Remembering Nikhil

NDK Scholarship Awardees

2010-06-29T05:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

You will be happy to know that PSBB has begun awarding the NDK Scholarship to students. Before giving more details on the awardees, I realized that I should include some of proof regarding the final state of the NDK Scholarship account at SBI IITM.

I have included a screenshot of the account details which has the details of the cheques which were handed over to PSBB at Main School. Though it is quite late to post this info, I hope it gives you the same sense of satisfaction that it did for me. Please click on the screenshot for a larger version.

I have 'boxed out' certain details, for the privacy of the donators. The first two entries are of interest and show that the two cheques which were given were successfully passed on 3rd March 2010.

Now, on to the details of the awardees. Avinass, Baargav and I had received a mail from PSBB informing that the students were awarded the NDK Cash Prize. From the mail, I quote:

We are glad to inform you that the following prizes are awarded to the students for the academic year 2009 - 2010 instituted by your goodself.....

.... “Nikhil.D.Kamath Memorial Cash Award” for the Best All Rounder in
(a) Std. XII - VIJAY VENKATESH – XII B
(b) Std. X - VARUN RAJAGOPAL – X B &
HARISH KRISHNA .V – X B

The annual prize distribution would be held on Wednesday 14th July 2010 at 2.00 PM at PSBB Main School, i.e.

PSBB Sr.Sec School
No. 15, Lake First Main Road,
Nungumbakkam,
Chennai - 600 034

I am planning on attending the prize distribution ceremony and it would be good to see some familiar faces of batch mates, there as well. So do try to attend if free.

As always, if you have any doubts, you could contact Avinass, Baargav or myself (Ramachandran) for further information or doubts.

Thank You.

Target Reached

2010-02-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

You will be happy to know that we have reached our target for the Nikhil Kamath Scholarship. :) (Click here for the latest account transfer record).

This is a great occasion as our plans to honour Nikhil have crossed a major hurdle. It wouldn't have been possible but for every single person's initiative and contribution and only goes to show the great bond in our batch and the respect we had for Nikhil.

To be honest, I did not think we would be able to achieve the target and now that we have, I am even more proud to have been a student of PSBB 2005 batch. Great work, people, you were all awesome. This especially includes a few of my batchmates from IIT-M who did their bit by contributing to the NDK Scholarship.

Now, some details on the actual plan ahead. My previous post on this topic, contained some incorrect details. What we plan to do is the following:

1) Draw two cheques. One cheque for Rs.1.25 lakh and for Rs.15,000.

2) The first cheque will be deposited into an account created by PSBB for this purpose. Every year it will accrue interest and the prize money will be awarded from the interest gathered. This will ensure that the NDK Scholarship can be awarded annually if need be.

3) The other cheque will be used to institute the award this year. The amount of Rs.15000 will be used for the following purposes:

-- Purchasing the 2 rolling shields - Between 5000-6000

-- Engraving costs etc. - A minor amount

-- Prize money for this year - Rs.8000

The above steps which need to be taken sound simple enough and we expect to do this very soon.

There may be a few people who are in the process of donating and may still like to. We are planning to give a cheque with the amount specified only and would not be immediately using or transferring any extra money that is donated. Though it would not hurt in having an extra amount, I request that any process that has been started in this regard, be put on hold.

If you have any doubts on the above issue or anything else, as always you can contact K.N.Ramachandran (knram06 [at] gmail [dot] com) or V.M.Avinass Kumar (avinasskumar [at] gmail [dot] com).

I will keep you updated on further important events, especially when we hand over the amount to PSBB. Once again, I would like to say kudos to all those who have contributed and helped us achieve this goal. We haven't yet reached our final and most important aim, but a major part of the work has been done.

Thank You

The Plan Ahead

2010-01-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

Hi,

First of all, a big Thank You to those who have donated so far. It is only by your contributions that the amount has reached a healthy total of more than 85 thousand. As always, if you can spread the word around and remind more people to donate, it would be a big help.

Many people may be wondering as to what their money is doing and how it will be used. The final plan is to hand over a cheque to PSBB Schools with the total amount. This step may happen even as late as May in order to allow the amount to gather some interest. Hence, the amount will remain in the bank for some more time, but it will be taken care of, you can be sure.

I would also like to announce the deadline for donations to the NDK Scholarship. The process was started around December 26th 2009 and we felt it was time we brought the constant remainders for donations to a close.

The deadline has been set to January 31st 2010.

What this deadline means is that, the account will continue to remain for donations, but we may not be actively campaigning for it among the PSBB batch and may look towards other sources if the target is not reached.

I will continue to post important updates on this site, such as reaching the target, handing over the cheque, etc.

Convenient Links:
1) Account Transfer Record
2) List of Contributors

Until then,
Bye

Summary of Updates-NDK Scholarship

2009-12-25T23:57:00.001-08:00

Hi all,

Donations are coming in steadily now and this post is a consolidation of some small changes and updates regarding the account transfers.

1) A common question among many people would be "Who have contributed till now?". Keeping this in mind, I have included another spreadsheet, omitting only the amount transferred. It is editable by everyone and I have filled it in to the best of my knowledge.
The link is given here.
If you feel your name is missing, please do not hesitate to fill it in or you can always contact me.

2) Since I have two accounts at SBI-IITM, cheques should be drawn in favour of "K.N.Ramachandran" with the account number specified. The name of the account was not set to "Nikhil Kamath Scholarship Fund" and I apologize for any confusion caused because of that.

3) So in short, there are two Google Spreadsheets now. One is on the Account transfers and the other one is the List of Contributors.

You may like to go the original post announcing the NDK scholarship to download any relevant documents.

Thanks

Nikhil Kamath Scholarship

2009-12-15T07:30:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

UPDATE(22/12/09): Cheques, if drawn, should be in favour of “K.N.Ramachandran” with the account number mentioned. A small mistake was made as the name of the account was not set to “Nikhil Kamath Scholarship Fund”. The account number is required, since there are two accounts in my name at SBI-IITM.

The plan for the scholarship in Nikhil's name is beginning to take shape. An account has been created for this purpose at State Bank of India, IIT Madras. It is now open for donations :).

The account details are included as an image below (for security purposes).

Updated Account Details. Please click on the picture for a better version

You may have many questions regarding the scholarship. The relevant documents have been prepared and the links are given below. The pertaining documents are:

1) FAQ on the scholarship (includes the account details) - Get it here .

2) Scholarship Corpus Details - Take it here.

3) Scholarship criteria and covering letter -Well, here.

The ZIP file containing all the above files can also be got, here.

The files are actually hosted at MediaFire. I am sorry if you get any annoying popups as I only have a free account. Hope the downloads go smoothly :) .

Any comments/suggestions to improve or speed up the process are gladly welcome. Please go through the documents to clarify any questions you may have and you can contact V.M.Avinass Kumar (avinasskumar [at] gmail [dot] com) or K.N.Ramachandran (knram06 [at] gmail [dot] com) for any unanswered questions.

Please note that contributions are welcome from anyone, not just PSBBians. Donators may like to keep in mind that the scholarship, however, will be given to deserving candidates among PSBB students only.

Thank You.
---

UPDATE:(15/12/09): The Google spreadsheet link is given here.

Nikhil still resides

2009-10-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

The Nikhil I know... Not just the epitome of perfection, but a good neighbour, an awesome friend and a man of character...

You will always reside in all our hearts Nikhil!

best back bencher part two..

2009-10-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

actually this is the last chat conversation i had with nikhil(sept 6th )

9:23 PM me: comet..happy birthday..

11:23 PM
kamath.nikhil:Thanks...

best back bencher ever

2009-10-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

11:41 PM me: hi hi hi hi

11:45 PM kamath.nikhil: hi hi hi hi

Job safe?

me: yes yes..job very safe..

how were mid terms..

11:46 PM did you drink yet?

kamath.nikhil: My balance sheet balanced in accounting, so I'm happy..

No...I thought you gave RT 2 years?

11:48 PM Don't tell me you are still in office...

11:49 PM me: no no..even though i love it so much this is heights..in friends place in banglore..

what is rt 2??

11:50 PM kamath.nikhil: Tamizh is called RT in class...One Prof said 'I can't pronounce your name, so I'll call you RT'...

11:54 PM me: yes yes i gave rt two years..but i think it will be tough for him..

heard you got your face painted by two girls..hitting on girls and all eh??

11:55 PM kamath.nikhil: Forget me...Just you wait for Ass-Man pics...

-my last chat conversation with nikhil..

Remember you as a time of the day, as a way of life.

2009-09-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

Tall is the perhaps the first word that comes to mind when I think of Nikhil. He was was so tall, scored such high marks, had such lofty ambitions and every time we were being petty teenagers(like telling a certain absent-minded teacher "Ma'am totalling error!" and getting some extra marks from her was like taking candy from a child!) I remember Nikhil would take the high road and sit it out. Not that he was Mr.Goody two shoes, he had a fantastic sense of humour. I remember him calling me aside sometimes to tell me a joke or some ridiculous piece of nonsense.

We'd often get piled into the same group and I'd secretly be relieved because I knew the work would be done with Nikhil at the helm, I suspect his feelings were quite the contrary! On one such assignment I recall Nikhil suggested we make a particular team member wear a transparent shirt ala SRK in K3G and do the soppy Suraj Hua Madham or a Hawaiian shirt and do a tropical number. I can't remember which assignment this was for the life of me but I remember discussing this after assembly so vividly!

There was this competition we were packed off to Rosary Matric where we had to sell seasons(yes sell summer and winter etc!) and Nikhil rescued me when I forgot my lines, and then the western music competition in the fifth when he had to sing "Brown Girl in the ring" and his ears got red and he had a bout of stage fright. I met him after school at a lot of Scrabble tourneys. At one such tourney in Bangalore that I was so close to winning, the last of the round robins was with Nikhil who stumped me with a bingo on one of the penultimate moves. He placed the tiles on the board with both his hands gingerly and I noticed there weren't any tiles left on his rack. That one game pushed me to the fourth position overall and I think it speaks volumes about him when I say I couldn't hold it against him! That's a big deal if you consider I was strangely quite angry with a girl 5 yrs younger than me who I'd beat by a small margin...

I don't know what these memories are supposed to signify, I don't know if I'm supposed to showcase his virtues by means of these incidents...I guess I'm grasping at the tail ends of memories before they're lost forever. But you know what? I don't need to recall a single incident to remember, to know what a great guy Nikhil was.

Nikhil is perhaps the one person who could have put me down anytime he wanted, he was so much better than me, us, in every possible way but not once did he do that. Not once did he utter a mean word or was he hurtfully sarcastic or crack a crass joke about anyone. He was the smartest person on the planet no doubt but I will always remember him for being someone much more than that.

I don't believe that you could have changed the world Nikhil, I KNOW that in your own strong silent way you did. I'm so proud to have known you, it's been an honour.
- Shilpa

Nikhil..

2009-09-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

I have been in the same class as Nikhil since my 3rd standard well into the 12th. He was someone who was looked up at with awe. And I never gathered enough nerve to talk to him, inspite of his humble demeanour; such was his standing. It was an undisputed fact that Nikhil was one of those super-achievers who were few and far between and were carved out for great things in life. And now, I'm lost for words. Such was the impact of Nikhil. To even someone who never spoke to him!

May his soul rest in peace. Humble prayers and condolences to his parents and brother.

Remember Nikhil

2009-09-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

Unfairness slaps your face in a way that you cant react to it. Nothing can compare to the loss of probably one of the most brilliant young minds in our country today. We can only mourn and strive to hold on to the memories we have of that soft spoken, humble, yet confident boy who is now immortalised as the boy who had just started out, only to have his life unjustly snatched away from him. He did everything right. He used every opportunity he got and led the ideal life we all should have. He was on all the rolls of honour everywhere he went. He made us get used to seeing a familiar face in the newspaper every week. He made people who had never spoken to him know that there was a higher plane and it was not unreachable. And yet his life was cut short mercilessly despite whatever is supposed to be watching over us.
While we all seek each other out to reminisce the immaculate life of our 22 year old friend, I cannot help but feel obliged to repeat to myself and everybody else around. He was doing everything he had to.
We must remember Nikhil.
I pray for his family and can never fully express the angst, from any of us.
Rest in Peace, Nikhil.

Remember Nikhil

2009-09-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

nikhil

2009-09-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

In the course of fifteen years at school, Nikhil and I would have exchanged perhaps twenty five words, if so many. We were nowhere close to being on the same platform- him, the genius and me, the indifferent performer.

Nikhil, however, was one of those people whom you did not have to interact with for him to impact your life. It was hard not to notice him- the teachers you adored, adored him; the quizzing laurels you read about on the noticeboard were invariably his; the exams you used to dread were inevitably aced by him. Someone once described him as the 'gentle giant' and that phrase stuck in my mind. I was in awe of him- here was the student that I wanted to be- how did he manage it? All my school life, he was a silent, towering presence, both literally and figuratively. When I flip through the mental album of my school memories, Nikhil occupies pride of place- quietly raising a hand and explaining the difference between a resolution and an oath to the awed class- in Class V; studying the table hard and trying not to blush as Hemalatha ma'am praised his immaculate uniform and spotless shoes- in Class X; his ears turning red as teacher after teacher praised him to his mother- in every single school year. There were many, many of those who fervently wished they could be like him some day; I topped that list- and still do.

Nikhil- a remembrance from one of us whom you never knew you impacted.
I'll never forget you.
Rest In Peace.

remembrance

2009-09-29T07:23:00.000-07:00

Nikhil and I would always be relegated to the last row in class because we were both tall, and during the course of our banishment our interaction would begin. To me, he was always the guy who would consistently figure on Page 2 of The Hindu for winning the Young World Quiz time and again, and being commended for his performance in the Discovery Quiz, the Landmark Quiz and other quizzes held in every single school imaginable. I remember how he used to laugh at me for my pathetic performance in chemistry and with his usual sarcasm, he'd teach me about mole concept and how to maintain the perfect science record books.

After school, I never had any interaction with him but his name would always come up when asking other PSBB batchmates what people were up to. He would be the first person they would mention and no wonder -- first he got into IIT Madras and then IIM Ahmedabad. Nikhil was always the smart guy, whom teachers adored for his brains and whom classmates respected and feared for pretty much the same reason. He was the guy who beat all of us without even trying at Zygo Scrabble competitions, and also found time to preserve his name for posterity on the honours board hanging in the quadrangle. He was the guy whom you assumed you'd read about in the papers, not only for quizzing but also for fantastic achievements in everything that he did, because he was smart, funny and one of the most deserving people ever.

It's unfair and cruel that he had to die, because Nikhil deserved to live, and live well. He will always be loved and missed by every single person who knew him.

Jayashree

This is NOT the end ... beautiful friend

2009-09-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

I am not quite sure if eulogies were intended to be written for an incredible 22 year old whose success was the barometer against which his peers rated themselves. But such an unfortunate day has come. I can put in as many depressingly descriptive words the suffering he underwent over the last week, but the nikhil most of us remember was immortal, impregnable and beyond all mortal weaknesses. I dont intend to do disservice to that image which I believe should be enduring.

What Nikhil achieved as a student and human being in these 22 years will be folklore for generations to come. Excellence and perfection, these words can never be used more aptly in context. For nikhil ... these words were a way of life. Be it Table Tennis, acads, quizzing or lits, there were no second standards for him.

But the real nikhil, to me, is a lot more than the bunch of medals and certificates he won. A great guy to share a joke with, the child in him and the knowing smile will be something which I will really miss. His tastes in music and literature speak volumes of his appreciation for culture. WE would expect a guy with these many credentials to be lost in self-glorification ... but i think this is where he stood apart from the rest. and that spot where he stood and hogged the limelight involuntarily ... will be always his ... a legend that was, is and will be - Nikhil.

A monologue from iruvar that struck a chord with my heart ...

"En arunthozhane, idhayathu nanbane, manikka mazhaiye ... maraindhu vittaya ... "

Jim Morrison seemed irrelevant when he said "This is the end beautiful friend the end ..." not so much today ...

remember nikhil this forum has been christened ... i will say nay ... dont remember him .. cherish him admire him and extol him ...

RIP ...

-Avinass

Nikhil.... Amongst my first few pals

2009-09-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

It all started during our tender kinder garden days... The fond memories of mine lasting more than a lifetime... There he was... a silent boy... sitting in the class... and innocence which made his trademark... as time passed by, we ended up entwined by my fortune as friends... time passed by... from the first grade... he was a good friend... used to give me company... shared a few jokes... showed some enthusiasm for new world... time passed by... it was the fourth grade... he came to my home... and there i was just waking up and wondering if it's dream or reality... thats when we got too close to each other... time passed by... it was in sixth grade i think... that's when i admired his "intellect" character when the teacher appreciated his answer in the class... i could never forget that moment when i gasped with amazement.... he was good in everything that he did.... time passed by... he went on doing many things and achieving great heights.... time passed by... i had suffered from typhoid... i lost track of time and all the classes were running off... had he not come outta the blue to my rescue, god knows what i would have done... but as always... he was there to help me during tight spots... he was indeed a person more generous than any i met... time passed by... he went on achieving many in IIT and reached to IIM... time passed by... But fate has it's own taste of irony... when all good times reach to greatness... the lights crash... and right before our very own eyes... he is gone...

He is gone... He has left this world...

But he will never be forgotten... He will always live in our hearts... As a very good friend who gave us a nice smile...

Bye Nikhil,We will always miss you.

2009-09-29T04:32:00.000-07:00

Its a sad day for its never easy to tell an abrupt goodbye to what you thought would be a long story. Nikhil Kamath as the batch of 2005 of PSBB would remember was an exceptionally brilliant guy,an achiever in every sense of the word and who had the potential to get what he wanted. Over the years I have been fortunate enough to meet some very talented people but perhaps the class of 12B was by far the most gifted set of people I have ever been lucky enough to be associated with.Nikhil was one of the best.There was always an aura of confidence about him , almost a cocksure attitude about his ability and he was always on the mark.This is as I remember him from four years ago and I have met few like him since then.
I always looked at the honor board in the school with a fond memory, now I shall remember Nikhil and what could have been. In a sense his loss , its just not fair. He was exceptionally gifted and motivated and these guys dont come often.
When I look back and think of Nikhil I think of brilliance,amazing mathematical skills,motivated,achiever and whom we all thought would really go places.Its been an honor to have shared a class with him.He did in a sense achieve what many dont in a long time.Its a loss that we collectively mourn. This quote from Anish best sums it up for all the people who knew him and his friends…

“I thought I had all the time in the world to catch up with him.. he was a great person and a good friend.. we’ll miss u, Nikhil!!”

Remembering Nikhil

2009-09-29T04:12:00.000-07:00

Nikhil D. Kamath. PSBB batch of 2005. IIT Madras, IIM Ahmedabad freshman, passed away this morning from multiple organ failure. Survived by parents and younger brother. He was loved and respected, and will be missed.

This is a forum for people to add their tributes and memories.

If you have something to say and are unable to write a new post, please add your memory as a comment