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Rediff's Wave Rider Retires!

Last updated on: November 01, 2024 21:06 IST

After steering the Rediff mothership for close to 29 years, Ajit Balakrishnan, founder, chairman and CEO, did what few businessmen in this country do -- R-E-T-I-R-E.

On August 2, 2024, we were startled when we heard that Mr Balakrishnan had sold a majority stake in Rediff.com to Infibeam Avenues, led by Vishal Mehta, who he told a member of the founding team was "if I had a son, it would be someone like him."

Mr Balakrishnan and Mr Mehta -- the colleague who midwifed the treaty between these two Internet pioneers revealed -- were kindred spirits with a formidable intellect highlighted-by-a-tech-mindset and a passionate commitment to making Web companies take great leaps forward.

On October 1, a couple of hours after Mr Mehta took over as chairman and CEO, Mr Balakrishnan, Rediff's helmsman for more than a quarter of a century, left our offices perhaps for the last time.

He will continue as chairman emeritus of course, but with two books to write within the next year, it is unlikely he will have the time as he once did to inspire and monitor a rainbow of opportunities at the company he founded one December morning in 1995.

We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the remarkable Ajit Balakrishnan.

Illustrations: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

Sheela Bhatt
2000 to 2016

Ajit Balakrishnan was never a businessman; he is not a businessman.

That was the best element he had in him to be a successful founder of Rediff.com.

He is a dreamer having the entrepreneurial skill to build an institution.

Debate in million words who can be a good publisher.

The real and final answer is the leader who understands how societies are built, how it struggles to preserve fundamental human values and survives for a better future.

His or her publication records that grand journey of the society that it serves to.

In my 16 years at Rediff.com I have met AB only once outside the office.

He kept a regal distance from the editorial office, and, more importantly from the people in power.

Rediff was not a vehicle for him to get close to the establishment.

Currently, in New Delhi, what all the publishers are doing to keep their profit margin soaring demands one-lakh-words-strong hard cover book.

In view of the dark realities of Indian media, Ajit Balakrishnan was an honourable exception.

He has never used the editorial staff to "get things done" which is done routinely in every media house of India.

Certainly, those who are interested in building media empires based on profitable business-models can't serve the dual purpose of fair publishing and making tons of money.

Any good journalism requires one to be objective, closest to truth and on the side of people to relentlessly question the establishment.

The lust for profit margin and passion to cater news with value-based journalism are conflicting and opposing agendas.

A lot of things are going wrong in Indian media with its quality of journalism and serious publishing.

I don't blame only the politicians and political parties for the state of Indian media.

It's the publishers who have principally contributed to degradation of the standard of journalism and have corrupted journalists.

In India, the publishers have turned the editorial department merely a branch of the huge money-making tree.

Ajit Balakrishnan's importance lies in the fact that while providing leadership for 29 years to Team Rediff his voice never prevailed over the edit department.

In his own sophisticated way, he kept distance from the editorial policy.

He had tremendous curiosity in political, social and cultural developments of India but he never used the news reports, columns, news, views, reels, bytes, videos or exclusive information as a commodity to turn it into profit.

Take a bow, Mr Balakrishnan for respecting the freedom of the journalists who worked in the editorial department of Rediff.com.

Vaihayasi Pande Daniel
1995 to Present

When I was covering Bombay -- it was not Mumbai then -- for Midday, as a rookie reporter, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, everyone knew who the legendary Mr Ajit Balakrishnan, founder of Rediffusion, one of India's first few advertising agencies, was.

Further Rediffusion had attracted notice for having created the first political ads for the Congress party and I once had a long interview with the approachable, garrulous Rediffusion partner Arun Nanda, about that, after strenuous efforts to locate him. He pilao-ed me chai and spoke to me for half an hour and then said it was all off the record (sigh).

Even before that, as a high-school-going teenager in then wee, sleepy Ranchi, each one of Rediffusion's intriguing Whenever you think of colour, think of us Jenson-Nicholson paint billboards had been one of my favourite sights on the bus home from school, because of the regularity with which it changed.

But exactly who Mr Ajit Balakrishnan was registered on a faraway day in 1994. I was by then with the Ambani-owned The Sunday Observer with Nikhil Lakshman, the only editor I had/have worked with since I began my career in 1989 (if you know Nikhil you will realise why). Reliance was not really marketing SO (as it was known) that much and Nikhil started a campaign of awareness all on his own.

Every weekend the paper would be mailed -- yes, by post -- to a group of who's who of India. One week it was all of India's vice chancellors. The next week it was business leaders. And so on.

The Tuesday or Wednesday after copies of The Sunday Observer had been mailed to all the advertising agency heads of India, Nikhil got a letter, perhaps the first response from any of the people who received a complimentary copy of the newspaper. It was from Mr Balakrishnan.

An elegantly framed letter, he praised the quality of the articles in The Sunday Observer and commented how readable it was and asked us to continue our good work. Nikhil read the letter out to the newsroom and it was certainly an heartening letter for a news team to receive.

Hardly a few months later, when I was on maternity leave after giving birth to my eldest daughter, Mr Balakrishnan reached out to Nikhil and mentioned to him that he was planning a little start-up on the newfangled Internet, the very first of its kind in the country, and its first offering would be news. He asked Nikhil if he would come aboard, who asked me if I would join the founding team.

It was an enormous gamble for all of us, a bit like getting on a interstellar-bound spaceship headed off to some yonder, hitherto unknown destination, and we worked crazy hours from a teensy-weensy two-room office, in a rundown building named Boman House, in Fort, Mumbai, getting the launch material ready.

Mr Balakrishnan shuttled between his Worli Rediffusion office and Boman House, pulling up every afternoon in a white, rut-put Mercedes station wagon. After the publishers I had worked for, he immediately struck me as someone quite unique -- approachable, friendly, dignified, zero airs or standoffishness.

At 47, he was a handsome man, who cut a distinguished figure and was rather easy to like. Journalists have always been used to not-very-respectful, distant treatment by management, but not so with Mr Balakrishnan. He behaved like he was just one of the team, meeting us for lunch at the Mahesh Lunch Home with my toddler along, or snacking on whatever was on offer and our office (even now) had a homey quality to it, where my daughter/s and pets would come (and subsequently grew up there).

AB, as we called him (sometimes Bablu in secret), would pace around the office checking out what everyone was doing, often offering suggestions and guidance in an avuncular manner.

Rediff On The NeT, as Rediff.com was named in the beginning, was launched one cold early February morning as the grey light of dawn was creeping in the six, or maybe eight, windows of Boman House. It was again an ISRO-variety moment. We all stood around waiting, nervously, excitedly, for the launch edition to upload on our brand-new server, via a rather slow 64 KBS line (one of its kind in the country then). Mr Balakrishnan was pacing more than usual.

And thus Rediff.com began.

That was February 7, 1996 and we have been on a 28 plus year colourful, inspirational voyage with Mr Balakrishnan, sailing through all kinds of waters.

Rediff symbolises much more than an office or a brand for me, and for India.

Initial positive impressions of Mr Balakrishnan cemented into deep respect and affection for an enlightened gentleman CEO, who believed in knowledge, information, reading, idealism, encouragement, experimenting and human-ness/kindness, especially to animals.

It has been an exceptional journey that I would not have ever wanted to miss being part of, nor the chance to sail on the Rediff frigate with its venerable, upstanding captain, its esteemed, most lovable first officer and the wonderful crew.

Rohit Varma
1999-2005

Allow me to share a few memories that serve as my personal recollection of Ajit and define the person he is. Alongside each of these, I have also put down in a few words the trait which I think each exemplifies.

Getting interviewed at Ajit's home at Colaba on a Saturday afternoon with him lying prostate on his back (that's right: he had back pain; I had flown into Mumbai) - Informal, accessible
In my final interview -- many months later -- getting asked just 3 questions and landing a job offer in minutes: Decisive
Not jumping through the roof (I recall his calm demeanour) when, shortly after the NASDAQ listing, the company valuation reached $800 million: Down to earth, pragmatic
Forwarding me -- almost every day -- informative, useful articles which helped broaden my perspective of the industry and business: Knowledge-seeker
Daily discussions on user feedback, consumer surveys and usage trends: The customer is the king/queen
The only person I know who can code Python, write ad copy and do most other tech and ad stuff effortlessly: Never stop learning
Working in a truly multi-disciplinary, networked and flat organization (Rediff): Organization pioneer

I also have many other warm memories e.g. his initiation to the world of pizza lunches at New York, along with so much more, during our time there together.

At the social networking start-up and the marketing agency I later founded, I tried to faithfully follow some of Ajit's above methods. A few of my team members have since gone on to found their own firms.

As Ajit, in what has been a most splendid journey, turns the page to a new chapter, I am sure what he will feel most satisfied about is knowing that he spawned an entirely novel ecosystem.

The Rediff way will live on forever.

Pankaj Upadhyay
2000-2006

I spent six eventful years at Rediff.com. This was between 2000 and 2006. Rediff.com was at its peak. Wherever I travelled, whether for work or pleasure and everything in between, people recognized Rediff -- non-journalists for its efficient email service and journalists for its electric fast delivery of clean, concise news.

I may sound boastful, but scribes across the country admitted to me that they checked Rediff copies before filing their own.

In the Rediff newsrooms, there were masters of reporting, editing and rewriting at work every day, every hour -- fast, precise, cutting-edge. If you wished to learn, all you had to do was be around.

Only one of these masters was not a journalist. He often, in fact, held the tribe in 'compassionate contempt'. He felt we were not changing fast enough and would soon be easy meat for the machines. Well, most of us are still around, alive, some even kicking. But we all -- maybe I should not speak for others -- now know what he meant.

I am sure Ajit Balakrishnan - AB for us at Rediff -- did not know about AI then. Or maybe he did. But for sure, he knew something about the future of journalism that I was not willing to take seriously, forget try to understand.

Thankfully, in those six years, I did not miss many opportunities to hear AB talk. He would address us every time he returned from his travels -- Silicon Valley, Japan, Germany -- or whenever he had bad news on journalism to deliver. It was riveting stuff every time. Insightful, sharp, unforgiving.

I also did not miss any opportunity to read what he wrote. He was a much sought-after writer in India and abroad and for good reason -- he was better than most of us.

Sudha Shankar
2000 to 2011

I remember the summer of 2000 when Footforward.com, India's first women's portal, merged with Rediff.com.

As a newcomer, I was a bundle of nerves during my first meeting with Mr Balakrishnan; his commanding presence was quite intimidating.

However, over the following weeks and through our regular meetings, he helped me feel at ease.

For more than a decade, Rediff.com became my second home, and he never used his position or experience to overshadow the growth and learning I experienced during that time.

Two of his core values have significantly shaped my career:

1. **Daily Discipline and Business Ethics**: Mr. Balakrishnan placed great importance on these principles. His routine of early morning reading, arriving at the office before anyone else, and maintaining ethical business practices are values I deeply admire.

2. **Employee First and Teamwork**: Under his leadership, I always felt valued and treated as an equal. He recognized the contributions of every team member and was always ready to roll up his sleeves to tackle challenges together.

Apurba Sen
2005-2014

"Excellent report. I compliment you on the depth of your analysis and hope to meet you sometime. Are you a student?"

On October 2, 2004 -- nearly two decades ago -- this email landed in my Rediffmail inbox. Ajit Balakrishnan (AB), India's OG Wave Rider and the CEO of Rediff.com, had responded to a cold email I sent from my hostel dorm.

Historically, networks like rail, postal services, and the telephone revolutioniSed industries by connecting distant markets, boosting mass production, and enabling real-time communication. Free broadband of our Trichy college campus felt even more disruptive.

By 2004, one-third of US households had broadband, and Internet pioneers like Google, Yahoo! and Amazon were redefining the rules of communication, content, and commerce.

In contrast, India was mired in a digital divide, struggling with low internet penetration, high broadband costs, and inadequate public investment.

Moreover, unlike Russia, Korea, or China, India lacked the language shield to protect its domestic Internet from fierce global competition. Would we ever develop an inclusive Internet that reflected India's linguistic diversity and culture?

My outdated college curriculum left me ill-prepared to grasp these pressing issues. Indian Internet felt like an experiment in anarchy.

Eight months later, I met AB, "the most patient man of the Indian Internet," at Rediff's Mahim office.

A six feet something tall, salt-and-pepper haired man, dressed casually in a round-neck T-shirt and jeans, exuding a Buddha-like charisma. He wasn't your typical CEO. And why would he be?

At just 22, he had launched Rediffusion, an advertising firm that redefined the creative industry. Rediff, his experiment from 1996, had grown into a powerhouse with 43 million users and a half-a billion-dollar market cap.

"So, what's your strategy for Rediff?" he asked.

I sheepishly replied, "Search."

As we toured the office, the energy was contagious. The culture felt like the Indian version of Silicon Valley. Little did I know, Rediff would shape my journey in Indian Internet history for the next decade.

Fast forward to today, somewhere along the way, we have had our Jio moment. India's Internet landscape has transformed dramatically. Cyber cafes, once our main access to the Web, are now extinct.

'Roti, Kapda, Makan, Broadband' -- at least one seems checked off the list. Mobile internet has become affordable, even for a railway porter or society watchman, making it accessible to millions.

A quick check on the digital divide -- while urban Internet growth has plateaued, rural India is now driving digital adoption. Venture capital is more available, fueling startups, and AI/ML is redefining business.

Looking back, many early Indian Internet companies are in the graveyard. In contrast, Rediff, once India's Google, adapted to the waves of change, lost its dominance but endured the marathon in a leaner form.

Considering the Internet once was synonymous with Rediff, that's an astounding story of resilience.

As a tech optimist, I eagerly await another Rediff moment in India's digital journey. The four invaluable lessons I learned from the legend, AB, will continue to guide the next generation of entrepreneurs, lighting the way for future technological breakthroughs.

"Design products for a man driving a scooter with his Wife on the back and Child in front"

This was the essence of Rediff's product philosophy. As the first breed of product managers the real question was: who were we designing for? And what's our addressable market (TAM)?

Our answer was in the NCAER pyramid and AB's wisdom to focus on the right customer persona. A man with a scooter. Even today, most products cater to the small, elite top of the Indian income pyramid.

While the real opportunity is in designing for the middle -- everyday users, who would drive India's digital growth. Innovation and what it can do societally is much more important.

"Horseless carriage - Society creates products"

"This is going to be make or break for us" AB cautioned in a townhall speech. In 2008, more users were accessing the Internet via mobile devices, but Rediff's homepage was still modeled like a newspaper, with ads.

Amid the US credit crisis, Rediff launched the 'minimalist', ad-free homepage, based on the principle, 'Society creates products, not entrepreneurs'.

AB emphasised that Internet products must continuously evolve with societal needs, just like the horseless carriage became the modern car.

Four years later, Rediff re-evolved into a tile-based interface, focusing on improving user experience for tablets and touchscreen devices.

Mantra here -- Success or failure in technology would continue to determined not purely by technical merit, but by a complex social interplay of power, interest groups and circumstance.

"Mercedes vs Nano - The power of metaphors"

I've often wondered what makes tech CEOs like Steve Jobs and AB such charismatic speakers. How do they get their audience to understand, relate to, and retain their message?

After working closely with AB on presentations, I discovered the secret lies in their natural use of metaphors, similes, and analogies.

Many of us vividly recall AB's iconic two-slide deck: First, a Mercedes and Nano side by side, then Blackberry email contrasted with Rediffmail NG -- an email service designed for the masses, like the Tata Nano, empowering individuals and businesses to communicate globally.

The good news for future leaders? Research from the University of Lausanne has identified 12 tactics that can help anyone become more influential and leader-like. These techniques can be learned and applied by anyone. [Source : HBR](external link)

"Modern innovation is the art of failing cheaply"

Can you predict the next tech wave? Are you overestimating your chances of success? As Alan Kay said, 'The best way to predict the future is to invent it.'

The key is learning quickly what works and iterating.

A walk through the Rediff graveyard would reveal it once held every possible internet category in India -- search, photos, classifieds, blogs, maps, games, and more. But that's a lot for any platform to handle, especially with agile competitors.

Yet Rediff adapted through waves of change, showing incredible resilience.

Now, can we name a second Indian company that attempted to build a Web search engine?

The lesson here: Riding technological change is about foresight and timing. Success often lies in knowing when to ride the wave and when to step back.

Atindriya Bose
2003 to 2007

My first meeting with Ajit in 2003 lasted for half an hour when I was joining Rediff.com from a traditional Product Management & Marketing Organization.

It went much beyond clearing my doubts of Internet businesses and what may be expected of me: The discussion actually made me a firm believer of the scale that the Internet will reach as an enabler of different aspects of human life.

With weekly contact meetings and a number of informal talks over years I am still amazed at how he kept abreast with so many developments around the world and evaluate their applicability for the Indian audience. Beyond how he challenged the business plans and progresses.

I am always grateful for the interactions that allowed me to be ready with structured thinking and evaluating all possibilities. With any suboptimal preparation it's impossible to be part of the meetings with him.

Having the same initials, my fondest memory is being able to convince technology friends that the project is part of AB's priority (w.o. having to clarify which AB). Advantages I had the chance of drawing of the great man.

Malini Roy
2010 To Present

Mr Balakrishnan has been one of the most generous people I've ever encountered.

As a boss, he immersed himself in every detail, pushing each of us to give our best.

His analytical approach to data ensured that every task was executed with precision, and he led by example.

Each morning, he greeted us with a warm "hi," instantly uplifting the atmosphere. He had a remarkable ability to read our faces, providing insightful feedback that helped us improve on the spot.

Over my 14 years in this workplace, I've always felt at home, thanks to the positive energy he cultivated.

The vibes around the office make me genuinely love my job. I find myself looking forward to each day, often arriving well before my scheduled start time. The excitement of diving into the tasks ahead fuels my passion and drives me to accomplish more.

Mr. Balakrishnan's leadership transformed our workplace into a thriving environment where everyone feels valued. His encouragement and support inspired us to invest our hearts and souls into our work, creating a team that feels more like family.

Every day at Rediff is a new opportunity to grow, learn, and contribute in ways that make our efforts worthwhile.

The belief that anything is possible with hard work. The knowledge that lessons can be successfully learnt at any stage of one's professional career. The fact that one could be a pioneer if one had a mind to do so.

Jasmeet Gandhi
1995-2008

"Are you sure you want to give up a comfortable job at a leading agency and work at a startup?" he asked when I said I wanted to be part of the journey that he had decided to undertake when he started Rediff in 1995.

This is classic Mr Balakrishnan who we fondly know as AB. He will ask the most important question when he is helping you make a decision and ensure you take full responsibility for it.

I am so glad that I answered in the affirmative to this question. I was fortunate to spend 14 years with him. Years filled with fulfillment, achievement and most importantly learning from his vast repository of knowledge, that he shares so liberally.

As we built Rediff, he made us understand the most important fact of life...no success is permanent and no failure is debilitating. What matters is hard and sincere work and our attitude towards our colleagues.

When I met him a few weeks ago and asked him about his daily routine he looked up and said..."I am the best Python coder in this office and I can challenge any programmer on that. " Again a typical classic AB approach to life...keep learning, keep moving. Every interaction with him is guaranteed to enrich you and look at life positively.

Rediff will be devoid of his radiant presence but he has lit enough light in all those who have been around him to carry the torch forward. Thank you sir!

A Ganesh Nadar
1996 to 2023

The office was off Pherozshah Mehta road so we used to call it the PMO. One evening Zaki (Ansari, member of the founding editorial team) was telling me that you could do anything with a computer. I found a beautiful girl on the net and told him, "Remove her clothes". I got a resounding kick from Firdaus (Ashraf, member of the founding editorial team) and a warning look.

I saw AB for the first time. Tall, fair, handsome and a very quiet demeanour. He ignored my comment and concentrated on the computer screen where another colleague worked.

Then we moved to Kemp's Corner and finally to our huge office at the Mahalakshmi Engineering Estate.

I was doing a lot of stories during the 26/11 terror attacks, one day AB came up to me and asked, "You know when the guests were finally released from the Taj, is it possible that one or more of the terrorists left with them?"

"Sir, the previous day one man ran out of the back entrance and vanished into the crowd. Till now we don't know who he was, highly possible, but we need proof," I said.

When he walked away my colleague Shishir Bhate remarked. "Founder and founder-member discussing the terror attack".

One day I walked into his cabin and told him that there are lots of sites selling second hand stuff, why don't we start a site where people can exchange stuff like in a barter system. He looked at me gravely and said, "We have to first research and see how it can be done".

When I retired from Rediff he was there when I cut a cake and insisted that i feed him a piece. I was truly touched.

I met him after that. He told me that he was going to write two books. I look forward to reading them.

Savera R Someshwar
1995 to Present

In two tiny rooms in an office that comprised two rooms, a tiny library and pantry and a small ante-chamber that could barely hold two people, Mr Balakrishan launched Rediff in 1996 with a small editorial and advertising team.

With barely a few landlines shared between all of us, Mr Balakrishnan would pull up a chair to Nikhil's table, dial VSNL and bravely, in his toota-phoota Hindi, navigate their wires to get us the Internet connectively we needed so that the world could access Rediff On The NeT, as it was then called.

When we walked down to the food lane below for a bite, we'd spot him tucking into a vada pav. He had no hesitation sampling our dabbas from home as well.

Was this how the CEO of a company, the co-founder of the highly respected Rediffusion ad agency was supposed to behave?

When I started working with him, I was too young to know the answer. But who he was then, and remains today, is the foundation of what Rediff.com is.

There were so many new paths that Rediff editorial crafted under Mr Balakrishan. The word impossible just didn't exist for us.

We launched Rediff Chat. Our very first guest was Mr L K Advani and it was possibly the first time ordinary people from across the country, indeed the world, could ask him questions and get immediate answers. Rediff did this is in 1996, much before the rest of the world thought about it.

We covered elections, the Budget and major events live.

We started Rediff Shopping -- with its own books and music section -- before any e-commerce giant even thought of India.

We started Rediff Broadband. Rediff Radio. Songbuzz (an early version of what Spotify is today).

We ran a successful newspaper, India Abroad in America and Canada, and hosted the India Abroad Person Of The Year; the honourees have become respected names in the international firmament.

The number of things we have done over the years are too numerous to list here.

But the important thing that Mr Balakrishnan did was to lay the foundation of what we proudly call 'The Rediff Culture'. Where we could try anything new. Where we took take of each other. Where colleagues actually became family who stood by each other in the most difficult times.

And where the sacrosanct unbreakable divide between Church and State was always maintained, allowing us to be journalists who could always hold our head high.

And for that, and the many, many things that cannot fit into this tiny space, thank you, Mr Balakrishnan. We love you.

Dr Suneet Madan
1997-1998

Me: "Good morning, Sir!"

Him: "Call me Ajit."

Me: "Yes, Sir!"

Him: "No, Ajit."

That was my first day at Rediff On The NeT in 1997. Fresh post-graduate from the premier design school IDC, IIT Bombay, Rediff was my first job.

How a single word can change the dynamics and liberate the environment, I learnt from Ajit that day.

The first name made him more accessible, more amenable to one on one discussions and gave me, a newbie, the courage to put across my ideas more uninhibitedly.

Maybe that is why I remember my interactions with him, especially the appreciation I received from him and the core team for the digital portraits I made for them in the initial months of joining the job.

The Web design and network teams shared the mezzanine floor with Ajit. This meant that we would interact quite often with him. His open door policy is what I maintain to date.

The fact that this thorough gentleman was approachable despite being busy with the expanding business, did not deter him from meeting us at our desks and discussing the designs we created.

He nurtured a congenial environment in which even though we worked very hard, sometimes until late in the evenings, we did not feel the pressure.

Weekends meant coming to work in informals and stepping out for lunch together as a huge group. That enhanced the bonhomie among the members of different teams. He created that atmosphere for us to work and thrive -- work hard, party harder.

When I look back at more than twenty-seven years of work experience behind me, the values I learnt at Rediff have stayed with me.

Did I mention Ajit can light up the room with his smile, that is, when he smiles; from behind those rimless glasses.

Amberish K Diwanji
1996-2005

I had the great privilege of working at Rediff (earlier known as Rediff On The NeT) from 1996 to 2005. Those nine years were some of my best professional and personal years, and like so many, I remain eternally grateful to Ajit Balakrishnan for starting this amazing venture.

One of my first interactions with Ajit was when he informed me that a reader had complained about an opinion piece I had written. I wondered if this bothered him. It didn't. He was merely amused! But his attitude also set the template for our Internet journalistic endeavours: Freedom of expression was sacred.

One of Ajit's great strengths was his openness. He would share his management ideas and give a patient hearing to the suggestions from others. As a non-MBA, it was wonderful hearing his perspective about the company and the evolving business of Internet firms.

After Rediff acquired the New York-based weekly India Abroad, I remember asking him why was it that the weekly was just about all things Indians. After all, Indians do watch English movies, eat Chinese food, and hear rock n roll. He was delighted! "During my travels, I always wondered why Indians abroad are shown as people who are unable to look beyond India," he said.

This is the quintessential AB. A person who had a global worldview, a person larger than life. If Rediff is one of the rare Indian stand-alone Internet firms still holding, it is because of Ajit's foresight and ability.

To pioneer a start-up is one thing; to keep it running for a generation is brilliant leadership. As he steps back, here's wishing him all the very best for whatever he chooses to do next.

Take a bow, Mr Ajit Balakrishnan!

Kushal Sanghvi
1998 to 2003

If I had to put a title to AB, I'd definitely call him 'Father of the Indian Internet'.

Rediff on the NeT, as it was called then while the company started and for many of us it was our earliest work spaces, still remember my first day at work meeting AB.

I thought he was very strict, disciplined and he spoke little and I addressed him as Mr Balakrishnan

But then as time went by and the interactions grew, what I was seeing is this one man who was really thinking much ahead of time and created many firsts.

He had an eye for detail and he was so sharp about the home page. The narrative of the Internet/Rediff as a medium for advertisers is what he knew so well and it's because of his vision and training that we were able to get success with over 500 of the biggest brands in India.

He taught us how to respect each and every brand for the smallest amount they invested, and I'm indebted to him for hundreds of relations I made with marketers then.

I've still preserved my first visiting card and I owe a lot of my career growth to him like many others.

As time went by, our conversations increased, his chatter was about times ahead and he made us also all dream.

His ability to connect with each and everyone in the office including every peon is one I've never seen in any company I've been in.

A visionary, a team builder, a person believer, he created tonnes of other founders and his magic in the Internet world will always be remembered.

Vishal Shah
2005 to Present

A significant chapter in my professional journey has come to an end. It all began in 2005, when I moved back to India from the US, searching for a tech job in Mumbai that aligned with my values.

I was still holding onto my remote job in the US, just in case I needed to hit the "undo" button. When I came across a job opening at Rediff.com, I applied with a bit of hesitation.

All those doubts faded away after meeting Mr Ajit Balakrishnan, the Founder and CEO of Rediff.com.

Here are some of the key lessons I learned from him:

1. It's never too late to learn:

Ajit's passion for learning was unparalleled. I've heard stories of how the walls of his house are lined with books, each one covered with post-its and his notes.

I've personally seen him dive into Python programming to run machine learning algorithms on the massive data sets at Rediff, constantly solving complex business problems. His appetite for reading, learning, and analysing data was truly boundless.

2. The value of kindness:

One moment that stands out is when I told Ajit about the daughter of one of our canteen staff, who had secured admission into an engineering college with a focus on machine learning. She needed a laptop and funds for her fees, but her father was struggling to arrange it.

Ajit didn't hesitate -- he invited him to his office, got all the details about the fees and the laptop requirements, and made sure everything was taken care of.

3. Respecting differing perspectives:

Though Ajit is an atheist, he has always been respectful of my spiritual beliefs and has been open to learning more about them. His willingness to embrace different viewpoints has always stood out to me.

As Ajit SIR moves on to the next chapter of his journey, I wish him all the very best!

KK
2004-2006

It was 2005 and I was a rookie young professional, bubbling with high energy but yet to experience the rough and tough, rumble and tumble of the corporate world.

Just few months earlier I had joined the newly created Mobile VAS (value added services) division at Rediff.com. Surprisingly, I was given an absolute free hand to drive and grow the business. That feeling was nothing less than a teenager without a license given Ferrari to drive...phew!!

With the confidence of someone who has nothing to lose, I put my head and heart into building the business for I could feel it in my blood.

In those days mobile VAS business was largely telco driven, meaning we had to strike commercial deals with telecom operators to grow the business.

Commercially and administratively, the telco business was structured around circles -- 4 metro cities and each of the state were classified as circles.

As with any business in India, we also faced a long payment cycle stretching at times to 3 to 4 months and even 6!!

As we were building the business, the outstanding amount started becoming significantly outstanding!!

At one of our periodic review meetings our CFO brought to the notice of Mr Balakrishnan the grim situation.... I could sense that I was going to get roasted alive as the situation was indeed grim.

As the meeting progressed, Mr Balakrishnan in his signature intriguing style asked, "Why is the amount shown negative against a particular circle?"

My colleague from finance casually said, "Sir, it seems this circle has overpaid us."

Without blinking an eye and letting a heart beat skip, Mr Balakrishnan said, "if that is so, then, why didn't we write a cheque and give it back to them."

I was zapped!!

On one hand we had amounts running into a few lakhs from the other circles of the same telco, and here where one circle had over-paid, Mr Balakrishnan asked us to pay them back.

At that moment I got two valuable lessons.

Lesson 1: Sales don't happen when producst or services are sold, even delivered. Sales happen when money is collected and received in the bank.

Lesson 2: This is something no amount of case studies, management books our grandiose sermons would have ever distilled in me. That lesson was, we need to follow fair business practices. What is due to us is ours, what is not due to us is not ours. Period.

I consider it my good fortune to be part of an incredibly talented and committed team at Rediff.com with whom I got to work, learn and build lifelong friendships. Also, I am indebted for helping me build confidence in early stage of my career that has given wings to my dreams and fire to my ambitions, which has helped me go places.

Thank you, Mr Balakrishnan, for giving me an opportunity to be part of India's finest Internet company that went on to get listed on NASDAQ.

Thank you for the incredible life shaping lessons, and...

Thank you for taking me under your tutelage.

From the bottom of my heart, I wish you a long, healthy and happy life...

Keep Inspiring us!!

Sumit Rajwade
1997-2018

*Truly the Waverider*

Every successful businessman deserves what I would call a "graceful exit" -- a moment when they pass the baton to a capable successor who can continue steering the business forward.

Establishing a business, especially as a pioneer, is akin to building a ship and navigating uncharted waters. Mr Balakrishnan, whom I have always addressed with great respect, achieved this and much more. He not only thrived in this challenging journey but also served as a beacon of guidance, sparking countless ideas around the transformative realm of the Internet.

I vividly recall the monsoon of 1997 when he interviewed me in the first office, set up in a modest apartment in south Mumbai. At the end of our conversation, as he stood up, he said, "Just stay here and work, and you will never regret your choice." Those words stayed with me throughout my 21-year journey at Rediff. It is the best way I can express my gratitude for his confidence in me.

From him, I learned the art of crafting impactful presentations, where he emphasised storytelling as a means to deliver powerful messages. He continually refined my skills as I presented to various audiences.

His understanding of the domain and his ability to connect the dots never ceased to amaze me. I often felt like I was simultaneously working and studying at what I fondly call the "Rediff University."

He encouraged me to attend as many conferences as I could, to absorb knowledge, and to present insights without bias or filter.

I can confidently say that whatever professional fabric I'm made of, some of the finest threads have been woven under his mentorship.

He always reminded me that no matter how much wealth one accumulates, what truly matters is good health, the ability to enjoy your favourite food, and the company of like-minded people. He believed that "you are the sum average of the five people around you," and urged everyone to choose those five wisely.

In my view, he was not just a businessman; he was a true "kingmaker," a fountain of inspiration, and a visionary leader. He didn't merely create successful businesses -- he nurtured leaders of the future.

I often meet people holding leadership positions across industries, and inevitably, the "ex-Rediff" connection emerges in our conversations. This is a testament to his legacy and the profound impact he has had on so many of us.

I'll close with a line he penned for his 75th birthday celebration, which we recently had the privilege of attending. He simply wrote, "Go and change the world."

Even at this stage of his life, he embodies the belief that one should strive to make a meaningful difference and leave a positive mark on the world. His spirit and conviction continue to inspire me every day.

Mr Balakrishnan, thank you for being a cornerstone in the most pivotal phase of my professional journey. You have shaped me into the person I am today, and for that, I will always be grateful.

Zereh Lalji
1997-2003

The year was 1997. I had just completed a Masters in Sociology, but hungry to be part of the exciting new World Wide Web.

I spent hours learning HTML and photoshop at home and couldn't believe when I got my first break and real job as a web designer at Rediff.

Rediff was the OG startup back then, and THE place to be.

Mr Balakrishnan, AB, was an extraordinary leader, a true visionary and rode the emerging Dotcom wave like a veteran. Whatever was happening globally in the Internet space, AB was on it.

Under his guidance, we churned out technologies and products with such speed, we beat the rest to the draw. From being a large portal, to Rediffmail, messenger, and e-commerce, AB always made sure we had first mover advantage. And I was fortunate to be part of it all.

He trusted and empowered his team. He gave us space to make mistakes, learn and grow. I did not have an art background, yet he gave me the opportunity to design Web sites for big clients, online applications, and even the first interface for Rediffmail which was such a confidence booster for a rookie like myself and has enabled me to mature as an artist.

I remember AB saying, never get emotionally attached to your creations. Today, every time I let go of one of my art pieces, I hear his voice.

Shobha Warrier
1996 to present

I still remember in 1996, I had to explain what the Internet was before I interviewed people for Rediff on the NeT. I didn't have Internet at home, and I used to take print outs of the articles I wrote and sent them by courier to Bombay!

But a visionary called Ajit Balakrishnan had this revolutionary idea of starting a news magazine on the Internet.

As I sat down to write about my acquaintance with the founder of Rediff, to my surprise I realised that though Rediff was born in 1996 and I have been associated with Rediff from then on, I met the man only in 2017!

In 2017 when the chief minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, agreed to release my book Dreamchasers, I got this 'great idea' to request the Rediff founder whom I didn't know at all to accept the book from the CM.

The book was on entrepreneurs and here was a person who became an entrepreneur in his early twenties. And Rediff on the NeT was not just the first news portal in India, it offered e-commerce when there was no Amazon or Flipkart, and it had a ticket booking facility when there was no Make my Trip!

He was a visionary who was much ahead of his time.

Then, Pinarayi Vijayan was from Kannur. So also Ajit Balakrishnan.

I shot off a mail to him, and he agreed to come to Trivandrum for the book release. That was the first time I met him in person.

When I addressed him 'Sir' very respectfully, he threatened to call me 'Madam' if I continued with 'Sir'. I sheepishly told him, we who lived in the southern part of India, had this habit of addressing everyone Sir!

In 2018, I wrote another Dreamchasers and this time, he was magnanimous enough to write a foreword for the book.

And he was there for the book release by Ma Foi Pandiarajan, an entrepreneur turned politician!

In 2022, he was again on the dais with 'Comrades' N Ram, Sashi Kumar and Babu Bhaskar Sir to release my book, Battlefield India.

It may sound cliched and cheesy when I say, I was extremely fortunate to have got the opportunity to interact with a visionary like Ajit Balakrishnan, and with him retiring from Rediff, we have lost the Pitamaha!

P Rajendran
1997 to 2000; 2004 to 2017

It was a precarious time for the Internet. Connections to the Web were beyond the reach of most people, and slow connections meant that content could take hours to upload.

That was when Ajit Balakrishnan teamed up with Nikhil Lakshman to set up Rediff as an independent news site.

Administrative work was managed by an overworked accountant, and journalists, artists, marketers and support staff all milled around in a medium-sized flat in the Fort area. Some funding came from Microsoft, which was trying to promote Internet Explorer at the time, in an effort to beat the ruling Netscape browser.

Throughout that period, during which failure often seemed but a month away, Mr Balakrishnan resisted pressures and ensured that our journalism remained fiercely independent.

In one case we carried a piece describing how Microsoft's new NT server could not hold a candle to Unix and the free Linux servers. When Microsoft protested to Mr. Balakrishnan, instead of leaning on the journalists as more fickle CEOs under such pressure would, he just passed it on to the editorial, which asked for expert opinion to be carried in responses over days.

I don't believe Microsoft funded us thereafter, but our standards held.

In those early years, long before VC funding and a larger management contingent came in, it was Mr Balakrishnan's commitment to clean, non-partisan journalism that helped Rediff become the biggest thing in Internet journalism in India. If it hadn't been for that, it would have been just another site devoted to parroting the lines of its funders and protectors.

Thank you, Mr. Balakrishnan, for all that you've done for real journalism in India.

Shishir Bhate
2001 to 2011

There are few like Ajit Balakrishnan, the visionary founder of Rediff.com. Soft-spoken and generous to a fault, 'AB,' as he is affectionately called, embodies the essence of a true gentleman.

One incident stands out vividly in my memory from my time at Rediff. 'AB' was visibly disturbed when he discovered that some articles on Rediff were embedding links that directed traffic to foreign Web sites.

The fault was entirely mine. I had entered into a non-monetary agreement with two American business publications where they provided us content for free and, in return, we embedded a few links in those articles to their sites.

Although clearly upset, he asked if any formal agreement had been made with these publications. Thankfully, the agreements had been okayed by the legal department. Heart pounding, I handed him the documents, but his annoyance lingered.

Even as he rebuked me conveying his displeasure, he displayed remarkable grace and never raised his voice. He then gently instructed me to end the partnerships.

Later that day, as he was leaving, he approached me with a demeanour almost paternal, asking if we could source similar content from elsewhere, even at a cost. In that simple inquiry, he conveyed an unspoken apology for what he felt was a harsh response earlier.

That small gesture revealed the depth of his character -- kindness, humility and genuine concern even for an employee who had faltered. The pat on my shoulder felt like a warm, reassuring embrace, silently communicating that the misstep had been forgiven.

It was a reminder that we were led by a man whose care for his team runs far deeper than we realise.

PJ Pravin
2006 to 2010

About 25 years back when I completed my post graduation in HR, I realised I was making a mistake I didn't see myself doing HR for the rest of my life.

As a 20-something, I was someone who had dabbled with the Internet for the past few years (mostly cluelessly) only to realise it was my first passion. I knew I had to do something on the Internet, I just didn't know what!

One day I wrote to Ajit (AB) an email, asking to see him wondering if I could find something to do at Rediff. He called me to see him personally, along with Uday (Sodhi, then head-ecommerce) and Ashish (Mehrotra, then head HR, now Senior Vice President) later I was offered the role of Product Manager. I had no background for this.

I'm glad AB gave me a chance to learn, to build, to grow and to thrive in what turned out to be one of the finest learning grounds for me to become one of India's first Product Managers.

The cadence of weekly reviews, measuring every metric, discussions on product, thought process on growing and scaling them, presenting short-term and long-term plans, being on toes for the next week's review -- looking back, all that is now the foundation for my career in the years ahead.

After Rediff, I may have worked in multiple verticals through my career -- advertising, social, payments, ecommerce, investing & more; I may have played multiple roles through my career -- director, vice president, cxo, ceo, founder or entrepreneur; in my heart -- I'm still a product manager who learned it all in his journey at Rediff.

I owe a lot in my journey to be where I am to my time at Rediff. None of it would have been possible had AB not take a bet on me, and many others like me.

Thank you Mr Balakrishnan for shaping our lives, and touching a million ones through Rediff.

Thank you Sir.

Chindu Sreedharan
1996 to 2003

I don't remember the first time I met AB, but in all my time at Rediff, I can't remember a time I didn't feel his presence.

It was a powerful presence, now that I think of it, omniscience in a pink Polo and khaki trousers. Measured, detached, AB was always there with us in the four-room office in Boman House, when we were Rediff On The NeT and nobody had heard of this thing called 'the Internet'; and in the more expansive Raghavaji Buildings when Zuckerberg was 16 and online was what AI is today.

I have never seen AB hurry. Or raise his voice. But he could cut people down to size. I recall, in the early days, a marketing colleague pressing too hard, insisting a non-deal was a deal; and AB saying, his voice -- low and gravelly as always, as if he needed to clear his throat -- dripping with disdain: "Haven't they taught you in business school to politely say 'no'?"

Then, I was a gung-ho journalist. Brash, brimming with bravado, bristling with arrogance. I harboured a deep-seated distrust of suits and people in power. AB never wore a suit. But our distance, and my youth, made our infrequent encounters rather awkward. A vague acknowledgement on his part when our paths crossed, some mild curiosity on mine about this man who was my boss's boss and paid my salary. What had he done to get there?

I began to appreciate what AB had accomplished only after I left Rediff. To create something new where no models exist, that takes some doing. At a time when CNET and CNN, working off their print and broadcast legacies, were scrambling for an online presence, Rediff's launch in 1996, based in Mumbai but aimed at North American viewers, was bold and futuristic.

The world was still figuring out ICQ and Yahoo and MSN, when Rediff Bol, an instant messaging service, came on stream. And the Backyard, Rediff's bespoke CMS, was built at a time when many global news behemoths still did not have custom content facilities.

Perhaps even more significant -- and less acknowledged -- is the larger picture: AB's influence on the Indian news industry.

Rediff's success in its initial years did much to transform the print era, dragging newspaper and broadcast outlets -- kicking and screaming and shovel-waring -- online.

Rediff was a wake-up call. And AB's integrated model of news, advertising and e-commerce to monetise Rediff paved the way for the growth of online journalism in India.

AB always came across as detached, a trait that served him well in business. He had a reputation for making objective decisions, unswayed by emotion. But I did catch a glimpse of a more personal side once.

I had just returned from Kargil, which was being shelled within an inch of its life, after war had broken out between India and Pakistan. "You are back," AB said. "They were all worried about you." We were in the restroom, in adjacent cubicles. He was staring straight at the wall.

AB has a good heart, far bigger than what he lets us know. I know this anecdotally, from the colleagues I have kept in touch with over the years. Stories abound of him helping, quietly, without fanfare, without strings, many people who worked for him -- and many who didn't. My own enduring memory is of what he did for Anjum Nair, one of our colleagues.

A couple of months before I left Rediff, as I began handing over charges, Anjum was diagnosed with cancer. The last meaningful assignment that Nikhil, my boss, that champion of human kindness, gave me was to coordinate Anjum's medical care.

I spent a lot of time working on it. This was 2003, a time when health insurance was not commonplace. Anjum needed expensive treatment, life-saving medicines. Who funded it? AB.

In the end, we lost Anjum. But what AB did, that endures.

Zaki Ansari
1995 to 2009

I don't want to call Ajit a "great leader", a "genius", a "pioneer" and such things he is often described as. These abused terms ring hollow when I think of him.

Instead, I will speak of what it was like in the trenches; with him in charge:

When Ajit noticed Rediff Matrimony was taking off, he asked the team what the secret was. He was told how accurate and good our schema of castes was. And how it filtered down and matched up prospective brides and grooms.

To the horror of all, Ajit had that caste schema removed. Consequently, the service lost traction. There was grief and anger all around.

Secretly, I was guilty of being awestruck by Ajit's decision to do the 'right thing' at a time he was under pressure to grow. I am ashamed to say, I still hesitate and panic when faced with such dilemmas. And whenever I did well, it was easy to tell why.

The Internet is driven by bright sparks in technology. Ajit's spark is his humanity. When Rediff launched India's first ecommerce shop, I heard him explain how a village school can now order a textbook from a cybercafe instead of making an unaffordable trip to the city. Those were days when guys like me were grappling with only the techno-sphere of ecommerce. Thoughts about village schools brought purpose to that endeavour.

You could disagree with Ajit. I did. A lot. But you could trust him. WYSIWIG with him. This damaged Ajit often. But, hey, a circumspect Ajit would be a tragedy. He called Mohandas Gandhi a luddite in one townhall. You see what I mean.

Doing the right thing; being human; speaking your mind: All features of the Rediff diaspora. Legends aren't people. They are stories that span generations.

Sreehari Nair
2015 to Present

I am in complete agreement with everybody who has praised AB Sir's vision, courage, temperament, generosity, and striking good looks (the boyishly manly appearance has never deserted him, and is traceable to a picture from his college days that was floating on the Internet till about a few months back, one in which he looks like a pleasant cross between J D Salinger and Henry Fonda). Yet, as we celebrate these qualities, there's one attribute that never quite gets the tribute it deserves: His sense of humour.

Now, I understand why people tend to overlook this attribute when discussing a giant such as Ajit Balakrishnan: 'Humour' feels too informal for the scale and scope of the man being discussed. The dimensions of the subject cannot accommodate something so offhand.

But in AB Sir's case, it may also be that his sense of humour is too fine, too absurdist, perhaps even too fatalistic to be appreciated by a crowd of starch-heads.

Two instances come to mind.

He was telling us about a health checkup he had undergone the week before. "I am completely fine," he announced to us rather wryly. "I was hoping they would find something, a benign form of cancer, or something that would make the health checkup worth taking. But I am totally fine. Can you believe that?"

Then, there was the time where we were at a presentation of testimonials that our clients had written out for us. We came to the slide where the CMO of a leading travel brand had said nice things.

One of the guests at the meeting suddenly sprang from his seat. "I know this guy," said Mr. S, pointing to the picture of the CMO, "he used to be in college with me."

Mr. Balakrishnan, calmly attending to this excitable fellow, found the time and patience to interject: "Are you telling us he studied with you? Don't worry; we won't hold that against him."

Manish Pai
2008 to present

I first met Mr Ajit Balakrishnan when I joined Rediff.com in 2008. At that time I was a bit star struck about him as he was referred to as the pioneer of the Internet in India. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that to me, Mr Balakrishnan was about as inspirational as our then scientist-president, Sir A P J Abdul Kalam was to the nation.

Being fortunate enough to work in the company he founded, he was very accessible to all employees, partly due to his friendly nature and partly as he shaped the organisation as a flat, open-door type rather than a rigid, hierarchical bureaucracy.

A path breaking visionary in his field, he exudes intelligence, a relentless thirst for knowledge, scientific reasoning ('In Data we trust' being one of his oft quoted sayings) while being very grounded to the realities of doing business and showing empathy towards colleagues, clients, associates and customers alike.

Even in unprecedented tough times he remained the voice of calm and a firm believer in staying the course while making the necessary adjustments.

His mentoring philosophy transcends disciplines, nurturing talent and motivating those who worked with him to strive hard for success -- both professional and personal. He will be the last person to admit it, but the profound impact he has as a mentor can be seen in how often his ex-employees, associates and students meet him, not just for his advice and suggestions but also for his comforting encouragement as they chart their own paths.

As he now steps away from the day-to-day management of his company to focus more on an advisory role, I feel reassured knowing that he will be just a call away whenever I feel the need for his advice and suggestions or simply his kind encouragement.

Prem Panicker
1996-2009

These many years later, I'm not sure exactly why I kept calling him Mr Gopalakrishnan throughout that first interview in mid-September 1995, nor why he never corrected me even once.

Come to think of it, it wasn't much of an interview. We spent half an hour discussing narrative journalism, and somewhere between Hunter S Thompson and Gay Talese, he said he was planning to start a news site on something called the Internet, and would I like to join.

That is how I ended up in what was then called Rediff On The NeT, alongside some six other journalists who were all prepared to take a flying leap into the unknown. It proved to be a wild, exhilarating ride.

Rediff was the world's first Internet-only news site, which is to say, the only media house that did not have the advantage of a print or television arm as the primary content creator. And that was just the first of many firsts.

The first to pioneer online ball by ball cricket commentary with a chat room attached so fans could chat among themselves as they watched or rather, read of, on-field events in real time.

The first to facilitate live interactions between celebrities and the audience: BJP chief LK Advani was the first; Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan was the second; Indian cricket's then rising star Sourav Ganguly was the third.

The first to introduce unlimited mail storage. The first to tie up proprietary mail, messenger and chat into an all-round communications suite. The first to realize the potential of the tribal instinct that is dormant in all of us and to create Connexions -- that is, Facebook before there was Facebook.

I could go on, about a visionary who was so far ahead of his time that the rest of the world is still playing catch-up. But I'll content myself with an excerpt from that first conversation, and his response to my question: What on earth is the Internet?

Think, he said then, of traditional media as a window to the world. When you work in a city tabloid, your view is confined to the city; when you work in a national daily, your view is your country. The media house you work in defines both your worldview, and your audience.

Now imagine you are placed in the middle of a vast, featureless plain that extends from horizon to horizon. Your view is infinite; there are no limitations - except the limits of your own imagination.

Imagine being able to tell stories regardless of geography, to people regardless of geography. Imagine being able to tell stories regardless even of form. Imagine being empowered to do anything you can conceive of.

"That is the Internet," he said then.

I am yet to come across a better job description, a better way to capture the magic of the Internet. In fact, some 36 years after I started my career as a professional journalist, I am yet to come across a better job, a better work culture, than we had at Rediff.

Thank you, Mr Gopalakrishnan Balakrishnan -- you were, are, truly one of a kind.

Archana Masih
1995 to Present

Unassuming, soft spoken, kind, a do-gooder, reader with a love for fish curry and rice, a man who wakes up before dawn and loves pets so much that he let the animal lovers in the office to adopt a stray cat found under a car outside the office gate.

Simba, the cat lived in our office for many years and passed away during the Covid lockdown after living a full life, sleeping on people's laps, keyboards, newspaper piles and hovering around Mr Balakrishnan's glass cabin.

"My door is open. You all can come and speak to me anytime," was Mr Balakrishnan's refrain through the 29 years he helmed Rediff, never sequestering himself from us, always visible -- you just walked to him and told him your anxieties or your joys. He heard you and sent you away with a reassuring pat.

He was always there -- whether it walking around the office floor, stopping by at the desk to say, 'Hello kiddo' even though I am 53 now, discussing articles, books, giving anecdotes of the Bombay and Kannur of old and telling us he came from "sturdy peasant stock" with a twinkle.

In the early days, a jacket carelessly hung from the back of his chair, but disappeared long time ago to make way for black round neck T-shirts which became his signature office wear. Since his visit to Kutch a couple of years ago, he had taken to wearing khadi kurtas. He bought them in various colours and wore them with great pride in office.

A handmade bell bought on that trip hangs from the ceiling in the office. Mr Balakrishnan had sat and watched the bell-maker craft it in his humble shop and marveled at his handiwork and the quality of its sound.

"I have retired," he said when I went to meet him, past that bell and through the open door of his glass cabin on October 1.

That evening, he left Rediff.com in his cheerful green kurta, leaving many a sad hearts and moist eyes.

"We love you, Mr Balakrishnan," were my last words to him as he descended the steps on his final day as CEO of Rediff.com.

Love, gratitude, respect, dignity, integrity -- thank you, Mr Balakrishnan for leading us into the brave new world!

No one else could have done it better! You may not sit in that glass cabin every day, but I hope you will be around.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com

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