When I first read this news, it was an unbelievable shock. Only last year, I remember seeing him interviewed in a BBC documentary standing in front of the famous Delhi Iron Pillar, his favorite topic. It made my heart swell to see a fellow ITBHU alumnus holding forth with his research and pride in ancient Indian metallurgy.

After digesting the shock in the last couple of days, my thoughts now go back almost 25 years. To Kashi Yatra, 1984. Bala was the energetic, always smiling, friendly G-Sec. He was also admired as the "topper" whom the legendary director and metallurgist Professor T R Anatharaman held in high esteem. I was a fresher and a KY volunteer. We all looked up to Bala. We knew for sure he would make a great name for himself and our alma mater.

Fast forward two decades. After noticing Bala's enthusiastic endorsement of our 2003 petition for converting ITBHU into an IIT, I wrote to him, now an IITK professor. Pat came a very supporting reply. I'm sure he brought his trademark zeal in influencing the IIT leadership, a very crucial constituency, more than we might ever known in support of the ITBHU cause.

As a tribute to Bala, I'm taking the liberty of sharing his behind-the-scenes contribution to ITBHU with you all:

From: Bala

Subject: Re: ITBHU Petition and lobbying within IITs

Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 07:03:17 GMT

Dear Sanjay

  I shall be able to help in whatever manner that is fit. I shall have a word with Dr. Dhande about this matter sometime in thenear future. If there is anything else that you would like from me, please let me know.

  With warm regards 

Bala

Professor R. Balasubramaniam (fondly known as 'Bala'), born on 15 April 1961 in Salem, TamilNadu, obtained his Bachelor of Technology (Gold medalist) in Metallurgical Engineering from Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Professor Balasubramaniam was a prolific researcher and has published more than 250 research papers in refereed journals of repute. He has published 10 books. Two of his recent books, which dealt Indian Archaeometallurgy are on 'The Saga of Indian Cannons' and 'Story of Delhi Iron Pillar'. His research on the corrosion resistance of Delhi?s iron pillar attracted worldwide attention.