ago in Moscow, USSR. I arrived in Moscow in the month of August that year for a Math conference on invitation but by the time I arrived the conference was over but I was asked to stay there anyway to work with Professor Mergelyan a very famous Armenian mathematician. How I met this great Mathematician is another story. Any way when I arrived in Moscow on August 26, 1966, it already was cold for me and the sky was cloudy and gloomy. I was warned it will be cold but the real meaning of that word did not penetrate my mind. I had equipped myself with wool sweaters, woolen sports blazer, shiny leather shoes, best socks money could buy in Bombay, I was working at the Tata Institute of fundamental research at that  time. Many of my friends went abroad and returned and gave me suggestions on how to fortify myself for the Moscow weather. But none of them went to Moscow, they went to Paris, Rome, New York etc. Prof. Mergelyan warned me about the problem of language and encouraged me to learn Russian by arranging a crash course with some of his Consular acquaintances in Bombay. So when I arrived at Sheremetyevo  airport on August I knew the alphabet and not much more.

 After the plane landed I got off and passed through the customs easily, had nothing to declare except the Five pound British currency note. I was searching for the friendly face of Sergey Nikitovich Mergelyan but I could not find it. After a while I felt a pair of eyes following me, a short gentleman as short as myself but very quick gait approaches me and spurts out " Are you Rao?". I say yes. He says Mergelyan sent him to pick me up since he was very busy with his official duties. We walked out to a nice shiny black Volga with a chauffeur, I put my luggage in the trunk and Ishkhan, my new friend and I got into the back seat while Ishkhan explained some thing in Russian to the driver. As the Volga was cruising, Ishkhan inquired if I spoke Russian. I said no. He said in that case I should bear with his English. I asked him how did he figure out that I am Rao, the Professor's guest. Ishkhan said that Mergelyan asked him to look for a very deeply tanned short Armenian coming from India after a vacation. I had to laugh at the description, quite inoffensive.


Then I asked Ishkhan whether he is Armenian too since he also was deeply tanned and short. He replied he is indeed Armenian and so is my host Mergelyan except that Megelyan's mother was Russian. Professor M was very pale and looked 100% Russian. We fell silent exhausted after this long exchange in English. Ishkhan is enjoying his use of his English but he has to think and formulate his sentences before he could speak. That explains the pauses in our conversation. After a while it is about 2 pm Moscow time, Ishkhan asks me if I am hungry. I was hungry, having not eaten anything on the flight from Bombay to Moscow. He inquires what kind of food would I like. I say whatever he can eat I can eat. "Even meat", he queries. Yes occasionally. Apparently the professor M told him that I am a Hindu and Hindus are strict vegetarians. That is only partially true. In the Tata most colleagues ate meat after returning from abroad and Bombay has excellent restaurants serving western food. Ishkhan asks whether I would like Armenian food. I say yes. I am so hungry I could eat any food.

Memos

"We came, we saw, and he died! Ha ha"

 It is sad the way Mummar Gaddafi was killed. That there was some discontent in Benghazi is true and that Libya is not a democracy is also true, which can be said of most states in the middle East. Emergency was created by supplying arms to the rebels and on trumped up charges, a no-fly zone was created, allied troops began bombing not only the no-fly zone but also the places where Gaddafi stayed which was not sanctioned by the UN.

 The reason I voted for Dr. Jill Stein and not for Hillary was this.
Of course in Oregon it did not hurt Hillary.

Resolution starting with the year 2017

  I plan on writing about my life experiences as stories some poignant and mostly funny for the sake of my children and grandchildren and also friends and their progenitors. I was trained as a mathematician under Professor V. Ramaswami who frowned on any loose writing, any assertion should be direct and to the point without any unnecessary decorations. I internalized this admonition so much that even in my conversations I keep it short and sweet, a result of which I am more a listener than talker. 

  Before we go any further please do not expect any linear order among these anecdotes. I shall relate them as I remember them.