Professor Daksh Lohiya's association with Stephen Hawking -- who passed into the ages on March 14 and will be buried in Westminster Abbey on March 31 alongside other giants of science like Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin -- began with a letter in 1976-1977.


Professor Hawking could barely write by hand then and the signed letter is one of Dr Lohiya's prized possessions.


Professor Lohiya then went on to be Professor Hawking's student at Cambridge from 1978 to 1982. Professor Hawking was his PhD supervisor and Dr Lohiya remembers him as a ruthless examiner.


Professor Hawking grilled him for 11 hours on his thesis -- with two breaks.


It was a guru-shishya parampara that continued over the years.


Dr Lohiya taught at Delhi University's mathematics department from 1984 to 2016 and was appointed emeritus professor thereafter. He is a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge, for advanced study in applied mathematics and theoretical physics. He spends an average of three months at Cambridge every year.


The last time the shishya met his guru was at Professor Hawking's 75th birthday in 2017.


In a moving tribute to his teacher, interspersed with laughter and sadness, Dr Lohiya speaks about the man behind the brilliant mind with Rediff.com's Archana Masih. Read the interview here.