My
Visit to Calgary and Edmonton (June 12-15, 2015)
It was almost 3 months
after I left India on March 16 and an invitation to participate in Abdus Salam
(Nobel Laureate) Symposium at University of Calgary was a welcome break
through. When I booked my flight for Calgary, the very next day I received an
invitation letter from Deepak Manmohan Singh of Punjabi University, Patiala for
presenting my Paper at International Punjabi Conference to be held at Toronto
on 12-13 June. I was in a perplex what to do? But I decided to join Abdus Salam
Symposium, as it was a celebration of my mentor, guide and philosopher. The
year I joined GND University, Amritsar to create an independent department of
Physics in 1979, Abdus Salam was recommended for Nobel Prize for his
Electro-Weak Unification theory. He had given me a strong reference letter for joining
as Professor of Physics in Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
In addition to Salam
Symposium, Calgary has an added attraction for me. My high school Science
teacher, Harjit Singh Rai, lives in this city since 1982. Last time, I visited
him in 2013 during our tour of Canadian Rockies around Banff and Jasper. Harjit
S. Rai provided me all moral support to continue my studies in Science when my
financial situation worsened and I was facing all type of misfortunes. I joined
Govt. High School Malerkotla in April 1955 and my destiny took a plunge in May
catapulting my dreams in to doldrums of life. My Science teacher provided me moral
support and I topped in my School despite my adverse situation.
On June 11, I reached
Calgary Airport at 7 PM by West Jet flight in 55 minutes. My teacher received
me at airport and I was driven to his home in his brand new car. After informal
introductions, and dinner I was shown my bed room to spend 2 nights in Calgary.
Next morning, it was a rainy day and the Symposium was scheduled at 3 PM.
Harjit Singh drove me to the Calgary university campus and I reached the venue
of Symposium in Science Auditorium of Physics Department just in nick of time.
I was introduced to main speakers of Symposium.
Dr Barry Sanders spoke
on my favourite topic, “Abdus Salam: The Grand Unifier”. I had contributed an
article to a Volume published by ICTP, Trieste under the Title: “Abdus Salam:
The Grand Unifier of Men and Forces”. Prof. Sanders covered most of the work of
Abdus Salam which was done during his sojourn in Cambridge University.
Professor Rachid Ouyed tried to find a connection between Particle Physics and
Astrophysics in his lecture. I appreciated his idea that Abdus Salam’s vision
of Grand Unification of Forces was based on unification of five rivers of
Punjab, merging into one before falling in to Arabian Sea as one river known as
Sind Sagar (the mighty Indus). It is a beautiful analogy suggested by Professor
Rachid. Dr Robert Thompson, Head Physics Department, spoke about his Group’s
research on “Understanding Antimatter”. Experiments done on “Anti-hydrogen” in
CERN, Geneva were reported but he failed to link it with Professor Salam.
Dr Zakariya Virk of
Toronto, the man who invited me to Salam Symposium was absent and I was
disappointed. However, Dr Perwez Parwazi, whom I knew from ICTP days was there
to speak on his favourite subject: “My Personal Encounters with Dr. Salam”. It
was considered the best presentation as Dr Parwazi narrated some interesting
episodes from the life of Abdus Salam. I was shocked to learn that on
instigation from Sunni Maulvis the Epitaph on the grave of Abdus Salam has been
defaced in Rabbwah. What a pity, the man who remained faithful to his
motherland (Pakistan) and brought laurels by winning the Nobel Prize has been
declared a Kafir (unbeliever) by his own compatriots.
Dr Naweed I. Syed, a
renowned Professor of Medicine in Calgary University introduced me to the
audience. There was no slot for my presentation but I had to be content by
narrating my Encounters with Professor Salam to his well-wishers in the
audience. The most memorable was his visit to GND University Amritsar when he
delivered his Nobel Lecture in Punjabi at the university convocation held in
his honour to confer honorary doctorate on 25th Jan. 1981. I was
present during his public lecture at Qadian on Jan. 26 where he was a crowd
puller and rural folk came to see their Super Star Punjabi Scientist. The same
evening, Professor Salam was honoured by Secretary SGPC during his visit to
Golden Temple Amritsar. My duty was to escort him to Raja Sansi Airport outside
Amritsar and I remember the affection he was given by all and sundry to this
son of Punjab. The organisers offered me their love and promised to organise a
special symposium next year in local Ahmedya mosque.
On June 13th,
my old student, Resham Singh Thiara drove me to Edmonton. This was my second
visit to this beautiful city and capital of Alberta Province. June 14th
being Sunday, I fixed up Gurdwara Singh Sabha as a meeting place to meet my old
friends and class fellows. Pal Singh Purewal, the promoter of Nanakshahi
Calendar and Bhinder Sohi were already present. I addressed the Sikh Sangat for
a short while which was not received well by the orthodox in the audience but
appreciated highly by the younger generation of diaspora. In the afternoon, we
went round the downtown and other spots of touristic interest in Edmonton. To
my surprise, Edmonton impressed me by its spotless beauty, aesthetics and highly
reputed University. On June 15th, I took my West Jet flight to
Abbotsford, flying over Canadian Rockies, catching glimpses of snow covered
peaks and majestically flowing river Fraser through its gorges.
No comments:
Post a Comment