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| In a culture which encourages over-the-top adulation Ramanan has not been spared. YouTube screengrab |
December 5, 2015, NewsCrunch
Floods have turned SR Ramanan, Director of Cyclone Warning Centre Chennai into a folk hero in Tamil Nadu.
The nonstop TV coverage and social media buzz, including fan pages on Facebook, have made him a household name in the state.
Ramanan has been speaking on TV on weather for sometime now. But the recentfloods catapulted his fame and created him a huge fan base especially among students.
As rains started drenching Tamil Nadu in early November, government shut down schools and colleges for two weeks, forcing many institutions to postpone their exams.
Many believed that Ramanan’s warnings had prompted the government’s decision and that made him a hero among students, notes Scroll.
Fan pages and nick names - Rain Ramanan, Rain God, Cyclone King, Student’s God – proliferated celebrating Ramanan’s forecasts, which became the most keenly watched media events of the day.
In a culture which encourages over-the-top adulation Ramanan was not spared.
His wikipdiapage notes “…his extraordinary skills in predicting Cyclones despite…” and credits him for “…saving millions of lives of fishermen along the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu…”
Floods have turned SR Ramanan, Director of Cyclone Warning Centre Chennai into a folk hero in Tamil Nadu.
The nonstop TV coverage and social media buzz, including fan pages on Facebook, have made him a household name in the state.
Ramanan has been speaking on TV on weather for sometime now. But the recentfloods catapulted his fame and created him a huge fan base especially among students.
As rains started drenching Tamil Nadu in early November, government shut down schools and colleges for two weeks, forcing many institutions to postpone their exams.
Many believed that Ramanan’s warnings had prompted the government’s decision and that made him a hero among students, notes Scroll.
Fan pages and nick names - Rain Ramanan, Rain God, Cyclone King, Student’s God – proliferated celebrating Ramanan’s forecasts, which became the most keenly watched media events of the day.
In a culture which encourages over-the-top adulation Ramanan was not spared.
His wikipdiapage notes “…his extraordinary skills in predicting Cyclones despite…” and credits him for “…saving millions of lives of fishermen along the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu…”
But Ramanan had his feet firmly planted on the ground when he told Scroll that he was just the face of the operations. “A number of departments collaborate and put together data. I only make observations and present it to the media,” he clarified.
But his dedication to his duty vindicates the adulation he has been receiving. During the peak flood, Ramanan’s family which lives in an apartment in West-Mambalam got stranded as the area got flooded.
Ramanan, who was also stuck in the meteorological office, was unable to help as all roads to the area was flooded. He continued to focus on giving timely updates on the weather, while other government officers arranged for his family’s rescue, notes The News Minute.
A post graduate in physics from Annamalai University , Ramanan has a PhD from the Madras University
He joined India Meteorological Department in 1980 and has worked as a forecaster in Northern Hemisphere Analysis centre inNew Delhi and at Aviation Meteorological Office of Chennai Airport.
He joined India Meteorological Department in 1980 and has worked as a forecaster in Northern Hemisphere Analysis centre in