From Bihar to Montana - Hirendra M. Ghose
From Bihar to Montana
Hirendra Mohon Ghose was born in 1930 in Patna, Bihar, India. His parents Manini Sinha and Surendra Ghose had eight children, four boys and four girls.
"I entered Bihar National College in the area of physics as my major subject, July 1944. I continued to eat meals at my mother's house, but lived in the quarters offered by my uncle. My uncle had just built an outside room with an adjacent bathroom, and he offered it to me to live there provided I tutored his oldest brother's son, who was not doing well in High School studies, Bengali, History, Geography, Mathematics and English."
At age 24 Hiren already had a B.Sc. degree in physics, chemistry and mathematics, and M. Sc. in chemistry, and had pursued graduate studies in mathematics. He was teaching chemistry and physics at a local college in Patna, and tutoring "rich but deficient students" at his home." There was no possibility that Indian society would permit him to marry the girl of his dreams. He applied to 40 American colleges and universities asking for grants or graduate scholarships.
Montana State University was the first to offer him a research and teaching fellowship and he immediately cablegrammed his acceptance.
On the day he left, his mother, his two older brothers and their wives, his 4 sisters, and other family and friends brought him to the Patna Junction train station in two horse carriages.
In his own words:
"I still remember my friends and family who saw me off at the Patna Junction station when I left India. I recall my brother waiting to see me off and giving me a topcoat, ring, golden buttons and one hundred rupees.
"As soon as I arrived at Patna Junction I was caught in the midst of greetings, kind words, and the furor of noise at Patna Junction. Pushing my way through the hurried crowd, I arrived at the Janata (People's) Express which would take me to the end of India."
"The Janata whistled; Barda, Buru, and mother were standing by. Dasgupta patted my head -- the train began to take me away from them. As it moved away from my people it went toward the future of the people of India. Janata began to move fast along the side of the Ganges in the summer August; black clouds were spreading from the other side of the Ganges River. The sight of those rain clouds was a pleasure to my eyes. In no time heavy rain began to fall and the rainwater and the wind went dancing into eternity. When the rain grew more violent and began to splatter me with drops, I closed the windows and sat in the corner. I could hear the thunders making tremendous noise. I was tired from the excitement and sheer drudgery of the routine process of departure. I went to sleep.
"The next morning when I awoke the sun was up. Boats, of all shapes and sizes, were floating on the Ganges River. The villagers on the bank were taking a stroll or bath in their secluded ways.
"Janata arrived a little late in Calcutta, the largest city of "Sonar Bang La" (Golden Bengal) and the end of the Ganges River.
"Now I had come to the final stage of leaving India. Up to this time I had not felt the emotion of leaving. I began to wonder about the natural wealth of India, the wealth of Bengal; the wealth of India was never hidden like an old deed, in an iron safe. The only true expression of India was the cultural life which could be seen scattered everywhere. It was present in the river, in the Bay of Bengal, and in the paddy fields.
"The true wealth of India lay in the people who crossed oceanic barriers of external geography. So I felt India and America together might glimpse the external grace of India. Perhaps I, as the messenger, would clear the enveloping dust through a technological approach.
"The next day my plane took off from the Calcutta Dom Dom Airport. Our plane passed low over Bengal. The villagers in clusters looked like tiny islands dotted over an expanse of bare water. The Ganges River looked like a serpent trying to find its way into the big reservoir of the Bay of Bengal. We experienced the open beauty of the sky and the season in all magnificent colors. As in this example of nature, people should build their institutions upon the ideal of spiritual unity of all races and colors.
"In 1955 I entered the United States to earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry. To be in the land of Lincoln and Edison, a land filled with technology and inventors, was a thrill for me. When my plane landed I could hardly comprehend the hugeness of this land. The bright lights caught me wide-eyed and I looked at everything with wonder and delight. I could hardly believe that I had made it this far. "
"Soon after arriving at the airport I departed New York for Montana State University aboard a Greyhound bus. I arrived in Bozeman, Montana after four days and nights of travel. I was not familiar with the Western culture and I missed my home, my family, my friends, and the surroundings of India. It was during this lonely time, 1955-56 that I started to write this book [Time to Come]."
Here is a story from Hiren's book.
Patna, my home town, lies like a boat surrounded by two rivers- Poon
Poon on the south, and the Ganges on the north. The summer when I was about seven years old [1937], rumor had spread of the great floods throughout northern India. Ten or twelve villages near our city it was said, were covered with water. The crops for this year were destroyed and the villagers had lost their homes. Barda [oldest brother] left the house frequently with a worried expression, and one day I said to him, "Where are you going now, Barda?" "To the Ganges to check the sandbags on the dam," he told me. "I want to be sure they are strong enough to hold the water if the river rises further."
Not long afterwards, the peculiar sounds of the storm and the flood began to approach our city. The strange howl of the wind above the roofs and treetops was ominous and foreboding. There was an anxious silence throughout the household on the dark evening preceding the flood. There was nothing to do but wait, for who could tell with certainty whether fate should see fit to pass us by. I went to bed that night with the storm raging in my ears. I wondered how the calm, holy Ganges could be the perpetrator of death and destruction.
Immigration records show that Hirendra arrived in New York from London on Pan American World Airways Inc. Sept 19, 1955.
In 1960 Hiren married Gail Robinson in Bozeman, Montana. Here is a photo.
By 1970 Dr. Ghose was a professor and Department Head at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio.
Hiren gave a NASA presentation at CCC, "CLeveland Space Odyssey" March 16-23, 1980.
Here is Hiren's biography, from his book "Time To Come" 1991.
BIOGRAPHY (August, 1991)
Hirendra M. Ghose, Ph.D. was born in India. He received his B.Sc. degree in physics, chemistry, and mathematics, and M.Sc. degree in chemistry and also pursued graduate studies in mathematics. After teaching physics and chemistry, as well as doing consulting work in education and business, he came to the United States and received his Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry at Montana State University. He became a naturalized citizen in 1965, and in the same year was recognized as an American Man of Science.
During his 37 years in this country he has taught at Skidmore College, New York University, and has worked as a senior scientist at Glidden and for other industries in administrative capacities. He is presently a professor at Cuyahoga Community College, a resident research associate at NASA, and president of Ghose and Associates, an educational and business consulting firm.
Dr. Ghose is also a consultant for the EPA and other government agencies, and is a member of various professional organizations. He has published several textbooks and scientific papers. He is also active in civic and religious organizations.
__________________________________________________
FROM HIS BOOK "TIME TO COME"
The story starts...
A match struck on a brother's teeth, a funeral pyre in flames, a burnt
navel thrown into the ganges, and Shankar, boy child of India, begins his
odyssey of becoming.
Names like Tagore, events like the independence riots of political parties, the disasters of earthquake and flood, all touch, affect, and even torment Shankar. However, his sometimes monologue, sometimes dialogue, are primarily a quest for personal identity in a world of revolutionary, intellectual and social change.
Within this searching adventure a philosophy evolves that reaches far
beyond Shankar and India. It is this transcendental element which provides a rare and intense experience for young and old alike.
Dr. Hiren Ghose passed away in 1999 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was 68.
Hirendra Mohon Ghose was born in 1930 in Patna, Bihar, India. His parents Manini Sinha and Surendra Ghose had eight children, four boys and four girls.
"I entered Bihar National College in the area of physics as my major subject, July 1944. I continued to eat meals at my mother's house, but lived in the quarters offered by my uncle. My uncle had just built an outside room with an adjacent bathroom, and he offered it to me to live there provided I tutored his oldest brother's son, who was not doing well in High School studies, Bengali, History, Geography, Mathematics and English."
At age 24 Hiren already had a B.Sc. degree in physics, chemistry and mathematics, and M. Sc. in chemistry, and had pursued graduate studies in mathematics. He was teaching chemistry and physics at a local college in Patna, and tutoring "rich but deficient students" at his home." There was no possibility that Indian society would permit him to marry the girl of his dreams. He applied to 40 American colleges and universities asking for grants or graduate scholarships.
Montana State University was the first to offer him a research and teaching fellowship and he immediately cablegrammed his acceptance.
On the day he left, his mother, his two older brothers and their wives, his 4 sisters, and other family and friends brought him to the Patna Junction train station in two horse carriages.
In his own words:
"I still remember my friends and family who saw me off at the Patna Junction station when I left India. I recall my brother waiting to see me off and giving me a topcoat, ring, golden buttons and one hundred rupees.
"As soon as I arrived at Patna Junction I was caught in the midst of greetings, kind words, and the furor of noise at Patna Junction. Pushing my way through the hurried crowd, I arrived at the Janata (People's) Express which would take me to the end of India."
"The Janata whistled; Barda, Buru, and mother were standing by. Dasgupta patted my head -- the train began to take me away from them. As it moved away from my people it went toward the future of the people of India. Janata began to move fast along the side of the Ganges in the summer August; black clouds were spreading from the other side of the Ganges River. The sight of those rain clouds was a pleasure to my eyes. In no time heavy rain began to fall and the rainwater and the wind went dancing into eternity. When the rain grew more violent and began to splatter me with drops, I closed the windows and sat in the corner. I could hear the thunders making tremendous noise. I was tired from the excitement and sheer drudgery of the routine process of departure. I went to sleep.
"The next morning when I awoke the sun was up. Boats, of all shapes and sizes, were floating on the Ganges River. The villagers on the bank were taking a stroll or bath in their secluded ways.
"Janata arrived a little late in Calcutta, the largest city of "Sonar Bang La" (Golden Bengal) and the end of the Ganges River.
"Now I had come to the final stage of leaving India. Up to this time I had not felt the emotion of leaving. I began to wonder about the natural wealth of India, the wealth of Bengal; the wealth of India was never hidden like an old deed, in an iron safe. The only true expression of India was the cultural life which could be seen scattered everywhere. It was present in the river, in the Bay of Bengal, and in the paddy fields.
"The true wealth of India lay in the people who crossed oceanic barriers of external geography. So I felt India and America together might glimpse the external grace of India. Perhaps I, as the messenger, would clear the enveloping dust through a technological approach.
"The next day my plane took off from the Calcutta Dom Dom Airport. Our plane passed low over Bengal. The villagers in clusters looked like tiny islands dotted over an expanse of bare water. The Ganges River looked like a serpent trying to find its way into the big reservoir of the Bay of Bengal. We experienced the open beauty of the sky and the season in all magnificent colors. As in this example of nature, people should build their institutions upon the ideal of spiritual unity of all races and colors.
"In 1955 I entered the United States to earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry. To be in the land of Lincoln and Edison, a land filled with technology and inventors, was a thrill for me. When my plane landed I could hardly comprehend the hugeness of this land. The bright lights caught me wide-eyed and I looked at everything with wonder and delight. I could hardly believe that I had made it this far. "
"Soon after arriving at the airport I departed New York for Montana State University aboard a Greyhound bus. I arrived in Bozeman, Montana after four days and nights of travel. I was not familiar with the Western culture and I missed my home, my family, my friends, and the surroundings of India. It was during this lonely time, 1955-56 that I started to write this book [Time to Come]."
 |
| Hiren and his mother Manini Patna, Bihar, India, circa 1954 |
Here is a story from Hiren's book.
Patna, my home town, lies like a boat surrounded by two rivers- Poon
Poon on the south, and the Ganges on the north. The summer when I was about seven years old [1937], rumor had spread of the great floods throughout northern India. Ten or twelve villages near our city it was said, were covered with water. The crops for this year were destroyed and the villagers had lost their homes. Barda [oldest brother] left the house frequently with a worried expression, and one day I said to him, "Where are you going now, Barda?" "To the Ganges to check the sandbags on the dam," he told me. "I want to be sure they are strong enough to hold the water if the river rises further."
Not long afterwards, the peculiar sounds of the storm and the flood began to approach our city. The strange howl of the wind above the roofs and treetops was ominous and foreboding. There was an anxious silence throughout the household on the dark evening preceding the flood. There was nothing to do but wait, for who could tell with certainty whether fate should see fit to pass us by. I went to bed that night with the storm raging in my ears. I wondered how the calm, holy Ganges could be the perpetrator of death and destruction.
Immigration records show that Hirendra arrived in New York from London on Pan American World Airways Inc. Sept 19, 1955.
In 1960 Hiren married Gail Robinson in Bozeman, Montana. Here is a photo.
 |
| Gail and Hiren's Wedding home of the Marge and Ken Goering Bozeman Montana, June 26 1960 |
Hiren gave a NASA presentation at CCC, "CLeveland Space Odyssey" March 16-23, 1980.
Here is Hiren's biography, from his book "Time To Come" 1991.
BIOGRAPHY (August, 1991)
Hirendra M. Ghose, Ph.D. was born in India. He received his B.Sc. degree in physics, chemistry, and mathematics, and M.Sc. degree in chemistry and also pursued graduate studies in mathematics. After teaching physics and chemistry, as well as doing consulting work in education and business, he came to the United States and received his Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry at Montana State University. He became a naturalized citizen in 1965, and in the same year was recognized as an American Man of Science.
During his 37 years in this country he has taught at Skidmore College, New York University, and has worked as a senior scientist at Glidden and for other industries in administrative capacities. He is presently a professor at Cuyahoga Community College, a resident research associate at NASA, and president of Ghose and Associates, an educational and business consulting firm.
Dr. Ghose is also a consultant for the EPA and other government agencies, and is a member of various professional organizations. He has published several textbooks and scientific papers. He is also active in civic and religious organizations.
__________________________________________________
FROM HIS BOOK "TIME TO COME"
The story starts...
A match struck on a brother's teeth, a funeral pyre in flames, a burnt
navel thrown into the ganges, and Shankar, boy child of India, begins his
odyssey of becoming.
Names like Tagore, events like the independence riots of political parties, the disasters of earthquake and flood, all touch, affect, and even torment Shankar. However, his sometimes monologue, sometimes dialogue, are primarily a quest for personal identity in a world of revolutionary, intellectual and social change.
Within this searching adventure a philosophy evolves that reaches far
beyond Shankar and India. It is this transcendental element which provides a rare and intense experience for young and old alike.
Dr. Hiren Ghose passed away in 1999 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was 68.
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