Guest Column - Who is GP? - Saswat Sarangi

======================================================================

                                                      Who is GP?

I am not sure why it happened, but it took me a very long time to find out who Prof G P Sastry was after I joined KGP in 1995. Soon after I started at KGP, I started hearing about the very popular Prof GP from various seniors and was curious to find out who he was, what he looked like and if I could start chatting with him anytime soon even though I was a mere freshman.

So one day, after having some samosas at Harries with my friend BV, I asked him what GP looked like? I was curious to find out who among the many faces that I saw in the Physics department was GP. All that BV said was, "Oh.. it's that guy, very confident, grey hair, wears glasses". I needed more details. But he just said, "Oh..you can't miss him! You will know it's him when you see him".

So, ok, I figured when I see him I will just know. That did make sense - how can you not know when you see the most popular teacher in the department. So the next time I walked by the Physics department office I saw this professor who had this great smile on his face, wore thick glasses, was well dressed and was talking to a bunch of students who were absolutely enjoying talking to him. I knew this had to be GP!

So that was great. Now I knew who GP was. The next best thing to actually being buddy buddy with GP, atleast for a freshman, was to know him by face. I figured that I could then slowly work my way up and start chatting with him.

Few months later I was walking down the Physics department corridor with my friend BV and we walked by 'GP' who was again talking to a bunch of students, everyone smiling. And I mentioned to BV how wonderful it would be when we start taking this 'GP's classes and how wonderful his smile was! And BV stopped and glanced over at this 'GP', and said, "Ha..ha..ha...That's not GP. That's not GP at all! That's STA!. GP is much younger!". I was quite embarrassed and retorted, "Why on earth did you say then that I would just know when I see him?".

Few weeks later my friend MKN mentioned seeing GP delivering a lecture as MKN walked by one of the Physics classes for the senior students. He mentioned how every single student in the class looked absolutely engrossed in the lecture! This was getting too much for me. One by one,  all my batchmates knew what GP looked like and here I was in the middle of the freshman year already and still didn't know who GP was. I asked MKN and he just said in his UP hindi, "Arey, tu dekhega to jaan jaayega!". And then he started describing what GP looked like. By now I had heard quite a few different descriptions and was quite confused. I was beginning to give up any hopes of finding out what GP looked like anytime soon. I would walk by his office, and the name plate had his name written clearly, but the door was ALWAYS closed. I didn't know at that time that the easiest way to find GP was to drop by his office in the evenings - something I started doing regularly much later.

Sometime towards the end of my first year I saw a couple of students who were talking to a professor near the Physics office. Seemed like they were asking him some questions - SU(2) or SU(3), something along those lines. The professor then gave them an answer that clearly pleased them very much. They kept talking about physics, clearly enjoying the conversation. Immediately I realized this had to be GP! Here was some cool group theory stuff that they were talking about, and the students appeared to be really enjoying the serious group theory talk with this professor. A bunch of smart students talking to a very smart professor - this HAD to be GP! So finally!

Didn't take long though before someone corrected me - this new guy was DB, the God. Yes, I had spotted a tremendous teacher and a very popular professor. But this was not GP! My friend BV's theory of 'knowing when seeing' worked for DB but not for GP. And so it went on .. my search for GP.

Looking back, it was just very funny! I was this freshman, very excited about learning Physics, and, thus, very much looking forward to meeting GP. But it just took me forever to even get to know him by face. At some point I gave up trying. And I don't remember anymore how or where it was that I saw GP first. I vaguely feel like agreeing with my friend IM when he says he really thought GP looked very grumpy when he saw GP for the first time. So, perhaps, I had the same reaction. Not sure anymore. However, here is what I really do remember very clearly - once I started taking GP's class, I looked forward to each one of his lectures. He used to walk into the class, clean the blackboard very carefully, wash his hands in the corner basin in the classroom, and then start the magic. I still remember some of his lectures on EM and on CG coefficients. How he would sit down on his chair at some point into his lecture and make US work - usually on some problem to make us understand the technical details. And I missed it all after graduating from KGP. Until recently. Then, one fine day, lo and behold, the Google magic, I stumbled across his blogs and found a whole lot more about GP than I ever did back in KGP.

**********************************************************************************





Q: Who is GP?

A: He is GP...with his heart-throb... 



========================================================================