Professor M S Swaminathan has been acclaimed by TIME magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of the only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He has been described by the United Nations Environment Programme as "the Father of Economic Ecology" and by Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary General of the United Nations, as "a living legend who will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction". 

The International Association of Women and Development conferred on him the first international award for significant contributions to promoting the knowledge, skill, and technological empowerment of women in agriculture and for his pioneering role in mainstreaming gender considerations in agriculture and rural development. Professor Swaminathan was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, and the first World Food Prize in 1987.
 
 Professor Swaminathan is a Fellow of many of the leading scientific academies of India and the world, including the Royal Society of London and the U S National Academy of Sciences. He has received 46 honorary doctorate degrees from universities around the world. (source:http://mssrf.org).
 
In April 2004, I was invited by the TAI-VHS Avahan project for the opening ceremony of their new building at Chennai. This was also a function where Dr. Swaminathan released the first copy of 'ThaiPaalam' a woman/transgender sexual health magazine, for which I accepted the offer of being an editor. The Project Director Dr. Lakshmibai invited me to speak. Here was the legend sitting in silence and watching me....

I spoke about the sufferings and discriminations the transwoman face in our country. Dr. Swaminathan later congratulated me personally saying " I am very happy for you. You speak so well!".

I was in joy, need I say that? Words from a living legend of our country.... A blessing.