Obituary – Shiva – Once a techie, always a techie

The first time I heard about you was from your sister and my dear friend Shiv Priya, proudly talking about your professional achievements. Sisters are always a proud lot when they talk about their brothers. She told me how you transitioned your career from being an Air Traffic Controller to a techie in the IT industry and then heading networking for one of the leading Indian Startups. She told me about your deep interest in Internet Security and how you would love discussions about anything and everything related to it.

But life had some other plans for you. You got diagnosed with a type of cancer at the beginning of this year which spreads to all part of the brain and slowly impacted all body functions. Towards end of the year doctors had given you only few months more. I kept hearing about your deterioting health from Shiv Priya.

My first meeting with you happened on 27th Nov, 2018 in a hospice in HSR. Your condition had deteriorated a lot but life has it’s own ways to shine through. After minutes of efforts by Shiv Priya to wake you up from your sleep, you responded with a little bit of coughing and opening your eyes a little bit. And I got a chance to just hold your hand and talk about your favourite topic. Yes, Internet Security it was. I talked about a recent experience of how I solved a hacked WordPress site and also about how Panama scandal was due to a hacked plugin in a WordPress site. I talked about Verified by Visa implementation I had done years ago and how various Internet Security related concepts had become mainstream now. And all of us were surprised by your response. I know you were trying to say something which came out as coughing. I know you were trying to express something which came out as eyeball moments. I know you were understanding everything.

The world might think it was a half-duplex communication but I know it was full-duplex. The excitement of being a techie was so visible by your subtle expressions. Once a techie, always a techie.

Next meeting was on 24th Dec and a relatively short one as few more body functions had given in. The discussion this time was about how Huawei was getting banned in various countries.

27th Dec, 2018 early morning, you logged out of this world and logged in to another one. After suffering so much at the hands of Cancer, it was appropriate to get your freedom from pain.

Sleep tight mate. You will be in memories and the shine in your eyes when the topic was technical, will continue to inspire me till I logout.