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Unlike
most of us SKM had only one employer all his working life - he
started his working life with Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company Ltd
(Mahyco) in the early nineties. He was charged with setting up
India's first private sector Biotechnology Research Centre in
Bangalore for Mahyco. It was an arduous task to set up something
from scratch in an alien place where most people spoke Kannada (a
language he did not know) and knew very little English. But SKM
didn't let these issues bother him - he went about his task of
identifying all the equipment required for this new lab, importing
the equipment from all over the world and training assistants to
work on his 'gene-tinkering' plans!
SKM in the Lab
Once he had set up the Lab he spent 18 hours a day working in the
lab and most of the assistants who worked with him marvelled at
where the little man got his energy from. As Research Manager of
Mahyco, SKM worked mostly on trans-genic plants with the aim of
introducing fungus resistance and bacterial resistance genes into
Tomato, brinjal, cotton and other plant species.
Inside SKM's Lab in Jalna
One of
SKM's passions was orchids and he spent many hundreds of hours
(outside of his working hours!) hybridising orchids and collecting
orchids from as far afield as Thailand and the Himalayas. Click
here to view pictures of his Orchids.
When Mahyco decided to set up a central Life Sciences Research
Centre at its headquarters in Jalna, Maharashtra SKM moved his lab
to Jalna where he was based for the rest of his life.
Mahyco Research Centre, Jalna
For more
details of SKM's work at Mahyco please click on the 'Tributes' link
on your left and navigate to the writings of his colleague Dr. Usha
Zehr Barwale, Joint Director Research of Mahyco.
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