Achievements of Prof Narasimhan

He was the founder of NCST(now CDAC Mumbai, and in the beginning, NCSDCT), which went on to become a
worldclass institution, respected for its work-culture as much as its achievements. NCST and CMC as examples to emulate, to other Commonwealth nations.
CMC, the designer of the now famous railway reservation system in India, was also his creation. He was instrumental in the formation of the Computer Society of India, our premier and the only significant computer society. He was also its founder president. He started the now famous FST-TCS conference series.

In addition to all these, he was a researcher and thinker, par excellence with a multi-disciplinary approach. He graduated in engineering from Guindy Engg college and went to US for his Masters and Phd, which he did in Maths. He returned to
India and joined the instrumentation group at TIFR, and went on to initiate the development of the first digital computer in India - the TIFAC. His research interest spans language acquisition, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, etc.

I have known him little by way of direct interaction. Ever since,
I joined NCST, one could not miss the awe and respect that the tags "professor" and "RN" would generate at NCST. Any work associated with him got the highest priority from everyone from the top to the bottom.

I have seen him pass by many a times, with the now-well-known dispassionate look on the face. A simple man, with a steady and sure pace, generally dressed in a simple shirt and pants, hardly ever in a formal attire, was commanding this level of awe. As one heard more about him, the awe also naturally came.

According to Mr Sasi - There was much one found out, beyond the technical list of achievements in a multitude of arenas. He was Mr Systematic. Words came with precision; there was no room for redundancy or correction. So was his writing. He could hand-write
pages and pages of manuscript with hardly any correction. I have seen our administrative staff key in such material for some work of his - a paper, a book, etc. His anger was feared by all - no harsh words, no shouting,often a simple remark or even silence. At times, when I needed to talk to him, my heart rate would increase significantly. I would wish that I dont miss a word, or that the phone line will be perfectly clear. But he hardly would notice - plain, straight to the point. No chit chat, no wandering
around. Phone calls and conversations would last just seconds.

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