Rajeev Motwani

The computer science community has faced a big loss in the past weekend. Prof Motwani, though his books, taught millions of students - myself included. He was a person with a rare quality of seeing through the abstractions of theory to identify applications to real life problems.

We hope to learn from his research and further his immense contributions to the field of Computer Science.

It is a shock for the entire human race. For India, its probably the second case of early demise of such a great talent after Ramanujan. His contributions will always inspire the scientific fraternity. His life showed the true spirit of an IITK alumnus and will continue to inspire the budding minds throughout the world.

The universe suddenly seems to be more random place than ever. May his soul rest in peace.

Just two weeks back I saw Rajiv in TiE meeting at Santa Clara, and walked with him to the Door as he was rushing back for Lunch. I met Rajiv in Feb 1983 in Hall 5, as we had a Astro-Palmistry Club in those days and we took his Palm Prints to compare it with Laurence Herzberg's Palm prints [who gave few lectures at IIT K in those days]. Again in Dec. 1988, I saw an article about his research in New York Times's Science section and I took the whole Newspaper to his house in Palo Alto.

Rajiv was a constant feature in IIT Kanpur Picnics and Annual functions always cheerful and happy.

I took initiative to nominate Rajiv for Distinguished Alumnus Award and collected all the information about his contribution in various research topics and who can be more deserving that Rajiv.

Rakesh Sharma
New York

Very sad and tragic. There is no other way to describe this.

I write this for all those of us grieving in our own way; those who knew Rajeev as a fellow alum, a colleague, a mentor, an investor and most importantly as a friend. A friend you could trust with technology, business, personnel or personal challenges, anytime, anywhere.

Rest in Peace my friend. We all carry a piece of you in our hearts and minds - especially your enigmatic smile.

I remember all those conversations in the Hall V quad with Rajeev's usual charm, cheerfulness, and brilliance in each instance. He inspired me to achieve what I have in my own life. I am really sorry to see such a great friend and person to leave us so soon.

Suresh

I read his books on Automata theory and Randomized algorithms. He inspired my interest in computer science.

May God give his soul peace and new life.
Reading his personal I just feel proud as i am one where he was one.

may your soul in your peace

I still recall the excitement generated when the PCP theorem was announced and the feeling of pride on knowing that one of the [ALMSS] is an IITK alumni. Rajeev went on to made several fundamental contributions in algorithms area besides co-writing the very influential book on randomized algorithms. Although I met him only once very briefly in Stanford, I have been interacting with him for last 4 years for Research I Foundation work over phone and email. He was always the first to support any good proposal and ever ready with suggestions.

He will be sorely missed.

Manindra Agrawal
Dept of CSE, IIT Kanpur

This news came as a shocking loss. I met Rajeev a few times in bay area IITK parties and he was always a very friendly and cheerful person. Of course, his achievements in Computer Science are innumerable. I pray to god that his soul may rest in peace.

I am still in shock and cannot believe Rajeev is gone.

A lot has been said of his achievements which are phenomenal so I thought I would share some of my experiences with Rajeev on his personal side. I met him first in Delhi when he was at high school as my room-mate was his elder brother's classmate at Columbus. I got to know him better when he joined K (I was a year senior) and we became close - first through the hours spent in his "indoctrination" into IIT and Hall 3 - that was prolonged since we knew his brother :) .... and for the next four years through the Audio Club and countless bull sessions and other completely non-academic activity.

I met him the week before last Friday when he was over with his family to listen to his old buddies bash out a few tunes with our children leading the way to show us they have "real-talent".

As he said, "Mad, you still sound like Muzak after all these years!", with his sunny smile!

Words cant describe the loss our extended family and friends feel for Rajeev's loss as a friend, mentor, wellwisher and guide. I cannot imagine what his family are going through and hope we can help them cope in some small way.

I will miss you my friend....

The news about Rajeev was shocking. Reading these words at the site of our institute makes it even more sad. As a person who spent most of my life doing one or the other form of CS R&D, I have so much respect for one of us who was so much more brilliant. May God bless his soul and may God bless IITK for raising a person like Rajeev.

I read a book on Google. recently and recalled Prof Rajeev Motwanis`contributions to Google .i am a Physician and using Google for getting much needed new medical information.It gives me immense pride that I am working for I.I.T Kanpur, Where Persons like Prof Motwani are being groomed.
I pray to God departed Soul May rest in eternal peace! May his family have courage to face the immense loss .

He was one of the most brilliant computer scientists I have met.
It is shocking to say the least.
In my interactions with him I found him brilliant, child like, with a great sense of humour and genuine regard for people who helped him and inspired him in his life.
He was very good at explaining complex things in a simple manner.
From a theoretical computer scientist he had started calling him self a "start-up junkie", because of his enthusiasm in mentoring new entrepreneurs.
He was a classmate of Shahrukh Khan, the Indian film star, in school and had great admiration for him.
In his self effacing style he would say, 'that guy (Shahrukh) is brilliant and will be the No.1 in anything he takes up'. Pushing into background his own remarkable intellectual achievements.
My heartfelt condolences to his family.
shivanand

See the brief profile I had written about him in 2004 in Business India at:
http://reflections-shivanand.blogspot.com/2007/08/rajiv-motwani.html

Person like Rajiv Motwani can never die, he will be alive and remembered through his work.

I did not know Rajiv well at IITK but had a chance to interact with him when he evaluated a software designed by our start up. This short meeting was enough for an everlasting impression created by him in my memory. He was such a softspoken, gentle and humble person, willing to provide help and helping comments to 'new people' like us. While we knew that he was such a 'bakait' he never let us feel that. May his soul rest in peace and heart felt condolences to his family. May God give them the strength to bear this huge loss.

my heart goes in tears n my heart is full of emotions, May almighty rest the soul of Rajiv in peace n in heaven
May God give strength and courage to the family of Raviv.

Aameen

May god give peace to his soul and courage & strength to his family to bear this great , tragic and untimely loss of Rajeev.

I remember a night in hall 1 when I first heard about Rajeev Motvani and Google story from an alumni of 1983 batch. Since then I have been telling proudly the story to numerous people. Then I read the news... It was a sad day. He was one of the greatest among our alumni.

may his soul rest in peace

May your soul rest in peace.

I'm extremely sad to learn about the untimely demise of a brilliant colleague. Mt heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family whose loss can never be filled up. May his soul rest in peace.

It is extremely painful to hear about the untimely demise of Prof Motwani.
I sometimes wonder why is it that many noble and talented people's lives are so cut short by cruel destiny. The irreparable loss caused by the sad demise of Prof. Bhargava is not yet overcome and now one more such thing to hear.

I pray for Rajeev's soul to rest in peace.

Best,
Pranay

A tragic loss for the CS community, IITK almuni association and a loss for the Indian Science.

Somesh Kumar

Rajeev went like a meteor .

Perhaps a memorial ay IIT/K may be beacon to students faculty and alumni.

We pray for the family and wish God gives them strength to bear this

irreparable loss.

May god give peace to his soul and courage & strength to his family to bear this great , tragic and untimely loss of Eminent pesonality

God Bless the Departed Soul and help his family from recovering from the irreparable loss.
He will always be with us in spirit.

Amen

My heart felt sympathies for the family of Rajeev. What ever I leart from the news papers and the letter of Prof. Kripa Shanker, Rajeev was undoubtedly a brilliant scholar. May God give his family enough courage to bear this huge loss.

May god give peace to the departed soul. I always have seen about sir on the internet world - blogs, conferences, news, research references. such a great personality! Surely there are many to follow the great person's foot steps.

It's now almost a week since the tragic event, and yet, it's so hard to believe that Rajeev is no more, especially when one sees the photograph in the obituary. That smile, a little shy, a little mischievous, was the same when he was a student here. Anyone who had taught Rajeev could not but be impressed by his class. At the same time, he was not at all competitive-- if he did well, which he did, it was because doing well was so natural for him.
I met him only infrequently since 1983, but I'd get in touch with him whenever any need arose, either for myself or for a student. Rajeev would render his help promptly and he'd answer e-mails without any delay. Only now I realize, reading about him, how busy though he had been all through. I recall that in 1999 June I went to his office to meet him. When I reached, one undergraduate student of his theory of computation course was there already, to clear some doubts. From the questions the student was asking, it was evident that the student had put in hardly any effort for the course till then. Most of us would be very impatient with such students. Rajeev, however, was not only patient but also friendly-- I still remember how beautifully, without using the whiteboard, Rajeev explained, just through words, why the problem of checking if an input TM would ever make a left move when started on a blank tape is decidable. I could see that the student understood the argument, and he left the office very happy. It was a lesson to me-- I realized that people of true excellence have no problems at all in accepting shortcomings in others.
These years at IITK we teach theory of computation from Hopcroft, Motwani, Ullman, and as we mention that this is the text, we invariably mention with great pride and happiness that the author Motwani was our student. That pride from now on will be coupled with great sorrow.

IT IS REALLY SAD TO HEAR SUCH A NEWS. MAY GOD HELP HIS FAMILY TO BEAR THE CALAMITY. MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE.

PROF. RAM ADHAR SINGH
DEPT OF CHEMISTRY
B H U VARANASI-221005 INDIA

Over the last nine years I had the opportunity of spending time with Rajeev and Asha. Rajeev always found the time to meet and brainstorm despite his other commitments. I found him not only extremely bright, witty, but always willing to provide valuable suggestions. His smile was infectious. Even though he was much junior to me but I had the highest regard for his foresight, vision, and integrity. Even though I never got to know his daughters but I am sure they will get to know that they had a brilliant father who will be missed by many. My heart goes out to Asha and their daughters at this extremely difficult time.
Anil Bhandari
IITK 1969

First, Rajeev should not have gone away from us.
Maybe, God also needed someone for help in Computer Technology.
We all pray to the Almighty to give us strength to bear this untimely loss.

I remember Rajeev from the first CS course he took, TA 306 on Principles of Programming. I taught it in the first semester of 1980-81 academic year. He was from the first batch of CS undergraduates from IIT K. To say that he was outstanding is stating the obvious. I can still see his answer paper to the exams papers I set. His answers were amazingly clear, brief and to the point. Nice clean handwriting, no scratched lines, clean as a whistle, as they say. All this can only come from clarity in the mind, and he had it in abundance.

Rajeev was a generous person. He thanked me for setting him on the road, and I was flabbergasted, as I only had simple programming in my course. I met him a few times at Stanford, and over the years saw him transform from being chubby to rugged. The first tie I met him there, he had just spent a summer with Google, and said that he did it because he had moved to Palo Alto where the rents were higher!

It is a rare honour to have students like Rajeev Motwani. His office was next to Knuth's, and that is how I think of him. May his soul rest in peace and may his family find strength and courage to remember him for the best things he stood for in these dark times.

Regards

Kesav

We will miss a brilliant researcher and a entrepreneur.

Extremely sad to hear about Professor Motwani. Please convey my heartfelt condolences to his family and relatives. Thanks

An irreversible loss for both Computer Science and Venture industry. May his soul rest in peace

My deep condolences to Rajeev's family.
My prayer for his soul to rest in peace with God.
Wish his family cherish with his sweet memories.

- Krishnamoorthy
(IITK, Class of 1972)

the world of computing will not be the same without Rajeev 

I pray to the Almighty to rest his soul in peace. May He bring comfort to his loved ones. It was an unexpected and unexplained loss that happened to all of us. Indeed the community lost a great achiever.

He was an Icon of Brilliance and mentored companies like Google. I pray to the god to give the peace to his sole and give him rebirth on this earth to show and guide us with a new success story.

It is such an irony that within a week of honoring Sid Agrawal posthumously, we lost another luminary from IITK Anumni Association and general Indian community of Bay Area.

May his soul rest in peace and his family get strength to face this huge loss!

I am shocked to learn about the tragic and untimely death of Rajeev Motwani. May his soul rest in peace. I pray to God to give strength to his family to bear this loss.

I am deeply saddened by such an early demise of a fellow alumnus. Please extend my condolences to Asha and may God provide her with the strength and courage to persevere through this terrible loss.

We are deeply saddened by the untimely passing away of Prof. Rajeev Motwani. A brilliant man, whose life and career has been cut short. He is our thoughts and prayers. May Almighty God provide strength to his family, in this very difficult time, to move forward. My wife, Poonam, and I offer our condolences to the family of Dr. Motwani.

Dr. Viney P. Aneja Phone# (919) 515-7808
Professor Air Quality FAX # (919) 515-7802
email [email protected]
Professor Environmental Technology
Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences
Room 5136 Jordan Hall
Campus Box 8208
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8208, U.S.A.

May your soul rest in peace.

I think God needed help and called the best of the best. Heaven will never be the same again. Praying to God to grant his family the strength to bear with this terrible loss and peace to his soul.

Rajeev's life and professional pursuits are so well rounded and inspiring.

He was expected to be present during the Golden Jubilee celebrations of IIT/K. While he would not make it in person the institute and its alumni owe it to him and to ourselves to make such well-rounded excellence our guiding lights.

If one of ours could be so effective and iconic in Silicon Valley and Stanford University it is imperative that we make efforts to make many Rajeev Motwanis live in the pursuits and ambitions in the generation of IIT/K students of the past, present, and future.

I would suggest this well rounded brilliance - academic, professional, entrepreneurial, leadership, initiative, and empathy - should be a key theme of IIT/K redefining itself for the next 50 years.

Our heartfelt sumpathies for the family. They are very much a part of the extended IIT/K family and we grieve with them. His ways are mysterious.

I pray for the departed soul and also pray to the Lord to give peace and courage to his family and friends in this time of mourning.

It is really a shocking news about the sad demise of Prof. Motwani. I am really very depressed hearing this news. The people like Prof. Maotwani who contributed their to the society and technical world will never die. They will remain live among us. I along with my family pray to almighty to give all strength and courage to all bereaved family members to bear this great loss and give the place to his soul in heaven.
Ashwani Kumar,
A.P. Deptt. of Electrical Engg.
NIT Kurukshetra

Though I had no association with Rajeev Motwani apart from the fact that we were and are connected with IIT Kanpur for ever, I felt his loss rather very closely. I have been hearing of his achievements for a long time. He had a larger than life personna and touched everyone in a very positive manner be it his students, his mentees and even others who felt inspired by his magnetic personality and genius.The world is a lot poorer with his demise.We need such human beings in large numbers but there are unfortunately very few people of this stature.May he continue to be in an inspiration to many even while physically absent. His story will be forever told in the annals of computer science, entrepreneurship and also in what it takes to be a wonderful human being. May God bestow peace on the departed soul and strength to his family to cope with the loss!

It's huge loss for the entire world. The personalty like prof. Motwani can never die. The world will always feel you.
May your soul rest in peace.

Motwani must be amongst a few who can really tell God that they played their part to the best of their capability.
May God Bless.

Rajeeva Srivastava
New Delhi

MAY God give peace to his soul and bearable patience to his family. Rajeev sir may have died physically but always alive in millions of heart.

I pray God for peace to the departed soul and help his family to bear the loss.

Dear Sri Rajeev Ji,
I am deeply hurt and pained by the untimely event!

I only wish I would have met you once when I was at CA.

May your noble soul rest in peace.

Regards,
Pankajj

As an alumni of IIT Kanpur, I am very really proud of what Rajiv motwani has done outside in academia circle. His contribution to the society is invaluable and also his contribution towards the growth of the science and technology, which we as a student of technology carry on our shoulders, has been glorifying for our community. I would only hope that we continue to keep our traditions and high and perhaps that'll bring Rajiv's soul to peace.

Thanks

My Heartfelt condolences.His contribution to the soceity will go a long way and will not be forgotten.May his soul rest in peace.

I am sorry to hear about his untimely demise. May God rest his soul in peace and my heartfelt condolence to his wife Asha & kids.

Vishnu Varshney

The demise of Mr. Motwani is a huge loss for all of us. But he will be alive in the memories of people and the soil of IITK. He will inspire the generations to come with his works and contributions....

May his soul rest in peace.......

I feel terrible to know that Prof Rajeev Motwani is no longer. I happend to see his book on randomized algorithms. I pray god to give for his sole.

he was a great visionary with an excellent technical talent having a touch of motto that resembles toward the social reformation via technology

It is indeed very sad to lose Rajeev at the prime of his life, both for his family and for the global academic community.
Krishan Mathur BT(CE) 1963-68, MT(CE) 1970
US Department of Education
Washington DC

May his soul rest in peace and God bless the family.

Rajeev Motwani was one of the best computer scientists from IIT..It's so much inspiring that graduates from IIT's are making a mark in their own respective fields.... Rajeev Motwani is a Source of Inspiration to all the budding engineering graduates from India...It's my dream to be a part of IIT's and definitely i would achieve my goal of becoming an IITian..I would define IIT as a
Birthplace for World Class Research Engineers like Rajeev Motwani.

I wil pray to God, give peace to Rajeev Sir's soul.

An Obituary to Rajeev.
A collective remembrance to those who left US.

Rajeev Motwani, a Stanford Professor drowned and died, said the world. What’s new about dying, I asked. A lot. I answered my own question.
Rajeev was inspiration to generation of Indians who transformed the world in much fundamental ways then can be recognized even by a Nobel prize. I met him as a 17 year old in IIT Kanpur campus in 1979 when first Islamic revolution in the world had occurred in Iran.
In his epochal work ‘ The Myth of Sisyphus’ Albert Camus said” when hope in life is aroused , even Gods become helpless against human interests”
Rajeev probed human interests and made Gods helpless. That was the secret of his success as a scientist.
He spoke to me , ironically, by the IITK poolside, while I was on a counseling trip. Can you jump into the waters? He asked. Yes, I can , I replied. Not because I knew how to swim, but as a fresher in a campus of India’s engineering schools, in a hot May afternoon in Kanpur, dying in a pool was a far dignified way to reject life’s conditions then to submit and surrender.
Rajeev didn’t tell me whether he could swim. Nor I had the courage to ask. But he inspired me to convert our lies into truth as a homage to future. First thing I did , after leaving IITK, was to learn to swim in IITD pool. It’s traumatic to me today that Rajeev didn’t. That was his failing as a human.
Today, I am using the a Google page to tell the world about Rajeev. A page by the people he inspired to create not just a technology but a world of technology where there is a little bit of ‘Rajeev Motwani’ in everything we use. Google people have said it.
But that my friends still hardly a defense against Rajeev’s passage. Hardly enough apology to life. This is a great descent in life. A descent performed in great sorrow.
Today, as the images of past, cling too tightly to memory, the call of happiness is still insistent in our hearts. Even when melancholy rises, Rajeev will float above us all. May God be there with his family today.

PC Tripathi

Prof. Rajeev Motwani was a gem in Computer Science field. His contributions in algorithm and complexity has been a motivating source for many students. Students,like me, has learnt theoretical computer science by studying his books. His departure is really a big loss for the computer science society

Rajeev Motwani was a great teacher, we studied his book on theory of compution he co co-authered with Jeffery D Ullman.The book is Lucid and presents some difficult concepts quite comprehensively

It is with deep sadness we mourn the passing of our distinguished alumnus Rajeev Motwani (IITK/BT/EE/1983). Rajeev was a great teacher and mentor to entrepreneurs. He will be dearly missed by all. Our hearts and prayers are with the Motwani family.

Abhay Bhushan
President, IITK Alumni Association

An irreparable loss to Computer Science community. I think best condolence we can ever offer to Dr. Motwani is by raising IITK up to the standards of Stanford University. May departed soul rest in peace.

It is one of the saddest days since curtains on Netscape, just knowing that there was a guy who could go any length to help young entrepreneurs - and that - is now gone is the biggest blow.

Death could certainly have waited in this case for many years to come... Stanford deserved many more star Ph.D. dropouts and the world sure deserves many more GOOGLE-esque stocks.

Thank you Prof. Motwani!
~

I fact Dr. Rajeev were a brilliant scientist.
His contributions will be remembered for a long time.

really great personality.......

A great personality...

It is really sad that we lost a genius for always.........

As a student of history I have had no direct access to what Prof. Rajeev Motwani did in his chosen field of research. But from what I gather from elsewhere, I find it amazing. A genius who had contributed so immensely to science and helped millions in their pursuits it's simply beyond description. Its a tragedy of unimaginable proportion that the world of science and the civilization had been deprived of the services of such a man who was so full of tremendous potential.
Its matter of shame that the Indian media which routinely wastes so much of space on frivolous issues and trivial personalities had no space for even an obituary for one of the most creative minds of our time.
My deep condolences to his family with an earnest prayer to the Almighty to grant eternal peace to the departed soul

We pray to God to give his family the strength to bear with this irreparable loss. May his soul rest in peace

Rare are such people who live forever. The journey through mathematics and computer science has made the life simpler for mankind. I did not know that I studied the textbook written by such a great Indian. Nevertheless the legacy of a great Indian will live on, we will fuel the fire, and the name is etched on the roots of theoretical computer science.

Sai Sashankh Donkena
M.E.Computer Science,
BITS Pilani.

i have read so many articles written by Raajiv sir,

I feel very proud when i think of him being contributing so much to IT
field.

May god give peace to his soul and courage & strength to his family to bear
this great , tragic and untimely loss of Eminent pesonality

Regards,

Praveen Sharma
Gurgaon (India)

I was just browsing through the web page of Purushottam student of prof. Manindra Agrawal and came across a link on Remembering Prof. Rajeev Motwani. Just got surprised by the news of sudden demise of Professor. Thanks to Professor for authoring a classic book on Automata Theory through which surely he will be remembered for ever. May lord keeps him in serene.