Memories of Professor V Rajaraman

The IIT Kanpur alumni-initiated newsletter "Spark" ( https://www.iitk.ac.in/dora/spark/ ) has published a special issue devoted to Prof. V. Rajaraman. It is the magazine's February 2026 issue, edited by Mr. Shirish Joshi, on Prof. Rajaraman's contributions to computer education and the software industry in India. A galaxy of writers have documented their memories. A part of this article has been published there. This is the full version. 

I usually send a greeting to a few mentors of mine on teachers’ day and on Guru Poornima. In 2025, I sent the following message to Professor Rajaraman: “On the occasion of Guru Purnima, I would like to extend to you my sincere greetings and heartfelt thanks. You were the examiner for my Ph.D. thesis, titled "Language-Based Problem Solving," which I completed in 1969. Your critical evaluation and insight into that work left a deep impression on me. Over the years, our association deepened through the Knowledge-Based Computer Systems project and your generous support at key moments in my professional journey. You were a referee for several of the awards I have been fortunate to receive, and you served on the Board of Advisors when I played a key role in starting the HP Labs India. Your books and writings have educated and inspired me over the decades. Your example as a scholar and mentor has left a lasting impression on me, and I continue to be guided by your work and the values you embody. With reverence and gratitude on Guru Purnima, 
July 10, 2025.”
Then I phoned to say who wrote the words in the greeting, and learnt Professor was in the hospital. So, I sent the following message to Mrs. Rajaraman:
“Dharma Akka, I must mention that ChatGPT, the popular AI tool, wrote the wording of the greeting, based on information and directives given by me! Please do tell Prof. Rajaraman. I assume that in the hospital, his access to email would be very restricted.
July 11, 2025.” 

Prof. Rajaraman often gave me the privilege of reading in manuscript form something he had written for publication. I would send him my comments. In the recent years, I have enjoyed the “tidbits” he wrote, most of which have appeared in the last book he published. It carries exciting anecdotes [Rajaraman, 2024] and is highly inspiring. I will cite two examples. 
I had been thrilled to meet the originator of the Ethernet, Robert Metcalf, approximately 55 years ago, at a conference in Paris. So, I sought him out and spent some time having a chat with him. Decades later, I was to read more about him in a Tidbit article that Professor had written. 
When Metcalfe was a graduate student at Harvard, MIT offered better facilities for what he wanted to do, and the two universities had agreed that he could accept a job at MIT and submit a thesis based on his work to Harvard. His thesis was about ARPANET, about the Interface Message Processors (IMPs) that connected main frames to the ARPANET, and host protocols. The IMP was the granddaddy of all routers we use today! 

The examiners felt that the thesis contained nothing theoretical or mathematical in it. They rejected the thesis! 

When Metcalf was nearing completion of his Ph D work at Harvard, Xerox Park had offered him a job, which he had accepted. The amazing story is that when Metcalf wrote to Xerox Park about the rejection of his PhD thesis, they told him to report for work anyway. He could complete his thesis work at Xerox Park by doing what the examiners had asked for! While working at Xerox Park, Metcalfe and his assistant, David Boggs, published a paper on a Local Area Network. This paper described the foundational ideas of the Ethernet. 

Metcalfe had worked on the mathematical model of the ALOHAnet of Prof. Norman Abramson and improved it. He submitted the thesis by adding this work and earned his PhD. 

I did not know all this, despite being a fan of Metcalf. I learnt how easy it is to throw out a PhD student, like a baby with bathwater. I also learnt how wise managers nurture good human talent despite minor setbacks and bring out terrific creativity. Such information made my day every time I read Tidbits by Professor Rajaraman. 

There was another tidbit which I can never forget. The anecdote in that tidbit appears on page 226 of the book in the Reference [Rajaraman, 2024]. Steve Jobs had visited Xerox Parc in 1979 where he saw the graphical user interface they had created, involving icons and a mouse. He immediately recognized the revolutionary potential of these ideas. Apple released Mcintosh in 1984, and Microsoft released Windows OS in 1985. Steve Jobs accused Bill Gates of stealing his idea. Bill Gates replied “Well Steve, I think there is more than one way of looking at it. I think it is more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox, and I broke into his house to steal his TV set and found out that you had already stolen it!” 

My comment on the manuscript of the "Anecdotes of Modern Computing" book was that it is one book related to technology that I would want every student to read as a non-detailed textbook!
Non-detailed? Well, it has all the significant details!

Reference: RAJARAMAN, V., 2024. Anecdotes from the history of modern computing. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.
 

Srinivasan Ramani