Obit: Anand Ravi

Anand Ravi, husband of Uthra, brother of Arathi and son of N. V. Ravi and Vimala Ravi, passed away on March 20.

The family had moved to Warren Road when Anand was a child, and he had his entire school education in Vidya Mandir, Mylapore.

In school, he was very involved in sports and extra-curricular activities, especially scouting.

Eventually he rose to become the troop leader of the Vidya Mandir Scout Troop and was involved in organising camps, treks, etc. He was awarded the Rajya Puraskar at the state level. He led the Tamil Nadu contingent at the 12th National Scout Jamboree held in Kerala in 1994. He also received the Duke of Edinburgh Award gold medal given to students from Commonwealth countries for service to community.

Anand was a member of the school athletic, volleyball and football teams and was house captain for two years. He also had a brown belt in karate.

When his father bought a computer, it changed Anand’s life. The computer fascinated him, and he became adept at using it. Even though he chose the commerce stream in the 11th standard, Computer Science was his optional subject. After finishing school, Anand joined B.Com. in Vivekananda College.

Side by side with his regular studies, he attended computer courses at NIIT, Mylapore, and received his GNIIT diploma. As he had consistently stood first in all the courses, NIIT absorbed him in their software department in Delhi soon after he passed his B.Com./GNIIT.

He completed M.S. (Software Engineering) course offered in the distance mode by the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.

He was working with Macmillan, Bangalore.

He became the first B.Com. graduate to get an M.S. (S.Engg.) from IIT, Chicago.

He joined IIM Bangalore’s executive MBA programme. He later joined Microsoft Global Services (India) at Hyderabad as Project Manager and became Engagement Manager. He also received the I.P. Innovator award.

His parents and his wife received a condolence letter personally signed by Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. Microsoft also donated 1000 dollars in Anand’s name to a charity (an old age home in Chennai) chosen by his wife.

The family can be contacted at 2499 6042.

– Reported by Vathsala Vijayakumar. She is an aunt of Anand.