B. P. Radhakrishna (BPR) — A tribute

B.P. Radhakrishna(1918-2012)

JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.79, MARCH 2012

230 B. P. RADHAKRISHNA – A TRIBUTE

Chronology of B.P. Radhakrishna's Life

30 April 1918 Born as the third son of Smt Venkamma and Sri B. Puttaiah in Bangalore

1937 Graduated in B.Sc. (Hons) securing first class and a Gold Medal

Joined Mysore Geology Department as Field Assistant

11 May 1944 Marraige with Subhadramma

1949 Nanna Thande - biographical account of his father in Kannada released

1954 Awarded PhD degree from Mysore University

1956 Elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences

1958 Formation of the Geological Society of India

1965 Appointed as Director of the Department of Mines and Geology

1966 Started the Chitradurga Copper Company

1967 Appointed as Chairman Mysore Minerals Limited

1971 Recepient of the National Mineral AwardDeath of his wife Smt Subhadramma

1972 Elected Fellow of the National Academy

1974 Relinquished from the office as Director of Mines and GeologyElected Chairman and Managing Director Chitradurga Copper CompanyReceived Rajyotsava Award for service rendered to the Karnataka State

1975 To London to attend a conference at University of LeicesterAppointed advisor to Government of Karnataka Groundwater Resources

1976 Appointed Chairman and Managing Director of Karnataka Copper Consortium

1977 To North Carolina University at Chappel Hill to attend the Seminar onGeology of Southeast Asia

1979 Retired from all active government service

1984 New mineral from KGF named by Russian scientists as Radhakrishnaite

1985 Biography of BGL Swamy released

1986 Elected Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of London

1987 Geological Society gets a new office in Basappa Layout

1988 Biography on C.V. Raman in Kannada released

1991 Awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India

1992 Elected President of the Geological Society of India

1994 Textbook on Geology of Karnataka releasedVolcanism - 75th birthday volume released

1995 Biography on Darwin in Kannada released

1996 Sir M. Visweswaraya Award

1997 Sahitya Academy award for biography on Darwin

1999 Biography on Madam Curie in Kannada released

2000 Biography on Einstein in Kannada released

2001 Sahitya Academy award for biography on Madam Curie

2002 National Mineral Award for Excellence - 2000

2006 Relinquished as President of the Geological Society of India

2007 Jawaharlal Nehru Centenary Award

2008 Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Geological Society of India

2011 Nanna Thande – Second Edition released


B. P. RADHAKRISHNA – A TRIBUTE 231

B. P. Radhakrishna (BPR) – A Tribute

I know of no more encouraging fact than the ability of man to elevate

his life by conscious endeavour – Henry David Thoreau

The passing away of Padma Shri Dr. B.P. Radhakrishna on 26.01.2012 at the ripe age of 94

marks the end of an era in Indian Geology. BPR, as he was affectionately known, strode the scene

of Indian Earth Sciences like a colossus for a span of nearly five decades. The void left by his

demise will be well nigh impossible to fill for a long time to come. He was a single-man institution

dedicated to the cause of Earth Sciences in this country, who guided, inspired, advised and also

admonished at times all those who came under his influence and also those who, in his opinion,

had a potential to contribute to the growth of the earth sciences in this country. He steered them on

to the path of self-reliance and originality in all their endeavours. He lived a full and active life till

the end and died in harness, as he had always wanted to.

It is a daunting task for anyone to summarize his life and work and pay a tribute to his

multi-faceted personality, particularly at this juncture, when we are overwhelmed by his sudden

departure.

Early Years

BPR was born on 30th April, 1918 at Bangalore as the third son of Shri Bangalore Puttaiah, a

well known public figure of Bangalore and the erstwhile princely State of Mysore. Shri Puttaiah,

who was himself a graduate in geology, was an expert in printing technology (with his training in

UK) and rose to occupy the position of the Superintendent of the Government Printing Press of the

Mysore State. Shri Puttaiah was associated with several progressive public institutions and causes

like the Civic and Social Progress Association, the Kannada Sahitya Parishad, the Mythic Society,

the Nonentities Club (NC), the Brahmosamaj and the Ramakrishna Mission in addition to being

the founder of the Vokkaligara Sangha along with his close associate Shri K.H. Ramaiah.

It is no accident that BPR imbibed at an early age several qualities in the aesthetics and art of

printing and publishing from his father that would stand him in good stead later in his life, as he set

about developing the Journal and other publications of the Geological Society of India. Many

outside Karnataka may not be aware that BPR’s biographical account of his father in Kannada,

entitled Nanna Thande (My Father) is rated as a masterpiece in Kannada literature in the genre of

biographical narratives. This account of his father is interwoven with great finesse with the social



and cultural history of the period. BPR’s sympathies with the suppressed and backward sections of

our society and his ardent desire that all our scientific work and activities should in the ultimate

analysis be of some help in the social and material uplift of the rural poor of this country, were

ideals he acquired early from the life and activities of his father. Shri Puttaiah, was one of the

harbingers of modernity in his home State of Mysore, and understandably left an indelible impact

on the young Radhakrishna in many ways. Reminiscing about the father-son relationships of that

period, BPR would often recollect with a tinge of sadness that he rarely communicated directly

with his father as a result of a mistakenly forbidden custom in a large patriarchal family.

Dr. Radhakrishna had his schooling at Fort High School, not very far from his Chamarajpet

residence. He was a favourite student, particularly of his Kannada teachers, reflecting his early

interest in Kannada language and literature. Radhakrishna obtained his B.Sc. (Hons) degree in the

year 1937 securing a first class and a Gold Medal.

Mysore Geological Department

BPR joined the Mysore Geological Department in the same year as a Field Assistant on a

salary of Rs.75 per month. He served the Department for 37 years rising to the position of its

Director, for a period of ten years, till his superannuation in the year 1974. The Mysore Geological

Department came into existence in the year 1894 during the tenure of Dewan K. Seshadri Iyer and

happens to be one of the oldest State Geology Departments in the country. It was led by a galaxy of

reputed field geologists of that period starting from Robert Bruce Foote (formerly of the Geological

Survey of India) followed by W.F. Smeeth, P. Sampath Iyengar, B. Rama Rao and C.S. Pichamuthu.

These stalwarts of Mysore Geology laid the foundations of the Precambrian Geology of Southern



India and more importantly prepared an excellent, detailed and accurate geological map of the

Princely State of Mysore that has served the geological profession superbly. As a young geologist

BPR was engaged in geological mapping and mineral investigations in different parts of the Mysore

State during the period 1937-53. Simultaneously, his research bent of mind propelled him to

undertake special investigations on one of the key elements of Karnataka Geology, namely the

Closepet Granite extending in a N-S direction for almost 500 km with an average width of about

20 km. BPR was the first to suggest that these predominantly porphyritic potassic granites could

have originated from the partial melting of the Peninsular Gneisses. This work fetched him the

Ph.D. degree of the Mysore University in the year 1954. BPR’s interest in geomorphology, landscape

evolution and crustal geodynamics began with this study of the Closepet Granite and was later

extended to the Western Ghats and lasted all his life.

BPR took over the reins of the Department of Mines and Geology in the year 1965, as its

Director. One of the first things he did was to organize the State Groundwater Cell in the Department

in 1966 to carry out extensive and intensive surveys for groundwater resources in all the districts

of the State with special emphasis on the drought-prone areas. His passionate interest in the wise

management of the water resources of the country dates back to this period when he gained

invaluable experience in understanding the behaviour of groundwater in the predominantly hard

rock terrains of Karnataka.

Similarly, during his tenure as Director of the Mines and Geology Department, major initiatives

were launched in the exploration for iron, manganese, chromite, gold and a host of minor minerals/

non-metallics in different parts of the State. He laid the foundation for legislation of groundwater

and minor minerals. He organized Bureau of Mines in Princely Mysore State and the Board of

Mineral Development in Karnataka, which were the nucleus that became the Mysore Minerals

Limited (MML) later on. He retired as Director, Mines and Geology in the year 1974 but continued

Mines and Geology Department photo



to hold several important positions in the State Government till the year 1979. He was appointed

as Adviser to the Government of Karnataka for development of groundwater resources (in 1975),

Chairman and Managing Director of Karnataka Copper Consortium charged with the exploitation

of copper and other base metal resources (in 1976) and as Member, Board of Director of the Hutti

Gold Mines and Bharat Gold Mines Ltd. (in 1976).

Birth of the Geological Society of India

A conclave of a small group of geologists, both professional and academic that included

BPR, led to the formation of the Geological Society of India in the year 1958 at Bangalore. The

others in this meet were L. Rama Rao, M.R. Sreenivasa Rao, P.S. Narayana, T.P. Krishnachar and

C.S. Pichamuthu. The prime objective of the Society was to promote “the cause of advanced study

and research in all branches of Indian Geology”. Being the youngest member in this initial conclave,

the onus of being the first Secretary of the Society fell on BPR. The Society was fortunate to

secure the services of Dr. D.N. Wadia, FRS, the doyen of Indian geologists at that time, as its first

President and Prof. L. Rama Rao, a distinguished researcher and teacher at the Central College,

Bangalore, as the first Editor.

BPR immersed himself totally in building the Geological Society of India from its inception

in 1958 alongside his various governmental duties. He shouldered various responsibilities of the

Society as Secretary (1958-73), Editor (1973-92) and President (1992-2006). The Journal of the

Society, which started as an annual issue in 1959 became a monthly in 1977 during his tenure as

Editor. On the solid foundations laid by Prof. L. Rama Rao, BPR played a crucial role in shaping

the Journal to evolve over the years as the best earth science Journal in the country, through the

regularity of its issue, the quality of peer-reviewed papers in it and the meticulous editorial work

that was behind it. He set the norms and standards in all aspects of journal production for all to

emulate. It is worth recalling that the Society for its first 25 years of its existence had neither an

office nor any clerical staff for assistance.

BPR laid great emphasis on the Society holding periodic seminars, symposia and workshops

to act as a forum for dissemination of knowledge generated by various governmental organizations,

the academia and the industry. For the first twenty five years, the Annual General Meetings of the

Society were held in Bangalore. Later he saw to it that, to the extent possible, they were held in

different parts of India, thereby giving an opportunity for greater participation of workers in the

field of earth sciences from the local institutions and organizations. The host institution was

encouraged to select a suitable topic for the seminar as well. Thus, the first Annual General Meeting

of the Society outside Bangalore was held at Thiruvananthapuram in the year 1984 devoted to

environmental aspects of Earth Sciences, largely due to the initiative of Dr. H.K. Gupta, the then

Director of the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS). This also marked the Silver Jubilee year

of the Society.



A great deal of thought was given by him in identifying select group of active workers in a

given field and providing them a platform to review the status of knowledge in that area. BPR

possessed an uncanny knack of identifying promising young workers across the length and breadth

of the country and inviting them to Bangalore to present the results of their work in the monthly

meetings of the Society, to which he attached the utmost importance. He also urged them to present

an extended abstract of the talks delivered by them to be later published in the journal, so that

Fellows outside Bangalore will have an opportunity to keep track of the proceedings of these

monthly meetings. He also initiated the conduct of a few field workshops for training research

scholars and even budding professional geologists in the field of mineral investigation, structural

geology and geomorphology. He used to follow up the work and careers of youngsters and constantly

inspire and motivate them to higher levels of creativity and originality. His mentoring was

responsible for the scientific careers of many a young scientist in the field of Earth sciences in

India.

BPR was not very much in favour of receiving governmental grants and aid. He felt that the

Society should generate its own resources through its fellowship, journal subscriptions and sale of

other publication to preserve its functional autonomy and to avoid the bureaucratic red-tape involved

in accepting governmental support. He was also totally against any ostentation in the organization

of scientific meetings and symposia. He believed that we can achieve as much with dignified

simplicity, while adhering to the highest standards of aesthetics and cleanliness in all our meetings

and get-togethers. Many such meetings held in the premises of the Society under his guidance and

supervision are remembered for their dignified simplicity and grace of execution.

The Geological Society of India became synonymous with BPR due to his total commitment

to the cause of the Society. In addition to the Journal, BPR played a very important role in bringing

out a series of other publications in the form of Memoirs, Lecture Notes, Field Guide Books,

Mineral Resource Series, Text-book series of different States of India and Popular Science series.



A few were on methodologies to be adopted in investigations (in the field or laboratory) as instruction

manuals. The prolific publication activity of the Society with a minimum supporting staff for a

number of years is reflective of the efficiency with which BPR co-opted the services of many

earth-scientists from across the length and breadth of the country to offer their free services for a

common cause. The Society can be legitimately proud of the quality and quantum of its scientific

publications in the course of its existence and it is amazing how one single individual had directly

and indirectly contributed to it.

BPR’s Core Interests

As a geologist BPR took special interest in the following areas:

1. Geomorphology and Landscape Evolution

2. Evolution of the Indian Continental Lithosphere

3. Issues related to Water and Mineral Resources of the country

4. Metallogeny and Crustal Evolution and the Role of Impact processes

5. Global Warming: Anthropogenic or Otherwise?

BPR recognized that the western continental margin of India is a world-class landform, which

he termed as the Great Escarpment of the Indian Subcontinent. The uplift and history of the Western

Ghats includes rifting, scarp retreat on a grand scale and the geomorphic and lithospheric after-

effects of uplift causing removal of large quantities of material and its deposition in marginal

sedimentary basins. He emphasized the role played by all these factors in the geomorphic evolution

of the Indian landscape.

BPR took special interest in the evolution of the Indian Continental Lithosphere characterized

by the high-grade granulite terrains, the granite-greenstone association of the older supra-crustals

and the craton-basin association (Dharwars). He believed that these three components are brought

together in Southern India like no other place with such good exposures offering us a great

opportunity to study the early history of the earth. He attempted to correlate the metallogeny in the

Indian shield with different stages of crustal evolution. Further, he conceived that the Indian

Subcontinent is made up of different crustal blocks, geologically unrelated to each other, and

brought into juxtaposition and sutured together during different periods of the earth’s history.

BPR firmly believed that India has great potential to revive its gold and copper mining as

well as its ancient glory in diamond mining. Realising the importance of gold exploration and

revival of gold mining BPR had suggested the creation of Gold Authority of India. During the last

few years he was increasingly fascinated by the role of extra-terrestrial impacts based on the new

insights on the Vredefort Dome in South Africa and the Sudbury impact basin and associated

metalliferous deposits of Ni-PGE. The arcuate disposition of the kimberlite pipes along the western



margin of the Cuddapah Basin also raised possibilities of deep fracturing of the crust along the

margins of an impact originated basin. The enigmatic presence of the world’s largest barite deposit

at Mangampeta in the same belt warrants further studies. He felt that bold new ideas on these

issues need to emerge from Indian geologists offering new insights.

BPR maintained a lifelong interest in the management of the water resources of the country.

During his tenure as Director of the Mines and Geology Department of Karnataka, BPR organized

the State Groundwater Cell in 1966, first of its kind in India, for the development of groundwater

resources of Karnataka. He laid emphasis on the fact that though India received the second

highest annual rainfall anywhere in the world, methods of conservation of water resources

have not received due attention. He was continuously warning about the impending water

crisis in our urban agglomerations due to our improper water management practices and not

taking up rainwater harvesting and utilization of recycled water in all seriousness. He was also

appalled at the levels of pollution in drinking water causing severe health problems in different

parts of the country. He appealed to the State Governments in India to pass suitable legislation

to restrict tapping of the finite groundwater resources, to the extent possible, which should be

otherwise saved for dire emergencies only. He was at times greatly frustrated by the apathy of

the Governments both at the Centre and in the States to grapple with the problems of water in

a scientific and rational way.

His popular science book on Groundwater (Antarjala, in Kannada) was aimed at educating

the public as well as those at the helm of affairs about the fundamentals of groundwater geology.

By his repeated editorials on the topic of wise management of our water resources, he tried to

reach out to the wider earth science community to take up serious research work on the rates of

infiltration of rainwater into subsurface aquifers, dating of groundwaters and the regional and

local movement of subterraenean streams of water about which scant data is available.



BPR also took great interest on the ongoing debate about the anthropogenic versus the extra-

terrestrial causes of global climate change. He dreaded the prospect of populous countries like

India and China imitating the consumption oriented economic models of the western world as a

sure recipe for disaster.

Publication Activities of the Society

BPR firmly believed that the prime activity of any learned Society like ours should be in the

quality and quantum of publications brought out with regularity. With a meager clerical staff and

couple of technical assistants and the voluntary support of scores of competent earth scientists

across the country, BPR was to a large extent responsible for the prolific publication activity of the

Society in the last half-a-century. The Journal of the Society was fortunate to have had the services

of late Prof. L. Rama Rao as the first Editor, who laid a solid foundation on which BPR built to

make it what it is today. It is no mean achievement to bring out month after month, exactly on time,

a scientific journal maintaining a certain standard in its content as well as in aesthetics of page

make-up and printing standards. The BBD press, one of the leading printers of Bangalore of the

bygone days with the Mallya brothers in-charge played an important role in the Journal production

during the first 35 years. Subsequently, BPR trained Shri M. Nagaraju of Pragati Graphics (now

Driti Enterprises) into an accomplished publisher by his exacting standards and insistence on an

aesthetically pleasing final product.

BPR ardently desired that the Indian earth scientists publish their best work in the Journal of

the Society and not reserve their best for foreign journals and the recycled and less important work

in the Society’s journal.

The recent preoccupation of the Indian scientists and scientific organizations with the “citation

index” and “impact factor” criteria for authors and journals respectively (mainly imposed by the

institutions and organizations they serve) did not interest him much, as he felt that these were

heavily skewed in favor of the publications from the western world and publishers there, who

would not allow easy entry into their elite cliques. He felt that these indicators are far too complex

to arrive at and not infallible and we should not be blindly carried away by these criteria. However,

he was always for continuously raising our standards of scientific work more in terms of greater

originality and not in just trying to fit our data into models developed elsewhere. While he firmly

believed in the universality and supra-national nature of scientific research, he was deeply concerned

with our slow progress in catching up with the more advanced nations in the realm of innovative

thinking and treading new paths. It was his firmly held view that we would attract the attention of

others in the world in direct proportion to the originality, quality and quantum of our scientific

output in various sub-disciplines of Earth science.

It is a difficult task to pick out some of the books authored by BPR as among his best, but



mention may be made of the great popularity and demand for his textbook on the “Geology of

Karnataka”(co-authored with R.Vaidyanadhan), “Mineral Resources of Karnataka”, “Gold in

India”(co-authored with L.C. Curtis). His edited (along with M. Ramakrishnan) Bellur Rama Rao

volume on the “Archaean Greenstone Belts of South India”, his two volumes on “Sahyadri” (along

with Y. Gunnel), on the “Vedic Saraswati” (with S.S. Merh), Antarjala (with S. Jithendrakumar),

50 years of the Journal (with S. Viswanathan) and the two volumes of compiled editorials (by

M.S. Rao) entitled “Random Harvest” deserve special mention. The 3rd volume of “Random Harvest”

(by B. Mahabaleswar) incorporating his editorials from 2003-2012 is set for release shortly.

BPR’s editorials in the Journal not only reflect the character, taste and personality of the

author but also chronicle the various phases in the development of the Geological Society of India.

BPR’s editorials have since become the voice of the geological profession couched in his own

inimitable style. Whenever occasion demanded, BPR paid tributes to men of science, in particular

earth science, trend-setters and achievers in the society (who may be administrators, industrialists,

lawyers and even common men and women striving for the upliftment of sections of the society).

His editorials were the first to be read avidly by most of the readers irrespective of their individual

specializations in different branches of Earth science. He did not feel shy of exposing through his

writings any scientific fraud perpetrated, even if it was in the very columns of the Journal he was

editing. From time to time BPR drew the attention of the Earth science community on priorities in

geological research by his critical appraisal of the state of knowledge in many frontier areas deserving

our attention.



It may not be an exaggeration to say that almost all the publications of the Society had the

direct or indirect contribution of BPR in terms of content, quality, aesthetics of design and printing.

No other single individual in the field of Indian Earth sciences has been so vitally involved in so

many publications over the last half-a-century, which in itself is a stupendous achievement. The

void created by his departure from this perspective will be most difficult to fill for a very long time.

He had the uncanny ability to visualize a book project, identify the author and propel him to

undertake the task and offer invaluable help and critique in completing the task. There is no denying

the fact that but for his constant pushing and prodding, several books brought out by the Society

would not have been conceived nor seen the light of the day.

BPR had a great vision for Indian Geology and the role Earth scientists should rightfully play

in the development of the country. He attached greatest importance to field work and geological

mapping, which forms the fundamental basis for all other types of supplementary work in the

laboratory. BPR fully endorsed and greatly admired the succinct statement of the famous

sedimentologist F.J. Pettijohn in 1975, which is very valid even today – “I am after all a geologist,

not a physicist or chemist. I have to ask myself, therefore, what does this paper tell me about the

outcrop in front of me? All too often the answer is not too much. Have we in our enthusiasm for the

new methods of data collecting forgotten our primary goal? Is it that we have expensive tools

looking for a problem rather than a problem requiring an answer by whatever means that are

appropriate? The older generation among us are now training a new generation without the field

background, without which one cannot distinguish the fundamental from the trivial – the meaningful

from the meaningless.” He regretted that geologists in India have more or less given up field

mapping as a rigorous discipline.

He had great expectations from national organizations like the Geological Survey of India

and many other new institutions set up in post-independent India devoted to different aspects of

Earth Science. He was often critical and at times even harsh on these organizations for not readily

sharing their data with others and not publishing geological maps expeditiously. He strongly felt

that it is a great disservice to both the country and to the individual geologist to keep geological

maps unpublished in the lockers of the governmental organizations, built at the expense of public

funding. Underlying this was his frustration to see the talents and full potential of many bright

youngsters recruited in these organizations being under-utilized and thus wasted.

It is no exaggeration to say that due to his crusading effort, substantial amount of data, including

geological maps are now made available on the portals of many of these organizations. He made it

possible for many superannuated earth scientists in the country to come forward to bring out very

useful and high quality publications/books in their respective fields of specialization. These books

have become very useful to the student community in Earth sciences as they are written by individuals

with a lifetime of experience in our own country, in a given area/sub-discipline.



Honours, Awards and Recognition

BPR’s long and distinguished career as a professional geologist in the service of the erstwhile

Mysore State and the newly formed State of Karnataka and his seminal contributions in the

advancement of geological sciences through the Society, made him known nationally and

internationally as the tallest figure in Indian Geology in recent times. Honours and Awards were

conferred on him for the yeoman services rendered in different stages of his long and fruitful life.

He was elected as a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore in 1956. He received

the National Mineral Award in the year 1971 and in the same year he was elected as Fellow of the

Indian National Science Academy. BPR received the “Rajyothsava Award” of Karnataka in 1974

for the services rendered to the State.

Radhakrishnaite, a new mineral was named after BPR in the year 1985 by Russian scientists.

The sample containing Radhakrishnaite was collected from a gold-quartz vein constituting the

Champion Reef of the Kolar Gold Fields. Its chemical composition is PbT3(Cl,S)2 Lead Tellurium

chloride.

Dr. Radhakrishna was elected as Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of London in

1986 and as Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 1990. Government of India

honoured him with “Padmashri” in the year 1991. He was awarded D.Sc. (Honoris Causa ) by the

Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad in 1992. In the same year, he was the recipient of the Karnataka

Sahitya Academy Award for the best biographical book published in Kannada on Raman (published

in 1989), and the D.N. Wadia Medal of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) for Earth

Sciences. Dr. Radhakrishna received the Millennium Award of the Geochemical Society of India

in 2000. BPR was awarded the Visveswaraya Award for Senior Scientists instituted by the State

Government in 1996. He was elected as Honorary Fellow of the Indian Geophysical Union,

Hyderabad in 1996. He was awarded the Sahitya Academy Award for the best biography on Darwin

in 1997, and once again for his work on Madam Curie in 2001. Dr. Radhakrishna received the

“National Mineral Award for Excellence-2000” by the Government of India in 2002. He was

honoured with the Jawaharlal Nehru Centenary Award at the 94th Indian Science Congress at

Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu in 2007.

The Last Phase

BPR relinquished the Presidentship of the Geological Society of India in 2006 to make way

for a smooth transition. He was not the one who thought that “after me the deluge,” and saw to it

that step by step the different roles he played in administration and publication were slowly passed

on to the relatively younger generation of committed persons for the smooth functioning of the

Society. However, he continued to take interest in all the activities of the Society and more



particularly of the Journal, which was very dear to his heart and which he considered as the most

important single contribution of the Geological Society of India to Indian Earth Sciences.

Despite his advancing age and related problems of vision and mobility, he continued his

disciplined routine at home and made significant contributions once again to the Golden Jubilee

publications of the Society in 2008. BPR expressed “a certain amount of satisfaction” on the

achievement of some of the objectives set forth by the founding fathers of the Society in 1958.

He firmly believed that geology is “extremely relevant to science, society and human

progress”. He was sadly aware of the lack of interest evinced by the younger generation in

Earth Sciences, since other disciplines like information technology and management offered more

lucrative careers. BPR desired that the Society play an important role in making Geology a “vital

and vibrant discipline in the nation’s life”. He had a vision and a message for Indian Earth Scientists

to strive for excellence and to contribute through their labours for the amelioration of the poor in

India. He was absolutely convinced that unless we build an equitable and just society with a

minimum standard and quality of life for every citizen, we will not be able to face the world with

any self-respect.

BPR – The Essential Being

BPR was an extremely private and sensitive person. Outwardly he left an impression of

toughness and was often extremely frank and forthright in his comments that used to cause

consternation to many. He was painfully aware of this trait of his and used to make amends if he

ever felt that he had been unduly harsh on anyone. Everyone, who had worked closely with him,

had experienced at some time or other this trait of his but were aware that underneath the veneer of

his impatience and anger lay the high expectation he had from many of his colleagues and co-

workers.



BPR possessed an impish sense of humour and when in one such mood in the company of a

small circle, he would regale everyone with narratives of humorous incidents from his interaction

with many talented and gifted individuals over the years. The child-like mischievous peels of

laughter and glint in his eyes remains etched in the memories of many who had interacted with

him closely. BPR felt that the Awards instituted by the Society and for that matter any Award or

Honour should come as a surprise to the individual concerned.

himself in hard work. He had a rigorous daily routine, starting the day at 4 a.m. He did his most

creative writing work in the early morning hours 4-7 a.m. He would be again in his study by 9

a.m. after his bath and breakfast. He rested only for 30 minutes or so after his lunch and he would

be back in his seat by 2.30 p.m. till evening. He had fixed days and time to meet different

colleagues and co-workers in the Society and the City. Even his telephonic conversations with

outstation friends took place exactly at the appointed time if he could help it. It was amazing that

he maintained this strict regimen till the last day of his life.

One of the last tasks he was engaged in prior to his passing away was, a lead article for the

Journal on the life and work of Prof. Augusto Gansser, the well known Himalayan Geologist,

who passed away recently at the ripe age of 101 years in Switzerland, his home country. He

would collect information from as many sources as possible and cross-check details, sift and jot

He was extremely prompt in his correspondence

and before the internet and the e-mail communication

came into vogue, BPR would send out a postcard

with unfailing promptness, whether to appreciate

someone’s work or to express his view-point. He

corresponded extensively with many people across

the length and breadth of the country and also abroad.

Dr. Radhakrishna valued punctuality immensely

and would curtly remark “It is not gentlemanly to

come either early or late”, irrespective of whoever

it was, even if there were to be a minor delay in the

appointed meeting time. The unfailing regularity of

the dispatch of the Journal to all parts of India and

abroad is a testimony to this trait of his.

BPR rarely talked about his innermost feelings

or personal grief. He lost his wife, when he was still

in service, in his fifties. She passed away in

Bangalore, when he was on an official trip to Delhi.

He would occasionally recall this event and ponder

about whether prompt medical attention would have

saved her life. He bore the burden of inner solitude

and grief within in a stoic manner and immersed



down points on his ubiquitous index cards for easy retrieval during the writing of the article/

editorial. Like a seasoned journalist, BPR always cultivated multiple sources of information

pertaining to developments in Earth Science across the globe. Any earth scientist passing through

Bangalore from anywhere in the world, would be invariably invited by him to the Society either to

deliver a lecture or for an informal meeting with colleagues and all help was extended to them in

planning their itineraries like field trips.

BPR’s attitude towards the Indian heritage is reflected in his statement: “I am proud of the

Indian way of life – a life of contentment, compassion for all living beings, respect for elders,

tolerance, humility, service to others, belief in afterlife and rebirth, which has sustained Indian

civilization for the last 3000 years and should not therefore be given up”. While he laid great

emphasis on certain values bequeathed to us by our ancient civilization, he abhorred the evils of

inequity, social oppression in the name of religion, caste or community and a feudal mind set

insensitive to human dignity. While he believed in the highest vedantic philosophy of Indian thought,

he was against narrow ritualistic religion, which he used to term humorously as “mumbo - jumbo”.

Till his end, BPR kept himself active in reading about developments in earth sciences, writing

the occasional editorial for the Journal and meeting many earth scientists from all parts of India.

Clad in his spotless white khadi robes, as he sat erect in his chair in his study room, BPR reminded

one of the words of the poet Tennyson’ s Ulysses:

Though much is taken much abides: and thoughWe are not now that strength which in old daysMoved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;One equal temper of heroic hearts,Made weak by time and fate, but strong in willTo strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

BPR had strong reservations on the extremely interventionist modern allopathic medicine

devoid of the “bed-side manners” of the earlier generation of family physicians, a species almost

extinct now. He was very categorical, that if ever he fell ill, he should not be subjected to the

tortures of a modern ICU, but life allowed to ebb away peacefully and naturally at his home amidst

familiar surroundings. Almost as if he willed it, he departed on the afternoon of 26th January

around 1.30 pm, rather abruptly without any fuss and with no time for any medical intervention.

He died, working till his last day, as a true karma yogi.

His life and work will remain a testimony to his sterling qualities and many achievements.

The best tribute we can pay to Dr. Radhakrishna is to strive hard with zeal and enthusiasm towards

excellence in whatever field we are engaged in and by charting out bold, original and creative new

ideas that would translate BPR’s dreams into reality.

M.S. RAO and R. VAIDYANADHAN

(on behalf of the Fellows of the

Geological Society of India)

B. P. Radhakrishna (BPR) — A tribute

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Transcript of B. P. Radhakrishna (BPR) — A tribute