Saturday, March 05, 2011

Rahul Basu -- In Memoriam

It is with the most profound sorrow that I must write to you about the loss of our friend, collaborator, teacher and esteemed member of the High Energy Physics community.

The end came quite suddenly after a series of health problems, first in the form of lung infections and eventually cardiac arrest. I met him recently in December in Chennai at which time he was planning a holiday to Bali and Singapore. Apparently he had been recovering from a lung infection, but on his return there was a recurrence and he spent many weeks in the ICU. I spoke to him last month and he sounded a little tired, but apparently otherwise he was getting better. It seems that these infections had weakened him to such an extent that he had a set back.

Rahul was known to many of us for his organizational skill and enthusiasm in organizing schools, conferences, workshop, etc.. Some of our own students have recently heard his lectures in Chandigarh, and he was to lecture in April at the SINP school. For others he was a collaborator and friend to many of us. Recently many of us have known him for his blogging on As I Please, where his powerful language and logic and wit speak for themselves.

At this stage I have very few words left to say. I would like to request you all to join me in my thoughts and pay our respects to his memory.

Update: You can leave a message on the official memorial page here.

9 comments:

Omar said...

My dear friend from college days. I am glad I had a chance to meet him in recent years in Delhi. Although now I shall never be able to visit him in Chennai where he invited me more than once. He was a great guy from his science, his cooking and to his blog. I shall miss him. He was my friend. I am at a loss from this news. My thoughts are with Neelima. What a gem of a person was he.

Anant said...

Omar: Thank you for the comment and the thoughts.

Rahul Siddharthan said...

Indeed there is little one can say. By tomorrow we will have an official memorial page up on the institute server, where his friends will be invited to comment.

Anonymous said...

I never met him- knew him only through his blog. Also cooked some tasty dishes following his recipes. I was checking for new posts when I heard this sad news. I will miss him. May his soul be at peace.

- A reader

Dilip D'Souza said...

I never met him either. But I read several of his posts and comments on different blogs. Always with something interesting to say. Sympathies to his family.

AmOK said...

He was indeed A Learned One, a gentle and fun-loving soul, by all accounts. Even those who knew him blogwise alone can attest to that. Indeed a great loss. We must continue in his spirit of learning, fun and irrepressible optimism in the face of everything.

Anant said...

AmOK: Thank you for the comment. Could not agree more.

Abbas Ali said...

Another dear one leaves. Leaves a void. Leaves us in tears. There are many LOs Anant but this OLO of yours was the one and only of his type. Ah Rahul.

Anant said...

@ Abbas Ali: I could not agree more.