Prof. Sai Gopal

This is a page of pictures including Prof. Sai Gopal taken 1984 - 2015. In 1982 I first visited Prof. Naidu's Botany Department in Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. On my second visit in 1984 Sai Gopal was an MSc student. By the time of my later visits he was a very good friend and Professor and Head of the Virology Department. Always an excellent host and a major influence in encouraging my many wonderful visits.

Tribute letter (below)

Dear Sai Gopal,
I am writing to you on the occasion of your Superannuation Felicitation Function.
I hope you remember when we first met in 1984 when I was teaching the MSc Microbial Physiology course in Prof. Naidu’s Botany Department. Those four weeks were both memorable and influential – especially as they were the start of my 25 visits to Tirupati. Later, you persuaded me that my ‘home’ should be in the Virology Department and I happily joined you there for many years up to 2015. These visits provided some of the most important times of my life.

In this time your involvement in arranging my visits was so valuable. All I had to do was to suggest dates and then leave it all to you to make arrangements with the University and the Guest house where, in total, I spent more than two years of my life. Any problems were solved by your energetic interventions. The guest house provided me with an excellent base where I could meet friends and write. I wrote at lease 6 major reviews of my subject during my times in SVU.

I also wrote a diary during my visits and re-reading these it is impressive how often I wrote “SG sorted it out”. I described how I used to come to your office to recover from a hot chalky dusty lecture to be given a big mug of tea and an enjoyable chat with you, during which you signed letters, chatted with MSc students, advised PhD scholars and phoned University colleagues, often all at the same time. I noted what an unusually friendly atmosphere you created.

Others will have written about your research so I will only mention one thing – that you chose sensible projects that were not merely copying others but were original, not stupidly expensive and, most important, proved to be both successful and useful.  

Although it is perhaps trivial it is worth mentioning how grateful I was that you were kind enough to always arrange transport to and from lectures - a contrast with some departments where, after lecturing for nearly three hours I was left to walk with dry throat like a typical Englishman in the midday sun back to my home in the guest house. Of course, this transport could be a bit stressful, slithering on the sandy tracks on the back of scooter or bike. Dare I mention the first few times after you purchased a car that I felt I had to provide extra driving lessons in order to feel safe. Fortunately you were a quick learner.

I have to finish with a personal appreciation of my visits to your home to have memorable meals with your wife and daughters, and the experience of chatting on the roof while watching the sun go down over Tirupati.

So -  an enormous THANK YOU and my best wishes for a happy future.

With love and respect
Chris

Chris Anthony BSc, PhD, DSc
Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry
University of Southampton, UK