Winter quarter at Berkeley: University of California at Berkeley had closed after the fall quarter for winter vacations on 18 December 1970 and had opened after the vacations on 7 January 1971. University of California at Berkeley was one of the most prestigious educational institutions of USA and was ranked as number one during the year, ahead of Harward, Stanford and Yale. Admission of students for the graduate programs of the university carried some sort of halo with it. Teaching assistantship and research assistantship were normally awarded to the students after completion of three to four quarters. Fifty percent of the graduate program students were not getting any type of financial assistance. Mohan was one of the students who did not get any financial assistance during the fall quarter and was not expecting to get any sort of financial assistance during the winter quarter. Mohan had taken four courses during the fall quarter and had scored straight ‘A’s in all four courses in the final examination of the fall quarter, with a grade point average of 4.0. Professor RM White, Graduate Students Adviser called Mohan on 8 January 1971 and congratulated him on his excellent performance during the fall quarter and offered him teaching assistantship of the university for the winter quarter. All formalities were completed on the same day, the appointment order was issued and Mohan took his first class as a teaching assistant at 2.30 PM on 8 January 1971. Mohan was expected to take laboratory practicals for electronic circuits, for nine hours per week in three sessions of three hours each per week. That involved a lot of study of circuits, followed by conduct of practicals in the laboratory for verification, before introducing them in the class.
The teaching assistantship of Mohan was for three months during the winter quarter from January 1971 to March 1971. The salary of the teaching assistant was $ 383 per month, with a lump sum tuition grant of $ 400 for the quarter. That provided tremendous relief to Mohan and he had a feeling that the financial assistance was good enough to see him through for the next six months. Incidentally, he wrote to us in one of his letters for offering a PRASAD of rupees one and a quarter on his behalf at the Chamunda Mata Temple of Jodhpur Fort.
Looking to the working load of teaching assistantship, Mohan had offered only two courses during the winter quarter. The courses were
( i ) Computer language programming and
( ii ) Communication Engineering.
Teaching assistantship and the two courses made Mohan extremely busy during the winter quarter.
Trip to Nevada: Mohan was sponsored for a trip to Nevada from 26 February 1971 to 28 February 1971, by International House of the university with support from Rotary Club. Nevada lies in the western part of USA, butting with California on the west. Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid. However, it is well known for its silver and gold mines, its lakes, mountain ranges, valleys and fine cities. Nevada is one the biggest tourist destinations in USA. The host of Mohan during the visit to Nevada was an American family, who drove Mohan to different places in Nevada covering about 250 miles in a day. During the trip he visited Reno, which is a city known in for its casinos, entertainment shows and gambling, Geneo, which is the oldest city of Nevada, Virginia City, known as a silver town, Carson City, which is the capital of Nevada and an independent city of USA. Carson City is surrounded on all sides by panoramic mountain ranges. Mohan also visited lake Tahoe which is one of the largest fresh water lakes in USA. Lake Tahoe is a popular tourist destination in Nevada and California. Standing at an elevation of more than 6000 feet, it is well known for winter sports and outdoor sports and recreation during summer. It has mountain ranges and flowering greenery on all sides. After returning from the trip to Nevada, Mohan became busy with his examinations for the winter quarter, which were held sometimes in the middle of March 1971.
Summer Quarter: Mohan had offered to take three courses for the summer quarter from April 1971 to June 1971 and he was planning to spend the following two months in Canada. In the meantime, he was informed by the university, that, his teaching assistantship shall continue during the summer quarter from April 1971 to June 1971. He was assigned laboratory sections for circuits courses, related to control systems of electrical engineering and computer sciences. That made him extremely busy during the summer quarter. He had also applied for a Research Assistantship at Tennessee Space Institute. After an interview on phone, the research assistantship of $350 per month, was sanctioned for a period of one year by Tennessee Space Institute, commencing from September 1971. At that time, there were 40 professors working at Tennessee Space Institute, who were deeply involved in research programs of USA. Mohan was thinking of joining Tennessee Space Institute from September 1971, if there were problems in getting teaching assistantship at Berkeley, in the fall quarter commencing in September 1971.
Trip to Yosemite National Park: Yosemite National Park was created in 1864 by federal grant. It is the biggest national park of USA, where 95% of the area is forests and wilderness for the preservation of wild life and plants. It is a great tourist destination and is highly popular for the concentration of a large number of waterfalls and glacial steps. Yosemite Falls in Yosemite valley, falling from a height of 2425 feet are the highest falls in USA. Mohan went for a trip to Yosemite with two of his friends in the first week of May 1971. Located about 300 miles from Berkeley, they were trekking on some of the mountain trails, when they met a seventy year old Dr Alvin Duncan of Napa Valley. Dr Duncan drove Mohan and his friends through the valley on all types of rural roads. Thereafter, he took them for treks to the peaks of some of the falls and the glacial steps. Finally, Dr Duncan drove them back to Berkeley.
My Fellowship for study visit to USA : It was sometimes in the month of May 1971, that, I was offered a fellowship for a study visit to USA. The fellowship was sponsored by National Science Foundation of USA and US Agency for International Development. The fellowship was absolutely open ended. The duration of the trip was three months and we were provided full freedom to choose, individually, the universities, colleges, industries and other establishments proposed to be visited and for participation in some of the chosen short term courses, running in the institutions. The visit was intended to provide exposure to the teachers of Indian universities and colleges to the education system in USA and to provide some boost to the growth of science education in the country. The itinerary provided for my stay for a week at Berkeley. Mohan was very happy at the prospect of meeting us at Berkeley and wanted his mother to accompany me during the trip. He also started planning to take us for a trip to Yosemite Valley during our stay at Berkeley.
Summer Session of UC Berkeley: Sometimes in May 1971, Mohan was appointed as a teaching assistant for a computer course, for the summer session of the university from 24 June 1971 to 4 August 1971. Therefore, Mohan started planning for taking some courses on Mathematics during the summer session, in addition to the teaching assistantship assigned to him and thereafter, to spend one and a half month in Canada, after the summer session. In the meantime, Mohan was also selected for a University Fellowship at Berkeley, as an alternate for a period of one year from September 1971 to June 1972. That was the happiest thing that happened in the life of Mohan, during his short stay at Berkeley. The award of university fellowship from September 1971 to June 1972 provided some stability for his studies at UC Berkeley during the incoming year and triggered his thoughts about his satisfying career gradually unfolding at Berkeley and possibilities of making a trip to home in India, sometimes in 1972.