Imphal, Jan. 15: He has been obsessed with numbers for as long as he can remember. And this abiding passion has taken him places, from the violence-scarred ambience of Manipur to the hallowed portals of Cambridge?s Trinity College and then to Sheffield University as a lecturer.
At 33, Manoharmayum Raju Sharma is a role model not just for aspiring mathematicians, but for every Manipur youth trying to make a mark in any profession.
Coming home for a vacation recently, Raju was shocked to see that life is still tough in Manipur. Security personnel raided his residence without warning on January 7. Disgusted with the behaviour of the security personnel, he left Imphal in a hurry to join his wife in New Delhi.
Before leaving, Raju said the situation in his home state was far from conducive for academic pursuits. He also had a word of advice for those seeking to excel, saying there were no substitutes to hard work and commitment.
?In most countries, students who want to stage demonstrations over something or against somebody, they do so only on holidays. This ensures that classes are not disrupted by their actions. The situation back home is just the opposite.?
Raju, who grew up in the Kwakeithel locality of this capital town, idolises the pioneering mathematician Ramanujan. Though he enjoys teaching mathematics at Sheffield, nothing gives him more pleasure than researching Ramanujan?s works.
Born to Manipur?s first electrical engineer, Manoharmayum Brajamani Sharma and his wife Ruhini Devi, Raju is the seventh of nine siblings. He matriculated from Imphal?s Don Bosco School in 1986 and, after earning a first class BSc degree from Delhi?s St Stephen?s College, he went to Trinity with an Inlaks scholarship.
Cambridge not only honoured him with the Wrangler Award, but also funded his PhD studies.
After completing his doctorate, Raju spent a year at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland. The teaching job at Sheffield fell into his lap soon after. Ask him if he is engrossed in study all the time, Raju retorts that he is not a bookworm. Whatever be the truth, he did find time for romance amid his hectic schedule of mathematical research.
Raju is married to Sumi, whose New Delhi-based father is a Sikh and mother a Rajasthani. ?I went through the same ceremony four times ? in Delhi, Jaipur, Imphal and in the civil court,? he said of his wedding.