New Delhi: For someone who struggled with the basic concepts of physics even after earning an MSc degree, life has come full circle. M Ravichandran retired this week as secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences and is now set to return to academia as a faculty member at IIT-Madras.
Ravichandran, who demitted office on May 29 after a five-year tenure as Earth Sciences secretary, plans to continue his association with ocean sciences at the premier institute after a career marked by grit and determination.
As secretary, he steered the programme for the modernisation of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and was instrumental in pursuing the government's ambitious Deep Ocean Mission.
A PhD in Physics from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune (IITM), Ravichandran contributed significantly to the design and implementation of ocean observation systems during his stints at the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, and the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS, Hyderabad.
As director of the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa, he led India's research activities in Antarctica and the Arctic region.
Ravichandran, 61, hails from Bhadrakalipuram, a small village in Tamil Nadu's then Madurai district, where few students pursued education beyond class 5.
As the first student from the village to aspire to continue schooling, he said, the entire community came together to help fulfil his dream. In 1975, he went to high school in Dindigul, completed matriculation and later graduated from a college in Madurai.
A combination of scholarships and community support enabled him to complete a master's degree in physics from Alagappa University, Karaikudi, making him the first from his village to earn a postgraduate degree.
However, reality soon caught up with him when his poor communication skills prevented him from securing a government job. "I was adept at clearing exams, studying by rote. But, when it came to interviews, I was an unmitigated disaster," Ravichandran told PTI.
Fed up with the taunts of villagers who had once celebrated his achievements, Ravichandran moved to Chennai and took up a job as a security guard at a chemical factory.
A few months later, some of his postgraduate classmates spotted him there and persuaded him to enrol in Tamil Nadu government-sponsored classes for civil services aspirants.
"My only attraction in joining the programme was assurance of three full meals a day and a place to stay in Chennai," he recalled.
Ravichandran cleared the entrance exam to join the preparatory classes for civil services easily, only to realise the limitations of rote learning.
"The basic concepts of physics were not clear to me even after earning the MSc degree," he recalled.
A timely intervention by mentor R Swaminathan, a former professor at Presidency College, Chennai, transformed his approach. Swaminathan encouraged him to revisit physics from class 6 textbooks onward to build a strong conceptual foundation.
Ravichandran cleared the civil services exams in 1988, but he was not particularly interested in the Customs service for which he qualified.
Among the opportunities before him was an offer from the IMD to join IITM-Pune as a scientist.
"I joined IITM-Pune on December 23, 1988, and life took a different turn," he recalled.
After a fruitful stint as secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences from October 2021 till his superannuation, Ravichandran now plans to join the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at IIT-Madras as a faculty member and continue contributing to India's ocean science missions.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
