Dear Dilip:

We are told that you left us this morning. We weren't, and are not, prepared for this. Very many of us aren't.

You are one person who we always considered to be amongst the best visionaries we have known, but to who's many a brilliant ideas many of us remained blind.

Here in our institute, you have been a signature of moral values and code of ethics. The students of our institute and very many of your friends here will never be able to find even a close substitute. Your loss is a huge one for us. I cannot even imagine how many of our students and your friends will feel lost and rudderless without you.

You will live in our hearts. We have loved and adored you. Your life has taught us, both younger and older than you, all a lot. Remembering you will continue to teach us what a teacher ought to be. That would include a role not merely in the classrooms, but also outside it, for our students live here with us, amidst us, away from their families. On this residential campus, teachers and students have a great opportunity to sustain the traditional GURUKUL system in which teachers would be mentors of the students in very many ways. After all that is said and done, we are in the end one family, and a teacher has a crucial role in campus life. You lived a teacher's life in a very complete sense that will continue to inspire both students and teachers. Your life will continue to light the way for very many.

Dilip, we shall miss you immensely!

Yours,

Pranawa Deshmukh

Professor & Head, Department of Physics,
Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, Chennai - 600036, India