GEOSTATISTICS ADDED TO M.Sc (Geology) COURSE. thrivikramji@gmail.

com I occasionally feel good about a few tasks that I argued for and got acceptability finally. It could be that the crowd around me in the Department was also receptive and forward looking. One great example is the inclusion of a course in Geostatistics to the M.Sc Geology program offered by the Department of Geology, University of Kerala, Kariyavattom, India. Then again, in the early 70s, outside of the IIT-K (Dr. SVLN. Rao) and perhaps ISM-D, no university in India offered a course that could be designated Geostatistics. Now a bit of retrospection. Before my going away to Syracuse University, up state New York, I had a brief encounter (circa 1970) with the beauty of Geostatistics and computer applications as a result of a visit and work of Prof. M.A. Romanova (a mathematical geologist and an associate of Prof. A.B. Vistelius, Academician) from the former USSR, who stayed and worked for three months in the Department of Geology at Kariavattom, for the primary reason that there happened to be an alumnus of Univ. of Leningrad (Dr.PKR Nair) attached to the Dept. of Geology. Further, there also existed one Department of Statistics in the same building where Geology was housed. Ms. Romanova had brought along copies of the newly born IAMG journal as well as copies of the book by Vistelius. She also had a bibliography of the publications and copies of some journal papers with a geostatistical content. I was very enthusiastic about the tenderest and trendy branch of geoscience and had nearly full mind to do a Ph.D degree in this branch. Romanova was the person who introduced the name of Dr.SVLN Rao of IIT-K to me for supervising and advising my PhD, if intended ever to go for PhD. (This desire to earn a PhD degree from IIT-K did not bear fruit due to administrative objections on the part of the Department of geology and my earning the Fulbright fellowship, in 1972 fall). For my own very good reasons, at the end of Spring semester, 1973, I took a plane (from JFK, New York) to New Delhi, (via., Frankfurt Am Main) and landed on the second of May 1973. I had no Indian rupees to speak of, yet I could make nearly Rs.1000/- by selling off three rolls of Kodachrome 46 frame film rolls in a photostore in the Connaught Place. I got home by train via., Madras, on the 6th May, 73. After quick trip to Kozhikod to rejoin with my wife who was in the MD program of Medical College there, I adopted a routine of going over to the Geology department in the University campus. Interestingly the teachers were involved in the mission of revising the syllabus and Professor Menon invited me to actively participate in the program. (Theoretically syllabus for a course of study is developed and designed by the concerned Board of studies. However, in practice it is the teachers, (not members of the board) are in charge of making the content which the board will okay in a sitting. The question was put to me in the first meeting of the teachers (I was only an invitee), if I would have any thing to suggest for inclusion in the syllabus under revision. Without any second thoughts I jumped in and said that there shall be a paper in geostatistics, and to the dismay of all around me, Prof. Menon required me to give a write up on the content.

(I always had a feeling that this man was a first rate manager as he will not disagree to any suggestions, instead he will ask for it and at the end modify it or even throw it out with the concurrence of the crowd around). I thought hard, and came up with a content based on the course Dr. Merriam taught in the Spring of 1973 (i.e., Computer Applications in Geology a course crafted around a book of the same title by Harbaugh and Merriam). There was a skew in the syllabus as it was all multivariate analysis and map analysis but devoid of univariate methods and hypothesis testing. Well, very obvious questions like who will teach, mode of conduct of examination, should the marks affect or not affect the class and rank of candidates taking the examination and some mundane stuff like should it be one paper or half paper or what ever. As there was an existing practice of teachers in statistics, teaching statistics for MSc Botany students as well as MA Economics class and the modalities of examination and other follow ups, doubts and uncertainties could be easily resolved. Finally, to my own dismay, the rest of the teachers accepted the inclusion of the Geostatistics course in the revised syllabus and as part of Paleontology paper as Part- B. Introduction of this course in the University of Kerala was perhaps was a pioneering step, which gradually permeated into the course of study in other universities of the nation. In Kerala the revised course content came into force from 1974 admissions. When I look back I feel indeed contented. April, 14. ------------