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Professor Som Deva –
Exceptional Teacher and Visionary
Dr. Ravindra Chibbar
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I
am very fortunate that Professor Som Deva was my teacher in the
formative years of my academic career. I first met Professor
Som Deva when in 1969, I joined DAV (PG) College, Dehra Dun. He
had a very impressive personality and his extensive knowledge
about taxonomy was always intimidating to new students. But as
one got to know him in and outside the class room, some times
the class room was in the Mohand Forest, one realized how
extra-ordinary teacher he was and how fortunate, I was that I
got to work in a M.Sc. thesis project under his supervision.
Professor Som Deva was a teacher who worked very hard with his
students and also expected the students to work equally hard.
It was the work ethics which he built in me and it still
persists to-day, which has carried me through my professional
career over the last thirty-five years. I still vividly
remember, when I completed my M.Sc. degree with a thesis (Flora
of Royle’s Portus Kheere) under his supervision, his first piece
of advice was to go to a larger centre than Dehra Dun and
explore the wide world of academics. I was very keen to
complete a Ph.D. under his supervision, but his firm advice was
that I should go and study plant physiology and biochemistry in
a larger university. He always had the student’s interest in his
mind. I am one of the rare and fortunate students, who has a
single author publication as his first research paper. Thank
you Professor Som Deva! It is his advice and guidance which
took me where I am today. Whenever, I went to Dehra Dun,
, I always made a point to
visit with him and we discussed a wide range of topics from
Himalayan botany to genetically modified crops. The last
discussion, I had with him a few years ago, was about the
cutting edge science of biotechnology. I was amazed that a
person interested in Himalayan botany, was so knowledgeable in
biotechnology, that one can have such a stimulating and engaging
discussion with him in agricultural biotechnology. His unique
perspective as an outsider to the area brought out points that
we as biotechnology practitioners never even thought about. |
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His views were always very
balanced and even at this stage after discussing with him, I
would come home with something new. Professor Som Deva was an
epic among teachers, and I was so disappointed and extremely sad
when during my recent trip (February 2005) I learnt that he had
suddenly passed away in January. I went to his house which is
like a temple to me, I missed his presence, met his beloved wife
Mrs Som Deva and some of his friends. We reminisced about our
Professor, we discussed, but I came home with the feeling that
some thing was not lacking on this trip. His vivid smile,
discussions and advice now I will always miss in my life.
Ravindra Chibbar, Ph.D.
Professor & Canada Research Chair
Crop Quality (Molecular Biology and Genetics)
Department of Plant sciences
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, SK S7N 5A8
Canada
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