The news of Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan being awarded the Nobel Prize 2009 in Chemistry for his pioneering work on RIBOSOMES, is received with much pride and excitement by the entire fraternity of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India. It is indeed a matter of great honor for any academic institution to have an alumnus awarded such high international recognition and acclaim. The M S University recounts its early association with VENKI, that of his undergraduate years (1968-1971) while he was pursuing his Bachelor of Science in Physics from the Faculty of Science. His mentors and colleagues fondly recollect their interaction with him during his student days and remember him as a shy, studious, yet sharp witted and humble person.

Today, every person on campus tries to recall any association they may had with him or his family who stayed on the M S University campus from 1955-1986. His parents Prof. C V Ramakrishnan and Dr. R Rajalaxmi, both accomplished academicians themselves, share the credit of having started the Department of Bio Chemistry at the M S University in 1955. While Prof. C V Ramakrishnan has kept up his association with the University, Dr. Venkatraman had visited here and interacted with staff and students and delivered a Lecture on X-ray Crystallographic Structure of Ribosomes in 2005.

The Ramakrishnan family continues to maintain contacts in Vadodara, not only with academicians, but also socially. Expressing much pride and hope for the M S University of Baroda, the present Vice Chancellor Prof. Ramesh Goyal says : Diwali celebrations for us have already begun! I met Venki last year during a conference in Delhi. We hope for better collaborations with him in the future.

In its sixtieth commemorative year the M S University of Baroda could not have asked for a better reason to rejoice!