Prof. Yash Pal: Science’s Turning Point in India

Prof. Yash Pal, a strong pillar of science communication, a committed votary of scientific temper, an excellent communicator, a first rate teacher, a brilliant scientist, an institution builder, an administrator of science and education passed away peacefully. His life is worth celebrating and death worth mourning. Many remember him for Turning Point, a very high TRP programme, telecast on Doordarshan in the early 1990s, when he became the most known scientist in India. He was a communicator who could explain the most complex questions in layman’s language.

I don’t recall when I met him first but I do remember that I knew of him as a renowned scientist when I was a student. Later, it was in 1983 when the idea of Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha started germinating that I met him in a meeting.

I was a founder member of the Delhi Science Forum, generally known as DSF. The Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad and DSF jointly started working on a massive project of taking science to the Indian people. A year later, Prof. Yash Pal was appointed Secretary, Department of Science. We knew here’s a man who could think big and understood the importance of the relationship between science and the people. It took us the next four years to transform the idea into a reality. However, during this period I saw and met Prof. Yash Pal a number of times, but cannot claim that I was close to him, however, gradually I became an admirer of his communication abilities and clarity of thought. He could, with equal lucidity, talk to an international gathering about highly technical and scientific issues; he could discuss how to take science to the people with science popularisers and activists. He could also give a lecture to school children, and engage them for long and, on TV, Prof. Yash Pal spoke well.

In subsequent years, I met Prof. Yash Pal a number of times but remember four of these encounters distinctly. The first was somewhere in 1984-5. The National Council for Science and Technology Communication and Indian Institute of Mass Communication held a workshop for those filmmakers who were interested in science communication. Prof. Yash Pal gave the inaugural lecture. The lecture was long and about 20 of us were spellbound for about two hours. He spoke on Big Bang theory and the formation of the cosmos, starting from the beginning to present-day research. The lecture was highly scientific, yet in a story-telling format. I have preserved snatches of that lecture in my mind and have tried to incorporate those elements in my efforts to communicate science. He had the ability to change lives. Most of those who had attended the workshop latter became science communicators.

The second encounter, a much longer, one-on-one, with him lasted for about three hours. I was making a film on Dr Homi J Bhabha and collecting information for writing the script. Since I knew Prof. Yash Pal had worked with Bhabha and was in Delhi, I sought time to discuss his experiences. He was very busy and could not find time to spare but I did not want to go to Bombay without talking to him and waited patiently. Eventually, he gave me time, 30 minutes and no more, that is what he said on telephone. I reached in time and the interview began with, “Yaar tum kaisi film banana chahte ho? (What kind of a film do you want to make, buddy?).” He very frequently used the word “yaar” in his conversation, even his formal lectures delivered in English were punctuated by “yaar”. The tone of the “yaar” would always hint at what was about to come next. At the beginning of a conversation, he used it to break the layers of formality.

The interview continued for three hours, I was recording it and had to change audio cassettes. He told me many great stories about the formative years of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and how Bhabha shaped it. He also told me that when he joined TIFR, he went in kurta and jeans. A very senior person told him one day that he should not come to the institute in an informal dress as Dr Bhabha doesn’t like it. He retorted, “My letter of appointment does not mention any dress code.” And that was the end of the controversy. Dr Bhabha never raised any objections thereafter.

The third encounter that I remember was when I invited him to give an inaugural lecture in an international conference on scientific temper. I was busy organising the conference, Prof. Yash Pal was received by my colleague Dr Surjit Singh and was taken to the room next to the stage, he was served tea, I was informed that he has come. As I entered the room he was chatting with volunteers. I briefed him about all the sessions, probably in a matter-of-fact manner and requested to cover some points, which will set the tone of the conference. The inaugural session went off very well. Afterwards, I accompanied him to the same room, but before I could offer him a cup of tea, he asked me, “Did I cover all the points, Mr Politburo member?” and then he started laughing. I was so embarrassed.

The fourth and the last meeting was about a year back. It was the most pleasant one. I requested him to come to the Rajya Sabha TV channel for an interview. I was the anchor of the programme called Eureka. Over the phone, he said, “Yaar, tu mujh se kya kya karvataa hai (What all you make me do to, bud).” The sentence was full of love and Punjabi affection. He came, and for me it was an honour to interview him on a TV channel. Throughout the programme, I could not get rid of the feeling that I was interviewing one of the greatest science communicators of the country, who became a household name during the 80s and the 90s. He talked about the Partition of India, the trauma, which his family, had to go through, disruption of education, his memories of Gandhi and Nehru visiting the refugee camps and pacifying the anger. He also spoke about Indian education system at length. This was one of the finest interviews, which covered a host of issues. I was happy that I did not mess it up with my nervousness.

Once I had invited him to deliver a lecture to a group of social activists and before the lecture, we were talking about the 2002 carnage in Gujarat. He wanted to know the details of what had happened there because I had made a film on the Gujarat carnage. Suddenly, he said, “Society always progresses and moves forward, but there is always a great danger that it can go backwards, in a regressive motion, for a short period of time.” I was reminded of Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s “Lambi hai gham ki sham magar sham hi to hai.”

I mourn Prof. Yash Pal’s passing away. It feels like a personal loss. I am sure he will be remembered as a Turning Point for Indian science, science administration, education and, above all, in the world of science communication.

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