India's youngest CEO Ranjan Das of SAP, India ... - Posoowa

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Messages from SAP Colleagues It is indeed a sad day in the history of SAP and in the lives of the people Ranjan touched with his warmth and pleasing personality. Though I never had a chance to work with him directly, I am sure the people who did learnt a lot from him - about his vision, his discipline, the business and about life in general away from work. I remember distinctly the first time we met in our old office and we exchanged a handshake – it was not of a MD meeting one of his employees, but more of a friendly and warm exchange between two people who would have met through common friends at an outing. I came to know him much better when we played cricket together at the SAP matches played in Mumbai. It was really great to see someone play so well in spite of not holding the bat for 22 years. He was like a 22-year-old cricketer on the field and played like the champion he was at business as well. It is truly a deep loss to all the people he interacted with and brought a smile to. A great leader, a visionary, a truly people’s person and like what Bill McDermott said in his call today, a LEGEND. I pray for the well-being of his family, the kids with whom I played a little cricket on the day of the SAP matches and for his soul to rest in peace. Ranjan - you will always stay alive in our hearts. Amen….. Behzaad Devadhvala What a tragic and shocking loss of a wonderful person. Words cannot express the sadness I feel upon Ranjan’s sudden demise. Ranjan was brilliant, energetic, creative, a great leader, and truly a wonderful human being. I knew Ranjan from when I worked in Palo Alto and also saw him several times here in India. Every time we met he was very friendly and would take time to talk and catch up on things despite his busy schedule. Each time I was struck by how he was extremely warm, caring and friendly. I was really touched that he would take time out of his schedule to talk and I still vividly remember his friendly smile and the sincere interest that he showed during our conversations. He was such a wonderful person and truly a role model for all of us. It is hard to believe that Ranjan is no longer with us. I think that one way that we can remember Ranjan is to aspire to be like him, not only with regards to his family life and professional achievements, but also in his warmth, friendliness and down-to-earth and caring nature. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time of sorrow. May God grant them strength at this time of tragic loss. Rohit Gupta What a tragic loss! My heart goes out to Ranjan’s family. My deepest condolences! I recollect how we got to know each other well. I was reading Steven Pinker’s “The Blank Slate” on a flight to Walldorf, Ranjan Das attending a session on the development of IT Industries in Northeast India, held during Assam-Manipur Month in San Francisco, California, in 2003. standing near the galley and Ranjan walked up to me and said he loved that book and the ideas presented there (and Pinker was at MIT, Ranjan’s alma mater, then). We spoke for a long while about evolution, linguistics, creative writing and we found that we shared beliefs and cynicism about quite a few things we both held important. He made me promise to set up a meeting with him every now and then and to not talk shop but chat about Pinker, Gould, Chomsky and all our common favourites. He sent me his short stories to read. We used to do that over lunch till he left for India. Death snatched away a good friend. Very sad. And what a tragic loss! Suresh Babu I still remember the day well that Ranjan and I had the career discussion about his interest in an MD role and when we discussed India, his face “lit up”. Passionate and customer-focused are what come to mind when I think about Ranjan’s career. On a personal basis, he was a devoted husband and father. He will be deeply missed by all of us. My thoughts and prayers are with his beautiful family, close friends and his team in India. Terry Laudal It was during the Goa FKOM. I saw Ranjan taking his son onto the hillocks adjacent to the beach. They were on a rock and Ranjan was guiding him gently to climb down. It was nice to see the doting father taking out time from his hectic schedule to show the child the nature around. Again in the evening he was back in the auditorium cheering the crowds during the entertainment events. He had to don many roles! But he was there doing a fine balancing. He was a fitness freak telling all of us the need to maintain fitness. You could see the importance he attached to this and how he religiously followed the fitness regime. Someone told me that consultants should not be referred to as ‘resources’ in front of Ranjan. Such was the respect he had for the Consulting community and he abhorred treating them as machines. In one of the meetings he said, earn money, get richer and do what pleases you - whether you want to start a business on your own or take up some voluntary work 6 POSOOWA • NOVEMBER 2009
or any other thing you have in your mind. He was clear for himself and others in presenting the current hard work in the context of long term goals in life. In many ways he was one most of us would aspire to be - in balancing work and family, leading teams, treating others with respect and in setting higher goals in life. He always led others by setting an example himself - whether telling us in one of his initial mails on the need to send thank you notes or in one of the last mails telling us to enrol in the compliance training. He would always practise what he would preach. We are deeply disturbed at missing this inspirational figure in person but will continue to live in our thoughts because of the impression he created in such a short span of time. Girikanth Avadhanula I met Ranjan Das for the first time in Chennai earlier this year on a Sunday morning when we had assembled to run the 10km race in the Chennai Marathon. There were seven of us from SAP India who were running and he went on to finish first for the SAP Team. I guess he was used to leading from the front and I got to see it firsthand that morning. It was a rude shock when I heard about Ranjan’s passing away. I cannot imagine how hard it must be for his family and friends to come terms with this tragic loss. My heart goes out to them. May Ranjan’s soul rest in peace. Ramkrishnan Balakrishnan My sympathies to Ranjan’s family, especially his two young boys who had so little time to know their father. As a tribute to Ranjan and to all our Indian colleagues, here is a beautiful verse from the Vedas which I read for the first time recently. It is 7000 years old and filled with eternal beauty and wisdom. Indra’s Net There is an endless net of threads throughout the Universe. The horizontal threads are in space. The vertical threads in time. At every crossing of threads there is an individual. And every individual is a crystal bead. The great light of absolute being illuminates and penetrates every crystal being. And every crystal being reflects not only the light from every other crystal in the net, But also every reflection of every reflection throughout the Universe. ~ from the Vedas of ancient India, 7000 years old Anthony Walmsley Ranjan and I founded a K-12 education software start-up during the pre-Internet days, along with another friend from Boston. The software helped students understand simple to complex mathematics using storyboards of natural phenomenon found in India and the East. He used to leave us awestruck with his insights on the symmetry and science behind everyday objects and the way he tied them to explain math principles. Besides the business and technology aspects of this initiative, it helped me understand the intense passion this guy had for promoting math education among K-12 community. I fondly remember the days we used to take a moment to enjoy our bagel and coffee before we jumped into our daily routines. I have lost a great friend in Ranjan. My heart goes out to his family. Durai Appadurai I had the distinct opportunity to meet Ranjan on his first day in the offices of TopTier back in early 2001, where I was called in to demo to him personally some stuff we were working on. Over the next few years as we were both working in the xAPPs group and I sat in a cube next to his office, I had the opportunity to have a chat with him almost on a daily basis. It was in those years that the admiration for Ranjan simply grew, both on a professional and personal basis. Being a Mumbai resident myself, the last time we talked, I was inquiring if he had the chance to try out all the fun places to eat in the city and he said he was just loving and enjoying life there. Of the many super achievers that we encounter in our lives, to me, Ranjan had it all. Mayank Mathur You taught us to be proud and unbending in honest failure, But humble and gentle in success; Not to substitute words for actions, Not to seek the path of comfort, But to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; To learn to stand up in the storm but to have compassion on those who fall; To master ourselves before we seek to master others; To have a heart that is clean, A goal that is high; To learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; To reach into the future yet never neglect the past; To be serious yet never to take yourself too seriously; To be modest so that we will remember the simplicity of true greatness, The open mind of true wisdom, The meekness of true strength. You gave us the temper of the will, A quality of the imagination, A vigour of the emotions, A freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, Of an appetite for adventure over love of ease. You created in our hearts the sense of wonder, The unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life. You showed us in this way To be a better person, a good human being; To innovate, To be Bold, To Live, To Love, To Play, To Work; To Dream, beyond our wildest dreams! You were like the strong young man of the rising sun, You stood with us in our circle, Giving, Feeling; When the bell tolled and there was a question, We could see by the shine in your eyes, The answer had been found. We miss you, as you move toward the Temple of the King; Thanks for all the wonderful things! Venky Sundaram 7 POSOOWA • NOVEMBER 2009
Page 1 and 2: NON-RESIDENT ASSAMESE (NRA) MAGAZIN
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India's youngest CEO Ranjan Das of SAP, India ... - Posoowa

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