From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2011 1:10 AM
Subject: H-ASIA: Professor Manindra Verma
> H-ASIA
> May 27, 2011
>
> Professor Manindra Verma
> ************************************************************************
> Ed note: Manindra Verma was one of the enduring fixtures of the South Asia
> program at the University of Wisconsin. We repost here, an obituary
> notice by Professor Joseph Elder. FFC
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> From Joe Elder <elder@ssc.wisc.edu>:
>
> Dear South Asia Colleagues,
>
>
>
> Emeritus Professor Manindra K. Verma, who died on May 1st, 2011, played a
> major role in the development of South Asian Studies in the University of
> Wisconsin-Madison. Arriving in 1964 with his wife Sheela and a
> freshly-minted Ph.D. degree in Linguistics from the University of
> Michigan, Manindra and Sheela soon became the Hindi-language backbone on
> the
> Madison campus. Generations of Madison students took Sheels'a first-year
> Hindi course, then moved on to take Manindra's more-advanced Hindi
> courses.
> Manindra's joint appointments in the Departments of Linguistics and
> South-Asian Studies also helped graduate students in both Departments.
>
>
> Throughout his years on the Madison campus, Manindra kept up a steady
> stream
> of scholarly publications dealing with India's languages in general and
> HIindi in particular. He also produced quality materials in Nepali with a
> grant he received from the U.S. Office of Education. One of Manindra's
> special interests was Historical Linguistics. One of my favorite South
> Asia
> stories happened with Manindra and I were attending an event with
> then-Wisconsin governor, Tony Earl. The three of us were in an otherwise
> empty room. Governor Earl shook our hands and asked what we did. We
> replied that we were both in the Department of South Asian Studies, and I
> added that Manindra was a linguist who specialized in Hindi. With his
> curiosity piqued, Governor Earl asked Maninda how Hindi related to other
> languages. That launched Manindra into a 15-minute history of
> Indo-European
> languages. Throughout Manindra's narration, I stood beside him, basking in
> the glory of Manindra's encyclopedic knowledge.
>
>
> Manindra's gifts as an academic administrator were recognized and
> acknowledged by his colleagues in all his fields. Over the years he served
> as the Chair of the Linguistics Department, Chair of the Department of
> South
> Asian Studies, Director of the Center for South Asia, and Chair of the
> Language Committee of the American Institute of Indian Studies. Manindra
> once told me that while he was in High School in Bihar his family gave him
> his own room and kerosene lamp so that he cojld study late into the night,
> hoping that someday he might be become a member of India's elite IAS. But
> he
> found his fascinaton in languages and how they worked. This led to his
> receiving a Fulbright fellowship that brought him to the University of
> Michigan, his Ph.D. in Linguistics, and his invitation to join the faculty
> in the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
>
>
> Manindra and Sheela arrived in Madison with two charming kids, Sanjay and
> Mona. We watched the Verma kids growing up through high school, college,
> and
> graduate training. Both of them are now following distinguished careers in
> medicine and business. For many of us in Madison, Sanjay and Mona have
> been
> like members of our extended families. Five years ago Sanjay and Mona
> helped
> celebate their parents' 50th wedding anniversary.
>
>
> One of Manindra's greatest contributions was the launching of the
> University
> of Wisconsin Annual Conference on South Asia. Beginning as a weekend when
> Wisconsin school teachers met with South Asia faculty to see what teaching
> materials we might provide, that Conference has grown to be a major
> international event that brings to Madison every year from the corners of
> the world some of the most brilliant, newest, and most interesting
> scholars
> of South Asia. Manindra leaves on the Madison campus two ongoing legacies:
> the M.K. Verma scholarship fund that will enable selected students to
> continue their studies, and the University of Wisconsin's Annual
> Conference
> on South Asia that this year will celebrate its 40th year of bringing
> to scholars from all over the world to share their knowledge, questions,
> and insights here in Madison, Wisconsin.
>
>
> Warmly,
>
> Joseph Elder
>
> Professor of Sociology
> University of Wisconsin-Madison
> ******************************************************************
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