Tribute to Dr.Suresh Ramaswamy

A down-to-earth human, a distinguished professor,  a true lover of the subject Physics and an ardent supporter of Indian Fine Arts. That is ,was Dr.Suresh Ramaswamy, fondly called SuRa. It is a rare quality amongst highly prejudiced professors of top ranked institutions to be friendly and approachable to a first year student ( come on, 3 idiots was not a joke). Riding around the campus in his favorite bicycle with a Jolna Pai adorning his side, organizing NSS meetings in the SkyLabs to concerts for spicmacay in the Auditorium, one could not but notice this humble Professor who was one among the students first of all. 

The range and nobility of his thoughts and service to the community around him stands out in my memory. He hosted a number of spicmacay gatherings and would encourage us to sing and he even recorded them. Those friendly conversations about art and artistes, the special spicmacay Khetri trip, evening and weekend redi chai conversations as part of getting the audi ready for concert - these are still etched in the memory of all those involved with these clubs. When we (myself, Manish Baphna, Vikram Sampath, Ayusman Sarangi), the senior batch of spicmacay graduated, he hosted a farewell party in his house. Dr.C.Vijayaraghavan was also with Physics Department, BITS, Pilani at that time and was involved with spicmacay. Who can forget SuRa getting pulled by C.V as Captain Haddock, SuRa being both innocently geeky and resembling the Captain with his beard. He presented me a bundle of Swami Vivekananda's books. 

He was a role model in the sense that he taught by his way of life.  That holding a degree from top ranked institution is not a fancy thing and one should not get carried away to being superficial. That one should approach and solve problems from ground up. Especially those with good academic background (or any other gift of life) should reach out and do whatever small he/she can to improve the daily chore and livelihood for others less privileged.  

when a beautiful flower fades away just like that, it leaves the observer in shock and contemplation of birth and death cycle. When there are dirty politicians walking healthy into their 80s and littering our country, there seems to be no place for noble souls like Dr.SuRa. He was both illustrious and inspiring.