At the age of 57, Sakarindr Bhumiratana, the president of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), still looks fresh and healthy. He still plays tennis with his friends at least twice a week, while also enjoying running and swimming in his free time. He says exercise is part of his life and he can't live without it.

"I always feel uncomfortable every time I do not have any exercise for two or three days," he says. "I have to play at something to make me feel more comfortable and have more energy to work."

Sakarindr's job as head of the country's science and technology development agency doesn't prevent him from doing what he loves. With good time management, he can play sports even though he often has to attend meetings until late in the evening.

"If I finish work late, I play late," he says.

Sakarindr has an appointment to play tennis with his friends regularly every Monday and Friday - but at an unusual time. "We normally play from 9pm till midnight. It may be very late but it's my relaxing time after my hard work. I can enjoy with friends, playing a game I love and, importantly, strengthening my health."

Thanks to the exercise, even though he is in his late 50s Sakarindr has never faced severe health problems. He can walk long distances in high, hilly forests without getting tired, even when many of his younger staff have already given up with fatigue.

Sakarindr has loved to play sports since he was young. Like other boys his age, football was Sakarindr's favourite. He first played as a goalkeeper, and when he grew up still kept his passion for the game. He practised to improve his playing skills until he finally was selected to be a part on the university's football team as a centre-back while he was studying for a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at the University of California.

Every evening, the young man from Thailand would go to play football with the team. He practised hard, yet he never forgot to do his best on his scientific study. It would seem that the young Sakarindr could do both well.

As a footballer, Sakarindr rose to be the team's captain and its most valuable player. On the academic side, he also succeeded in getting the highest degree in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Born into a family where both his father and mother were scientists, Sakarindr was an enthusiastic boy who always had questions in mind and tried to find out the answers by himself. He learned scientific method from common things around the house, and this made science a part of the young boy's life.

Among many scientific areas, Sakarindr loves chemistry and mathematics. He says his passion started from learning and playing around with chemical and mathematics theory with his father, Amorn Bhumiratana, who was well known as a food scientist.

Sakarindr says his father always applied scientific methods to real-life activities.

"When he wanted to paint the house, for example, he would mix the paint himself. And if he wanted to wax the floor, he would make the wax on his own. This helped me learn about chemical theory."

When it came to renovating the family house, Sakarindr and his two brothers were assigned to take care of checking the construction materials. All three boys had to count and check the products.

"We had to count, measure and calculate everything again and again to make sure that nothing was missing or wrong, which made me love to learn about maths."

What Sakarindr learned from his father in his childhood actually pushed him to pursue his passion for science. When he grew up, he also followed his father's path.

"I inherited my desire to do rural development from my father," he says.

For more than three decades Sakarindr has used his knowledge to help the country's development in many areas. But the job that made Sakarindr most proud was his part in the royal project to bring science to help rural development in Sakon Nakhon province 25 years ago. The project was to use scientific knowledge to improve the food-processing industry, which is one of the pillars of rural development activities in Thailand.

"I helped the project to set up a food-processing plant. It was really hard work, as I had to do everything from zero. I drove to the province every weekend, but I never got tired because everything I did was to help people."

Working on this task for more than a decade brought Sakarindr increasing happiness. Every time he saw people getting a better life and becoming more self-reliant, all his fatigue disappeared.

"I was really happy when the result of the project came out with a better quality of life for people in the community. We're proud that this project made it possible for them to stay in their home province with no need to leave the community to find work in Bangkok," he says. The project motivated Sakarindr to do more in the field of rural development. No matter how many new assignments he has been given, he says, he has never left the rural development work behind.

Sakarindr still works with his academic friends and his staff at the agency to bring new science and technology to improve people's quality of life. Many projects are planned during weekend meetings at his house. Sometimes, after finishing playing tennis at around midnight on Friday, Sakarindr has to wake up so early the next day to catch a flight to the provinces to see the progress on his development projects on there.

"Rural development is something that we have to put more effort into until people can take care of themselves and make their own development path. It's really long-term work," he says.

For the healthy Sakarindr, even though he now has only three years left of his official working life, after retirement he will still hold on to his passion to bring science to help rural development. And another thing he will never give up is playing the sports he loves.

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation