That should have read "Shubha" instead of "Geetanjali"; Geetanjali was the daughter. And of course, it was K7, Keshavan, who in later life sold me a desktop running Linux, of which more anon. And I am assured by anon. that he, at least, continued to keep up with Atul.
Thank you, anon. bonobashi ----- Original Message ----- > From: Indrajit Gupta <[email protected]> > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > Cc: > Sent: Sunday, 9 June 2013 6:01 AM > Subject: Re: [silk] Atul Chitnis > > I was travelling the past five weeks, and got to hear only when my daughter > called and told me the sad news about Atul. Many - most of us - wouldn't > have been here if it hadn't been for him, in a perverse kind of way. It was > his sudden rush of fundamentalism that put off many of us, and brought us to > take refuge in the mailing list that Ram and Bharat had created: things were > really bad for an orphaned crowd, for even an Indrajit to take shelter with > them. Who can forget Shiv's first post? wholly composed of expletives, and > all those bad things that were verboten on CiX? > > But there was an entirely different side to my relations with Atul as well. I > got to know him when I started using a small editor that he and some friends > had > built, and which was floating around in shareware form. It was accidental > that I > found a place to work opposite the block from his house and his residence, > and > got to meet him almost as accidentally, and it was comical to see his > expression > when I dug into my rather bare pocket to pay him the measly sum that they > were > charging for the editor. Those rare visits were very nice. The great man > actually had a very efficient support system working for him. Apart from KK, > there was an indefatigable and rarely-to-be-seen on line Geetanjali, and an > adorable muppet who stole hearts effortlessly. That was in 1987, some - dear > Lord! - twenty six years ago, and the muppet must be a poised young woman > mourning her father. And he was a great man, one to mourn, never mind the > strong > views and inflexible stands > that he took. His contribution to FOSS was significant, speaking as one who > was > never more than a lukewarm sympathiser of the cause. His writing and > preaching > was marked by a certainty and conviction that rang true. But most of all was > his > human side (yes, R, there was one). > > We had got five months through a six month project with a software biggie, > and > were on the verge of completion. In an unguarded moment, the systems admin > had > wangled a three-day leave of absence from me, and left, horror of horrors, > without handing over charge. Murphy's Law reached out of the deeps of space > and batted us with a lazy paw. The server collapsed; we found to our > consternation that the lunkhead running the admin had used a non-standard > setting which was unknown to anyone else. After futile attempts to recover it > on > our own, we reached out to Olympus, and Hephaestos obliged. It was deeply > salving to see him set calmly to work and recover things bit by bit - don't > ask me what he did, I didn't have a clue then, and don't have a clue now > - and give us back part of our work after several desperate, trying hours. > > I would rather remember that kind, helpful Atul at this moment, completely > engrossed in getting a friend out of a hugely avoidable jam, than several > other > things that might have happened. It is the good that we need to remember; the > rest can go get shoved up the backside of that f*** Kathe (he probably is > related to a lathe, Shiv, the way he goes boring in with a metallic > insensitivity to human feeling). > > There were good moments on CiX, too, like the encounters with a little boy > who > is now a sober, matured member of Silk, where I perfected my range of > pejoratives. It was a tightrope walk, with a delicious frisson of terror on > posting, wondering if this time one had gone beyond the line drawn by the > moderator, wondering if retribution would follow. What followed was an attack > in > flank from a totally unexpected quarter, and the gloating of a malicious > Udhay > egging me on to retaliate - but that's another story. > > I wish I had done what I often wished to do, Atul, and taken you aside on one > of > our subsequently infrequent meetings, after we all left CiX, and told you how > much I appreciated the good things you did. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Venkatesh Hariharan <[email protected]> >> To: [email protected] >> Cc: >> Sent: Monday, 3 June 2013 11:18 PM >> Subject: Re: [silk] Atul Chitnis >> >> Whatever his personality, Atul was one of the guys who gave an impetus to >> the FOSS movement in India. For years, FOSS.IN was the event to attend. RIP >> Atul! >> >> Venky >> On Jun 3, 2013 9:17 PM, "Chetan Nagendra" > <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Sad to hear that Atul is no more. >>> >>> Chetan >>> >>> On 03-Jun-2013, at 12:55 PM, Biju Chacko <[email protected]> > >> wrote: >>> >>> > A lot of people on this list are acquainted with Atul Chitnis. > Many of >> us >>> > got to know him in the Open Source scene in India in the late > '90s >> and >>> > early '00s. >>> > >>> > I just heard that he lost his long battle with cancer earlier > today. >>> > >>> > He was not universally liked but I guess even those that > didn't >> like him >>> > would be saddened by the news. >>> > >>> > -- b >>> >>> >>> >> >
