Dear Friends,
 
I am delighted to share with you the events of the last four months that you will be pleased to read.
 
Two Grants of 3.5 crore rupees each are offered to Shah-Schulman Centre for Surface Science and Nanotechnology at DDU, Nadiad, Gujarat
 
I am pleased to report that after several presentations at Gandhinagar, the Government of Gujarat has approved a grant of Rupees 3.5 crores to purchase the modern instruments for surface science and nanotechnology at Dharmsinh Desai University(DDU). A similar grant was approved by DDU for Faculty, staff and technicians and laboratories. I feel very happy that God has given me this good news in my ‘retirement’ years. I am looking forward to train a few students and younger colleagues here at DDU.
 
My Concert ‘Aambe Aavya Mhor’ on Saturday, January 10, 2009 at Tejpal Auditorium in Mumbai !
 
A concert is planned with my 14 songs at Tejpal Hall near Gowalia Tank, Mumbai on Saturday January 10, 2009 to pay my tribute to two founders of Gokuldas Tejpal Boarding and D M Parekh Hostel where I spent six years of my college education in Mumbai from 1955 to 1961. As the years went by I realized how important was the vision, generosity of these founders for creating these charity hostels for students who otherwise could not afford to stay in Mumbai. I wanted to pay my tribute to these two founders who are gone from this world long time ago. However, they planted the mango trees and I was one of the beneficiaries among the thousands of students who utilized these boardings for their studies in Mumbai. In a sense, we enjoyed the mangoes from the trees planted by these founders. Accordingly, I gave the title to the concert, ‘Aambe Aavya Mhor’. The first song of this concert was published in this blog last year as follows: 
 
http://gujaratisahityasarita.wordpress.com/2007/09/03/ambe-avya-mor/#more-276
 
  A well known young composer, Shri Uday Mazumdar has composed the music for these songs.
 
For any of the readers of this column, you are invited to this concert if you are in Mumbai on Saturday Jan 10, 2008. The admission is free with complimentary passes that can be obtained from me by using (E-Mail: dineshoshah@yahoo.com or Mobile Phone in India: 94290 62293). Please use Email if at all possible. If you wish your relatives, parents, brothers, sisters or friends in Mumbai to attend, please send them this information. If you wish to give donation, please write a check payable to D.M. Parekh Hostel and send it to me at any of the following two addresses. All donations will go the D.M. Parekh hostel.
 
How to encourage the younger generation to write and enjoy poetry

  I was visiting last month USA to see families of my daughter and son. As I was leaving for India, the terrorists struck Mumbai. My family members with heavy heart gave me farewell with words like, please take care of yourself, do not travel too much etc. I told them that I go so frequently to India that I should not worry about the terrorists. My three grandsons were standing in front of me, Anjay, Akesh and Avan (10,8 and 5 years respectively) and I said that if I have to say this in a poem, I would say ‘ I am a fisherman and I should not be afraid of sea! Then spontaneously I said, can you each make an effort to add one line with the same message but with different examples. We wrote three stranzas and I wrote the first line and my three grandsons added each line in stranza. the last line in each stranza is by my youngest grandson. With the result of this small excercise, I feel that the older generation must involve the youngsters to appreciate the beauty of poetry if we wish to continue the fragrance of our poems  and inspiration we derive from these poems.
 
 
                    I AM NOT AFRAID !!!
 
 
I am a fisherman and I should not be afraid of the sea.
I am a gardener and I should not be afraid of worms.
I am a doctor and I should not be afraid of blood.
I am a farmer and I should not be afraid of cows.
 
I am a winter lake and I should not be afraid to freeze.
I am a small bird and I should not be afraid of breeze
I am a snow-covered mountain and I should not be afraid of an avalanche.
I am the grass and I should not be afraid of the tractor.
 
I am a young man and I should not be afraid to reach the stars.
I am an old man and I should not be afraid to do something new.
I am a curious child and I should not be afraid to ask questions.
I am a good friend and I should not be afraid to share my toys
 

Dinesh O. Shah, Anjay P. Shah, Akesh P. Shah and Avan P. Shah
 
I hope I can teach my grandsons in future how to write poems in Gujarati !!! Now I am happy that they have started to express themselves poetically in English.
 
With best wishes to all my internet friends as well as Happy New Year and Greetings for the Holiday Season!!
 
Dinesh O. Shah
                                       
The First Charles Stokes Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Surface Science and Engineering (1984-2008), 425 Chemical Engineering Department,
University of Florida, Gainesville, Fl 32611 USA
Phones: 352-392-0877 (office)        352-378-3242 (home)    352-871-4993 (mobile)
Fax :   352-392-0127    Email:  shah@che.ufl.edu     Website: http://csse.che.ufl.edu/
        
                                                                AND 
Dinesh O. Shah, Founding Director,
Shah-Schulman Centre for Surface Science and Nanotechnology,
Dharmsinh Desai University, Nadiad, 387001 Gujarat, India
(Mobile Ph: 91-94290 62293)

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