Family Tribute:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

- Rudyard Kipling.

Shreyas Ranganath was born on the 4th of January 1975 in a town called Bhadravati in the state of Karnataka, India but lived most of his in Bangalore. Right from his childhood, he grew with resolute sharpness and intelligence. Extremely mischievous as a boy, he was the centre of attraction and the apple of everybody's eye in the neighborhood. But everybody could see the change in him as he grew up to be a very studious, focused and a hardworking student. Being five and a half years younger to him, my oldest memories of him is that of a boy sitting in front of his desk late at night, totally engrossed in his books. Being a voracious reader probably changed his entire outlook towards life; he seldom involved himself in mundane activities that we, common people can't live without, making him matured beyond his age. Yet, that mischievous smile and the twinkle in his eye never left him.

Of the many talents that he had, the one that was outstanding was his voice. Even though he never had any formal training in music, he used to sing with such confidence and ease that won the appreciation of one and all. Cricket was another passion of his. He had a lot of friends his age in the locality and I used to watch them play on the street with the seriousness of an India-Pakistan clash at Sharjah, and my brother was always the local hero. Needless to say, I was never a part of their team as I was considered 'too' young.

As a human being, his outstanding quality was his large heart. I remember an instance when he was in 11th standard, as a part of the National Cadet Corp, he and some of his friends had gone on a camp to Beasant Park at the outskirts of the city. The NCC has cadets belonging to the age group of 16 to 25 and after a rigorous training for a fortnight, the officers there announced that a blood donation campaign would be organized for the wounded soldiers in the Indian Army and that only people above 18 years were allowed to give blood. Apparently, a 16-year-old Shreyas instantly became older by 3 years to give his blood for a noble cause. Even after he started working for WIPRO Technologies, in spite of his 16-18 hours a day working schedule, he touched the lives of a lot of people, especially those bright kids in the locality for whom money was the reason for dropping out of school.

His interests in life were many. Traveling around the world, meeting people of different cultures, background and beliefs was something he loved doing. His constant companion, wherever he was, was a Sony Walkman and he loved all kinds of music. A big U2 fan, 'I still haven't found what I'm lookin' for' was a song you could hear him singing most of the time. It was a project for Marsh & McLennan that brought him to NY and the World Trade Center. He's still there, working, doing what he did the best. And his parents and his brother cherish his memories in his absence, and would like to tell the world that he was a MAN, in all respects.