Circa 1960: How I met my father-in-law

- Contributed by Raman Kolluri

I hit a rough patch working on my doctoral thesis in Spectroscopy at Osmania University in Hyderabad, India.  Sir C.V. Raman had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for spectroscopy and had been knighted by the Queen of England.  It seemed like a promising subject to conduct research.  A post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins was still in the unknown future.  But for now, I was struggling.

One early morning, I decided to pickup my camera and go take some pictures at dawn at the University Gardens, which was expansive and well kept.  As I was taking pictures, I saw another photographer with his camera on a tripod.  I struck up a conversation with him about cameras and photo shooting techniques.  As we were parting, he said he would be back the next day, but a bit later to catch the landscape in a slightly different light.  I agreed to meet him again.

We seemed to hit it off, and he asked me if I played tennis.  I said yes, and he invited me as his guest to the Fateh-Maidan club.  I thought nothing of the club's prestigious membership and visited to play.  I had a couple of dinners at his house too.

My research was still not going well. and I was in a bit of a funk.  So I decided to take a break and go home to Rajamundhry about 250 miles away.

Rajamundhry Home

We were a large family and my father had the tradition of having us all join him for breakfast so he could see us and talk to us before heading off to his law practice.  I was glad to be home eating a sumptuous breakfast.

"We have found you a bride, you are to get married," announced my father.

It did not occur to me that I was being addressed.  But from the looks of everyone at the table, it was quite clear that I was the target of this announcement.

This did not compute in my head whatsoever.  I was deep into my research and had come home for a break.  This did not seem like my objective was being met.  I was too stunned to protest, other than mumble about the state of my research.  After my father left the table, I vocally protested to my mom.

She sagely said, "you will see, it is all for the best.  There is no rush anyway.  You can finish your studies."

I was not interested in what this match was; I just wanted to scamper back to Hyderabad.  The rough patch in my research felt like an oasis at this point.

I alighted the train in the morning in Hyderabad after an overnight journey, when I chanced upon my photography and tennis friend.  We exchanged pleasantries and he invited me to breakfast.  I agreed and then returned to campus.

I got busy with research.  My professor's parents had some health issues; which put the onus at work on me more than ever.  And many weeks went by with my total immersion back in my routine.  I had by then shaken of the strange trip to my home and had notions of 'dealing with the situation' later on.

Let's play tennis

My father's older brother was a prominent doctor in Hyderabad. I would occasionally go see him.  One evening I decided to visit him, my aunt and cousins at their house and we were chatting. At some point he asked if I realized he was best friends with one of the leading lawyers in the city, Mr. Krishna Murthy.

Ah! I said, smiling with pleasure.  We had chanced into each other at the Osmania University gardens and I had subsequently played at the Fateh-Maidan Tennis club too.  A real gentleman, I said.

"Good!"  said Doctor-Uncle.

"He asked me if you would be a good match as a son-in-law, and I had called your Dad a few weeks ago!"

I was non-plussed by these turn of events, to say the least.

I once again resumed my work as my mind was entirely on the problems I had with my research. One fine morning, my professor said to me ' you can write your first research paper.' This was the beginning of the turnaround for my research.

The ceremony where I was engaged to Kameswari, was quite an affair consisting of two huge families with eight siblings on each side. Thus began my journey that was to be quite fulfilling for decades to come.

It all worked out fine indeed ...