April 30th, 2016, (Saturday), the Lithuanian daily, "Lietuvos Rytas" in its Lifestyle weekend section, "Gyvenimo Būdas" printed an interview with MRU Visiting Professor Raj Sekhar Basu from India's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

He discussed food and dinner parties, his upcoming research visit to Fiji, Vilnius' clean air and his polyglot son, Rajeswar, 14.

April 4th-15th, Prof. Basu presented a series of lectures to MRU's Business and Media School (BMS) International and Intercultural Communication students.

In the interview he discussed his previous almost 3-year tenure at MRU as a Visiting Professor, which ended in 2014. He had often lectured in the U.S., Canada and in Western Europe, but had never visited Eastern Europe before coming to Vilnius.

Prof. Basu said he felt that during his time in Vilnius, he was able to strengthen academic ties between India and Lithuania's universities and participate in various projects.

He only knew that Lithuania was a part once, of the Soviet Union and had a great Agricultural Engineering Faculty, where several Indian students had studied.

Prof. Basu said he misses the pure air in Lithuania and its quality, which, in his opinion, is better than let's say in New Zealand.

In June 2016 he will spend a month conducting research in Fiji for an upcoming book.

He and his wife, Ananya, who was an excellent hostess, held dinner parties at his Vilnius residence at the MRU Housing complex. A variety of Indian dishes were prepared for guests, sometimes numbering up to 30, Prof. Basu said in the interview.

Prof. Basu also said his polyglot son, Rajeswar, is fluent in Lithuanian, which he learned while in Lithuania in 2011-2014. The teenager often reads news about Lithuania online on the "Lietuvos Rytas" website translating the news to his parents.

Rajeswar took many Lithuanian newspapers and books back to India with him. But now, the most precious gift from Lithuania will be a book of poetry, Prof. Basu noted.