Nagaraja Sripadachar Dumbel was a friend. Is a friend, Mentor, Sisya, Philosopher, Egotist, Non-Conformist, Skeptic, Erstwhile Religious, Dost, Confidante, Source-of-Josh-of-all-sorts, Competitor, Dreamer, Idealist, Realist, "Natural Sportsman". Among other things.
He epitomised intelligence. And Quickness. And razor sharp understanding, And ambition. And conscience. He is no more. But I do believe that his memories will drive me to new heights, and new planes and new worlds.....
Let me introduce you to him with a very immodest aphorism which he had coined for himself, or which we had thrust on him for his way of life, appropriately called Nagism - "If anyone else can do it, I can do it with relative ease. If I can't do it, No one else can do it" . This philosophy was prevalent throughout his life. If you ask me to think of one word that comes to my mind when I think of him - its "panta" , or "punter" or whatever is its equivalent.
I remember our conversations, which though cannot be compared to the dialogues of Aristotle with Plato (those were from guru to shishya, notice the use of "sh" in "shishya" , as opposted to "s" in "sisya"), were probably the best intellectual conversations I have had in my life. Ranging from anthropology, philosophy, Formula-1, each other, women, love, life, computer science, basic sciences, language, character, thoughts, epistemology, the crass, idealogies, movies, music, mythology, almost everything one could think of those days. I remember the way in which he "got" what I was trying to say and would give me an acknowledging look when I "got" what he was trying to say. These non-verbal thrills are something that I very rarely find in people. Very rarely. With Naga it was the best ever.
His profound knowledge and insight into the world of Computer Science, Religion, Philosophy, Sports, Movies, Class (he made it a concept, almost), and anything which required thinking cannot be exaggerated. I bow to him.
I remember the inconsequential hanging out. For absolute time-pass stuff like Gobi, Masale Dose, Juice, Gulkhan (how he hated it), Chaat, Girls, Moives, TV, Friends, Football, Cricket, Pool (only once), Swimming, Bus-rides, Bike-rides, Car-drives. I very fondly remember that I was the lucky one with whom he decided to study for the exams of the last 3 semesters in engineering. These are the times when I got to know the true person in him. I saw the competitive spirit, the I-am-the-best attitude, the ego, the emotional outage, the free-thinking-spirit, the never-say-die attitude. His devotion to "sisyatva" was legendary. There has not been a time when he has turned down a "beats" invite. Every time we hung out together doing anything, I came out with some gain. Some spirit, some extra knowledge, some new thought, some new idea. In spite of being so, his apprehension and fear about everything on which he didn't have control on, makes me smile now. Thats a part of the skeptic in him, I suppose. A complex person.
For some history. Having known him since we were 14, I see that he was not the best back then (maybe I was not good enough to recognize it). But as time went on; from 10th to 2 pu, through engineering, to campus jobs, I saw that he metamorphed from a relative somebody to THE person to know, to, THE person to learn from, to THE person to teach, to THE person to talk to, to THE person to be with. This transformation is what I see as the turning point in his life, when he was initiated into the world of self-belief. It made him what he was. (I still remember his crying on the day of the IBM interviews, he was not sad that he had not got a job, he was sad that they thought he was not good enough, I could so very easily see through it, and he was so happy that I was there for him back then, and I am happy about that). His recruitment at MicroSoft was probably the testament he was craving for, to prove to the world that he was that good ( I dont think he needed to prove it to himself ). I somehow wish that his spirit ( whatever that is ) was there the day of his funeral, to notice and admire and feel good about the flock of people who had thronged the area. At 22, I can safely say that he had achieved 10% of what I think, he deserved, and maybe 1% of what he thought he deserved. Just goes on to show that we always didnt concur.
How I craved for compliments and at times, flattery from the critic in Naga? Thats becuase when compliments flow from someone who thinks they are the best the world has seen ( which was probably true in certain areas where he was really good at ), the compliments mean a lot and touch a lot. I still remember the night when we were hell bent on proving to one another that the other was better. The very fact that my compliments elated him, elates me now. He even flicked my resume and changed my name to his. A greater compliment has not been given to be since. Some personal things we spent time on alone were the songs from Rangeela, Dil Se, Indian, The RX-135 bike, Srividya Y, Sowmya, Formula 1, Advaita-Dvaita, Late Night Studies, Arguments and then, there are so much more. As an addendum, I dont know whether I would've said all this if he were around. Can't let him know he is that good, can I ?
You can but remember a person after he is gone, and recall the times when you two thought you were invincible, when you thought that the world was gonna be small for us. But, those times are now replaced with a pragmatic outlook at concepts. From him, I have known that I can hold ego, conscience, fear, intelligence, pragmatics and life, all of them consistently in my head and strive to climb the next step. I do believe that the world missed out on someone who could've changed its face (was it a coincidence that he was born on October Second?)