90 SOCIAL SCIENTIST most shameful phase in the nation's post-independent history. The rulers and the upper classes caved in, and proceeded to sell off the country to external elements. A large chunk of the country's economists joined the cowardly bandwagon. Arun Ghosh discovered his finest hour in the on-going national confusion. He had a cardiac condition, that could not hold him back. He wrote and spoke ceaselessly against the pastime of mindless globalisation. He acted as a great catalyst and took the initiative to gather conscientious individuals from diverse walks of life and marshal them in the war to defend the barricade of independent self-reliant economic development. He was in the forefront of protesters against the encroachment on our patent laws, against the sabotage of the public sector, against the mind-set that preaches that, in all circumstances, foreigners know the best. And yet, he could combine all this with the daily obligations of an ardent family man. He was proud of his very gentle wife, proud of his brilliant daughters, equally proud of his sparkling grandchildren. This man could fit in filialty to the household; in his conscience the two were the same. For the present writer, the mourning is not just for a steadfast friend but also for a comrade in the common battleground. ARUN KUMAR I first got to know of Dr. Ghosh through my sister. This was in 1971 or 1972.1 was a Physics student in Gwyer Hall in Delhi University. He was the father of my sister's very good friend Aiditi Ghosh and for a University student a renowned economist. He had been in the government and in the IMF in Washington. The IMF and the World Bank had not effected the elite mind in the same way as at present so it was not that important in my mind. But even those days if you were the best you dreamt of going to the USA for research. So someone who had worked in the USA was important. Government still had a lot of prestige so either way, in my reckoning, he was important. Having never done economics and still in the phase when I wanted very much to go to the USA to do a Ph.D., whichever way I looked at it, I was convinced he was a big shot.