My Reminisces of Interaction with Vikram Sarabhai

After working in the field of radio astronomy for two years in Australia and seven years in USA, I joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) at Mumbai in April 1963. I met Vikram Sarabhai in 1964 during his visit to TIFR. He invited me to visit the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad to interact with its faculty and students. I went to PRL several times during the next three years. There I also gave talks on radio astronomy, the Kalyan Radio Interferometer and the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT).I had many discussions with the faculty and students at PRL regarding research being carried out in several fields, such as cosmic rays, atmospheric sciences. I also recall discussions with U. R. Rao about his work on cosmic rays and solar wind. During one of my visits to PRL, Sarabhai described to me his plans for building capabilities for space research and communication in India. He had a clear vision about it. He also took me to visit the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad that was founded by him. It was a great experience. I also visited two sites that were selected by him for establishment of the proposed Space Applications Centre (SAC) at Ahmedabad. I was also told then that it was planned to import a 45 ft parabolic dish from Japan for microwave communication at the SAC. I told Sarabhai that it could be designed and built in India in a couple of years instead of being imported.