Facets Of India: A Man Who Could Laugh At Himself
"J B S Haldane was an incorrigible optimist who could laugh at himself and the world,'' writes Hariharan Balakrishnan, continuing his series of articles about the British scientist who chose to live in India after the UK Government sanctioned an invasion of the Suez Canal area in the 1950s.
During his lifetime, he had running battles with theologists, theoreticians, governments, the media and conventional wisdom on many fronts. His contribution to human genetics was legendary, as was his very human sense of humour. He was a maverick of the first order, and was always on the move- physically and intellectually. He was an ardent member of the British Communist Party and was once considered for contesting for Parliament. Later, he was disillusione with the ideology when the iron fist of Stalin and his oppression against his own people was exposed to the world. Essentially, he was a gentleman to the fingertips, with a tremendous sense of duty to science.
K. Srinivasan (80) who retired from the top rungs of the Indian civil service more than 20 years ago, recalls, “I was deputy secretary, Finance, in Orissa 1961. One day the Chief Minister telephoned and asked me to ensure that nothing went wrong with the Governor’s invitation to Haldane for tea that evening.” Apparently, Haldane didn’t want to go since ‘my workers have not got their pay for 3 days’. Srinivasan told him that government officers like him often didn’t get their pay for 3 months. That broke the ice. Haldane agreed to go if the boys got their pay by 3.30 pm. Tea was at 4. Knowing the Juggernaut of government machinery in India, Srinivasan took a bet with Haldane that he can have the workers paid by 8.30 the same evening. He managed it with a Herculean effort, after having the treasury opened for this specific purpose- something unheard of in staid bureaucratic India. “Next morning, I was surprised to see a man in pyjamas and a jibba (loose cheese-cloth shirt) walking into my house. He simply said ‘I am Haldane’ and asked for a cup of coffee. I was stunned. Then, he invited me to accompany him and his wife Helen to Puri which is the nearest beach. We sent to Puri next day. I was a volunteer life-guard in Madras (Chennai today) before I joined the IAS. Yet, due to lack of practice, I declined when he asked me to take Mrs. Haldane into the sea, but agreed to swim with him. After going in for half a mile, I swam back- exhausted. But Haldane went on a full mile into the sea. He was almost 70, and I was just short of 30 in age”.
