ASIAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICS

It gives me immense pleasure to write about Professor Anurag Sharma whom I have known for about 46 years, first as a student and later as a valued colleague at IIT Delhi.
    It was in 1974 that as a student of M Sc.(2nd year Physics) program, he opted to carry out his project work on holography under my supervision. At that time, I had only a small laboratory in which there was a home-made table, a low power He-Ne laser, and some optical-, and mechanical components to record small holograms. A cast iron plate was floated on four inflated scooter tubes kept on a sturdy wooden table. Four legs of the table were placed in four baskets filled with sand. Such a table dampened sufficiently the vibrations even though the table was located on the third floor of the main building having seven floors. Such an arrangement proved to be quite satisfactory for student experiments for recording on-axis and small angle (1-2 degrees) off-axis holograms. For research work, we had to import a commercial table much later. I was not sure as to why Anurag opted to work on holography for his project work. Perhaps, during his course work, he developed a special interest in optics, as also the fact that Denis Gabor won the Nobel Prize in 1971 for his work on holography, which generated unprecedented interest in ‘Holography’across  the globe, making it a much sought- after subject. It is an interesting coincidence, that the laboratory room in which he performed experiments for his dissertation, was used after a lapse of nearly four decades to house newly created infrastructure for Ultrafast Optics. I along with Prof A K Ghatak were invited by Prof. Sharma to inaugurate the laboratory. Such is the respect he gives to his teachers.
    Anurag kept his interest in optics alive, and joined the M.Tech.(Applied Optics) program in 1974, during which I taught him several theory courses and supervised the ‘Optics laboratory’ work for two semesters. During this period, his interest in optics deepened further and he completed the program with flying colours. His unsatiable hunger for knowledge intensified further and he decided to join for the doctoral program in optical waveguides with Professor A.K.Ghatak. During his doctoral work, he did some remarkable research. It would be an exercise in futility to write about his academic and professional attainments and his career trajectory, which are outstanding and also given in the accompanying pages in this issue. Instead, I propose to devote some space to his management and administrative acumen, and personal traits to which I have been a witness from close quarters during my long association with him as a colleague. It is impossible to give a detailed account of my impressions of him in the textual space that a write-up of this nature can accommodate. Therefore, only a few glimpses are listed below:
    Whether it was my responsibility as a coordinator of the M.Tech.(Applied Optics) program for several years or as the Chairman of the Departmental Research Committee (DRC) or as Head of department, or as Dean Postgraduate Programs and Research (BPGS), Prof. Sharma played an important role by giving his sincere, constructive, and valuable suggestions. During my tenure as Dean (BPGS), I received his valuable suggestions and support. This was the period when I had to oversee the designing of new curricula for various M.Tech. programs of the Institute, because the programs which were until then of eighteen months duration, were to be extended to two tears duration as a result of the recommendation by a national review committee.The process entailed discussion at various levels; curriculum framing and approval at the department level, discussion and approval by the BPGS, and finally the approval by the Senate. In this regard, many pertinent and remarkable suggestions were put forward by Prof Sharma at all levels. He was quite firm and had no hesitation in expressing his frank and forthright views if he differed with my point of view at any of the fora. He minced no words if he strongly felt that something was not quite right with the formulation of guidelines and policies which had a major impact on the department and the Institute. At the same time, his positive attitude, and skills to resolve conflicts and suggest acceptable solutions were unmatched. 
    Prof Sharma also edited (with Dr Joby Joseph and Prof V K Rastogi) a book on ‘Perspectives in Modern Optics and Optical Instrumentation’[1] to commemorate my felicitation on the occasion of my 60th birthday. The book contains articles contributed by scientists of repute from India and abroad. An international symposium was also organized on this occasion, followed by dinner at the Director’s lodge. The responsibility of organizing the felicitation function was entrusted to Prof Sharma by the then Director Prof R S Sirohi who was an admirer of his organizational capabilities. Prior to this, he had arranged a conference to celebrate the 60th birthday of Prof. Ghatak,and later edited a book on ‘Guided Wave Optics’ [2] on the occasion of a farewell function in honour of Prof Ghatak at the end of his formal association with IITD. The book is an excellent collection of articles by well- known experts in the area. When a function was held in the faculty house to release the book, I was chosen by him to do the honours.
    The year 2011 was the golden jubilee year of IIT Delhi and year-long celebrations were planned on this occasion. Prof Sharma was entrusted the responsibility of chairing a committee which was to work out a detailed plan of activities and their implementation. Under the able and inspiring guidance of Prof Sharma all the activities were carried out in a very smooth and systematic manner. One of the activities was to honour some faculty members (superannuated and serving) with ‘Golden Jubilee distinguished awards’, after obtaining recommendations by various departments and centres, taking into account the distinguished services rendered by the concerned faculty. An elaborate function was held in the convocation hall to felicitate the awardees and the function turned out to be a memorable occasion for the awardees. The participants were full of praise for the manner in which the ceremony was conducted by Prof Sharma. Another activity that was carried out under his able guidance was the printing of large sized posters depicting the time-line of growth of the Institute by showing certain landmark events. Faculty winning S S Bhatnagar prize were shown with their photographs. An exhibition was also arranged, of books authored/co-authored or edited by the faculty.
    Another project that was planned for the year was to initiate the process of bringing out a book containing the memoirs of the ‘Distinguished golden jubilee awardees’. Prof Sharma wanted me to take up the responsibility editing such a book by inviting articles from the awardees, perhaps due to the reason that I had joined the IITD faculty in 1965 and thus personally knew the senior professors who were my contemporaries. I gladly accepted the invitation because I was sure that he would do a great job of getting the book printed in an elegant style. Unfortunately, due to some unavoidable reasons, publication of the book [3] got delayed and could come out only in 2015.
    It was at the suggestion and persuasive skills of Prof Sharma that I wrote an article [4] entitled ‘Optics and Photonics at IIT Delhi’. It was first printed in the souvenir brought out on the occasion of an International conference on optics and photonics held at IITD during the period Dec.3-5, 2011. It traced the history of development of optics at IITD from 1962 to 2011. and contains the details of faculty associated with the teaching and research programs, courses taught, facilities created for experimental research, doctoral dissertations approved, and honours (various awards including Bhatnagar award and fellowship of various academies) won by the faculty over the years. An extended version of the article was later published in Optics and Photonics News(India), brought out by the Optical Society of America.
    An activity/program called ‘Honour the Mentor’ was also initiated as a part of the golden jubilee celebrations, under which a certain number of students can come together to honour their mentor. These students are normally the ones who were mentored in their doctoral and/or M Tech program. Family, and certain number of friends and relatives are also invited to such a function which was held in the seminar hall. Large size posters were put at conspicuous places such as the main entrance to the foyer outside the venue and near the dais. After a speech by the presider who is normally the Institute Director, the students made short speeches giving their impressions about the mentor who was honoured by presenting him a shawl and a cheque for Rs. Fifty thousand as a token of gratitude. The mentors were required to give presentations about their experiences at the Institute. A booklet with photos of the students and their brief write-ups about the mentor was released on such occasions. A video recording of the complete ceremony, and still photographs were later made available to the mentor and the concerned students. Prof Sharma used to be the ‘Master of Ceremony’ in these functions. The ceremony was followed by an elaborate dinner in the faculty guest house,to which faculty of  over as the concerned department along with their spouses, students, and guests were invited. At such a function in my honour,Prof Sharma while making his remarks about me that Prof Singh always addresses his colleagues in a formal manner by affixing Professor or Dr. before the name. He made a plea not to address him in such a manner and should be addressed only as Anurag because he had been my student. I agreed spontaneously with his suggestion. Since that moment I started addressing him as Anurag.