Nehru Hall – The KGP Chronicle

What’s with a fallen star?
Blazing past where loved ones are
Close to earth, searching far…

Closing eyes in heavenly prayer
For flames burn out in the shallow air
God lights the way where angels glow
With streaking stars of love that flow
Loved ones who completed your life
Reminiscence your memories to survive
God sends this message from a far
Down to earth, close to where you are
Worthy Warrior, fighting the battle for life
Praise the fortitude with every extra mile
Night stars will shine high
Bright streak will stream through the night sky
Good awaits you, for you said the toughest adieu
You bid him hello and the world a good bye.

– Poulami Mondal

Bidding adieu to Mr. Rajiv Sinha (ECE/69-74), an Alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, who left his heavenly abode on 28th August 2022. A B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur in Electronics & Electrical Communication Engineering from the batch of 1969, he completed his MS in Computer Science from Columbia University, New York.

Mr. Rajiv Sinha
1974/BTech/ECE/NH

Mr. Sinha endorsed specialized skills in the domain of Cloud Computing, Enterprise Software, Distributed Systems, SAAS, Virtualization, LINUX, Scalability, Product Management, Application Security, Network Security, Agile Methodologies etc. He worked in both large corporations and in startups across United States of America. In 2004, he became the Vice President of Engineering, Networking and Analytics at Citrix Systems and along the way, he co-authored and published numerous patents which are testaments of his professional excellence in engineering. Before joining Citrix, he was Vice President of Engineering at Netli, Inc. in 2003 and NetScaler Inc from 1998-2002. Prior to this, he was also Director, Software at Unisys for 6 years and Harris Computer Systems for 7 years respectively.

Mr. Rajiv Sinha has filed many patents including patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Using service graphics to compare performance of a plurality of versions of a microservice; System and methods for managing client requests to access services provided by a data center; Systems and methods for providing a single click access to enterprise, SaaS and cloud hosted application; systems and methods for providing a multi-core architecture for an acceleration appliance; Apparatus, method and computer program product for efficiently pooling connections between clients and servers; System and methods for accelerating delivery of a computing environment to a remote user; System and method for performing flash caching of dynamically generated objects in a data communication network; Systems and methods for application fluency policies etc. were some of his filed patents (see Rajiv Sinha Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications – Justia Patents Search)

Rajiv with his group in 2003

IN MEMORIAM

Looking back to the days they spent in IIT Kharagpur, Mr. Roy Da Silva (EE/74/RK) wrote – “Rajiv Sinha was my batch mate. We met as freshmen in IIT Kharagpur in 1969 and we graduated in 1974. Rajiv grew up in Rourkela and around other steel cities in India. He went to St. Xavier’s High School in Hazaribagh after which he joined IIT KGP in the ECE Department and was a resident of Nehru Hall. I grew up in Bombay and was in the EE Department and an RK-ite. We had a common friend Ravindra Nair, also in the ECE dept and an RK-ite who went to the same school as I did in Bombay . He was the one who was responsible for connecting us.

Ravi and I stayed in the same wing of the RK Hall (C-West Ground) during our freshmen year. Rajiv was Ravi’s lab partner who stopped by his room occasionally to “compare notes” (topo-ing describes it more precisely), and it was at one of these visits that I met Rajiv. This was the start of a friendship that lasts for more than 50 years and counting, between the 3 R’s… Ravi, Raji, & Roy. Ravi was awarded the Presidents Gold Medal and came to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for his Master’s. He then went to work for IBM and I did my Master’s in Business from Bombay and worked in India. Then I migrated to Silicon Valley in 1984. Rajiv had come to Columbia University and then started his first job at Harris in Florida. We had not been, in touch with each other during that time. I again reconnected with Rajiv in 2000. He had come to Silicon Valley from the east coast in 1990 and we quite accidentally discovered that we were neighbors, living just a mile away from each other. We met on a number of happy occasions; the most memorable being at a “Reunion of 1974 RK Hall Wing mates”, that took place at my house in 2003. Neither Rajiv nor Ravi was told that the other would be present at the same reunion and when they did meet face to face, it was totally an electrifying experience. Both were ecstatic to reconnect as they had not seen each other since 1974. We connected years later in Silicon Valley. All was well till about a year ago, when Rajiv was diagnosed with colon cancer which had already spread to his liver. Three different regimens of chemo that did not work led to him being placed on experimental drug treatments which was being administered in San Diego. I and Rajiv along with our spouses Viola and Savita, were supposed to have tea together in early September. But that was not to be. He took a turn for the worse and was admitted to the hospital and on August 28, 2022 Rajiv lost his battle with cancer and passed away.

Rajiv & Ravi in 2003

Arjun Malhotra and I have known each other since I was a freshman at IIT Kharagpur. Kiran, Arjun’s wife and Arjun are also friends with Rajiv and Savita. He encouraged me to write Rajiv’s obituary for publication in The KGPian. I felt that this tribute to Rajiv would be so much more meaningful if I could get some of his closest friends to say a few words, so I reached out to them to say a few words in his remembrance. On behalf of the entire KGP family, I take this opportunity to convey our deepest condolences and empathy to Rajiv’s mother, mother-in-law, his wife Savita and children Viraj and Nikita.

Rajiv with his family

“Rajiv, we will miss your intellect, humility, mischievous smile, and sense of humor that made you such great company. RIP my friend.”

From his lab partner and President’s Gold Medal recipient, Mr. Ravindra Nair (ECE/74/RK)

“Rajiv, a partner in most of my labs at IIT, will be remembered as an extremely intelligent person, articulate with his words, yet humble in his demeanor, generous with his ideas, and encouraging in his friendship. Oh! And I can’t forget that occasional mischievous humor that he often used to defuse a tense lab situation. Labs at IIT were notorious for being complex, but Rajiv made them fun!”

From the Nehru Hall Reporter which was made available by Mr. Manojit Sinha (CHE/74/NH)

“Rajiv was a fellow who helped in all literary activities without reservation, who was cool and unbiased in all his views, who stretched out a helping hand whenever the hall was in need, who kept his cool when others blew their tops, who felt the hall was his and he was part of the hall – what talent he has shown and may he put it to good use in his life.…….”

From Venugopal, Rajiv’s wing mate (Che/74/NH)

“Rajiv was one of the brightest guys I have met. Even at a young age he had a laser like focus. He was ever ready to give gyaan to anyone that wanted/needed it. Wise beyond his years, he had everybody’s respect.”
From his Friend and Neighbor, Mr. Madhukar Jalan, IIT Bombay (CHE)

“I will remember Rajiv for his vast knowledge on multiple subjects, as a voracious reader, an absorbing storyteller, and a good listener. Above all he came across as a total gentleman and was a very caring friend. He will be sorely missed.”

Rajiv with Madhukar Jalan

In remembrance of the “Unforgettable Soul”, his Alma Mater mourns in sadness after hearing the news of his demise. Our sincere condolences to his bereaved family. May almighty give enough strength to his family to bear this irreplaceable loss. We pray for eternal peace of his departed soul. He will always be remembered in our thoughts, prayers and action.

Written by : Mr. Roy D. (da Silva), Alumnus, IIT Kharagpur (EE/74/RK)
Email: roydasilvaiit@yahoo.com

Edited by : Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)
Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282007

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I have spent 38 years on this campus and the one thing that I can tell you as a result is this: I shall die a happier and more contented man than many others on this planet.

The lure of KGP is its people – all these bright, young minds as much as their brilliant teachers and mentors. And all these books that you see around me. These books are my passion – they are like my children.

Today, as a part time librarian in this Hall Library post retirement, I handle the entire process – from the acquisition of books to their cataloguing and arrangements, keeping track of them and ensuring the right library ambience. Ask me about any title, any author – and if it is here, I shall tell you. The trust, the appreciation and the respect that I enjoy from the students, the Library Secretary, the Hall warden – that is the highest reward I have for my work.

I joined IIT Kharagpur as an employee at the Central Library and some years later, I was approached by then warden of Nehru Hall to handle some responsibilities at the Hall library for a few hours in the evenings, after my regular work hours or whenever time permitted. I said I’d be delighted – that’s how it all started and here I am, in that journey still. Even after retirement. I could have just spent my retired life like any other – lazing at home, doing domestic tasks, playing with my grandson. But there’s a magic in this campus – you’d never leave if you had a chance to be here. I was fortunate to have had that chance.

I come here for a bit in the mornings and then again for the entire evening. I don’t keep track of hours. Sometimes, I’d just be locking up for the day and someone would come rushing with a request: “Please, Dulal-da, I really need that book.” I cannot say No, can I? We are here to facilitate their studies, how do a few extra minutes of duty make a difference?

I remember the early days in the Central Library, Midnight used to be closing hour. We would keep going around the heads pored over the books five minutes before closing, and they would keep saying, “Just a minute.” Especially right before exams. ‘Just one minute’ stretched into quite a few, but I don’t think any of us ever minded that. It is a strange sense of satisfaction that you get when you are helping such brilliant minds in their pursuit of knowledge.

It is a fact that library usage has gone down a lot in the age of the Internet. But I still feel nothing can replace a book. And the continuing footfalls, though less than earlier, tell me that a good many others even in this current generation also feel the same way. Every semester we keep getting requests for more books, more editions. We really need a larger space now for this library.

And then there are the memories. 38 years is a long time. There are so many, I don’t know how to filter them. Some years back, a student came rushing just as I was closing the Hall library. I thought it would be the usual last minute request for a book. So I opened the doors, and led him in. But no! It turned out he just wanted to sit and sing a song for me that he had just learnt! Such childish claims on you fill you with a warmth difficult to express in words.

There are the shared confidences, too. One of the brightest boys of his batch once came to me with a fallen face and shared how his mother refused to allow him to apply abroad. She did not want the only son to leave the country and home. I asked him to go slow, explained things to him from his mother’s perspective. He stayed on for a few more years, convinced his parents and then went abroad. Years later, when he came back to visit KGP, he made it a point to come meet me and we reminisced those conversations all over again.

Whenever older students come back, visit the library and congratulate me on my work, I feel flushed with pride. They are all so dear to me. Around two years back, one such alumnus visited the Hall. He had a lot of people around him, and everyone in the hostel was so eager to meet him. But he still took out time to visit the library. After going around carefully, just before leaving, he placed a hand on my shoulders, and said, “Very well maintained.” I felt a little bit taller at that moment. The name of the alumnus: Sundar Pichai.

(As told to Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya)

Tag: Nehru Hall

Humans of KGP