It is said, children often know their parents, especially their fathers, through a lens and an image of love, respect, awe, fear, and many more. But how many know them as the young men and persons they grew to be in their formative years? The picture is often incomplete as their friends move on and away to their own new families, friends careers and adventures. It is to fill that void for Vikram & Arjun and for their mother, Meena, we have put together these thoughts shared by Rajan’s old friends and acquaintances from IIT.
When one passes on, the most cherished thing he leaves behind are fond memories that live on and help us live and re-live our days – smile or cry but above all, rejoice that we were fortunate to have our lives intertwined, however, briefly, it may have been.
In their own words……….
From Kiran Paranjpe
The outstanding quality about Rajan Modi was his brilliant mind. I was in H7 and he in H2. He really, impressed everyone more particularly the faculty with his quick and deep grasp of the engg concepts. In class he, would come with a Times crossword cut out from the morning newspaper and would solve it while in the class.
I particularly, remember the way he solved an exam paper. He would be in deep thought for a long time while we stumbled along from one question to the next. Then he would pick up his pen and begin writing the answers. And before everyone, he would finish the paper. Of course, the marks were always tops.
Prof MS Kamath, who was quite a terror for us, knew him very well because of his bridge game. One day, while collecting the answer sheets of a terrifying Machines paper, Mr. Kamath said in jest, to Rajan, “Don’t you play any outdoor games for a good strong body”. He was possibly referring to Rajan’s thinness contrasting the superb performance in the paper.
From Venky Raja
He was a kind and gentle soul. He will be sorely missed.
My memories of interactions with him during the hostel days will last forever !
From Homi Byramji
I have nothing but the fondest memories of him and his wonderful crooked smile and the glint in his eye. I will miss him tremendously.
From Joe Gonsalves
A couple of years ago you (Cawas) and Viju Parameshwar reminded us that Rajan got the No. 1 rank when we took the IIT Joint Entrance Examination in 1969. He was an electrical engineer from H2. Before joining IITB, Rajan studied at Rajkumar college, a famous prep school in Rajkot.
From Arun Tolani
My memories of Raj are mainly from Hostel 2 and our EE class. A brilliant mind and a wonderful person.
From Gautam Patwa
He was a wonderful friend and we would meet in NYC once a year. I will always remember fondly the times we spent together.
From Udai Gupta
Rajan was a fellow denizen of Hostel 2/4th wing and a classmate in EE; always a fun guy to be with… we played a lot of bridge together.
From Vikram Modak
A brilliant mind lost. I used to interact with him frequently as our names were next to each other in the EE Class alphabetical list.
From Ramesh Karnani
Rajan was the first or second person I met when I moved into Hostel 2, 4th wing, ground floor on that rainy morning in 1969. Such a wonderful and intelligent guy. We will all miss him!
From Chinya Ravi
I have very fond memories of him. Any discussion with him was always an intellectual treat. We also tussled often on quiz teams.
From Percy Rajani
He was such a brilliant and wonderful guy. I had the honor of working with him at Seer Technologies, and staying in touch. Always classy.
From Vilas Gadkari
I also have very fond memories of organizing bridge tournaments with him in IIT and then meeting him and Meena in NY.
From Raj Melville
Still remember our annual July get-togethers early on as we were all just setting out with new families and kids. He will be missed dearly.
From Anil Sawe
The most brilliant guy in our class – I still remember him going to classes without any books – even notebooks; simply absorbing everything orally & visually – simply amazing!!
From Dhiren Morarji
I remember the good old days that we played bridge with him in Hostel 2.
From Vikas Tipnis
I shall fondly remember him as a warm and humble person.
From Runi Ratnam (nee Basabi Mukherjee)
He was smart and funny and though I didn’t know him well he has always been part of the lovely memories I have of IIT and all the beautiful friendships…….
From Nitish Thakor
So, everyone knows that Rajan was the IIT topper for 1969. So, he must be brilliant; that’s obvious. But what does “brilliant” mean?
OK, you can be quirky or eccentric. All brilliant people are such. My recollection is that Rajan would be often breeze in, asking about what’s in the class, what’s the target for the exam. He may or may not have attended the class or paid attention (maybe he didn’t need to; and, indeed, how many of us fully did?). But most of us certainly prepared, studied as hard for the class and exams within our abilities. After all, we had to prepare for our famous Professor Kamath! So, Rajan would come to the class, at best he may have some notes, his or someone’s, he would interact and consult briefly just before the exam, but then he would do just fine if not the greatest (he did not top the class, but he was always respected and we all knew what he was capable of).
But, that’s not enough of an evidence of brilliance. So, here is one example. We were the first batch to take the Computer programming/Computer Science class. For that class, we had to do a project. Remember, those were the “paper tape” and “card reader” days. Our team, mostly H3/ECE took on the problem of “Magic Squares” (wherein all rows, columns, diagonals must add up to the same number). 3×3 or 4×4 are reasonably easy, even empirically, but how do you solve an nxn problem with a computer algorithm? So, we toiled for a good part of the semester and did get a long-winded, step-by-step pages long solution. However, Rajan got the wind of that problem. It was a matter of days before he solved the problem, with a code not much more than a page! We really couldn’t figure out how he did it or how his algorithm worked, but it did (sort of reminds me of Fermat’s conjecture…Fermat wrote it in a margin that he had a solution, and rest of the mathematicians took centuries to really prove).
Well, that’s brilliance. I am sure there will be many other anecdotes and accolades.
We are immensely saddened by the loss of our classmate, etched in our minds as a young, brilliant student, reminding us of our youth, our own IIT adventure, and our life long journey.
From Ashwin Bondal
My memories of him are mainly from the first two years when we were wing mates.
I recall Rajan walking into my room on the eve of the Physics exam, sitting next to me to borrow my Resnick and Haliday to browse through it when I was practicing solving the problems. If I was stuck somewhere (more often than not) he would glance at the problem and give me a pointer in the right direction. When I asked him as to why he does not want to practice problems himself, he would give one of his cryptic smiles and reply that if one understands the theory, the problems can be easily; no need waste time and effort to practice solving them. Of course the next day he would max the paper and walk out before anybody else.
In the later years we moved to different wings and my interaction with him was mainly in a race for the Times crossword every morning and the Scientific American puzzle page in the library. No need to mention that he beat me most of the time.
His genius was matched by his humility and modesty. He wanted to solve problems for the sheer pleasure of doing it and never coveted any appreciation or credit for the same.
I am glad I could catch up with him last year when I was in NYC. This year we missed meeting in May and I am extremely sad about it. A gentle soul, indeed
From Ramesh Advani
When I remember Rajan, its not his bridge game or his crossword solving puzzles that come to my mind. It’s his smile, his love to converse about matters simple or complex with a clear mind. He was a dreamer but also a terrific listener. There aren’t too many IIT friends with whom I have gone on trips or met up with after we left India. Rajan was one of them. Way early on in IIT, a small group of us took a trip to Matheran and I remember the hours we spent talking or playing bridge. When we were starting up families, we met in New England every year for many years and that was another
warm person who sat with each of us and got to know us and our spouses. Thoughtful, considerate unassuming and brilliant. He lived and let live.
He’s Only Gone on Ahead
He’s only gone on ahead of you,
Not just left you behind.
Although you can’t be with him right now,
He lives on in your heart and mind.
The day will come when you’ll meet again
On Heaven’s distant shore,
And the two of you will walk hand in hand
Together forever more.
IIT Bombay 1974 Reunion 