A Send-off Speech

J.V. Yakhmi

The date was 22 September, 2010. I was being felicitated on the occasion of my retirement from my Institution later that month. To make it memorable for me, since I was laying down my official post of a scientist after having spent 45 years in my job, my colleagues had organized an International Conference, to participate in which senior academicians, scientists and experts had come from several countries, and from various labs within India.

A lot of friends and colleagues spoke at the Banquet dinner about me, my work, and our lasting friendships in many cases. My family was present on the occasion, as I got up to reply to the felicitations, as desired by the Master of Ceremonies. I spoke as under:

‘I feel weird, standing here to speak, when I am retiring. Not knowing what to say on this occasion, I tried to consult some colleagues on that. But I discovered that a majority of my friends have not yet retired, and those who did retire don’t wish to discuss it!’

‘Many of you have come from far and wide to wish me well. I am humbled and very grateful and also lucky to have so many well-wishers, some of whom have crossed continents to be here on this occasion. Let me begin by thanking all of you, who have come to felicitate me, because I am 64. In fact, a friend has come all the way from Kolkata to observe me from close quarters if I can still move my limbs, etc.’

‘We humans don’t wish to look old, so we cover-up to hide our age, like I wear colorful shirts to distract the attention. But why hide the age? Looking old is a sign of maturity. Years ago, I used to have a dig at a friend telling him that he must be dying his hair grey to command serious attention of people, when he had actually gone grey, prematurely.’

‘Life has been easy for me, relatively. Most things have been taken care of well for me by my family, and my well-wishers. In fact, this is the third time my birthday is being celebrated with a cake-cutting ceremony in a scientific conference in the last 4 years. Perhaps to remind me again and again to hang up my gloves.’

‘My interests have been handled safely. It has been a protected life, with so many people throwing a protective ring around me. You can say, I have been in a cocoon! Until I grew up, my mother was protective to the extent of being paranoid for years together, fearing that any passing disease or virus will get me, simply because all 4 of my siblings suffered infant mortality. Later, my wife and other family members, most of them sitting here, thought I am fragile and continued to protect me. Then there have been friends, some of whom are present here, who have always rushed to my rescue when I was in distress. So, I have been largely left to do my science, in peace.’

‘But at times, when the science became too thick for me, then poetry came to my rescue. It relaxes the mind, but science and poetry hardly mix, so I am not sure of the quality of the verses I wrote. I once sent my poetry to the well-known Bollywood lyricist Qamar Jalalabadi. He declared to me “you need a lot of guidance”, implying the stuff I wrote was mediocre. Thank God, he was not sitting on judgment on the quality of my science.’

‘Some friends think I am a good speaker. Only I know how nervous I get on stage. Appearing to look nonchalant is but a mask. I recount an incident when during a conference session in Japan, a professor, usually brash, but known worldwide for his path-breaking research, while sitting along my side, asked me a minute before I was to go on stage for my presentation “Hey Yakhmi, are you nervous”? I replied, “On the contrary, I am worried, why I am not, since you need some bit of nervousness to make a good presentation, don’t you?’ Frankly, I was nervous as hell, but I did not want him to unsettle me.’

‘Thank you all for taking time to felicitate me. I promise to make sincere efforts to look old and act old!’