Interactive in many ways, the twin sciences of geology and meteorology share one factor in common and that is long-range predictability of the most devastating of natural phenomena, which has eluded both. The best that the sciences have been able to achieve is an ever-growing sophistication and refinement of the analytical systems and the theoretical processes which have produced valid technologies and engineering concepts that curtail the risks of wholesale dam-age and better the prospects of damage control.
Of course, far more research and monitoring is needed than what geology gives at this time. Meteorology has, in this regard, a distinct edge over seismology because of its wider demand in aviation and the consequent greater commercial appeal. And so it is for public awareness: the weatherman comes across every day on the radio and television; moreover, few newspapers miss out on the daily temperature and weather forecasts, inaccuracies and vagaries not-withstanding. Tremors are hardly ever reported, unless the occurrence is in one's own town, and some believe Richter's scale came from some breed of exotic fish.
Shri A.K.R. Hemmady's book is just the kind of authorship that will contribute significantly to public aware-ness and knowledge of a basic science so important for our existence; it is not a treatise on earthquakes but will appeal to both the layman and the professional who has had no exposure to geology; for the geologist and the civil engineer the book could well be handier than a notebook. The style is lucid and concise and the phraseology intelligible to the uninitiated.
Eminently experienced and qualified, Shri Hemmady had also served as Director, Engineering Geology Division (southern region) of the Geological Survey of India and has carried into his retirement a keen mind and an abiding interest in his profession. He was a member of the panel of experts for the Supa dam (Kalinadi project, Karnataka) and the Sri Sailem project (Andhra). He was responsible for the geological (engineering) investigations of two railway projects: the Vasai-Diva line and the Bombay-Ratnagiri sec-tion of the Konkan line.
Let me begin with 'Guru Vandana'. I fondly remember with reverence my teachers who successively conducted me from the three R's to M.Sc. In particular, Shri Babulal Pandey of Kanya Kubja College, Lucknow, who in a way prepared me for a career in geology by going beyond the prescribed geography syllabus to demonstrate how a seismograph writes and how an epicentre is calculated, while I was yet in high school and unable to spell geology.
He used to teach other subjects, such as mathematics, science and Hindi equally well. He had this craze for ac-quiring M.A. degrees and by the time I reached M.Sc., he was preparing for M.A in geography and I had the honour of teaching my guru physical geography which is no different from physical geology. Standards of high schools have improved considerably. Youngsters can now relate basics of plate tectonics and tell us what a Ramapithecus is, making my task of writing this book much easier.
I narrowly missed basking under the glory of one of the giants of Indian science-Dr Birbal Sahni, professor of botany and geology, Lucknow University-the scientist who founded the unique world-famous Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow. In the heydays of British Raj, Geological Sur-vey of India (GSI) used to send specimens of plant fossils for identification to Prof. A.C. Seward. After some time, Prof. Seward politely returned the specimens saying that there was no need to do so, as his former student Sahni was there very much in India. During his presidential address to the Indian Science Congress (1938), Dr Sahni made a classic statement: "A man who makes no mistake, makes nothing."
Those were the days of Indian science when a president of the general session spoke on a specific topic. Now, the specialists speak on generalities such that before the speech is half way through, the participants quietly slip away from the hall to go to the registration counter to complain about the defective ball-point pen.
I will not forget my teachers of GSI's field-training camp (1955-56) who, without meaning to, made me realise that learning alphabet was not enough to read sentences, i.e. to read Earth's history written in the pages of rocks and in between their succession, one needed a keen observation and a pair of stout legs.
I remember Dr A.P. Subramaniam whose need for further improvement in geological reports submitted by us was insatiable. Being a stickler for correct English, he used to get irritated if we used the sentence, "from a geological point of view". To substantiate his view, he would show us a useful United States Geological Survey (USGS) publication on how to write a geological report, in which it was stated that abstract nouns cannot occupy a point to have a view. "From a geologist's point of view" was recommended. Once I showed him Churchill's passage committing the mistake; though Dr A.P. frowned upon it yet he retorted that every-one was not Churchill.
Late Dr A.P. was the chief co-ordinator of the GSI team that investigated the Koyna earthquake (1967), operating as superintending geologist-in-charge of GSI's Pune circle. During that field session, I missed the opportunity of doing field seismology because I was doing geological mapping in far-off Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. That perhaps saves me from being accused of being an expert in seismology.
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