'When the bombing happened in the Taj Mahal hotel in 2008, that was a very sad moment, but he really took care of the people, took care of everybody and that was when you saw some of his best moments.' 'There are some things which we will never forget. That is when the best of a person comes out.'

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 enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.

On the night of July 5, the Tigers launched their first kamikaze operation. Miller took the wheels of the explosive-packed truck, smiled at everyone as he turned the ignition key and drove it slowly towards the Sri Lankan military camp. A few moments later all of Jaffna heard a thunderous explosion that brought the complex crashing down in clouds of dust. Miller had given birth to a deadly tactic that Prabhakaran would employ time and again with devastating consequences to Sri Lanka -- and India. A fascinating excerpt from M R Narayan Swamy's must read new book, The Rout Of Prabhakaran.

'I think some of us, like Mukesh Ambani, myself and those of us who head industrial units, ought to really focus on what we can really do to make the world a safer place, maybe 50 or 100 years from now.' 'For instance, how can we deal with climate change and global warming, right now?' 'The effects of it may not be felt now; in fact, we may pay a price for it today, but it will help the generations to follow.'

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M Jumper, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Wednesday.

'These are the two core skill sets that are required for any job, in any profession.'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said a country can aim for high achievements only if it has a big vision and asserted that technology upgradation should be to empower the poor. Speaking after launching via video link three PARAM Rudra supercomputers, developed indigenously under National Supercomputing Mission, Modi asserted that today's India is carving new opportunities in the infinite sky of possibilities. Modi said his government has taken steps to ensure research in technology benefits the common man.

'Not many films have a reference to a creature who talks, emotes, acts in a film. And Munjya is doing all of it.

...and say bye to the humanities-science divide, says Ajit Balakrishnan.

rediffGURU Rohit Gupta, co-founder and COO of College Vidya, offers expert advice on career programmes in India.

'You need to have enough funds to maintain the primacy of public transport and it should not suffer because of lack of funds.'

'It will be important strategically and geographically because there is no port in India which is as close to the international shipping route as Vizhinjam.'

'Does anyone understand India?' 'Does anyone have a larger perspective for India as a whole?' 'Today we have rulers who do not understand the ruled.'

"On space, we will be able to announce that India is signing the Artemis Accords, which advance a common vision for space exploration for the benefit of all humankind," a senior administration official said hours before the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.

Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and chairman of Infosys and the founding chairman of UIDAI, has donated Rs 315 crore to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.

'At the heart of the strategic relationship between our countries are economic ties.'

'The government should immediately enact an Act to make caste discrimination a criminal offence and lay down a procedure similar to that of the Anti-Ragging Act.' 'Ragging has nearly been eliminated because it is treated as a criminal offence.' 'Similar procedure should be used in case of caste discrimination.'

The tech creators, or the ones who made billions, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.

Hari Balakrishnan, an Indian-origin MIT professor, has received the prestigious Marconi Prize for his fundamental discoveries in wired and wireless networking, mobile sensing, and distributed systems.

The best films are not necessarily the most successful -- that would be another list altogether -- although sometimes quality and commerce do converge.

In the 15-year dataset, the researchers noted an average of 7.8 incursions per year even though the Indian government's estimates are much higher.

Hemant Shivsaran lists the number of projects the Modi government has announced since August to woo Gujarat voters.

'I told myself, I will be 23 next year. Why can't I be a billionaire too?'

Delhi born and schooled Nand Mulchandani, who has more than 25 years of experience in Silicon Valley and at the Pentagon, has been appointed as the Central Intelligence Agency first-ever Chief Technology Officer.

Why hasn't India produced a single earth-shaking idea like Python or the World Wide Web, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.

If you are looking for a new opportunity in the job market, you need to answer a simple question: 'What do you want to do? And why you want to do that?'

Jio's Estonia arm and Finland-based University of Oulu have signed an agreement to collaborate for development of 6G technology as well as to foster entrepreneurship. The collaboration with the university is expected to extend Jio's 5G capabilities and will help explore use cases in the 6G era. Jio Platforms is the parent of telecom player Reliance Jio.

Aseem Chhabra lists his favourite Indian films of 2021.

'Whoever owns the best chip industry will be the Saudi Arabia of the era of data,' predicts Rajeev Srinivasan.

IPO-bound mobility platform Ola, said it has successfully raised $500 million via a Term Loan B (TLB) from marquee international institutional investors. This term loan has no impact on the valuation of Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola. The Bengaluru-based firm recently raised $139 million. This is part of a $1 billion funding round for which the company is in talks with investors, increasing its valuation to about $7.5 billion, according to the sources.

Darul Uloom Haqqania madrassa, one of Pakistan's largest and oldest seminaries and dubbed as a 'university of jihad' by its critics for helping sow violence across the region for decades, has educated more Taliban leaders than any school in the world and its alumni now hold key positions in Afghanistan, according to a media report.

With a team of 20-odd people, Snafu tries to unearth the rough diamonds from millions of songs. Can AI help look for a needle in a haystack? Ritwik Sharma finds out.

IT services major Infosys on Wednesday announced a new programme, wherein it will offer 500 job seekers the opportunity to complete a fully digital, online diploma course certified by Salesforce. The programme aims to prepare Americans for 21st century careers in the technology sector. Leveraging Trailhead, Salesforce's free online learning platform, the program will train these 500 American workers, free of cost, for roles at Infosys as Salesforce Certified Administrators and Salesforce Industries Developers, a statement said. The programme, targeting recent graduates from major universities, liberal arts colleges, and community colleges, will help Infosys to create a workforce prepared for the future, it added.

'The present government swears by Hinduism. But we lost three of our sants during earlier BJP regimes.'

'So much so we don't feel the need to create anything, but just bask in that glory.' 'It's time to move on.' 'How much burden can you put on a person or the legacy of the person?'

'I was born a lower middle-class person, am one today and will die as one,' Billboard's International Power Player Devraj Sanyal tells Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.

Kerala has retained the top rank in Niti Aayog's SDG India Index 2020-21, while Bihar has been adjudged as the worst performer, according to a report released on Thursday. The Index for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) evaluates progress of states and union territories on social, economic and environmental parameters. Kerala retained its rank as the top state with a score of 75. Both Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu took the second spot with a score of 74. Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst performing states in this year's India index.

'We look forward to providing great customer experiences in India.'

'Tamhane's densely composed shots achieve what a vacuously whizzing camera seldom does.' 'Like those Renaissance Paintings in which a bewitching lady is shown posing for a portrait, and daily life plays out in a corner unruffled, Tamhane's static frames have a hundred interesting things happening within them,' observes Sreehari Nair.

Why do Innovation Revolutions happen outside India, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.