Tribute to R Vasudevan by friends, colleagues, and bureaucrats

Tribute to R Vasudevan from friends

Tribute to R Vasudevan by shipping fraternity

Video playlist of various tributes by the shipping fraternity to R Vasudevan

Tribute to R Vasudevan by the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT)

Video playlist of the tribute by MAT

JNPT Tribute to R Vasudevan 26th July 2010

Video playlist of the tribute by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust to Shri R Vasudevan. He served as its chairman from 1996 to 1998.

Search for perfection in every sentence- Siddharth Krishnan

As one of Shobha's  very good friends, I had heard a hundred stories from shobha of Mr. Vasudevan's generous personality, but nothing prepares you for the perpetual humility that his company bestows upon you. I remember the first few times that I met Mr. Vasudevan, all the way back in 2005. His demeanor had the assured confidence of a personality unaccustomed to challenges that have bested him. His style of speech is something that I knowingly try to emulate, even today. Every sentence is designed to have no flaws, even if it means long pauses in the middle of each sentence. Like students in a class taught by a nobel laureate, we just sit and wait out his search for perfection in every sentence (usually well worth the wait). His understanding of the world was matched only by his boundless curiosity in what had not crossed him before. I never had the opportunity to work with him or watch him at work, but it was not too difficult to imagine how this person was, while making far reaching decisions that most of us never have to worry about. Since his passing, I've managed to gather from Vandana's website and a few books, how far reaching his thoughts, actions, connections and achievements are ... I'm now very surprised and humbled by how he would let me talk about my mostly academic opinions garnered from newspapers and books and would still express a very keen interest in what I had to say. This wonderful interest in life, this extraordinary youth and vitality was very unusual and striking and more ironically, belied all that his family had told me about his state of health (I met him after he had been diagnosed with this disease). If they had not told me that there was something wrong with his body, I might have guessed otherwise and might even have (however foolishly) have asked him what the secret to his energy was. 

             I had the superb fortune of spending ganesh chathurthi, 2009, exactly a year back with him and his family in Urbana Champaign. I had one of the best times of my life, primarily because of my interaction with Mr. Vasudevan. Like I said before, it was difficult to compartmentalize any frailty in his physical or mental faculties. His sense of humor was confidently self-deprecating, his politics socially capitalistic, his views on marriage and family, thoughtfully conservative and his interactions with and thoughts on people dissimilar in background to his own, violently modern. What a fun personality!!! Not a dull moment ... Even his anger sparkled with good humor. 

            His biggest successes were not in the very grand personality that he had built; not in creating states and in creating viatical quadrilaterials; not in heading large corporations that create the ramparts of the society of modern india lives in security of. In my opinion, his biggest success is me. 

His biggest success is in spending 4 hours with a 30 year old modern indian in the US, with very set views and a complacency in mediocrity and instilling a very strong desire to achieve something that would positively affect other people. His biggest success is in making me laugh and cry at the same time and making me understand why I'm doing either. His biggest success is in inspiring me, by just being himself. 

            I can only imagine the impact he has had on people who had the good fortune of having him as a closer friend than I did. 

Vandana, Shobha and Vasudha Aunty - He could not have lived a more complete life. His passing is not of frailty or age, but of the satisfied reaching of potential, in my opinion. We don't need a book to immortalize him. His life and its impact on all of us has already ensured that. 

For that wonderfully unscripted life of perfection, 

Thankfully, Siddarth.

The Mussorie Days-Batchmate B.N. Makhija's early memories

Regarding my personal memories of  dear Vasu, I vividly recall the Mussorie days when he used to stun me with his idiomatic and high falutin Hindi.  I used to rile my friends  and ask why it is that no Punjabi is able to speak Tamil with the fluency that Vasu is able to speak in Hindi. And for a Tamilian to offer Hindi as an optional subject in a project as risky as IAS exam, was to me the limit of adventurism or acme of self confidence.

The other lasting memory, again relating to the same subject, comes from our Bharat Darshan days.  It was December 1964 – January 1965, he was in the same batch of 20 that I was and when touring the south, probably after our visit to Rameshwaram, we were stranded in Tamil Nadu,  I think somewhere near Trichy or Tirunelvelli.  Language riots had  broken out all over the country and we were in the very thick of  Tamil fury and our train was held up at some small station for something close to 24 hours.  The platform vendors ran out of all food stuff with a whole train-load of passengers devouring all eatables available on the station.  Inside our train compartment, were 20 young  men and women constantly debating the pros and cons of Hindi as a national language, and there was my dear friend Vasu declaiming  forcefully, in chaste Hindi, against the nefarious designs of the north Indians to foist their language on a proud southern race which would have none of it.  A Tamil, speaking in Hindi against Hindi, always reminds me of those lines from Voltaire when defending the freedom of speech “I disagree violently with what you say but I will defend to my death your right to say it!”

The inimitable Vasu!

JNPT fondly remembers R.Vasudevan

JNPT fondly remembers R. Vasudevan and his plethora of achievements

Conceiver & executor of PPP in ports


1st box terminal with pvt. participation (NSICT)


Signatory to historic JNPT-NSICT Licence Agreement

A condolence meeting was held on July 26 at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) here to mourn the demise of Mr R. Vasudevan, IAS (Retd.), former JNPT Chairman and Secretary (Shipping and Transport), in Mumbai the previous day. Mr Vasudevan, an IAS officer of the 1964 batch of Maharashtra Cadre, had served as Chairman of JNPT during 1996-1998 before he was appointed Secretary (Shipping and Transport).

Some of the other important positions held by him were Director-General of Shipping, with additional charge of Chairman and Managing Director of Shipping Corporation of India, Secretary to the Union government, Inter-State Council Secretariat, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Vice-Chairman, Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal.

Mr Vasudevan’s tenure as JNPT Chairman was fondly remembered, in particular, for his contribution, with great determination, to the development of the Port and for making JN Port what it is today.


A dynamic visionary, Mr Vasudevan came to be credited with the conception and implementation of the public-private partnership (PPP) concept for ports, and he ensured that such a bold step of the government would prove to be successful. The setting up of the first container terminal with private participation, viz. NSICT, was the result of this initiative and Mr Vasudevan was a signatory to the historic Licence Agreement between JNPT and NSICT.


The condolence meeting was chaired by Mr N.N. Kumar, IRS, Chairman-in-Charge, JNPT, and attended by the representatives of the private terminals, Mr Bhushan Patil, Trustee, JNPT, and other senior officers of JNPT, who expressed condolences and deepest sympathy to the bereaved family. Ms Vandana Vasudevan, daughter of Mr Vasudevan, was also present at the meeting.

Mr S. K. Kaul, Chief Manager (Admn.) and Secretary, JNPT, in his speech, said that the tenure of Mr Vasudevan as JNPT Chairman would be remembered forever for his dynamic leadership and for the bold decisions taken by him.

Mr Bhushan Patil described Mr Vasudevan as "a dynamic personality who was sincere and straightforward in every approach". He would be remembered by one and all for his contribution to the development of the Port, he stressed.

Mr Kaul also read out the condolence messages of Mr S. S. Hussain, ex-Chairman, JNPT, and Ms Maya Sinha, ex-Deputy Chairperson, JNPT.

A dignified, scholarly and unbiased judge

R.Vasudevan was Vice Chairman of the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) between 2001 to 2006 where his passion for justice was evident in numerous court cases. Advocates would love to be in his court because of the lively atmosphere peppered with humour. His then private secretary Mr.Nair and the then registrar Mr.S.K.Joshi recall how even after the diagnosis of cancer in 2005, he never let the pace flag and would come for an afternoon court session with the IV still attached to his wrist after a morning chemotherapy session. I recall telling him to take it easy when he would sit late into the night reading cases. He wore the judicial attire of white shirt and white pant with pride and was conscious of the responsibility it conveyed. Dad would come home for lunch and take a short nap of about 20 minutes.But he would never linger. Like clockwork he would be up and away to attend the post lunch session. Despite the cancer, he completed his full term till September 2006. 


The MAT community held a condolence meeting as part of the court proceedings on 5th August 2010. The two speeches made on that ocassion, posted below, are testimony to the high regard they had for Mr.Vasudevan.      
                   

             Tribute by Chairman of the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal

Advocate Arvind V.Bandiwadekar pays tribute to a meticulous, painstaking judge

A brother-R.Narayanan remembers Vasu's love for books and music

Even in his school days, he was always seen reading some book or other in english, Hindi or tamil. He had read almost all the novels of Kalki and Devan before he was 16! Even by the age of 12, when he was a Praveen in Hindi, he had read all the novels of Premchand, a great social reformer. He had a great admiration for Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Shakespeare and Winston Churchill. When he was preparing for IAS exams, I have seen him discussing with 'Delhi' a man of erudition on the famous books of Will Durant and Arthur Kolstyler ,great philosophers. His taste for all good things in this world is something astonishing and could never be copied. It was God's gift to him.

Vasu was also a great music lover. He enjoyed Ariyakudi and GNB so much that in his leisure time, he was imitating their voice to entertain his brothers and sisters. He loved film music too. But we used to make fun of him on his face, when he attempted to sing like Mukesh. He used to call Mukesh as Moookesh to mean that he was singing through his nose. He aways supported me for my interest in Film music and encouraged me when I took to playing the harmonica.

I was a great fan of Shankar jaikishan. When he was collector of Alibagh where Shankar was having his beautiful bungalow he invited me to Alibagh so that he could arrange for my meeting with Shankar. It was really thrilling for me that I would be meeting a great music director with the help of my brother but due to certain circumstances beyond my control, I could not make it to happen. But after about 20 years, after this
incident, I went to meet Vasu in Shankar Jaikishan avenue at Church gate!

Rarest of Rare Human Beings- Kamal Kothari, Ex-Director, Shipping Corporation of India

Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 11:57 PM,


I have just learned that Mr Vasudevan is no more with us. He has moved from his earthly house to His House. He leaves all of us very sad, deeply disturbed, distressed and dejected. We think about him, relive our memories and worry about him. But let us not forget that he is in His abode. For years when he was sick all of you looked after him with loving and tender care bearing all the strain. That made his life comfortable. Now God looks after him and that is our solace.

For the long years I have known him he was the rarest of the rare human beings. Forthright, absolutely straight forward and honest to the core –that was Mr Vasudevan. If administrators in India were like him the country would be a different place. My association with him was an enriching and learning experience. Every time I met him he would come up with interpretation of events and situations which were unique. His depth of knowledge, foresight and wisdom were amazing. As was his simplicity. He was a rare human being and his breed is getting rarer by the day. To me he was a mentor. He is not with us but his memories are everlasting.

Mr Vasudevan has moved to his abode in heaven. At one level we deeply grieve for him. But then we are grieving for his journey to Him. Lord Krishna enunciates in Bhagvat Gita:

  All beings are unmanifested in their beginning O Bharata

Manifested in their middle state

And unmanifested in their end.

What is there to grieve about?

Yet we grieve. We grieve because we live in a world which is illusory-which is Maya. Just a few weeks before Einstein died he wrote:

“The universe is an illusion –but what a persistently stubborn illusion.”

 We all are a part of this stubbornly persistent illusion. But as long as we live in this Mayavi world the separation, the pain the sorrow and the grief are as real as it can be. Your loss, pain, grief and the sorrow is stupendous and anything I write can hardly mitigate it. But I pray to God to give all of you courage and fortitude to bear the unbearable.

I join all of you in praying for the peace of the departed soul.

Yours in Grief

Kamal Kothari

An unblemished jewel -A tribute by V.S.Gopalakrishnan, friend and colleague in the IAS (batch of 1962)

A great and a gentle soul- A tribute to late Mr.R.Vasudevan
Tuesday, Jul 27, 2010 7:31 PM


 
When I heard that my close friend Rangaswami Vasudevan passed away on 25 July 2010, I was not only assailed with silent grief, the event also brought to my mind a flood of old, personal recollections. He belonged to the 1964 vintage of the I.A.S. and was just two years junior to me. I can say in all honesty that I have come across very few individuals of great qualities like him. One of his last postings was Secretary, Ministry of Shipping and Transport.
 
In the years 1964-66, I was a Sub Divisional Officer in Balapur in District Akola, Maharashtra State with an independent charge. That was the time he was posted to Akola for the purpose of “district training” with a flamboyant designation called “Supernumerary Assistant Collector” invented by the British. I discovered in him not only a fine colleague but a great friend.
 
District life for bachelors like us was devoid of any sense of romanticism which we compensated by intellectual discussions, within our limited knowledge at that young age, on a variety of topics such as history, religion, philosophy, politics etc and the subjects were endless. I remember his profound admiration for Rajaji and his writings, which was born from his being an Iyengar as I would occasionally tell him in good humour. He would often refer to passages from the book “Vyaasar Virundhu”, the wonderfully written Tamil version of Mahabharata that Rajaji had written.
 
If anybody was a stickler for honesty and rules, it was Vasu as we used to call him. I remember that he was fond of Hindi movies, the only source of entertainment in Akola then, just the way I was. The theatre-fellows would often hesitate to take any ticket money knowing that we were bureaucrats. Once, he insisted on paying at least the ‘entertainment duties’ that were part of the ticket-price since the Government was not to be denied its due revenue!
 
Sometimes, he would not recommend some movies to be seen. Once he strongly held the view that a particular movie was very bad and senseless and felt that it should be avoided. When asked ‘why?’ he said that he should know since he had seen it three times! Vasu had a great sense of humour. Indeed, once he accompanied another young colleague of his who was going from shop to shop to buy a bush shirt. Once, when that person was disrobing for the purpose of a ‘trial’, he saw his banian and told him, “Hey, you actually need a banian and not a bush shirt! It is full of holes!”
 
These are a few amongst several old memories with me. While he had such a unique sense of humour on the one hand, he was on the other hand, a mixture of a Puritan, Non-Partisan, Spartan, Good Samaritan, Rationalist, Socialist and a Task Master. All these qualities governed his personal as well as his official life as he climbed his official ladder from district postings to the Maharashtra  Secretatiat to the Government of India.
 
At an official level, he was a tireless administrator and knew how to get work done from the subordinates whom he used to impress with his personal example, candour, affability and good humour. He was honest to the core, and for him integrity was next to godliness. He was fearless with his political bosses and begged education in the art of currying favour with them or doing anything out of the way for them. He perhaps paid a little price occasionally for being forthright with his bosses. However, on the whole his character and ability won him the support and admiration of his seniors.
 
Vasu was not just a karma-yogi as far as work was concerned. He was also a gnyana-yogi from his deep learning from books and scriptures. He excelled in his strict orthodoxy and took pride in his provenance from the temple town of Srirangam . I admire him most for some of his qualities other than the benisson given to him as a karma-yogi and a gnyana-yogi, since those qualities are indeed most rare in modern times. There was a great sense of purity in his being which is legendary only amongst angelic characters. In that sense he shone like a ‘Manikkam’, unblemished jewellery. He was a pure soul, incapable of harbouring any negative quality such as jealousy, spite, ill-will etc. He was a non-smoker, a non-drinker and a person of disciplined habits. It is sad that he was afflicted with a carcinoma of the liver that eventually took his life away. May his soul rest in peace.