Dr H S Gour University, formerly known as the University of Sagar is located at an old cantonment town in Central India and was founded in 1946 when Late Sir Dr Hari Singh Gour, an eminent lawyer donated at that time a sum of Rs. 10,000,000=00 practically all his earnings. He also gave his own house, built more or less on Victorian architectural lines and is normally the residence of the sitting Vice-Chancellor. Initially, the University was housed in the old army barracks of the Kumaon Regiment but moved to its present picturesque site called the Patharia Hills after a countryside hamlet of that name in 1956.

             The University has faculties of Physical and life sciences, engineering, technology, business management, law, humanities and arts, commerce, medicine which together constitute about 50 departments. The student community numbers about 10,000 and the teaching and research and administrative faculty around 1000. A life size statue of the great philanthropic founder in  graduation robe welcomes the visitor at the main campus entrance. There are a couple of bust statues at two squares in the town as well. The population of the city is around 500,000 a tenth of it being the army personnel. The weather is extremely lovely with temperatures around 6-10 degrees Celsius during January the coldest month, and around 33-35 degrees Celsius in May, the hottest month. The monsoon that lasts from June to August is rather heavy with an annual average rainfall of 1000mm.

           The campus is very green and Late Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of the Indian Republic had somewhat exaggeratedly remarked when he visited the University in 1956 that the scenic beauty reminded him of the Pennine Alps of France and Switzerland. The campus rests on volcanic flows of Deccan Basalts, erupted out of fissures about 65 million years ago, just when the dinosaurs that freely roamed had suddenly become extinct for ever. The lava flows are devoid of zeolite fillings but just about 30 km to the west they contain abundant scolecite, heulandite, natrolite and  chabazite near Rahatgarh where the river Bina cascades down the Late Proterozoic infratrappean Vindhyan Supergroup rocks.  The lava flows sandwich between them thin lacustrine carbonate beds not more than 5 metres thick and it was from a small stream nearabouts of today's Hawk Canteen that Dr John Prinseps found the celebrated index fossil. For more information on the University, its staff, facilities and admission procedures, please click here to access the University website. The photograph that appears above is of the founder's shrine erected to his memory and the founder's birth anniversary which falls on 26 November is celebrated with rather emotionally charged feelings and the ceremonies held publicly have a rather sanctimonious touch than one of pomp, show or gaiety. The photograph was taken by the author on 26 November 1992.

LATE PROF WILLIAM DIXON WEST

             Late Professor William Dixon West, CIE. Sc.D. FGS, FNA, MBE was born on 27th January 1901 at Bournemouth, England. His father was a railwayman in Borneo and supervised the construction of the first rail line there which ended at the port town that was named Weston after WDW's father.  His future personality was carved by his schooling at King's School, Canterbury and at St. John's College, Cambridge where Prof. Alfred Harker taught him. He won there the University Winchester Prize for Geology and Mineralogy.

     He came to India in 1923 and joined as the Asst. Superintendent in the Geological Survey of India. His association with Sir Lewis L Fermor aroused interest in him in the manganese bearing Archaean rocks of Central India. The University of Cambridge  awarded him Sc.D. on the basis of his work in Sausar Series rocks in Central India. This is that work which is controversial and geologists are all united to say that the Deolapar nappe of WDW just does not exist. His next association with Pilgrim made him work in the Himalayas and produced a classic work on Shali window. His work in Afaghanistan (and erstwhile Baluchistan)  won him high laurels (The Star of Afaghanistan) from the Govt. of that country. The later part of his work was on the Deccan ( meaning actually southern, the word having been derived from Dakshin or south)  basalts and on the episodic movements along the Narmada Son lineament. He was honoured by Head of Great Britain the CIE and received the same  from Lord Mountbatton, the last Viceroy, on 29 Dec 1945, within a couple of months of his arrival in India at the end of World War II for the final draft of the transfer of power to the duly formed Indian constituent assembly. He retired from the GSI as its Director in 1951.

     He was recipient of such coveted awards as the Lyell ( author of the first text book in geology titled The Principles of Geology published in 1863) Medal of the Geological Society of Great Britain, the P N Bose Medal by the Asiatic Society of Bengal and honoured by Late Mrs. Indira Gandhi in 1982, the then Prime Minister of India on the 50th anniversary of the Indian National Science Academy by a plaque and a citation, as one of the seven surviving founder members  of the Indian National Science Academy, then known as the Indian National Institute.

    He was  invited to head the newly formed Dept of Applied Geology at the University of Sagar in 1956. He was instrumental in establishing through the UGC grant the Centre of Advanced Study in Geology as an annex of the department meant exclusively for high quality research. He got massive friendship aid from Britain in his this endeavour and free sophisticated equipment under the then existing scheme of Colombo Plan. He could arrange the first Summer Institute under US Govt's PL 480 funding to developing states Scheme. During his tenure he arranged three major symposia, one on the "Geomorphological studies in India" in 1965, the second an "International Symposium on Deccan Traps and other Flood Eruptions of the World" in 1969 and the third on "Purana formations of Peninsular India" in 1970.  He was the founder member of several geological societies and organizations in India. He was the General President of the Indian Science Congress in 1972 and the presidential address that he gave was on the "Geology in the Service of India". He was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sagar from December 1971 to February 1973. He was later appointed the first Professor Emeritus of the University. For his distinguished services to the geological community of India, he was honoured by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England by an MBE and this honour was invested in him by the then British Consul in Bombay, Mr. E. Furness in 1990.

    During his lifetime he invited several South African, British, Canadian, American and Australian geologists to the department to let the teachers and research workers of the department benefit from  their association. He also arranged to send many of the departmental teaching staff for higher studies and research to the British Universities either under the British Council's exchange of visitors scheme, or Nuffield Field Foundation Schemes or Royal Society Bursaries or under the Indian UGC's Commonwealth Academic Fellowships and Scholarships Plan. 

     During the last few years of his life, his health was failing and eyesight poor, although barely a six months before his demise, he had to an Indian Express correspondent remarked good  humouredly that all was wrong with him except his belly. He fought with his failing health like a soldier then and finally breathed his last on 22nd July 1994 at 2.30 AM.

     He was kind natured and compassionate, helpful in all possible ways to all, interested in soccer and one of his vocations was photography and cinematography. The movies he made bear a testimony to his scholarship in this field as well. He was a lover of dogs, kept plenty of those whilst based in Calcutta and his living room was additionally attractive as it displayed trophies won by his various dogs at the races held. Most of these were actually beer mugs.

     He had a typically  British subtle sense of humour and all those who came in contact with him have unique anecdotes to narrate. In fact, it would be wise to make a compilation of these anecdotes for posterity to remember him by and these would certainly reflect on the lovely character of this great man. He might have had flaws but he made an honest declaration of those and did not hide.  He remained a bachelor all his life and was never sorry about it or at least did not appear to be. He was more or less like the legendary character of Mr. Chipping portrayed by James Hilton in his classic "Goodbye, Mr. Chips". I should like to conclude this by a sincere tribute by the same words as those used by Mark Anthony for Brutus in Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare:

            His life was gentle, and the elements,

                 So mixed in him,

           That nature might stand up and say to all the world,

                This was  a man!

                                                            Prakash P Roday

                                                            22 July 1994.

NB: "  

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THE ADMIRATION FOR W D WEST WAS GREATLY TARNISHED BECAUSE OF THE SUDDEN DISCOVERY THAT HE IS ACCUSED OF THE FIRST CASE OF PLAGIARISM IN GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES, HAVING COPIED FROM J G MEDLICOTT AND PUBLISHED IN HIS OWN NAME. PLEASE GO HERE TO SEE THE REPORT.

Sitting :Teaching and Research Staff: L to R : Dr H Thomas ( Genesis and thermodynamics of granulite facies rocks), Dr S H Adil (Stratigraphic Correlations in Proterozoic sequences), Prof  P O Alexander (Geochemistry and geochronology of Deccan basalts), Dr P K Kathal (Taxonomic and phylogenic variations in foraminifera),Dr L P Chourasia (hard rock groundwater parameterisations), Dr R K Trivedi (Copper porphyries and hydrothermal base metal mineralizations), Prof P P Roday (shear zones, syntectonic growth and diapiric masses evolving under shear and collisional regimes), Prof S N Pandey (Head of Dept: Photogeology and photogrammetry ), Prof V D Choubey (Prof Emeritus, Rock Mechanics and landslides studies), Dr A K Shandilya (structural aspects of Garhwal Himalaya), Dr R K Rawat (Rock Mechanics, Engg Geology and slope stability), Miss Leena Pander (Evolution of bauxite deposits), Mr D Soni (Foraminiferal txonomic differences of the Indian coast lines)