Class Notes
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- Suprabha Seshan ('84), Director of Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary at Mananthavadi in the Wayanad district of Kerala, has won the 2006 Whitley Award -- United Kingdom's top conservation award. Additional information: The Whitley Award website and The Hindu
- Gopal Vittal ('83) was named as one of India's Hottest Young Executives by Business Today magazine, in their "third listing of 25 young executives setting the corporate fast-track on fire". His wife Ireena also made the list. click here
- Ashutosh Sheshabalaya ('75)'s book Rising Elephant has been cited as one of four "authoritative sources" on the political impact of India's IT rise in a report by the National Academy of Public Administration to the US Congress.
- Ashutosh Sheshabalaya ('75') is one of 50 global "gurus" featured in a new Portuguese/Brazilian book on the challenges of the 21st century (50 Gurus da Gest??o para o s??c. XXI, Centro Atlantico, November 2005). Others include renowned management thinker Gary Hamel, veteran political commentator Andre Gunder-Frank, former Clinton Administration Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and several more. Drawing upon his bestseller 'Rising Elephant', Ashutosh comments about how India is, quietly, reshaping the world. click here
HeyMath!, a web-based E-learning firm co-founded by Harsha Rajan ('84), has recently received a lot of press: in Thomas Friedman's book The World is Flat, in the New York Times (click here) and on rediff.com (click here).
- Businessworld India has written about the land restoration efforts at Agastya International Foundation in Kuppam, spearheaded by Ramji Raghavan ('72). click here.
- Oopali Operajita ('71) was recently featured on the website of the High Commission of India, London in connection with a talk on Dance. Click here to read further.
Aditi Rao ('96) is in the news in connection with her leading role in a Tamil movie called "Sringaram - Dance of Love". She was profiled in The Hindu recently. click here
- The wedding and story of Pia Awal ('93) and Apratim "Tim" Dutta were recently covered in the New York Times. click here
- The work of Bharat N Kumar ('83) aka Bari Kumar was recently profiled in the magazine Art in America. Read the article here.
- BusinessWorld article "A School in Kuppam": profiling a school started by ex-RVite Ramji Raghavan ('72). click here
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Indu Sundaresan ('84) has been very much in the media in connection with the launch of her first two novels "The Twentieth Wife" and "The Feast Of Roses". A third novel, set in 1940s India, is coming soon ...
Click links to read various interviews/reviews for "The Twentieth Wife": interview on rediff, interview on culturedose.net, profile on Seattle Weekly, profile on King County Journal.
Click links to read various interviews/reviews for "The Feast Of Roses": from the author on powells.com, review on Mid-Day, interview on Lokvani.
Her novels have been translated into many languages: French, German, Spanish, Serbian, Chinese, Portugese, Polish, Turkish.
- Oopali Operajita ('71) will officially represent India and give Odissi dance recitals, at the world famous Pingyao International Photography Festival. A million visitors are expected at the festival over a week (Sept 19 - 27, 2007) in the ancient and beautiful city of Pingyao, China.
- Ashok Kumar Ganguly ('02), was awarded the R.K. Narayan prize for the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) student of the year. He graduated this May and the event was covered in The Hindu. click here
Oopali Operajita, ('71), political adviser and strategist, met with Ambassador Karl Inderfurth, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia in the Clinton administration, in Washington, DC, in November and December 2006, to discuss US - India ties. Oopali also met with Ambassador Stuart Holliday, former US ambassador to the UN, at Meridian House, Washington, DC.
In addition, Oopali performed twice at The Lincoln Center, New York city, to a sold out house, at the Kresge Theater, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, and at Yale University. (click the photo for a larger image)
- Sringaram, a feature film directed by Sharada Ramanathan ('79) and starring Aditi Rao ('96) has been selected to represent India in the Asian, African and Latin American competition section of the 37th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2006 beginning in Goa in November. For more details, click here
- Gopal Vittal ('83) has joined Bharti Airtel in New Delhi as a Director ?? Marketing & Communication. click here
- Ganesh N Shastri ('86) has joined Fidelity Investments as a Director of Channel Management in Boston.
- Vikram K Doraiswami ('86) has moved to New York where he is Counsellor in India's Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Earlier, he was Private Secretary to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
- Sanjoy Majumder ('86) has been appointed the BBC's India correspondent based in Delhi.
- Ashutosh Sheshabalaya ('75)'s article laying out his view on a way out of the Iran nuclear crisis was recently featured in Washington's Globalist think tank: Iran's Nuclear Program and the NPT 2.0. click here
- Ananthakrishnan KT ('98), and Vedanth S Bharadwaj ('98) and SK Balachandran (not from RV) are working together as VAIBHAVA: music directors, in Hyderabad, for the much anticipated 'BRAHMASTRAM' (featuring leading actor JAGAPATHY BABU, actress NEHA OBEROI). Brahmastram is slated for release within the first two weeks of May. The name VAIBHAVA will appear under the heading music directors.
- Oopali Operajita, ('71), currently works as Adviser to The Honourable Naveen Jindal, Member of Parliament, and one of India's leading industrialists. If any of you want an insider's look at parliament when you're visiting Delhi, you could call or email Oopali. When parliament is in session, she spends the better part of her day there, and says it is very exciting to be a part of history in the making. Earlier, Oopali was Director of the political office of The Honourable Kapil Sibal, currently Union Minister for Science and Technolgy, India.
She was also recently profiled in "Carnegie Mellon Today". Click here to read the article.
- Article by Ashutosh Sheshabalaya ('75), titled "India?s Eau de Cologne and Europe?s Stench", published on The Globalist website. click here
- "Butter and Mashed Banana" -- a play by Ajay Krishnan ('01) has won multiple awards at a recent Thespo (the annual youth theatre festival in Bombay), organised by Quasar Padamsee (also an RVite, batch not known).
- Nayantara Kotian ('01) is urrently studying Film and Video Communication in the National Instutute of Design (NID) , Ahmedabad. Her film, a short documentary on the death of single screen cinemas, recently was awarded the first prize at a film festival, Jeevika 2005. Anyone interested in viewing it is invited to register at the Jeevika festival, which will take place at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, on the 20-22 of Jan. For more details, click here.
- Ashutosh Sheshabalaya ('75) has written more about IT outsourcing trends in an article titled "Enduring An IT Eclipse", which has been published in the YaleGlobal Online website (click here). It has also been reprinted in: India (Outlook India), Pakistan (Pakistan DailyTimes) and Singapore (Singapore Straits Times).
- Riyad Batliwala ('93) is working for Jet Airways in Mumbai and is currently a Commander on the Boeing 737 Fleet.
- Dilip D'Souza ('75)'s article on the RV Rural Health Center was published in the August 2005 issue of "Humanscape". click here
- Sharada Ramanathan ('79) has directed a film in Tamil called Sringaram - Dance of love, a story about dance, feminism and womanhood. The film also stars Aditi Rao ('96) in a leading protagonist role. For more information, click here.
- Radhika Viswanathan ('01) will be studying at the Institut des Traducteurs, Interpretes et Relations Internationales in Strasbourg, France, pursuing a Masters degree in International Relations.
- Radhika Yelkur ('95) will be studying at the Institut des Traducteurs, Interpretes et Relations Internationales in Strasbourg, France, pursuing a Masters degree in Translation.
- Sameer Singh ('97) is currently studying in Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship after having completed his BA LLB Hons from the National Law school in Bangalore in 2002
- After 3 years at PeopleSoft, Nagendra Prasad ('84), aka Nagi, has joined Verity in Sunnyvale, CA, USA, on June 1, as their new Vice President of Engineering.
- Siddharth Alexander ('96) recently graduated with a PhD in applied mathematics from Cornell University. He uses his many skills at Bear Stearns, and lives in New York.
- Hari Ramanan ('96) returned to New York in 2004 after time spent in London, and works with a Connecticut-based hedge fund, Basso Capital.
- R. Prashant ('??) has been promoted to CHEIF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of Sharp Electronics, Delhi.
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Article by Ashutosh Sheshabalaya ('75), titled "Tsunami Relief -- The Great Indian Absence", published on The Globalist website. click here
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Ashutosh Sheshabalaya ('75) has recently authored an extensively researched book on white collar job outsourcing titled "Rising Elephant". click here
- Bharat N Kumar ('83) had his third solo art exhibition with the PATRICIA CORREIA GALLERY in California, USA. click here
- Fraaz Haq ('99) became a proud father of Aaishah on Feb 23rd '07.
- Dipti Hanako ('02) and Siddharth Kambe ('99) were married in Japan, last month. A reception is scheduled to be held in Bombay in January.
- Setlur Venkataranga "Dabbu" ('84), having spent two happy years in Dubai has now continued his eastward journey by moving to Hong Kong to work with UBS Investment Bank. Whilst in Dubai he had the wonderful pleasure of reacquainting himself with Hamid Sir and his wife both of whom have not changed at all in 20 years. Any RVites in HK are welcome to contact him.
- Gautam Bellur ('93) got married to a Canadian diplomat on Aug 27th, 2005. He swears this had nothing to do with wanting a diplomatic passport.
- Neha Dhandhania ('97) got married in Kolkata in Feb 2005.
- Sandhya Keller/Khurana ('81), a.k.a. Cassy, husband Sanjay Khurana and their 2 yr old daughter Sophia welcomed with great joy the arrival of their baby boy Samraj Austin Khurana on June 28th, 2005.
- Riyad Batliwala ('93) and his wife Reshma were blessed with their first child, Zara, a healthy baby girl on the 17th of July, 2005.
- Pia Awal ('93) got married on July 30, 2005 in New York to Apratim "Tim" Dutta.
- Arjun Viswanathan and Uttara Shahani (both '97) will be married on August 21st 2005 at Trivandrum. Both live in London, where Uttara is a barrister at the Inner Temple, and Arjun sold his soul to the demons of capitalism. They fell in love in RVS.
- MP Karthik ('97) is getting married on August 7th to Priya Narayanan (who he met while doing his graduation at the National Law School) in Bangalore. He is working with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania.
- Jasraman Singh ('97) and Dia Rajan ('97) got married to each other in December 2004. They have gone to Groningen in the Netherlands for Jasraman to do his PhD.
- Sumedha Jain ('97) got married in Delhi in November 2004.
- Dilshad Marolia ('96) and her partner of many years, Zal Dabhoiwala, were married in Montreal in October 2004. They are leading a thoroughly enjoyable existence in New York, punctuated by many encounters with RVites.
- Vishnu Vasudev ('96) married Durga Raghunath in March 2005. They live in New York, where they enjoy being able to converse in person and not across the oceans.
- Rupa Duthulur ('96) was married to Karthik Kakarala in India in December 2004. They reside in Texas.
- Paresh Shah ('84) and wife Rajul recently became first-time parents. Their baby girl Arya was born in Nov 2004.
- Venks Sir, ex-teacher at RVS passed away in Chennai on Wednesday, May 6, 2015. Condolences to his family, his students and friends.
- Thomas Sir, ex-Staff member of RVS, passed away in India on Jan 17th, 2013. Condolences to Thomas akka, Sunil Thomas and the rest of his family.
- KV Raghavan, first graduating class of Rishi Valley, passed away on June 13, 2010. Our condolences to his family.
- Ravi Sankaran ('81), younger brother of Hari Sankaran ('78) passed away in Chennai on Jan 17th, 2009, of a heart attack. He was a very well respected ornithologist and conservationist. Some posts from the internet: facebook, sacon and blogspot.
- Shekhar Visvanath ('79) passed away in London in April 2008. His colleagues have set up a website, "In Memories of Vish". Please click here.
- Khushroo Mistry passed away in the last week of Dec. 2007, due to a cardiac arrest.
- Kamaljit Malik ('96), a.k.a Meeto, passed away in London in the first week of January 2006. She was studying towards a DPhil at Oxford. Our condolences to her family, classmates and friends.
- Tolia Sir (1937-2005), RV staff member during 1976 - 1981, passed away at his residence in Mumbai, India on April 25, 2005. He is survived by his wife, daughter Geeta and son Chetan.
Oopali Operajita, ('71), political adviser and strategist, met with Ambassador Karl Inderfurth, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia in the Clinton administration, in Washington, DC, in November and December 2006, to discuss US - India ties. Oopali also met with Ambassador Stuart Holliday, former US ambassador to the UN, at Meridian House, Washington, DC.