jay 50

14

January 2015 Volume 1, Issue 1

JJay

Ram

ador

ai

2 January 2015 JAY RAMADORAI

3January 2015JAY RAMADORAI

Dear Readers,January 30, 1965 was a Saturday. 18,262 days and

nights would have been experienced as on January 30,

2015. It is an amazing way to quantify a person’s time on

this planet. It is said that 618 full moons have passed and

the next one comes on February 3, 2015. Does the moon

matter to RAVI (‘the sun’)? Indian names are unique – but

do they really fit the personality of the person they are

given to? A person who is called ‘RAVI’ (another name

for ‘sun’) has an official name – JAYACHANDRAN (‘a

victorious moon’, if translated literally).

Paradoxes are, apparently,a part of everyone’s life.

I was once driving from Boston to New Hampshire

(during fall – a wondrous sight).It was a journey of

discovering not just the beauty of fall in Boston, it was

a moment of awakening to this man – who embodied a

talking version of Google Maps. More than 90 minutes

of non-stop conversation, ranging from the technology

of video-sharing moments through Burst and its

compatibility with all platforms (which I understood very

little of!) to the World Wars, the history and genesis of

American thought to business in developed countries;

from food to family, education to communication… The

list was endless. Honestly, I enjoyed every moment of that

journey,while his family blissfully ignoredthe stories that

were being narrated. They had probably heard versions

of the stories during their innumerable world tours – this

was probablydismissed as version ‘infinity’.

Back home in India, when I went back to work, I

recalled most of the stories, spruced it up with what we

call Indian ‘masala’, and shared them with my colleagues.

This, I realised, was my first experience of ‘borrowed

intelligence’. Nevertheless the learning was immense.

I found the description of an Aquarian online – it

impressed me and I felt it fitted the central person of this

book, Ravi, to a perfect 10. It said: ‘Aquarians are nearly

always intelligent, concise, clear and logical. Even in

company they are fiercely independent, refusing to follow

the crowd. They dislike interference by others, however

helpfully intended, and will accept it only on their own

terms’. Should I insert a knowing smile(y) here?

Just kidding!

When you begin to read this book, you may well

realise why he shares his birthday with Franklin. D.

Roosevelt, who said, “I'm not the smartest fellow in the

world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.”

Enjoy reading and discovering what eventually would

have been unearthed by historians in the 25th century!

Anita Krishna

Credits

Ideation Anita Krishna

Editor-in-Chief Yamini Vasudevan

Associate Editor Sakshi Krish

Creative Head Prem Krishna

Published and owned by Saraswathi K at #105, Sundram Street, Chinmaya Nagar Stage I, Chennai – 600092, and printed by K Srinivasan of Srikals Graphics Pvt Ltd at #5, Balaji Nagar, 1st Street, Ekkattuthangal, Chennai – 600032

Disclaimer Views and opinions expressed by writers do not necessarily reflect the publisher’s or the magazine’s.

The articles appear in alphabetical order.

People who do not appear in the magazine send their love and wishes to JAY.

Photo: Maya Jay


A book by super adults and achievers in life didn't quite give us our space. However, Ravi periappa, we love you and here is a small birthday wish from us.

Sakshi, Pranav, Vageesh, Chaithanya, Hari & Hira.

Message from the children

Contents

8 Numero OneAPPA & AMMA

10 Pick of the BestBoRIS JERkuNICA

12 Kudos for a Great 50!BRYANT MCBRIDE

14 Back To The PastCHANDRASEkHAR

16 Partner in CrimeDEEPAk JAIN

18 Stories Worth CherishingGAYATHRI MAHESH

20 Undying LoveGEETHA JAY

26 An Ideal Team-mate HIMANSHu RooNGTA

30 Professional all the WayJACk ARoGETTI

34 TheInfluencerkARTHIkEYAN & PRIYA

36 The Best Memories EverMANoJ NAIR

38 Never Gives Up! MAYA JAY

42 The Man Who Blew Us Away!PAuL LEVY

46 The Best Pick SACHIAMMA

48 IIT Was Beneath Him! SACHIN SAXENA

52 More ‘Acche Din’ Ahead SANJEEV MALHoTRA

54 Nephew to a Co Brother SATHYA & CHuDI

58 He Was Almost Always Right! SCoTT RuDBERG

62 A GS Memory LaneG SRINIVASAN

70 The Anagram Man SuDHAkAR BHAT

74 Begin AgainSuPRIYA SRINIVASAN

76 Above and Beyond TIM GRAVES

78 A Well-Rounded GuyTRACY DEFoRGE

80 Total Recall in Sepia 82 Science & SpiritualityVENkATRAMAN G

86 Boy to Man VISWANATHAN CHITTAPPA



AMMA & APPA

Numero OneNumero One


Om Shri Sairam. I am very happy to speak about my dearest son, Jaychandran alias Ravi on his completing 50 years. I

am very proud of him. He was an obedient son in the older days; he was good in studies, was very independent. The only time I've ever had to coach him was for his admission tests for school otherwise he was on his own, regarding his studies. He has a good knowledge of ethics and was good in Sanskrit, knows the intricacies of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, even till now. He is very attached to his Thirunagar tatha and paati. His paati used to narrate stories to him and he also learned the slokas from her. He understood my financial standing and made no demands ever. It was only once did he ask for something, after finishing his college studies, I got him this sweater like thing. Otherwise he never demanded anything and was always very understanding. I am proud of his academic achievements as well as his career advancements. I never guided him in his career except once when I suggested to him to move to America after he finished his studies in Karakpur, where he was working with TCS. In the next few months he said he was going. He was very independent and in fact I wanted him to study further. He made some attempts and he did not like it so he selected his career. He was very good at it and has made some great progress. I am very proud of him and wish him the best of health, wealth and the best of years. Amma and I wish him a long and happy life with Geetha and Maya. He is a good husband, a good father and good son.

RAVI

JAYA CHANDRAN

Pick of the BeST


BORIS JeRKuNIcA

My best memory about Jay is going to India with him and meeting his parents and experiencing the country through his eyes.

Jay is one of the five smartest people I've ever had the pleasure to work with, but along with being smart he is also one of the five nicest people I've had the pleasure to work with.

The biggest challenge, as with all smart people, is that over time he has built a mountain of logic on top of his beliefs. Sometimes it’s hard to move that mountain. You have to dig deep to get to the assumptions and put wheels on them.


What was your first impression of him? How did your first meeting go?

Very smart and sincere - our meeting went great

Name the biggest error he made on the job - and how he handled it.

Can’t remember one BIG one, but handles everything that does not go well on an even keel and immediately starts working to solve the problem.

He Handles everytHing tHat does not go well on an even keel, and immediately starts working to solve tHe problem

KuDOS FOR A GReAT 50!


Who was his favourite team member? Was there anyone he absolutely couldn't get along with?

Mike Mole and Rohit I would guess, and not a big fan of Yetin…

Did you guys hang out outside of work? If yes, what was he like outside of office?

Yes. Much laughter when we go out…

Name one moment when you felt extremely happy that he was your team-mate/colleague.

His graduation from Sloan/MIT stands out, but whenever I use our product also stands out!

What was his favourite topic of discussion (other than work)?

10 questions…

Have you ever had a disagreement with Jay on work and how did he / you solve it?

Often – and in a constructive, positive manner.

Message from a friend to Jay as he has spent 50 years on this planet:

Hope the next 50 are as successful!



i remember His laugHter – He laugHed Heartily, and laugHs tHe same way even today

BAcK TO The PAST

chANDRASeKhAR


First of all, he is known to his friends as ‘RJ’– and, to this day, I call him that. I remember his distinct running gait – I'm sure it was

influenced by physics and biomechanics. Now that I'm a marathon runner with four under my belt, so I can vouch for it!

Second thing I remember was his laughter, he laughed heartily, and laughs the same way even today.

Thirdly, he doesn't look his age – he still looks young.

I was his only Tamil Iyer friend at KV Andrews Gunj – although, technically, there was a Subramani Iyer in our class. I was in his class only from Aug 1981 to March 1982. I used to visit his home in Minto Road and got to know his parents.

RJ and I were part of all the naughty things in class, along with Manoj Nair, Sandeep Nain, Deepak Jain and Sanjeev Malhotra. I remember an event when the boys in the class left one by one every time the teacher faced the blackboard.It was Mrs. Rohtagi's class – she taught us Biology and was also our class-teacher.

I remember another incident – there was a guy called Bhongirvar, and all of planned to drench him. We would finish volley ball (during our PT period) and run back to the class. On that particular day, we let Bhongirvar lead the pack. We managed to fill a dirty dabba from the bathroom with water and left it on top of the door – such that, if someone were to push the door open, the pail would fall on their head. Bhongirvar did it perfectly! We bullied Bhongirvar and the entire class was punished. For

the record, RJ was never bullied and he was good at volley ball.

We bunked morning assembly and went for movies. We got caught and beaten too. We saw a whole lot of movies during Class XII, especially in Archana, where most of them were English movies. We also saw several movies in Chanakya theatre, and there were instances when we were not allowed because they were adult movies. I do remember seeing Bo Derek's 10.It was released in 1979, but not sure how we saw it in 1981-1982!

We went to Dodi Tal in the summer vacation after our Class XII Board Exam. Nine of us started out. M y memory is failing me, but if I remember correctly some of us decided to go back half-way. RJ and I made it to Dodi Tal – it is a lake at 10,000 feet above sea level. It was a hike from Uttarkashi. We took pictures on this trip but I seem to have lost them.

I continued to meet and talk to his parents even when he was away in IIT Kharagpur. His dad was my mentor and encouraged me during college years. I even got to know his cousins (or his mother's cousins, but our age/little older). I also attended his wedding.

We had a fascinating time in Class XII and afterwards too. My friends from Class XII were my best friends. I was a sutradhar, and kept in touch with everyone.To this day, I relish their company. I do have a greeting card from RJ, Geeta, and Maya from many years ago, but no pictures of RJ and me dating back to school days.

My memory of RJ goes back to 1978, class 9. From then through Class 10, 11, and until end of school life in Class 12, RJ and

I used to sit together on the same desk/bench all these years. He was always an interesting person to be with.

He was a movie buff – like most of us – but he was the ‘first day, first show’ types. Bunking school was pretty normal. He used to come up with all unconventional ideas for having fun. If I am not mistaken, he was the one who introduced ‘Royal Class’ to all the poor movie-goers like us.

‘Royal Class’ referred to the first or the second row in the cinema hall where one had to stretch one’s neck to have a full view of the screen. It was the cheapest, so the best choice! It used to be 65 paise for a ticket, which increased to Rs. 2.25 with the movie ‘Star Wars’.

I was caught and scolded (or even slapped!) in Class 12 because of him. He used to narrate the story of the latest movie he had watched. His mouth was hidden in his big beard while I was the one caught almost all the times – and then, scolding and slapping followed. I was shortest guy in the class, with no hint of a beard. I looked a child when I sat next to RJ.

Once, something got stuck in his beard. He was feeling slightly uncomfortable. In the middle of the Biology class, he asked me to check if there was

PARTNER IN CRIME

rJ was always part of tHe action. He was a born prankster


DeePAK JAIN

something there. I innocently touched his beard. Just then, our teacher, Mrs. Rohtagi, saw me and then – as usual – slapped me. She then announced to the whole class that since I didn't have a beard, I was getting touching RJ’s! Imagine the scene! The whole class laughed at my expense – but, as always, RJ went scot free! He was one lucky guy.

There was another incident, when our whole class was caught for bunking. We were lined up in the Principal’s room and one of our most dreaded teachers, Chakor, was questioning us as to whose idea it was to bunk. None of us opened our mouths. After a while, Chakor just pointed towards RJ and said that he was surely the ring leader – and slapped him a few times. Chakor was a big guy with huge and heavy hands. He hit RJ so hard that there were tears in RJ’s eyes. That was perhaps the only time that I saw tears in RJ's eyes.

There are many such incidents, seemingly stupid now but thoroughly enjoyable and funny. RJ was always part of the action – he was a born prankster. He will always be in my memories, and was an important part of my growing up.



Stories Worth cherishingStories Worth cherishing

GAYAThRI MAheSh


Though almost all of them had a surprise adventure lurking around us - be it the crazy one-day grand canyon trek or getting lost

in saguaro off-roads or the uncertainty of ever making it in time to antelope canyon - mostly thanks to you, it also gave us a lot to laugh, talk and bond over for years to come.

Happy birthday dearest Ravi. We pray to god to give you all the happiness, good health, riches, peace of mind and pretty much for everything you dream of, for years and years to come. You have been and will continue to be our godfather in the US. I always felt the comfort of coming home, getting pampered and feeling relaxed and rejuvenated when I was in Atlanta during my break. Some of my fondest memories are the various trips that we have taken with you, Geetha and Maya across the States. Though almost all of them had a surprise adventure lurking around us - be it the crazy one-day grand canyon trek or getting

lost in saguaro off-roads or the uncertainty of ever making it in time to antelope canyon - mostly thanks to you, it also gave us a lot to laugh, talk and bond over for years to come. I love, love, love the concern you show when we need you and the space you give us in other situations. A million thanks for being supportive to Geetha and you always help us out whenever we need help, even when we are hesitant to ask for it.

Hira loves her 'rabi appa' so much (envision her extending her arms all the way to her back). Not a single day goes by without us talking about you with her singing 'jo jo rabi appa, jo jo geetha, jo jo maya akka' . We are so blessed that she has such a wonderful, large family that she will grow up with.

Happy Birthday!! lots of love

Gayathri, Mahesh, Hira Pappa

I know I can always count on hIm for anythIng and everythIng!


GeeThA JAY

Undying Love

What do you admire most in him (character-wise)?

Straight forwardness

What is his best physical feature? His EYES

What is one quality/characteristic you tolerate in him?

Possessiveness

How much does he eat (a lot/very little/just right)?

Always more than what his stomach can hold.

What is his favourite cuisine/dish? Not one, but many – samosa, cutlet, rasam,

puris, channa batura dosas and much more!

What is the best memory from the times you spent together? What made it special?

Cannot say I have one best memory. Here are some:

Our raft ride on the island of Kaui–Napali •


coast in Hawai (with Maya) – on a 12-seater raft on the Pacific Ocean, where we saw diving playful dolphins, and entered a small opening into the mountain that was open to the sky! Out of the world beauty in a flash!

Our trip to Santorini (Greece) overlooking • the caldera surrounded by the blue waters of Aegean Sea.

Our stay in Egypt at Movenpick Hotel in • Aswan, I think (with Maya). Movenpick is a resort near Aswan. We stayed in this nice hotel after a relaxing Felucca ride on the Nile river.

Sala Thai dinner in Thailand (with Maya) A • very unique one, where we sit on a low seat with a three-course meal that was brought very slowly, while the story of Ramayana was being depicted in Thai style dance sequence.

Our memorable trips to some of the places include:

Niagara Falls, road trip from Grand Canyon • to Yellowstone, Disney World in Orlando (Pre-Maya)

First Europe trip to Amsterdam, Switzerland • and Italy using Eurail (Pre-Maya)

Alaska was one of my favourites – glacier • cruise with calving glaciers, whales and dolphins, sea lions basking on a sheet of ice

Greek islands (Crete and Santorini were the • best) and Istanbul

Ladakh was a very unique, beautiful trip•

Peru (Machu Pichu) and Costa Rica zip lining • tour and ATV tours

Trip to Seville/Granada/Gibraltor/Majorca • in Spain


Glacier National Park – Ice berg Lake hike • and its natural beauty is still etched in my mind

Amazon river cruise •

Ritz Carlton in Cancun Mexico with trip to • Chichen itza

Sydney Harbor & drive on the Gold Cost • beaches with beautiful rock formations in Australia

Our walk on the Glacier in Jung Frau in • Switzerland

Hike from the south rim of Grand Canyon – • down to the Colorado river through Kaibab trail – and hiked back the Bright Angel (most recent)

Name three touching memories from your years together.

First his patience, kindness, and the stress he endured during my pregnancy with Maya.

All the pranks he would do to make Maya giggle when she was a baby is still fresh in my mind.

Lastly, all the fond memories and risks we took during our innumerable trips, flights we have missed or barely made at the last minute.

What were some of the toughest challenges you faced as a couple?

The arguments we have had over my attending bhajans or giving importance to my friends.

Who is his best friend? ME and Maya

Or a person he admires? He admires great scientists/inventors in

general, and anyone who communicates well.

If you could change one quality/characteristic of his, what would it be?

Be more generous with donations to the have-nots

What in your understanding is HIS version/concept of GOD?

He believes in some sort of superpower called God or Universal Consciousness.

How do you envisage the next decade with a person who has spent half a century on this earth?

We have learnt to adjust and accept each other for who we are, and I hope we can enjoy each other’s company with good health & travel to some exotic places still on our bucket list.

What is the biggest difference from the times you met him first to now?

Love, confidence, trust and faith I have in him – I know I can always count on him for anything and everything!

Birthday Message:You are one of the greatest gifts in my life,

so I want give you the greatest gift of all on your special day: MY UNDYING LOVE! Happy birthday!


An Ideal Team-mate

He would regularly come up witH tHings tHat would initially sound tHat exciting or sometime even rigHt tHing to do but eventually would be tHe best tHing we ever did.


hIMANShu ROONGTA


I saw Jay first in 2002 where I was consulting. He came in as the new CTO. I recall overhearing my consulting firms manager said it would be a little difficult since he was a ‘desi’ guy, and usually Indians who are aware of Indian IT companies like to dig deeper. On his third day at the job, I was surprised to see how involved he got.

In my opinion there are two categories of people: One who start a new venture to prove themselves, try to show off and talk bullshit without any real basis; others who don’t care but just want to get job done and ask questions even if they look like novices. Jay was in the second category. After a week of probing, he came up with a plan and executed it over and over with improvisation. Rest is history in terms of how the product evolved and paved way for quicker future expansions.


I am unable to think of any. Overall usually before a mistake comes to light he has already taken care of it with a solution or back up plan.


Yes we hung out many times at the former job. And we also did few lunches when he was working at Burst and I was at a different company. Once I ran into him at a post office close to his house in Walpole and he brought me to his place.

He once asked me what I was doing for 4th of July (American Independence day). I said nothing, as I was a bachelor and just going to go home. He said his wife and kid had gone to India, so we could go to Boston and watch fireworks. That was a good experience as I had never seen it in my three years of my stay in the US.

Once he drove through a dangerous snow storm to pick up a few of us, and then took us to his house for a party.

We also did team trips to 6 Flags (amusement park) and I was amazed to see how he was not afraid to ride the tallest roller-coaster or even the spin ride, which I and many others shied away from. He was a team person and went on all rides with everyone. I had never seen this side of Jay – he is not afraid to try a physical activity and make it fun for everyone.



His unique vision coupled with leadership to see future makes him an ideal team mate/colleague. I cannot pinpoint one instance, but he would regularly come up with things that would initially sound that exciting or sometime even right thing to do but eventually would be the best thing we ever did.


He was well versed in all aspects from science to politics to religion to sports to international affairs. If I have to pick one, it is either Indian food or Bollywood actors/movies or classical music/dance in an all-Indian group. In a mixed group, it has been science and technology, space exploration or research on future disease related medicine.

Have you ever had a disagreement with Jay on work and how did he/you solve it?

I had a few disagreements with him, but either due to our history or otherwise, we always solved it amicably. The last one was related to the current job at Burst where we had a small fight over a ‘technique’ and possible design options. It quickly heated up and snowballed into other things. He suggested the next day that we grab lunch together. So, we went for a walk before lunch. We sat at Boston Harbor with our legs hanging over the Atlantic Ocean and discussed it. He tried to get to the bottom my my frustrations. I also expressed things I didn't like about his handling of certain things. I even opened up what is going on in my personal life. We went back to office to join others at lunch and worked to create a solid relationship again. If it was somebody else, it would have led to frustration being built or some knee jerk reaction. But his trust and faith in me and his effort to find solutions was admirable.

Message from a friend to Jay as he has spent 50 years on this planet:

I wish him continued great success. Continue to be an inspiration!


Here's to tHis decade and your next, next and next increasingly being your best ever

Professional All the Way


JAcK AROGeTTI

First impressionJay worked at iXL, the tech team that was

assigned the lastminutetravel.com project. When I heard he was coming over to be part of the LMT leadership team, I was thrilled! Clearly, he would impress our investors, fellow colleagues and he would build a first rate tech team. All meetings went well, particularly when we finalised the AOL deal which required maybe seven months of unprecedented tech involvement.

Biggest errorNothing stands out. I think I may have drunk the

kool-aid more than he did! To Jay's credit, I think he better saw BS than I did. With reflection, we spent more money than we should have at various stages but Jay's job was to get things done and I think he ably balanced costs vs needs while setting an exemplary work model himself.

His favourite team memberHe and Frank Floyd were, by necessity, as I

recall, very close. To Jay's credit, I don't think he was ever swayed – not even for a minute – by all the knockout blondes our CEO hired to attract staff and investors

Outside of workNot really. It was generally intense at work

and afterwards not much socialising, though our sales guys and secretarial ladies were not adverse to partying.

As a teammateSuper Bowl 2000 – we bought a national

commercial just as the final play of the game sounded. Fortunately for us, the game went down to the very last play so we had a phenomenal viewing audience. Jay was on site where servers were to make sure all went well. We phoned him minutes after the spot aired and he had such joy at the traffic to the site in those minutes that it really made me feel good.


His favourite topic Jay always enjoyed speaking about

his daughter.

Disagreement Nothing that I can recall. There were frustrations

that sometimes the site didn't seem to ‘work’, but it was never as simple as that – and we all have full confidence in Jay.

Message to Jay Welcome to the 50 Decades (and Counting)

Club! I'm glad our careers – and our lives – crossed paths. I recall those earliest of days when you and Mike Gelfond were at iXL, where Miranda and I would come and visit to review timetables, site progress, etc. When you came to LMT, you gave us credibility and instilled optimism among staffers and investors. Of course, Super Bowl 2000 was an unforgettable experience in so many ways – and hearing your voice filled with such joy due to site traffic remains unforgettable. Then, the AOL deal and all that went with that for so many months, only to be shaken by destructive world events in that September month changed our lives in more ways than anyone could have foretold.

Through it all, Jay you remained focused, balanced, strategic and kind. Professional all the way. A few times later when we spoke, you always were trustworthy, a straight shooter, and someone your colleagues knew had the company's best interests always at heart and willing to do whatever necessary personally.

Happy 50th Jay! Here's to this decade and your next, next and next increasingly being your best ever with loving family and good friends and in all your work and play endeavours.

Jay always enJoyed speaking about His daugHter



My love for travelling and the many stories I have accumulated through those

journeys are influenced by you, and I plan on telling Hari all of these amazing stories

For more than 25 years you have had a very profound influence on our lives, and I thank you very much for each of those occasions. You were there to encourage me when I made my decision to join my first job, or meet my future wife for the first time. You were there to support me on my flight to India to bereave Periappa's passing. You were around to comfort

The InfluencerKARThIKeYAN & PRIYA

me after my car accidents. My love for travel and the many travel stories that I plan to tell Hari when he grows up - they will very prominently feature you. Politics, work ethic, world view - you have influenced my thoughts and actions more than anyone else (apart from my moms and siblings). I am so glad that you came into our lives and wish you'll stick around for many years to come.

Priya, Hari and I wish you a very happy 50th birthday!

‘RJ’ was what we used to call him school. In fact, ‘Jay Ramadorai’ sounds like an unknown stranger!

One thing I explicitly remember about him is that he had a distinct spring in his feet. His walk was almost like a yo-yo ball! Even his normal walk was like a slight spring stuck in his feet! Not sure whether he is still springy in his walk!

I don’t have any pictures of our youth days, but our days of doing all the good and bad things for the first time in life is clearly the best memory of my life with RJ. All the best to him as he hits the landmark number!

The Best Memories Ever


MANOJ NAIR

Never Gives Up!


MAYA JAY

If you were to rate your dad on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being a lousy dad; 5 being the ideal dad), where would he stand?

4 (loss of points for lack of a moustache!)

Name one inspirational moment you shared with your dad.

Any time I have an intellectual conversation with him. I mean, I think my dad literally knows EVERYTHING. He wins every debate and argument and always wins it so logically. It’s frustrating as hell because I always lose and he always manages to prove me wrong, but I’m always amazed by his inability to persuade and convince people. Maybe it’s wit, maybe it’s pure manipulation, whatever it is, it has always impressed me.

He wins every debate and argument – it’s frustrating as Hell because i always lose and He always manages to prove me wrong


Name one funny moment you guys shared.

There are too many to pinpoint one!

What is his most annoying/weird mannerism?

When we’re sitting on the couch, he never stops shaking his legs and then the whole couch shakes and its super annoying.

He eats very loudly.

He always clears his throat really loudly in quiet spaces.

He licks every spoon and lid when cleaning up after a meal.

He’s ALWAYS whining about how he’s not being productive enough.

Or how he’s hungry and wants something sweet.

Or how he’s sleepy. Everyday. Every. Single. Day.

Who is his favourite author? Or name his favourite book.

Dickens. Definitely Dickens.

What was the most difficult test he set for you?

You mean, other than being his child?


If you were God, and you could grant him anything, what would you give him?

An un-shavable mustache.

If there is one quality you would like to take from your dad, what would it be?

His ambition and his drive. Particularly when I was younger, I always hated his constant wish for me to do more, be more and be better, but now that I am on my own in college, I have understood what a useful quality it is. He never gives up, not on anything, or anyone, and especially not me. And I will always appreciate that.

Is there is any place/song/person that instantly reminds you of dad?

‘Kajra Re’, from Bunty Aur Babli, It’s his favorite song. And he tries to dance to it sometimes….LOL!

If you could change one quality/characteristic of his, what would it be? Any why?

Nothing. I truly mean this. Yes, there were times in high school where I hated my dad. He has made me cry more times than I can count, but despite the ridiculousness and craziness we put each other through, I am proud of who I am and what I have done, and am fully aware that this wouldn’t have been possible if my dad hadn’t been exactly the man and the father he is today. Thanks Daddy, for being the funniest, most supportive, chubbiest, weirdest, and wisest guy I know. Never change.

Happy Birthday to my old man. Haha! Get it? ‘Cause you’re 50 now…you’re old! HAHAHA! Here’s to 50 more!



My first meeting with Jay was in early 2011. We were attempting to create a leading technology company with BURST…and yet we had no one on the founding team who knew how to build technology! Jay came in blew us away with not only his deep technology expertise but also his business skills (later developed at MIT)


Sure, there are always a few things that break here and there when building a startup, but Jay always knows how to fix the problem – even on the

in His free time Jay loves to discuss Hard problems – and How to solve tHem

The Man Who Blew Us Away!

fly. Jay and I were in Las Vegas last month working on a program with Fox Sports. It was clear that something wasn’t working correctly with our Android app – and Burst was needed within 45 minutes for some real-time video at a UFC fight. Within 20 minutes, Jay brought together the critical team members to help fix the problem remotely…and the client never had a clue the project was in jeopardy.


I would hope I would be Jay’s favorite team member! His least favourite team member had to


PAuL LeVY

be ‘Yatin’ who was an unstable individual (some might say mentally disturbed). Once we realised Yatin had to be removed from the company, we needed police protection at our office door for an afternoon to ensure our safety…luckily, we haven’t heard from him again.


Jay and I (and our colleague Tim) spent some free time together in Amsterdam around the International Broadcasting Conference. After several drinks and wandering around the streets of Amsterdam, I can tell you one of Jay’s secret passions….ICE CREAM!


I’m thankful Jay is my teammate every day.



In his free time Jay loves to discuss hard problems – and how to solve them – but I would say his discussions about his family’s extensive travels around the globe are what he likes to discuss the most.


I would not say we have disagreements, rather debates, on a daily basis. We (generally) end up in some sort of compromise, thankfully.

Message from a friend to Jay as he has spent 50 years on this planet

I would say Jay has led a very fulfilled life during his first 50 years on this planet…a successful technology entrepreneur, MBA, lovely wife and daughter. Here’s to his next successful 50 years on the planet!



SAchIAMMA

The BeST PIcK

The BeST PIcK


Hello Ravi. Happy birthday. Many more returns of the day. Ravi, I appreciate and love so many things about you,

and I'm going to list them out. Hopefully you'll have the patience to read them all. Your dedication, commitment, your bluntness and your straight forwardness are some of the few things I love about you. And there are also times when your innocence takes me by surprise in a pleasant way. Having got you as my son-in-law is something I grateful for. But over time you became like a son to me. In that way my daughter as well is very blessed to have you as a husband and your parents should be proud to have you as their son. I hope you live long and healthily with lots of love in your life.

Love,

Maami

When did you meet Jay first? how was he ragged?

I first met RJ in 1982. However, it was not till the end of our first year that we got closer. My earliest memories of RJ...We (RJ, Sudhakar, KC, Venky and I) decided to move to the ‘A’ block which was considered a ‘budbha’ (old, post graduate) block. Our plan was to make it cool and happening, and we believe we did. When we moved, I especially remember our first day back after summer and RJ was assigned a room where someone had committed suicide over the summer. The good news was the room was freshly painted, and they had a installed a new fan in the room. I remember us all bothering/scaring RJ that night. After a lot of deliberation and some convincing, RJ decided to move to a neighboring room.

I don't think RJ was really ragged.

rJ spent most of tHe time dreaming of tHe grade He deserved (wHicH was 10 on a 10 scale) – tHis dream was, However, in stark contrast to wHat His grade card sHowed

IIT Was Beneath him!

IIT Was Beneath him!


SAchIN SAXeNA

Does he understand 'entertainment' or 'fun'? What does he do for fun?

Over the next few years, we had lots of late nights discussing various topics that seemed very important and urgent then. However I don't remember what those topics were nor do I remember our positions on those topics. I think these ‘bhaat sessions’ helped us build our bull-shitting capability, communications skills, and some great lifelong friendship. So it was not a complete waste of time.

I also remember playing a lot of table tennis with RJ in our common room. Evenings, many late nights.......name it, we were ready to play. Even though I was a much better player (my side of the story), I remember both of us reaching Olympic levels in TT, but since we never tried out, the world would never know.

Who was his favourite teacher/lecturer? Any teacher/lecturer he hated?

I think RJ was one of the few people who truly believed that the courses at IIT were beneath his level. He spent most of the time dreaming of the grade he deserved (which was 10 on a 10 scale). This dream was however in stark contrast to what his grade card showed. He was somewhat confused about that, but I don't think these B's and C's bothered him much.

Name his first crush/girlfriend in college. How many girls did he turn down?

Aah... He would spend hours in his room dreaming about some girl (this would be one of the top three reasons that might explain his grades). He would talk endlessly about this one girl, write


and receive really long letters from her... I was convinced that RJ was delusional and making stories. The best news was – he ended up marrying this girl!

Did he ever bunk classes?He missed classes all the time. I think the top

reasons for missing classes for him were because he was bored, or he was day dreaming or he was just lazying around.

Is there a remarkable quality of Jay that has impressed/inspired you?

He was very sharp and witty. He was confident and comfortable in his skin.

How did he handle failure or poor performance?

You got to be kidding. If I recall correctly, he spent one summer doing some remediation

courses at IIT. I believe he told everybody that it was because he was carefully chosen out of his classmates to do some special work! Who is to decide the truth vs. fiction? Like George Costanza (Seinfeld friend) said, it is not a lie if you believe in it.

Message from a buddy to him as he has spent 50 years on this planet

It has been great to have been part of your life during our IIT years. I know you will forgive me for exposing some truths about your past while answering these questions. Geeta and you have been married long enough and like her parents; Maya is poised for great success, so no harm no foul. Looks like you did well! We wish you all continued success.

Happy Birthday pal.


More ‘Acche Din’ Ahead


SANJeeV MALhOTRA

Was he good in anything other than studies (sports/music/art)? If so, what was it?

He was good at telling stories, specially about the films he had seen recently.

Did he have trouble seeing colours properly?

Not that I know about it.

What was his nickname in school?He was popularly known as RJ and we still know

him as RJ.

Was he ever been punished in school?Sometime in eleventh grade, he got a real

dressing down from a Hindi teacher by the name Narottam, even though it was not entirely RJs fault.

What is the best memory you have from your time together?

He is a person with a sharp wit and high intellect. He will not let you get bored as he has an opinion on everything and can talk on many different things at a stretch with good sense of humour.


RJ, I believe we are wiser and better than before. There are more 'acche din' ahead.



Nephew to a co-Brother

SAThYA & chuDI


Way back in timeline or was it just yesterday ?

Childhood

K-243 – the address I came to know first as a child where I met someone introduced to me as my cousin… well that’s the word coined in English to describe relationships which are hard to derive logically (what do you call your cousin’s son who is like your elder brother – nephew?) . Whatever the term was didn’t matter, as I had found a friend to play with…

Moved on to Laxmibai Nagar and then market Road, New Delhi. The bond continued. A tradition of this great family we are proud to have been borne in. Holidays meant all the family being together; festivals were always a grand affair Days and nights would be spent playing.

Growing up...

…meant studies as well and here started my challenge. To match the brilliance of the SUN (Ravi), be it the science talent scholarship or the IIT entrance … Can a torch light be visible against the brilliance of the SUN? Never did the Sun feel proud or belittle the torch…

Who can forget the days of waiting for a train booking to go to Chennai for Anna’s wedding or the 5-day travel of Bharat Darshan to reach Chennai from Delhi? Or those family weddings we used to travel together all the way from Delhi to Chennai and beyond or theholidays spent at Madurai where slide shows would be projected on the wall by Ravi’s Thatha…

Icing on the cake was our sacred thread ceremony.

Growing up brought out another family tradition – craving for tasty food.

How can we forget the wedding reception of Rajam Akka, where we ate those cutlets as if they would never be available again? Or the ice cream river we swam in at Sai Anna’s (rain affected) wedding reception?

Teenage

The SUN was moving up in the sky having acquired the prestigious engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur, while the torch (me) was still trying to get the batteries fixed. It was a different Teenage period – no gadgets no partying – a period where studies and career was the matter of discussion…

The scene moved to Chennai where we had moved, but the visits continued…. One of them turned into a life-changing one for you…. Never would I have believed that you could fall for someone. Destiny brought us together in the same family again. I suppose you owe it to me.

Youth

The SUN has moved to the West but the bond remains…the quest for Food also seems to be have grown over the years, with more cuisines added. The frequency of meeting has reduced in person, but the daily telephone conversation between the two ladies of the house has reduced the distance. We, in fact know, what you eat for breakfast and do every moment of the day. Luckily my work helps me find some excuses to meet you…

The Golden Year has now dawned, but the youthfulness continues. I was thinking how to talk about shine to SUN who is the embodiment of brilliance, but then the thought came that as the SUN moves up from the Horizon, it starts spreading its warmth on everyone. Is it the right moment to start engaging in benevolent actions, share your good fortune with the not so fortunate, your moments with those in need, so that you too may shine forth?

I want to leave you with these thoughts and our wishes for many many years of happiness and hope the clock will make one full round and we all will unite again to enjoy those weekends, now with extended families….


Ravi is turning 50. Amazing , how time runs so fast! His looks defy age. In fact, whenever Geetha and he visited us in Chennai, we used to admire their youthful looks. I have seen him grow from a chubby four-month-old to a shy and intelligent school boy. As a student at IIT, he had a clear vision of his goals and went about achieving them.

He is a good person to befriend, and has high regard for elders in the family. Even during his short visits to India, he makes it a point to visit them and offer his respects. He is a person who sticks to his beliefs but doesn't allow this to affect his relations with others. He respects their beliefs and faiths and does not impose himself on them. I very much appreciate this attitude of his and have high regard for him. He has been a loving father to Maya and a very good husband to Geetha.

Ganga and I wish him a very happy birthday and as this year also will be the Silver Jubilee year of his marriage we pray to Swami bless Ravi and Geetha and Maya long , happy, healthy,and peaceful life.

Sairam.

Sai Anna and Ganga manni

58 January 2015 JAY RAMADORAI58 January 2015 JAY RAMADORAI



Jay initially came in as a consultant to do a technology review. Consultants are often met with trepidation and Jay dispensed that feeling quickly. I remember him being really smart and asking great questions.


The Oracle migration! At least I thought it was a mistake. It turned out to be the absolute right thing to do but I never want to go through another database migration project! Jay drove that project from start to finish at an incredibly detailed and valuable level.


Hmmmm. I think we all thought Himanshu was our favorite. Our boss was someone that was hard to see eye-to-eye with when it came to software development.

someone came up witH tHe pHrase wwJd wHen we were struggling witH a decision – ‘wHat would Jay do?

He Was Almost Always Right!

ScOTT RuDBeRG




I fondly remember Jay giving me a whirlwind tour of Delhi, telling me stories and enjoying the travel. It was an incredible day.


Once, we were stranded together in Baltimore late one night. We decided to rent a car and drive home. We spent the next 8 hours in a Ford Mustang driving far too fast and just talking about life. The time flew. One thing that stuck with me was his description of seeing the NJ industrial complex at night when he first came to the U.S.


I remember talking a lot about the contrasts of life in India and the U.S.

Have you ever had a disagreement with Jay on work and how did he / you solve it?

Jay always had a way of convincing you of his side, and he was right on almost always.


Jay, I never learned as much about leading development teams and working hard as I did working with you. We achieved some great things together and you set me up for my future career success and for that I thank you!

Favorite Nickname: Jay Boss

Miscellaneous anecdote that Jay may not be aware of

After Jay left Passkey, someone came up with the phrase WWJD when we were struggling with a decision – "What would Jay do?" in place of the more commonly used acronym "What would Jesus do?" and we even went out and got WWJD bracelets (think: Livestrong rubber bracelet, but with WWJD instead) from a store like: http://christiandollarstore.com/wwwwhwojedo.html. No offense intended to any religion; we just thought it was funny.


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26 January, 2015

My dear Ravi,

On the 30th of this month you will be celebrating your Golden Birth Day! Right at the outset, let me wish you many Happy Returns of your birthday! As you celebrate this milestone, I thought you might like someone to reminisce about your ‘early years’. Since I had a ringside seat, let me have a go! The Original ‘Event Manager’: Last year your parents celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary. Allow me to first go back to February 1964, and reminisce about their wedding. By that time, I had witnessed many weddings – mostly at Thenkarai. In all those family weddings there would be a couple of relatives who

ran the show; they were the Sergeant Majors and Quarter Masters; amateurs were kept out of the business end; they usually chewed ‘vetthilai’ and played poker in the ‘thinnai’! Sometime in January, Pichai Mama came down from Bombay. I was busy preparing for my M.Sc. final exams which were scheduled for March. He said to me “Let us give Appa a break. You and I will manage the show”. Needless to say, I was taken aback; neither he nor I had done anything like this before. Then I got my ‘Lesson 1’; he said “Bring a

notebook”. The next couple of hours were spent in writing down everything that needed to be done. Since this was to be different kind of show, we didn’t want to ‘draft’ relatives; my classmates in Madura College were to be the fall guys. Poor blokes; one person each was assigned to various tasks: Being the ‘Man Friday’ for the Sambandhis; taking coffee every hour on the hour to the house where the Sambandhis were put up; making sure that their transport needs are attended to; getting the toilets cleaned; clearing the banana leaves after every meal, etc. As the D-day approached, there was something singularly different about the ‘atmosphere’; there was minimum entropy! First, the seasoned relatives were ‘amused’ when I


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was placing umbrellas, torch lights and Madurai Tourist Maps in all the houses where the guests were going to be put up. Soon the sense of amusement was replaced by ‘alarm’ when Pichai Mama and I went to the ‘Chandhai’ to buy vegetables and fruits; and then went on the wash everything in a ‘thotti’ with potassium permanganate solution!

But all went well! The wedding was a success according to those who mattered. This training was to stand me in good stead since many years later I had to take total charge of the wedding of Girija’s two sisters, Neeraja’s wedding, and, believe it or not, my wedding! As they say in your part of the world “never give a sucker an even break”!


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Back to the grind: After the wedding, I got back to my studies, only to be interrupted again – this time for my father’s 60th birthday bash, which was a grand affair.

In June 1964 I started working at American College, Madurai as a research assistant to Professor Dick Riesz.


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30 January 1965! I was on call on the day you were born. Basically, I was supposed to hang around ‘just in case there was some errand to do’. Since there

were no ‘Pubs’ where I could hang around (!), I remember wandering around in Pudu Mantapam and going to Thirumalai Naikar Mahal, which was close to the hospital where you were born. Sometime around March 1965, an old American missionary was going back to the US. She had many Kodachrome colour films which she wanted to sell, and she requested me to help her out. While I found eager buyers for these precious films, I myself bought 3 rolls at a price of 90 rupees per roll. This was a princely sum since my monthly salary was only 110 rupees! Although my father and I were keen photographers – we did all our processing in the house, with an enlarger that was also homemade (!) – this was the first time I had colour film to play with. A couple of months later Varalakshmi Nombu came; my mother used to do this in a big way. That particular year, she was initiating your mother into the ritual.


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“Chicago, my kind of town” (as Frank Sinatra sang): In September 1965, I set off for Chicago. The choice was a difficult one, since I had got admission in Harvard, Maryland, Cornell, Stanford, Princeton, Syracuse, Rochester etc. My first preference was Princeton since I wanted to work with Eugene Wigner, one of the all time great physicists of the 20th century. While Wigner did me the honour of accepting me as a student, he wrote saying that he would be on sabbatical leave that year. Since I was keen to get started, I chose Chicago, which had the best physics faculty at that time.


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Zurich, Switzerland: I moved to IBM Research Lab in Zurich in January 1971. I had a wonderful time in Switzerland. This was my first visit to Europe, and I found the cultural life there very exhilarating. I also did quite a bit of skiing in the Alps. I visited India for the first time in February 1972 for two weeks. I first went to Bombay, and stupidly left all my winter clothes there. When I landed in Delhi, it was 2 degrees Celsius; it was the coldest February in a century. I had to borrow several layers of sweaters! If that was not enough, I had to go by bus to Roorkee to give a lecture; I had never been so cold, even though I had lived through five deep winters in Chicago!

Although I was offered a permanent job at IBM – two of my buddies at the Zurich Lab went on to win Nobel prizes! – I moved to Sweden in April, 1972. I came to India again in 1973, before moving to the University of Cambridge. Bangalore: Our paths crossed again when Girija and I visited you in Delhi in 1980; we were returning from Europe. I remember you were busy preparing for your final examination, and also for the IIT Entrance Exams. In 1984, you visited us during your summer break. If I remember correctly, you used to go to the Raman Institute – to use the computer there – and return very late


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at night! I also remember that you attended some of my lectures in a Summer School at IISc – if you recall, I gave those marathon lectures with a high fever! Boston, 29 October 2010! We timed our visit to Boston so that we could be there for your 20th Wedding Anniversary! You had packed the day with many treats: Dinner in an Italian Restaurant, a Concert of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Dessert in Cheese Cake Factory, etc. Girija and I frequently recall that dinner because that was the fastest fancy dinner I have ever had – faster than eating in the railway station in the good old days before ‘catering in the trains’; the train would stop in Nellore for 20 minutes; one would go to the VRR (Vegetarian refreshment Room!) for ‘sappadu’ and eat in 10 minutes flat. I think we beat that in the Italian Restaurant!


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Well, Ravi, looking back over the last fifty years, I can be proud of what you have achieved. Among other things, you have emulated my father in your interest to explore the world. You also emulated Don Bradman and Rod Laver! Bradman played his incredible cricket on either side of the Second World War – a no mean feat. Rod Laver won two Grand Slams ten years apart! And you did your MBA some twenty years after your IIT ordeal! I doubt if I could have done something like that! Apart from Viswanatha Mama and Pichai Mama, you are rare amongst our relatives to have some common interests with me. No other relative would have treated me and Girija to a Broadway Show, a very special visit to the NASA Chandra Observatory Control Centre in MIT, a Boston Symphony Concert, and dinner in an Italian restaurant. And certainly, no one else would bring me ‘duty-free-prasadam’, like you occasionally do. I wish you an equally exciting future. Perhaps you will try your hand in sailing, and cultivate a more serious interest in Carnatic and western classical music? There are ample opportunities for both in the Boston area. As a friend of mine – the great Studs Terkel – used to say at the end of his radio broadcasts: Take it easy, but take it!

Have a great Golden Birthday! With lots of love

G. Srinivasan


When did you meet Jay first? how was he ragged?

We call(ed) him RJ. I first met him in the LLR Hall (popularly known as ‘Lallu’ Hall) common room (this was the game room/TV room) – sometime during the first week of joining. I think I really got to know him during one of the ragging sessions. There were 3 or 4 of us (newbies) along with a bunch of seniors in the hostel canteen. An old man entered the hostel gate and we were asked to shout “Bum chat, bum chat, go away…” and I remember RJ shouting at the top of his lungs. We all shouted, but he stood out. The old man heard us and came storming when everyone ran to their rooms. That man was none other than our Dean! I don’t recall what he said when he saw us, but it did shake us up! Then there are other ragging incidents that I will refrain from putting it down!

Does he understand 'entertainment' or 'fun'? What does he do for fun?

His way of having fun was solving anagrams in M.J. Akbar’s newspaper (I forget the paper title), listening to VOA or BBC. If I recall, he finally got out and played field hockey in his 3rd year. Lining up outside TSCS Rao’s room was fun – RJ will know why! RJ was always attracted to ‘cool’ things or what he actually considered ‘cool’ or ‘hep’ – smoking (he was never a smoker, but thought smoking was really cool); getting to the world news first (listening to VOA - he was the first in our wing to have a transistor that actually worked); flipping a pen/pencil (I bet he still does this); keeping up with the best of the hollywood celebrities and others.

He did bunk ncc classes – i am sure He bunked otHers, but never advertised about it

The ANAGRAM MAN

SuDhAKAR BhAT


He did subscribe to a newspaper (for solving puzzles!) and I remember fighting over the newspaper with one other wing-mate of ours (sometime in 2nd year) and, believe it or not, they haven’t spoken since. He will know who I am talking about.

Who was his favourite teacher/lecturer? Any teacher/lecturer he hated?

His favorite lecturer was G.P. Rao (Gunti Prasad Rao) because he considered him ‘cool’. Gunti had German connections and had studied/continued to teach in the US. For some reason, RJ was very fond of him and he made it sound so good that we all ended up taking his class – “DOPS”. I think he hated the rest of the classes.

Name his first crush/girlfriend in college. How many girls did he turn down?

I only knew of Geetha in his life then, and I think they have been together since then – I am assuming he’s with the same Geetha that he was so fondly in love with in his 2nd/3rd year! It took him a while to tell us – can’t remember under what circumstances he blurted out his infatuation for Geetha. He will have lots of interesting stories to tell about how he communicated with Geetha without his parents knowing anything about this. This can make a good Bollywood masala movie!

Did he ever bunk classes? Tell me about it! He did bunk NCC classes – I

am sure he bunked others, but never advertised about it.


Is there a remarkable quality of Jay’s that has impressed / inspired you?

He was always been a great source of information; I always admired his general knowledge and vocabulary. He would be fast with words and quiz competitions (‘What’s the good word?’, ‘Dumb Charades’, and so on). Those days, when we were mugging for GRE/TOEFL, I always found him to be ahead of the pack. He never took these exams then, but I am sure he would have aced it

How did he handle failure or poor performance? Or was he alwaysa topper?

No – he was not always a topper. I will leave it at that. However, you might want to ask him what he told his dad (parents) when he got less than a

stellar grade in some subject and was asked to come back for a summer. Sorry buddy!

Message from a buddy to him as he has spent 50 years on this planet.

RJ – you have done great in life. We were neighbours (#204, #205 – if I remember correctly) for three years @IIT and I learnt quite a few things from you (mostly non-academic!). You have a great appetite for information and I was always amazed with your general knowledge of facts/figures. It definitely brushed off on me. I hear great things you have done for your daughter - she is now at MIT Knowing you, I wouldn’t have expected anything less from you. Happy to see this. Keep in touch.


Dear Ravi, When Appa told me that a booklet with photos and letters from family is being put together for your 50th birthday, I thought that was a great idea! I did immediately think that I am not the best person to be providing family photos since I regretfully don’t have access to many. Similarly, since I have spent most of my growing years in a different city/ country from you, I don’t have a ready repository of funny memories from my young years to reel off! However, I would like to say that hitting ‘50’ is probably going to be a very special moment in your life. Probably a great time to pause, reflect and carry forward everything you like about your life and consider it a fresh start to change all the things you don’t like as much for the better. Maybe that’s why they came up with ‘birthdays’. So, those of us who don’t manage to keep new year resolutions, get a second shot! And turning 50 is just an extra special one On that note, I would like to wish you a very Happy Birthday and many happy returns of the day! I hope the family has something wonderful planned for the day and I hope you will be able to enjoy many, many wonderful years of laughter, happiness, health and new adventures with them. Best wishes, Supriya


I was very impressed with his knowledge, communication skills and ability to solve problems. I enjoyed our first interview, and I was very hopeful that he would join our start-up and be part of the team. We interviewed many candidates for the CTO position and Jay was by far, "above and beyond" all of the other applicants.

We have spent time together on the road and I always enjoy his company and point of view. I am happy about Jay as a colleague because of his work ethic and dedication to building a successful company.

Jay and I have spent a lot of time together building Burst and working on the product design. We do not always agree on everything, but I have a great deal of respect for his thoughtful point of view across all aspects of our business.

On a personal note, I would like to thank Jay for his friendship, guidance, hard work, dedication, and determination to make Burst a successful company. Happy Birthday and welcome to the club!

ABOVe AND BeYOND

TIM GRAVeS


A WeLL-ROuNDeD GuYTRAcY DeFORGe



I talked to Jay over the phone the first few times - he came across as extremely intelligent and well-rounded.


Do not want to speculate!


We hang out at company gatherings - he's much more relaxed. Well, as much as Jay relaxes!


I've had many of them. He's been impressive in so many different ways.


Global issues, I'd say. He's well informed and has opinions - he's great to have those discussions with.


Oh yes, Jay and I have had plenty. We solve it by being good teammates and making sure we hear what the other one is saying.

Message from a friend to Jay as he has spent 50 years on this planet.

You've accomplished a ton – professionally and personally, traveled the world and earned many great friendships. Well done!


TOTAL RecALL IN SePIA

1. Jay poised

2. enjoyed singing. nobody listened.

3. I selfied before the world did.

4. turns out folding arms over my stomach doesn't quieten the growling!

5. This is spot-fixing! I don't quite agree.

6. The lesson on control that I will never learn.

7. looks worth a million dollars.

8. I got his brains and her beauty.

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Sathya tells me that you would soon be crossing an important milestone. My warm greetings and best wishes for many more years of active, creative

and productive life, which you would also find fulfilling. I cannot recall my 50th but I do recall my 60th, very well in fact, since I had to quit office shortly thereafter, i.e., on October 31, 1992.

Dr. Kalam who was my boss at that time had asked me to continue for two more years but I declined and came here instead. Many criticised me but looking back, I have no regrets; that I shall come to shortly but before that perhaps I could mention two things.

During October 1992, many of my scientific contemporaries got together and arranged two seminars in my honour – this was a tradition in Europe, occasionally followed in India. I was fortunate to be felicitated twice. The first function was organised in Kalpakkam, which was attended by many big shots which really surprised me – frankly, I did not expect that. The other function was organised in BARC which was not only attended by many from that lab (where I had spent the first18 years of my professional life) but also by folks from the North, apart from my esteemed friend and one-time collaborator Prof. Sunil Sinha, who came all the way from America (Sunny is now in San Diego, still active after collecting a whole lot of awards). All this trivia is beside the point. What I really wanted to tell you was that during the Kalpakkam function my former boss late Dr. Ramanna told me, “Venkataraman, from now on it is

only memories!” Interestingly, it has not been that way at all.

Which calls to my mind my conversation with Rajamani Mama around 7 PM on October 31, 1992, hours after I had signed out of office. Mama asked how I felt, and my reply was, “I feel funny!” Mama laughed!

Time flies! I came here 3 weeks stepping down, on November 20 or 21 I do not recall exactly. On October, 25 I started teaching and since then I have been busy in all sorts of ways. Looking back, I am not only satisfied but also glad how many new things I have been able to learn, besides regulating myself in various ways.

When I came here, I first did hard-core teaching which not only included courses in Physics but also tech-oriented subjects like digital image processing and semiconductor lasers – this despite my not being a regular university teacher (although I did short stints, including at U of M). Towards the end of March 1996 I became the VC and that experience was a game changer. That was when somehow, I became quite interested in the Bhagavd Gita. At first, it made little sense for it is not only in the language of an era long past but also heavily compressed – and I did not have any decompression algorithm.

However, I stayed with it and along the line I also began to study – for writing my book series – the history of quantum mechanics, especially the intense and passionate debates between Einstein and Bohr on the philosophical underpinnings of QM. Between 1928 and 1930 there were many of these debates (every one of which E lost!), but when in 1930 Einstein sold his house in Berlin and went to America, these debates ended.

Einstein settled down in Princeton, and once he was ‘far from the madding Nazis’, Einstein went back to his old passion, namely proving QM was terribly flawed and was at best a good working tool, rather like grandma’s medicine. In 1936, Einstein wrote a famous paper known as the EPR paper (after the three authors, they being Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen). In that paper, Einstein presented arguments which he felt would drive the last nail in the coffin of QM; that was how sure E was of his arguments.

Across the pond Bohr saw the EPR paper and was duly rattled. Painstakingly, Bohr wrote a paper rebutting the EPR conclusion. Unlike in past when Bohr always had the last word this time E took out his pipe to smile and tell himself, “Prof. Bohr, your rebuttal stinks, because for your arguments to hold the special theory of relativity

Science Spirituality

&VeNKATRAMAN G


(SR) must be violated. Surely, you are not saying that, are you? If you want to save QM by abandoning SR, all I can say is that you have gone bananas!”

Soon war clouds began to gather and most physicists in Europe became concerned about how the discovery of nuclear fission might be exploited by Hitler to build a powerful bomb. Understandably, the Bohr-Einstein controversy faded into the background. After the war, with quantum field theories taking off and with big accelerators throwing up one new particle after another, and a totally different generation of young physicists taking over, hardly anyone bothered about the EPR paradox.

And then in the early 80’s a guy named Alain Aspect actually performed in France an experiment using lasers that was a close analogue of what Einstein did in his 1936 paper as a thought-experiment or gedanken experiment as it was known in German. Lo and behold Aspect discovered that Einstein was right and Bohr was wrong. How could that be? For Einstein to be right, relativity had to be violated but that was unacceptable because there was ironclad proof that SR was perfectly OK.

How to resolve this dilemma? It is a long story but the two-word explanation is that it is all due to “quantum entanglement (QE)”. No one fully understands what QE means but the hand-waving explanation is that there is an invisible ‘thread’ that connects everything in the universe, so that there really is only thing in the universe, which is the universe itself! What experiments reveal are bits and pieces of it. The story of the 5 blind men checking out the elephant is a good metaphor for all of the above.

David Bohm who worked with Denis Gabor (who discovered the principle of holography), says the universe is a like a hologram which when viewed in incoherent light would look like swirls. To get the full picture, we must view it in coherent light. Our perception faculty is not capable of coherence and hence ordinary experiments reveal only bits and pieces of one whole.

This kind of discussion has been taken forward by Stanford neuro-scientist Karl Pribram who, used a mathematical model (similar to that used by von Neumann to describe the foundational mathematics of QM) to analyse neural networks, Pribram concluded that our brain itself is life a hologram. Thus all our experiments amount to looking at a hologram with another hologram! No wonder we miss the holistic aspect of the universe, declared Pribram.

Stanislov Grof, of Berekely I believe, extended all this to the domain of consciousness and concluded that consciousness was capable of functioning at a lower (fragmented) level called holotropic mode and at a higher (coherent) level called the hylotropic mode. In other words, thanks to our senses we function at the holotropic mode and see the world like the five blind men did. However, if our consciousness could be controlled (through yoga?) and elevated to a coherent state, the perception would be a unified world and not a fragmented one.

You may ask: “Why on earth are you inflicting all this on me?” For a good reason which is that thousands of years ago, our ancients figured out that Consciousness is where it all begins. And that is not only reiterated in the Gita but also annotated and amplified. Once again the objection can be raised: “This is America. Life is a treadmill and over here you gotta be careful because it is the winner who takes all! Can’t afford to lose concentration and worry about consciousness; simply no time!” The point is well taken.

That being said, I find that there comes a time when one has to look back. I have done that, in the process comparing myself with 2 of my classmates from college. All of us entered college in 1949. One did B.Sc and then went on to do instrumentation in MIT of Chromepet – back then it had a lot of German professors who were unable to get jobs in Germany; BTW, Kalam studied aeronautics there – was hired by Burmah Shell and promptly became a text book case of success. He was the first guy in our gang of about 15 to go abroad – this fellow went to Holland for training, and from then on his life was success after success. But emotional shocks which were biding their time eventually hit him. He simply could not take them and has now literally become a zombie. Then there was another classmate of mine who was in fact quite close to me for years. He went to America in 1962 or so to do his Ph.D in Rochester, and after graduation his life was a roaring success. His CV was so good he got hired by Los Alamos to work on classified projects and he turned out to be a star. One fine day he retired and something flipped. He is not a zombie but sort of lives a vacuous life in Los Alamos, unwilling to communicate with his former buddies.

You may say, “So what? This happens all the time. People sometimes burn out.” Yes they do but suppose over time one also slowly spends time to build up inner reserves? Would that not help? My own experience shows that such an investment is worth it. After I came


here, I slowly realised the importance of looking inside and learnt to revise my priorities. Will this make problems go away? No way! However, one sort of learns how to roll with the punch.

When you got married, I did not know what gift to give you. I mean you were in America and what was there I could give you in terms of watch and stuff like that? So I decided to give you a copy of Discovery of India by JN. When Amma heard this, she scolded me roundly; and I think your mother also was flatly disappointed! What kind of a Mama was I, treating her only son and child so shabbily?! But my mind-set was different – I wanted you to stay connected with an ancient tradition which, despite its innumerable aberrations, has offered something meaningful to humanity. One of them is to look inside and derive strength from what is within.

So, if I may suggest, try reading Vivekananda from time to time. This fall, take a few days off to go to Vermont. Stay in a rural place with modest facilities but lots of trees. Admire them slowly, take a book by Vivekananda – ask some learned person there for a recommendation – sit on a bench, read, slowly and reflect. Don’t have to read from cover to cover. Just absorb a bit and reflect. In the process, try to connect yourself with “space” in terms of all that surrounds you, and with “time” in terms of how far humanity has travelled.

“What good will all that do?” would be your question. The answer is given below in a talk delivered by Gandhi before I was born! I find it remarkable for it is so succinct. In a way, it is a terse summary of the Gita, where Krishna who is Lord come in human form tells Arjuna, that

(a) God is Omnipresent,

(b) As a result God is in every single human being from top to toe, and

(c) God is seated within not only as the Voice of Consciousness, but also as a Spark of the Divine.

Seeking resonance with that Spark within should be the purpose of life. If one endeavours to do this, one would feel peace even in the face of turbulence, even as a rock on the seashore remains steady despite being repeatedly buffeted by big and powerful waves.

Many reject this. So while wrapping up Krishna offered two choices to Arjuna based on a ‘cost-benefit’ analysis! One concerns the short-term, while the other relates to the long-term.

Simply put, this is what Krishna said:1. What is sweet in the beginning becomes poison in the end.2. What is bitter in the beginning becomes nectarine in the end.

Considering that even Krishna did not force Arjuna, I dare not try to act like a salesman! Far from it. But this I can and I guess I ought to say: Real peace is within, and is best cultivated by introspection combined with a careful appreciation of the difference between the short-term and long-term options that life throws at us.

I am writing this on the persuasion of Sathya and if I have annoyed you in any way, I apologize in advance; that said, lay a generous part of the blame on Sathya!

God bless you and your family (partly in India and partly in Boston), not forgetting the extended family which is all over the place!

Special love to Maya since she will take all of us deeper into this century!

Lovingly yours, MAMA.

TRANSCRIPT OF GANDHI’S 1931 SPEECH..

In October 1931, Mahatma Gandhi visited London for attending the Second Round Table Conference convened by the British Government for discussing

Indian demand for Home Rule, which meant Dominion status like Australia, Canada, etc. While there, The Mahatma addressed a political meeting at the Kingsley Hall in London. The Columbia Recording Company came to the Kingsley Hall to make a recoding but the Mahatma refused permission. The Company argued that it wanted to preserve the voice of the Mahatma for posterity. The Mahatma replied that his speech would be political and he did not wish to leave a political talk as his legacy for the future. A compromise was then reached. Gandhi said he would prepare an essay on God and read it out. The Company agreed. The recording was later released as a 78 RPM gramophone record. We had a copy and for long it was used by Ganesa Mama for practicing short-hand! The record is still around, with Rajamani I believe. At one time, I knew the content by heart.


This speech is one of my favourite. It deals with the direct relationship between God and a human being. There is absolutely no complication associated with religion. It is all about recognising the Omnipresence of God, realising that His existence cannot be proved at an intellectual level (Paul Davies argues this nicely, using Godel’s Incompleteness theorems, finally concluding that

There is an indefinable mysterious power that pervades everything. I feel it though I do not see it. It is this unseen power which makes itself felt

and yet defies all proof, because it is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses. It transcends the senses. But it is possible to reason out the existence of God to a limited extent. Even in ordinary affairs, we know that people do not know who rules or why and how He rules; and yet they know that there is a power that certainly rules.

In my tour last year in Mysore I met many poor villagers, and I found upon inquiry that they did not know who ruled Mysore. They simply said some God ruled it. If the knowledge of these poor people was so limited about their ruler, I, who am infinitely lesser in respect to God than they to their ruler, need not be surprised if I do not realize the presence of God - the King of Kings.

Nevertheless, I do feel, as the poor villagers felt about Mysore, that there is orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything and every being that exists or lives. It is not a blind law, for no blind law can govern the conduct of living being. And thanks to the marvellous researches of Sir J. C. Bose, it can now be proved that even matter is life. That law then which governs all life is God. Law and the law-giver are one. I may not deny the law or the law-giver because I know so little about it or Him.

Just as my denial or ignorance of the existence of an earthly power will avail me nothing, even so my denial of God and His law will not liberate me from its operation, whereas humble and mute acceptance of divine authority makes life's journey easier even as the acceptance of earthly rule makes life under it easier. I do dimly perceive that whilst everything around me is ever changing, ever dying, there is underlying all that change a living power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates,

only a mystical approach is feasible) and that the only way out is to humbly accept (a) His existence, and (b) His immutable law.

Columbia Gramaphone Company called this address as Gandhi’s spiritual message to the world. The text of the speech is given below. You can actually hear Gandhi’s voice by going to Youtube.

FULL TEXTdissolves and recreates. That informing power of spirit is God, and since nothing else that I see merely through the senses can or will persist, He alone is.

And is this power benevolent or malevolent? I see it as purely benevolent, for I can see that in the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists. Hence I gather that God is life, truth, light. He is love. He is the supreme Good. But He is no God who merely satisfies the intellect, if He ever does. God to be God must rule the heart and transform it. He must express himself in every smallest act of His votary. This can only be done through a definite realization, more real than the five senses can ever produce.

Sense perceptions can be and often are false and deceptive, however real they may appear to us (Freeman Dyson confirms this in a beautiful way). Where there is realization outside the senses it is infallible. It is proved not by extraneous evidence but in the transformed conduct and character of those who have felt the real presence of God within. Such testimony is to be found in the experiences of an unbroken line of prophets and sages in all countries and climes. To reject this evidence is to deny oneself. This realization is preceded by an immovable faith. He who would in his own person test the fact of God's presence can do so by a living faith and since faith itself cannot be proved by extraneous evidence the safest course is to believe in the moral government of the world and therefore in the supremacy of the moral law, the law of truth and love. Exercise of faith will be the safest where there is a clear determination summarily to reject all that is contrary to truth and love.

I confess that I have no argument to convince through reason. Faith transcends reason. All that I can advise is not to attempt the impossible.


The other time I met him was, of course, on the auspicious occasion of his marriage with Geetha when we exchanged pleasantries.

Sporting a black moustache he looked the part of an endearing bridegroom.

The first time I saw Jayachandran was when he was a child of a year or so, when his father came to Delhi to join the Govt. of India. The family was at that time staying at Sarojini Nagar, New Delhi. After some months his grand-father Sri Chandramouleeswara Aiyar came to Delhi to stay with his son (Ramadorai). The grand-father had a method of putting his grand child to sleep when he used to tap the back of the child and at the same time repeating the first two/three letters of the English alphabet. Perhaps Sri Aiyar seemed to think that his grand-son would benefit when he went to school perhaps on the analogy stated in the Puranas that Abhimanu even while he was in the womb of his mother absorbed when talks were going on around him as to how a warrior should defend oneself while fighting a battle.

I met Ravi during his scholastic days when his father shifted to a flat near Minto Road area of New

Boy to Man

Best wishes to

Ravi

VISWANAThAN chITTAPPA

Delhi. The other time I met him was when his father had moved over to a flat at Ramakrishnapuram and by then, of course, he had become an IITian who also was employed, thus proving his mettle to his parents, particularly his father. He became a good looking young fellow with keen eyes.

The other time I met him was, of course, on the auspicious occasion of his marriage with Geetha when we exchanged pleasantries. Sporting a black moustache he looked the part of an endearing bridegroom. I had the opportunity to meet Ravi when he came to India during the 60th birthday of his father. I met him a few times at the States when I too happened to be in that country. I used to meet Ravi whenever he came to India to be with his parents, when I too happened to be with them. All in all Ravi is a young man with a pleasing personality and constant and captivating smile.

I pray that the Great Creator bless him (and his family too of course) with health, happiness and peace.

jay 50

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