Who is Sir CV Raman? Is he a politician: Bangalore student

Quaint and hidden in thick foliage, stands the home of India’s greatest physicist - Sir CV Raman. The building is almost hidden from the busy streets of Malleshwaram 8th main, and it stays obscured from public memoery as well.

Malleshwaram’s MES college is situated on the same street, with its students hanging out along the heritage building’s compound. Only that they are blissfully ignorant about the building’s historical backdrop.

The thickly-covered residence, Panchavati, was built in 1903 by Bangalore deputy commissioner Jagadeo Naik, who sold off his property to Raman. Sir CV Raman moved to the city in 1942 when he joined the Indian Institute of Science. “After Raman took over the place, he built a pantry and kitchen in the rear, apart from a few outhouses,” said K Krishnamaraju, administrative officer, Raman Research Institute.

The building, managed by the Raman Trust, stays out of public glare. “This is CV Raman’s house? Oh yes! It has a board also! We had never realised it,” exclaimed a student of MES college, Puja.

There is barely any information informing the public about the structure. Many, in fact, have not even heard of the Nobel laureate. “Who is Sir CV Raman? Is he some politician?” asked Uma Devi, a Malleshwaram resident, who stays only a few lanes away.

Reshmi Iyer, another student who had thankfully heard of Raman inquired, “Oh this is where he lived? I love math. I hope we can go in? What is there? Can we see the things he used? I will go inside one day.”

Ignorance is all-pervading. It does not seem to matter what Raman’s area of specialisation had been. Raman was not known for maths; he won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1930.

But then, do you care?