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

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
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POSOOWA • NOVEMBER 2009