Meeta's Comments........

Meeta said...

Dear Subbi, Sanjeev, Manisha, Neelkak, Anant, Gauri, vasudeva, Sanjay & other friends/classmates of Ashwani,

I am grateful to all of you for your unforgettable contribution and feelings for Ashwani. I have no words to thank all of you. Although, I had been visiting the blog from a long time, I couldn't collect enough courage to write on it. Whenever I tried to write anything, ashwani's remembrance made me unable to write.

Ashwani was a soft spoken and a low profile person, he was simply great and a very loving personality. I was, I am and I will always be proud of him. I very much liked the idea of starting an annual award in honour of Ashwani to a student of Pune University. Even, I am also in process of starting a Medal/award in Ashwani's name to a student of IPS Academy, where he was working in the last time.

I request everyone to write to me freely in this matter. I will write more about ashwani later on.

Wishing all of you Happy Diwali and a very Happy new year.

Please keep in touch.

With best regards
Meeta

November 1, 2008 1:51 PM

Dr. Ashwani Kumar Memorial Award at University of Poona

Dear Friends,

We recently discussed the idea of getting together with other Pune friends to create an award in honor of our friend Ashwani at the University of Poona. Some of our friends have already indicated their interest in making this award happen. If you are interested in participating, please send me an e-mail (anant@uwaterloo.ca). Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Yours,

Anant & Lalitha

Remembering Ashwani

On 9th June Sanjeev Kane, our M.Sc. classmate, sent me a mail regarding the untimely passing away of Ashwani Kumar. I was in the middle of cooking dinner for my family when I read the mail. After that I just could not continue cooking and went down the memory lane. I was really saddened and felt a deep sense of regret. Regret for not being able to thank him for his kindness during one of my trip to CAT, Indore. There were several occasions to do it but somehow it just skipped my mind.
During our M.Sc. class I was too busy trying to pass all those exams and hardly interacted with all our classmates. But I remember Ashwani as a kind and helping person who always made it a point to interact and say “Hi” whenever we met. I still remember one incidence. Once my friends Smitha (Nambiar), Swati (Thube), Jayashree (Seshadri), and me were all sitting in the Physics department porch and trying to get a solution to one of the tough questions of a tutorial. At that time Ashwani entered the department and asked us girls as to what we were doing. When he saw the question in the tutorial, he gave us some hints and that really made our day. Thanks Ashwani for helping that day. I very clearly remember that he also gave us girls advice that we have to enjoy life along with all those tutorials. At that time I was thinking “what a strange advice! We have to pass M.Sc.” But now looking back I realize what he meant and how true!
Again probably during 91’/92’/93’ (cannot recollect the year), I had been to CAT for 10 days for some experiments for my Ph.D thesis. On the second day of my stay I met Ashwani by chance in front of the entrance of the building where I was doing the experiments. I remember he went out of his way to make things a lot easier for me. He gave me a tour of many other labs. On some days during lunch hour we chatted a lot about many topics. And by the end of those 10 days, I got this feeling that he was not just my ex-classmate but I had made a very good friend.
On the day I was supposed to return back to Pune, due to my horrible sense of direction, I could not realize on which side of the road I was supposed to wait for Pune-bound bus. So back I went to CAT and asked Ashwani about it. I was really touched by his kind-heartedness because instead of just telling me the direction of Pune-bound buses, he came all the way up to the bus stop. Then in a hurry to get into the bus, I could not say proper thanks to him. In those days, I was still not familiar with e-mail and never again could I say my thanks to him. With passage of time, forgot about it. Now I feel a deep sense of regret. Feels like something remains unfinished. Ashwani, sorry that neither could I express my gratitude for all the help you rendered in CAT nor could I keep in touch. You were a kind-hearted and gentle person.
May his soul rest in peace and may God give his family strength to face this difficult time. Sincere condolences from me and my husband.
Manisha Kundu-Nagata
( M.Sc. Classmate)
NIMS, Japan.

A couple of photographs from Pune days

These are the only two photos from our Pune campus days in my collection which have Ashwani. CLICK ON PHOTO TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.

Ashwani Kumar.....

Dear all,

I have created this blogsite in memory of our dear friend Ashwani Kumar, who left us all on 17-May-2008 in an unfortunate road accident at Indore.

This site can be used to pen down our memories of Ashwani and it will enable various friends and acquaintances of Ashwani in India and elsewhere to share the feelings. Once Meeta gets back to accessing the web, she can see it all and start participating too.

I am keeping the blogsite in open access mode and you can access it without any log in ID. Please remember to leave your identity (just name and place will suffice) so that others can recognise you. If you are using your GMail or Orkut ID to log in, then this is not necessary.

Thanks
Subbi
(Ashwani's M.Sc classmate at Pune University)

Lovely Days in Pune with Ashwani

My memories of Ashwani go back to a hot 1987 July evening at Hostel No.7, Pune University Campus, when he arrived as my M.Sc classmate. In just a few days, the soft-spoken, gentle mannered Ashwani became thick friends with the rest of us, a motley mix of students from various regions of India, to form the group of "9". I vividly remember his sense of humour, brought to the fore many times during our numerous birthday parties at the hostel and other such occasions. I also remember the tasty matris and home-made achar (North style: sweet&sour) he brought for all of us from home after vacations. Our group spent the most memorable time of our life together with Ashwani in the Pune campus.

After we graduated in 1989, we all got dispersed to various parts of India and abroad. With him at IUC-DAEF Indore and me in Kalpakkam, my contacts with Ashwani over the years were reduced to the occasional bumping into each other at DAE Solid Sate Physics Symposia. Of course, each time we met, we got back into the groove instantly and never ever felt the effects of huge gaps in friendship that lapse of time creates. In the recent two years, I happened to make frequent trips to Indore for official purpose. Each trip, I made it a point to contact Ashwani. I was happy to see Ashwani and Meeta as a couple. Whether it was their hospitality or giving company to me for shopping, I enjoyed being with them immensely. I met Ashwani last in February 2007 at Indore the night before my departure. Meeta may remember the little conversation that took place while he dropped me back late at night after a sumptuous dinner in their house, at the IUC Guest House. He asked me “Subbi..so this is the last time I will be meeting you at Indore, isn’t so?” I immediately corrected him that may be this is the last time I am in Indore with respect to the two year bout of frequent trips for a certain purpose, but I will be coming again to Indore for other reasons and I will definitely be meeting him in future too. Alas…I have been rendered wrong.

From him, myself and all my Pune friends have learnt that patience, hardwork and soft-manners are key elements for progressing in life. This is the message Ashwani has left us, apart from the ever-sweet memories of the splendid company he gave us at Pune University campus.