Bangalore:
Nobel Prize Winner Venkataraman Ramakrishnan may have been born in Tamil Nadu and raised in Gujarat, but he has a Bangalore connection. He's a Visiting Fellow at the city's prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
Dr P Srinath offers this secret about the man who's won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. "He likes masala dosa, and because he was brought up in Baroda so he likes chaat and (laughs) sugarcane juice."
Dr Venki, as he's known, always had a captive audience here, but he's now a legend. "We are all so thrilled. We even had chai with him, moved around with him, he is such a fun person to be with," gushes Lasya, a starry-eyed a PhD student.
Professor Umesh Varshney who has worked with "Venki" on some aspects of ribosome research, is excited at what this Nobel Prize validates. "Now with the knowledge of the ribosome structure, we can find out exactly what the changes are, and so for common person on the streets, this knowledge allows you to design better antibiotics."
Working in the US and UK, Venki Ramakrishnan has accomplished much, but in Bangalore, scientists rejoice for the man who became an IISc fellow long before he won the Nobel prize.