Professor G.R.Rao & his life

He was not my teacher but he taught me so many things. He retired as a teacher of English from
Malviya National Institute of Technology, situated in Jaipur ( Rajasthan-- India ). Beside his command over his subject he was an authority on shells of all kinds & had a very big collection of shells from all over the world. He not only taught me the art of making Bonsai but talked to me about the history of Bonsai culture in detail as & when we were together. His knowledge of Botany was exceptional. Whenever we had trouble in finding the name of any shrub or a tree we used to take a leaf to him & just by taking a glance he used to tell us not only the botanical & the common name of it in different languages but also it’s detailed family characteristics. He hailed from South India. He had & still has all his relatives there but he actually belonged to Jaipur. He & his wife, who survives him after his demise on 23rd june 2008, hardly ever went to attend any family celebration in their family but they did go down south to attend the last rites in their family as & when it was needed. Professor Rao & his wife have had more than their share of bad luck. They lost a daughter very early in life & then lost their only grown up son when they were thinking of getting him married. These incidents must have hit the couple very hard but the strength of character they showed was remarkable. Professor Rao's culinary skills were also remarkable. His friends will remember the enthusiasm of the couple in this respect. More than often they would buy ten or fifteen kg. of any vegetable along with all the ingredients & then the two of them would get down to making the pickle. After the pickle was ready it was distributed amongst the friends. If all the friends gave an excellent report of the pickle the recipe was added to their recipe book. I have had the good fortune of tasting these pickles as well as various other delicacies at their house & always longed for a repeat. There were times when I asked for a certain thing to be cooked on my next visit & they lovingly served it. Believe me I was only one of those visitors to this open house. There were people from all walks of life to whom Professor G.R. Rao was a friend, philosopher & guide. All of us will miss him terribly but it is heartening for us that Ms. Rao has decided to stay in this city despite many requests of the relatives. She has undertaken the task of completing his unfinished work & I know that there are many in this city that are prepared to help her in this work. Jaipur has been the home of the Rao family & their friends will be proud & more than willing to take all the care she might need. Amen.