SANTINIKETAN: After several nominations and refusals from the Royal Swedish Academy for science, Amartya Sen's selection for the Nobel Prize has come as a surprise to his mother Amita Sen.

``When he called me earlier in the day to give the news,I told him I am not going to discuss this with anyone unless I see it in the newspapers tomorrow. Bablu (Amartya's pet name) laughed and told me this time the news was real,'' she told PTI.

The octogenarian, initially not very forthcoming with comments, was convinced only after the Agency despatch from Stockholm was read out to her. ``I don't know what to say. So many things are coming to my mind. Obviously I am extremely happy.''

Asked with whom she would have liked to share this hour of joy, Amita said, ``my husband. When he died in 1971, there already were talks of Bablu's chances of winning the Nobel.''

Sixth Indian to win Nobel Prize

NEW DELHI: Amartya Sen, the sixth Indian to have won theNobel Prize, is the first Asian to win it for economics. The other Indians who bagged the Nobel Prize earlier were Rabindranath Tagore, C V Raman, Hargobind Khorana, mother Teresa and Subramanian Chandrasekhar. Tagore, author of India's national anthem, was the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913 for his book of poems "Geetanjali".

Physicist C V Raman was honoured with the Nobel Prize in 1930 for his work on behaviour of light later known as "Raman effect".

Khorana, who later accepted American citizenship, was awarded the coveted prize for medicine in 1968 for his interpretation of genetic code and its function in protein synthesis.Born to Albanian parents, Peace Nobel laureate of 1979, Mother Teresa, who died last year, made India her home from where she served the poor and the destitutes in Calcutta and other places in the region.

Her "missionaries of charity" later became a force espousing the cause of the poor and the distressed the world over.India's second Nobel Prize forphysics came in 1983 to Chandrasekhar, nephew of Raman, for his work on the minimum mass of a dying star enabling it to survive. His findings later came to be known as "Chandrasekhar limit".

"Trinity" is not always right

CALCUTTA: Trinity College, where Amartya Sen is the 36th ``master,'' is obviously happy over his winning the Nobel Prize for economics.

But when as a 19-year old bengali from Calcutta he had knocked at its doors hoping for a place as an undergraduate he was turned away.His entry into the hallowed institution, which had produced the likes of Issac Newton, Lord Rutherford, Lord Byron and Lord Tennyson, had become possible only after he received a cable that someone had dropped out.

Sen arrived in Trinity in 1953 by ship as his family could not afford the air fare.

Sen became an honorary fellow of the 450-year old Trinity, one of the foremost institutions in Britain in 1991 and its ``master'', an honour bestowed by the Queen, this year.

Asiatic Society to accordreception

CALCUTTA: Asiatic Society has decided to accord reception to Nobel laureate Prof Amartya Sen, closely associated with the 214-year old institute of national importance, on his return to the city.Society's general secretary Anil Sarkar said that the society congratulated Sen on his winning the Nobel Prize.

in economics, stating "heartiest congratulations. We are overwhelmed. We share the joy and pride for your becoming a Nobel laureate".

Sarkar said the society had the pride of publishing some of Prof Sen's works in 1996, like his famous ``Interpreting India's past''.

Quoting Prof Sen, he said the noted economist during one of his visits to the society had remarked "I can't remember seeing any other organisation in the world which has contributed more to the human civilisation."