Congratulations, Obaid. As a graduate student, I admired Obaid not only for his passion for science but also for his outside interests in tennis, cricket and music. I had the opportunity to play both tennis and cricket with him. He was the better tennis player and he let me know that. Coming from a conservative, South Indian family, interacting with Obaid was an eye-opening experience. He was so open-minded and accepting. Working with Obaid, I developed a sense of independence, responsibility and risk-taking that was new to me. This early experience has strongly influenced my career, and I am very grateful for that. I also have fond memories of going to Kenilworth (hope I got that name correct!) for dinner with Obaid, Asiya and their children. I was impressed by Obaid’s record collection, but not by his Sarod playing. Sorry, Obaid. He was still learning but not practicing enough! I can still recall the first experimental result that led to my thesis project. We were standing in front of the scintillation counter looking at counts from a density gradient experiment. As the radioactive counts began to pick up at the H:L DNA region, Obaid turned to me and said ‘you should open a bottle of champagne’. His enthusiasm was infectious. Of course, I had to wait three more years before opening that bottle. One of my unique experiences concerns writing papers. Obaid and I wrote four papers that were published in reputed journals; remarkably, they were all accepted without any revision. That man can write! TIFR in those days was buzzing. We had a constant flow of visitors to the Molecular Biology Unit, and more seminars to attend than we really wanted to. Since there was no formal course work, most of the molecular biology I learned came from talking to the visiting scientists who came at Obaid’s invitation. Maury Fox explained to me what a (genetic) cross was. Obaid made to do all the problems in Sturtevant and Beadle’s An Introduction to Genetics. Obaid can be such a traditionalist! For that, thank you, Obaid. Before closing, I am happy to let Obaid known that I remain active in sports. I continue to play tennis but my golf game is much better. I still have not read Fred Perry’s book on tennis, you suggested forty years back. It is hard to keep up with that 80 year-old professor. All the best on your 80th Birthday and many more to come.