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In the early 1970s, when PN Sen moved from the bustling city of Kolkata to join the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in Pune, the first thing that crossed his mind was: ‘This city has more trees than people’.
“When I joined IMD as an assistant meteorologist, the Pune office was known as the second headquarters of the department. All India weather forecasts were issued from here. All IMD offices were housed in the Shimla office campus in Shivajinagar. I still remember that the training of meteorologists took place in structures It’s like a shed behind the main building. Later, the training center was moved to Bashan,” says Sen, who voluntarily retired in 1994 as IMD’s deputy general manager.
The 81-year-old weather expert notes that this training center was later recognized by the World Meteorological Organization as a Regional Training Center for Meteorology with climate scientists from other countries also being trained here.
As for some of the popular hangouts, Sen says the campground was known for its colonial bungalows. (Quick shot of Pavan dagger)
Classrooms without fans and roads without traffic jams
Sen says Pune was “more than a pleasant surprise” in those years. “My first impression was of a very clean city where bicycles were the main mode of transportation. IMD’s Shimla office complex was a must-see for tourists… There was no other building nearby, and there was almost no traffic jam. Ferguson College Road was It runs along valleys while the Ganesh Khand Road was known for its trees. But what struck me most was the lack of ceiling fans. The classrooms at Ferguson College didn’t have fans, and there was no need for them,” he says.
As for some of the popular hangouts, Sen says the campground was known for its colonial bungalows. “As young scholars, Manny’s Library was our favorite place. The West End was also a well-known landmark. Going to camp was an adventure in itself. Most of the rickshaws refused to go there because they weren’t sure the passengers would return.
In Pune, Sen initially moved to a hostel in the Model Colony area. In 1986, he moved into a house along Canal Road in Model Colony, where he currently resides with his wife, both of whom occasionally visit the United States where their son is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota. “In those days, the Model Colony had large open spaces and green cover. The area had very few houses. I could see the school, where my son was studying, from my balcony.”
Sen says, une was “a more than pleasant surprise” in those years. (Quick shot of Pavan dagger)
For data analysis, grab Deccan Queen
According to Sen, his early days in IMD’s hydrometre department required analyzing large amounts of data. “For parameters like temperature, humidity, wind speed etc. we had to sift through readings every day for 30 days. It was not humanly possible to look through so much data and we had to rely on special machines with TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) in Mumbai he says.
This process involved an almost daily visit to Mumbai. In fact, the peon had a season ticket to fly to Mumbai daily by Deccan Queen. To transfer the data, we had a machine that punched the data with program code onto special cards. The Faun used to travel every morning with a card. At TIFR, the data was processed from the punched cards and the employee would travel in the evening with the processed data into a new card as well as the printouts.”
Computers were unheard of, he says, adding that the concept of personal computers was beyond imagination. “In the late 1970s, IMD got its first MainFrame computer. PCs came later. Officers of the SSC Board of Directors and other offices lined up to see them. The first computer we got in my investigation and development department was the Desktop 386.”
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