Narendra Kumar (1940–2017)

Professor Narendra Kumar, or simply Kumar as most of us have known him,was born on 1 February 1940 in Bilaspurof today’s Chhattisgarh as the youngest of three sisters and two brothers. His father, Labh Mal Julka, was an electrical engineer who obtained his degree from the Banaras Hindu University and mother, Taravathi, was proficient in three languages Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. His early childhood was spent in Ranchi, where he was taught at home by his father until the age of seven. It was then that he also learnt to speak Sanskrit. A fascination for magnetism had already developed in the heart of young Narendra,who constantly played with bar magnets and magnetic compasses and often slept with as many as twenty bar magnets under his pillow. He underwent his schooling in the Dayananda High school at Patna.