Prof Lancaster’s demise is indeed a shocking and saddening news for me. His visit to Trivandrum in response to  my invitation and the days he had spent as a guest of the then RRL(CSIR), Trivandrum is unforgettable. I had the privilege of organizing three programmes of Prof. Lancaster during his visit : The CSIR Golden Jubilee Lecture on Scientific Productivity at RRLT, another lecture on a related topic  in the University of Kerala and a Television Programme by DoorDarshan Kendra (the then existing only electronic media channel). The two lectures were attended by packed audience in the respective halls. The DD programme was a discussion associating Dr. AD Damodaran, the then Director of RRLT and Mr. S. Parthasarathy, the then British Council Librarian, Trivandrum. When he visited my Library, we had informal discussions on quite a few issues related to LIS and some of his replies refreshingly echo still in my thoughts…. “ Library is the last place I like to visit these days” ; “ …Well, the Paperless Society has in reality, its own constraints to be 100% paperless..” ; “ The smell of a new book, of its paper, admittedly brings in the nostalgic feeling of the print world..” When I was a student of LIS, while familiarizing with Prof. Lancaster’s works and contributions on ‘Information retrieval systems’ , ‘ Paperless Information Systems’ , ‘Indexing and Abstracting’  , ‘Measurement and Evaluation ’, etc., I was  delightfully  excited and was gazing at him as a child  gazing at the glittering star, several light years afar ! Years after, in the early 1990s, when he visited Trivandrum as my guest (accompanied by his Italian wife),  it was really ‘a dream come true’ effect in my life!  I thankfully remember Prof. MA Gopinath, who telephonically informed me from Bangalore about Prof. Lancaster’s India visit …in his inimitable words:   “Sadasivan! A BIG FISH is here around…Want to catch him? Act swiftly!”   The result : ‘THE BIG FISH’ in Trivandrum the very next week ! Prof. Lancaster was a visionary scholar, whose insight triggered a host of novel  ideas in formulating  new theories and models with the strong back up of empirical studies. His simplicity and human approach endeared him to his friends and the public. I request our professional fraternity to join me in respectfully paying homage to the departed ! Sadasivan KP                                                                                                                                                                          Consultant (Library)                                                                                                                                                                        IIITMK, Technopark, Trivandrum &                                                                                                                                                          Former Head, Knowledge Resource Centre, NIIST(CSIR), Trivandrum -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.