A Legend!  / Aruna Jayaraman (Collegemate)
Even to this day the very thought of someone like Balaji being no more in this world bring immense sadness to my heart. Though the only connection between him and me was the 4 years of "hi & bye" or "How is Chromepet? & How is Pallavaram?" or "How is Christ King? & How is Board High ?" and an occasional chiding from him "Nee en ozhunga padika mathingara?" and me kidding " Nee en mega pazhamaairruka?" he is one of the people who just by being himself became a part of collegial memory for all who knew him.  He is a legend amongst his peers and friends and his story never fails to inspire one and all. Balaji - Kalyanaraman Balaji( thats what I used to call him becuase of his resemblance to kamal hassan) I am truly sorry and I cannot help but wonder what you would have accomplished had you been around for somemore time.! My humble prayers for the his family and friends!. Close

shocked / Diwakar Parimisetty (school mate )

I am shocked to know about the sudden death of Balaji. may his soul rest in peace. I know him as a fellow student at UMKC and he impressed many with his pursuit of excellence whether at academics or hobbies. he is also very helpful to others.

My condolences to his family. Close

Hope / Sathiya Krithikaivasan (Brother)

Two days back you appeared and I did not believe that you were living so close to me all these two years. Your face showed the same delight and excitement that I have noticed in June of 2005 when I paid a surprise visit to India. You just had your last chemo and that was the first day of recovery.  As usual you had bath and you were  making sandal paste in your left palm with your right index finger. You were a stauch devotee of Pondicherry Mother in those days. You took the whole 6 months of excruciatingly painful period (6 cycles of chemo and 1 major surgery) like a final exam which involve lot of hard work and pain, yet with great hope and optimism.

"I do not want to think about dying" - I remember you saying in the intial days of diagnosis 3 years back and I believe you never thought about dying in the last few days as well. Instead I still saw optimism and hope bubbling in you till the last minute. I am constantly reminded of you in every hope and every bit of optimism that I see in me and others.

You were so full of energy and said that you have been secretively treated here and got it all completely cured, when I met you two days back. I wish it was not a dream.

Loving brother

Sathiya

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Deep Condolences  / Karthik Sulur (Batchmate)
Hi... Eventhough I have not known Balaji in person, I have met him in college and have spoken for couple of times.. He was in a different stream of Engineering. It is really painful to hear about this news. I express my deepest condolences and pray for him.

Regards
SPK Close

A great loss  / Shankar Manian (Junior in PSG Tech )
I recently came to know of the demise of balaji. It was a shock. He was one of the first seniors i came to know in PSG Tech. He is one of the sweetest persons i have met. Always smiling and hard working. The enthusiasm and inspirational attitude of his is infectious.  It is a loss to  humanity as he was meant to achieve great things. Close

Balaji Krithikaivasan Memorial Graduate Fellowship Fund: Appeal for Donation  / Sathiya Krithikaivasan (Brother)
Dear Friends,

Thanks for all your remembrances and kind messages. It is almost going to be an year since we lost Balaji. Balaji's professor from UMKC has arranged for a memorial fund to remember Balaji. Please visit the following website to know more about this fund.

http://www.csee.umkc.edu/balaji-memorial-fund.html

We would greatly appreciate if you can contribute in whatever way to this fund.

Thanks for your support
Sathiya

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Condolence Message  / Shanmuga Babu Rajamanickam (His Brother's (Vaithy) Friend )

Dr.Balaji's brother (Vaithy) and I were colleagues. It was a shock to me when Vaithy informed me about the demise of his brother. When I read about Dr.Balaji's achievements in his academic and personal front, it is apparent that we have lost a noble personality. I pray to god to provide the strength to Vaithy's family in overcoming this great sarrow.

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An Inspiration for all  / Krithiga Thangavelu (Friend)
Balaji..words are not sufficient to describe what a great person he is. I vividly remember the first day we met. All new entrants at PSG tech waiting in front of Principal's office for branch allocation.  He was sitting next to me. Somebody with whom one can ease into a comfortable conversation...no hangups :). He was one of the very few students who took to studies with great passion. Before the exams, he taught the entire class the difficult topics in different subjects. He was a born teacher.  He was a role model in all aspects.. his attitude towards life and people was simply amazing. He never took anybody for granted and was always helpful whenever approached. Was always a friend in the truest sense. He's a standing example of "When life throws lemons at you, make lemonade out of it".  He always gave more for the returns he got and never gave up in giving his best... an undeterred soul at its best. He was so mature for his age. He was and will always be a source of inspiration and remain in our hearts forever. Close

A Poetry for Balaji  / Sathiya Krithikaivasan (Brother)
(Im) balance

Somewhere in an orchard
on an early summer

among thousands of apple trees
among the fanned out vibrant branches
among hundreds of tender green leaves-
a young fruit

on the verge of becoming plump
and juicy, withers

and drops down premature, its
conscious being clinging to the branch
still, weeping for all the lost lives.

Every fruit believes in its
destiny, in the promise
of life, though hanging in
the air naked and vulnerable,
is inevitable.

Only thing that couldn’t be
justified to the weeping,
clinging consciousness
of the young fruit
is the unfairness.


-Manubharathi
May 3, 2005
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Condolences to Balaji's family and friends.  / Sandra Handley (Nurse Practitioner in Student HEalth )
I knew Balaji through Student Health for several years and provided health care for him.  He was a gentle, kind person, very devoted to his Indian dancing despite the fact that it gave him joint problems.   We worked on that for awhile. 

When I saw him in January of this year after his gastric surgery, he was very ill.  He managed it all with grace, but it was very hard for him.  His friends certainly helped him a lot.

Peace to Balaji and to all his friends and family.    

Sandra Handley, Nurse Practitioner, 
UMKC Student Health and Wellness Close

A beautiful soul...  / Santosh Shet (Friend)
What can I say about Balaji, everyone has said so much about him already. He was a pious man of honor. I have my own share of memories with Balaji, especially all those times when he spent sleepless nights with me in the lab to help me with my assignments. He was always ready to help be it his close friend or stranger. He lived by his principles. I was always proud to know him. He was a man of determination. Even a terminal disease like cancer couldn’t stop him from achieving his goal of getting his PhD. I still remember last year when myself and my father went to see him in San Jose, my father was amazed by his courage, positive outlook towards life and mental strength. That was the kind of impact Balaji had on everyone. He was loved by all and he will surely be missed by each one of us. For me he has left a void which can never be filled by anyone. I am going to miss him for the rest of my life. May his soul rest in peace.
My heartfelt condolences to his family. Close

Remembering Balaji  / Kapil Assudani (friend)
I will always n always rem balaji as a person who always wore a smile on his face and he was one of the most cool and composed personality.  He helped me a lot during my master's program, his intelligence and down to earth personality is tough to describe in words. 

I want to extend my deepest condolence to the family and also pray that may his sould be smiling as Balaji always did and rest in peace.


kapil Close

We will remember you, always!  / Yong Zeng (friend and professor )
I still remember that first time Bala came to my office with a proposal of his research. He is such a energetic person full of ideas. This started a year long productive discussion and research. Usually, he came to me with new pictures of data or research questions. We talked and shared our ideas. I learned from him network traffic and its characteristics and we explored  time series analysis and mathematics on improving modelling and forecasting. My impression is that Bala learned new stuffs or software quickly and worked hard and came back quickly with iimpressive progress and wrote nice draft quickly. It was truly a pleasure to talk with him and work with him. 

Even after he was diagnosed with cancer, he fought with dignity. He came back to UMKC and completed his Ph.D successfully in May with courage. Bala is a decent person and I respect him.

Bala, in peace and in rest! We will remember you always! Close

An Outstanding Human Being  / Cory Beard (Professor)

Bala's memory will stay with me forever.  An outstanding person. An absolute pleasure to know and work with.

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Gratitude for Your Legacy  / A. Myriad Of Friends (Friends)
Thanks very much, Ji, for your courage and grace!
Each of your memories is dearly cherished,
As much as your thrilling dance moves!

Equally inspired by your academic postlude,

A Myriad of Friends Close

Thank you all  / Sathiya Krithikaivasan (Brother)
Dear Friends,

Thank you all for the nice and kind words about my brother. I showed it to our parents and they expressed the same gratitude.

We would like to also thank you for your support in whatever form you gave to Balaji that helped him complete his Ph.D.

thanks
Sathiya


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Bala will be living in our hearts  / Homer Wang (Schoolmate and friend )

I heard this bad news today. It seems to me that all my memory about Bala was in yesterday.

We did not have much conversation during my school year. But I knew him from several occasions. I used to be the TA for CS282. When I graduated, Bala was teaching that course. Another episode was during the international festival, Bala showed a dance. I was impressed by those few memories that Bala was a person with humbleness to the people around him, and with fire of loving in his heart.

Bala was living among us. Bala's spirit is living with us forever.

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Balaji would show me a cryptic smile, decrypted as: I can’t help.  / Charlie
It is my privilege for spending couple years together in the same lab with Balaji. The most memorable episode was when Shekhar, who sat behind him, kicked on a hippy-like conversation, and then Balaji would show me a cryptic smile, decrypted as: I can’t help. His facial expression made the conversation more dramatic, he usually wouldn’t join in, but I guess he enjoyed the fun too.

When he can help, he would certainly do and indeed he was the most reliable person in our lab. To a degree, he was very predictable since he was punctual, responsible and a man who lived one with his own word, a precious character which I appreciated most. I thought Balaji must be a well beloved son in his family because he carried a full love tank with him. That’s another side of this person, he loves people. When I happened to meet with his elder brother, I further found one thing common from their family: they were extremely gentle to other people.

He didn’t reply my last couple emails which only left me the picture how Amit and Gaurav sent him to hospital after the celebration party for his successful defense. Amit and many others were so great in taking care of him during those days, just like he was their brother. True, it is too superficial to call Balaji just a friend for anyone in our lab, he has already inscribed an inerasable footsteps in our life. Maybe many of us are asking why now. Why he has to leave us at so young? Just be reminded, our dear Balaji has touched so many of us in a very positive manner and he will surely live in our heart. Close

Farewell Bala  / Nitin Pai (Friend)
Understand death has no use for time.
No time is any better, any worse.
Cancel twenty years or eighty-nine,
Love's a loss one cannot reimburse.
Each of us lives for an eternity,
Dying only after our forever.
Early or late, we vanish equally,
All unconscious of the ties we sever,
No longer either separate or together.

- I dont recollect the actual author. (c) Nicholas Gordon

Bala, You shall be missed!!. I still find it hard to comprehend and yet I am glad you are liberated. Farewell my friend and you shall be remembered

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A Sad Loss  / Troy Whited (friend)
Very saddening to hear of this loss.

I did not know Balaji all that well, but I do know that he was a gracious and great person, and was a testament to hard work, ambition, and courage -- finishing his PhD while in the dark cloud of a destructive disease.

You will be missed, Balaji.

- Troy Whited Close