Hi Guys,

To start with a very pleasant news.....The Nobel prize for Chemistry has one recipient from Indian origin. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has made a country of billion people very proud. Born in Chidamabaram (T.N), Venkat got his Bachelors in Physics from Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda and migrated to the land of opportunity to pursue his Ph.D. He obtained his Doctorate in Physics from Ohio University in 1976 and then planned his 2 year transition from Physics to Biology. After a Postdoctoral stint at Yale, Venkat joined the staff of Brookhaven National Laboratory.Venkat has been awarded the Nobel prize in Chemistry this year for his pioneering work on Ribosomes. Venkat is now working as a senior scientist at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.

Previous Nobel Laureates

Tagore (1913, Geetanjali),C.V.Raman (1930, Raman Effect),Hargobind Khurana (1968, Genetic code),Mother Teresa (1979, Peace),Subramanian Chandrasekhar (1983, Evolution of stars),Amartya Sen (1998, Welfare economics).

Now for some not so pleasant news....
Floods have hit Andhra again and it has caused a lot of damage to lives and property.There seems to be no real solution to this recurring problem. PMO has released 1000 Crore for relief measures, but I am not sure how much of it will reach the really needy. There are lot of NGOs and Seva Dal groups who have alredy plunged into the relief work. I will get back with more news soon.

Signing off for now.
Krishna