Good evening. To start with, I would like to say that Professor Rajaraman and Mrs. Rajaraman are one team. We actually look at them as one person and she has not only contributed to the various books that Professor Rajaraman published, but also enhanced his interaction with the students. And we always felt we have a home with her in their house in the campus because of Mrs. Rajaman. So whatever I'm saying actually applies to both of them.
So as Somnath Biswas has said, the major thing that struck us as students, I did one course with him. I remember in the first lecture, I learned how to draw an 8-bit register with equal squares. So that was the strong memory I had. Then I was a teaching assistant for him in TA306 when the whole thing moved to the DEC 10 system. So one full semester, I couldn't do anything. He was a taskmaster in the true IITK sense. So I had strong interactions with him. And then when he got the Kramonkar system, again, I had interacted with him very intensely.
So the major aspect that struck us was he was very, very generous, generous to the students, which I could feel at that time. And to give you some simple examples, if some student wanted to do a thesis in another department, supervisor, some other department, he would say, “OK, I will sign your registration form as faculty. You are my student. You go and work wherever you want.” So I know many instances where students did their thesis from even aerospace, mechanical, and things like that.. Electrical. And he was signing as the supervisor from the computer science department.
Another example, which is probably not well known, we had to, IIT Kanpur would pay the travel costs to attend the M.Tech thesis exam, entrance exam. And as a result, I guess, and also due to various selection criteria, they would call a small number of students. But you ended up, let's say by some means, in Kanpur, he would allow you to sit and take the entrance exam. Who knows? So I know some students who actually managed to join IIT Kanpur as a result of this students-first attitude.
And again, as Somnath said, we got treated as, I was a PhD student in the CS department at the time, and we got treated like colleagues and faculty. We had the run of the department and we got immense respect. My own supervisor, Professor Sahasrabuddhe is here. So, Namaskar, sir.
And I continued to interact with Professor Rajaraman subsequently, Mrs. Rajaraman. And recently, when the new book was released, I was there. And it is a matter of great inspiration that at the age of 91, he's still writing books which are worth reading.
You know, I have a copy with me and I keep going through it periodically. He's certainly a giant and a person of great inspiration. And we need more people like that in our country.
Namaskar.
