Instead of pursuing a career in scientific research, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize [ Images ] in chemistry with two others, would perhaps have practised medicine, but for a sudden impromptu trip of his father.

More than four decades ago, Venkatraman, then a Baroda resident, got the national talent award after finishing his high school. Venkatraman, known as Venky to his friends and colleagues, also got admission at the Baroda Medical College.

His parents, father C V Ramakrishnan and mother Rajalakshmi, themselves scientists, wanted their son to take up medicine, not science.