IN RESPECTAND MEMORY OF OUR BELOVED GURUJI

PADMSHREE PROFESSOR O.N.SRIVASTAVA SIR

 

Strictness and Generosity as a twofold way of Supervision

(A note of research scholar)

 

I met Prof. O.N. Srivastava Sir as an M.Sc. student of Physics in 1993-95 and as a Ph.D. student in 1995-99. I did my M.Sc. dissertation on ‘Carbon Nanotubules’ and Ph.D. work in the field of ‘Hydrogen Storage Material’ under his supervision.

He was very strict in terms of the full time presence of research scholars in laboratory. To monitor the attendance of scholars, he had a method often enquiring on phone and calling the students for discussion. We were also directed to enter our daily research work in the log register kept in the lab. He always encouraged us to participate in relevant lectures organized in BHU and to submit the summary of those lectures to assure our presence in them.  I always adopted those rules by heart and with full sincerity. I knew it that all those were beneficial for us. Although Sir had so many students and so many responsibilities, he always allotted sufficient time to us for discussion and to fulfil our needs.

With all this strictness, he was very kind and liberal to us, especially to curtail our financial burden. I remember few incidents in this context. During my M.Sc. dissertation, Sir had given my thesis for electronic typing to some person. After completion of my project, one day, I asked to Sir that how much did it cost? He said “Are you in a hurry to pay?” to which I replied, “No Sir, but if I have to pay, I will do it.” Sir replied “Okay, I will tell you.” That day never came. In another incident, I got a fairly large amount of study material on cell characteristics from somewhere. As I was working on the Ni-MH cell, I wanted to get that entire material photo copied. I asked him to allow me to do this in the lab itself with my own blank pages (about three reams). Sir wrote on a small piece of paper as usualand directed me to give it to the concerned person. He did not even allow me to bring my own blank pages.

After leaving BHU and joining the service in 1999, whenever I mailed him for any query or help, he quickly replied with a blessing gesture. I received the last mail on April 05, 2021. Though Sir is not with us in physical form, he will always be present in our work as a source of great inspiration.

 

 

Sincerely

 

Prof.Sumita Srivastava

           Department of Physics

Sri Dev Suman Uttarakhand University

Pandit Lalit mohan Sharma Campus Rishikesh

Dehradun-249201, Uttarakhand