Dr.Gift Siromoney's Home Page

Carving out Ph.D's
Motivating Research

It is indeed a great honour and privilege for me having been asked by the many admirers and friends of the late Dr.Gift Siromoney to write a few words about the contributions that this great man had made to enrich the lives of several individuals. It will be impossible to contain in a few words the contributions of a multifaceted genius. However, I will try to reflect the impressions that still are alive in my mind.

I had the privilege of having to rely on his professional expertise for both my M.Phil. and Ph.D. research. The fact that I lived on the MCC campus where my husband was teaching, easily facilitated this. The amazing aspect of Dr.Siromoney's help to anybody was that the person in need of help did not have to formally request him for help. If Dr. Siromoney happened to know that a person known to him had registered for research work, irrespective of the discipline, he would volunteer to tender the needed help. That was his greatness.

During my M.Phil. work which had a lot to do with statistical data and analysis, Dr. Siromoney, after consultation with my Supervisor, decided on the course of collection and analysis of the data. He would have made at least a dozen visits to our home, and a few with my Supervisor, in order to discuss and finalize a number of questions relating to the analysis. Every visit resulted in a highly fruitful outcome in terms of the quality of the stuff that would go into the dissertation.

During every visit, I used to offer our hospitality in a small measure as a token of my gratitude for the trouble taken to help me. I still remember the specially prepared Mango Milk Shake with ice cube topping which he relished and enjoyed and would immediately identify the specific variety of the mango that had gone in to make the milk shake really delicious. "Isn't it Banganapalli"? he would ask and such was his perfect knowledge of men and matters, for his interest ranged from Astronomy to Archaeology and from Birds to Butterflies.

When I had registered for my Ph.D. I had moved out to Chennai, but he was always willing to offer the needed help whenever I made visits to Tambaram. He was always cheerful and one could never find him annoyed or disinterested or indifferent.

When the public viva voce had been fixed for me, I was expecting my first son and Dr.Siromoney made a visit to Chennai in order to give a few final tips to face the viva voce. And he was one of the first to arrive at the viva voce venue and he was silently proud that his ward did well to get through . It would be an understatement if I said that I owe my Ph.D. degree to Dr.Gift Siromoney whose immense contributions I value even today.

A few weeks after the result of the viva voce was officially communicated, my husband and I went to his home in Tambaram along with our infant son to pay our respects and gratitude and both Dr.Gift and his wonderful wife Dr.Rani Siromoney were absolutely delighted to receive us especially our baby, who was so precious as he was born after a long wait. There was a surprise gift for our son from Dr.Gift, a collection of oily clay with which he could try and make a few models. This particular occasion still remains green in our memory although Dr.Gift Siromoney is no longer in our midst. But the influence and the impact that he has left behind will remain for a long long time, as long as the generation of his friends, colleagues and students do something worthwhile to keep the flame of the pursuit of knowledge alive.

I have no doubt that the effort to create a web site in his honour is one such worthwhile endeavour and I join the many friends and admirers in paying my respectful tributes to one of the greatest intellectuals that I have come across.

Sheela Julius (M.Phil and Ph.D in Psychology)
Currently: Reader & Head, Department of Psychology, Women's Christian College, Chennai-600 006.