NATIONAL 9 (Spotlight Weelky)]

Adieu Forever

India loses an IT wizard and Nepal a good friend

By ALLEN B. TULADHAR

When I first heard the news, my instant reaction was that it was the Friday the Thirteenth virus or prank that some sick people were starting. But alas, it was true and hard to believe. Even harder to believe after reading the stories on Dewang's death was that he was only 38.

My interactions with Dewang Mehta have been on various occasions, and always for very short period. I always found Dewang to be fleeting from one meeting in one city to another. It was in Kathmandu that we first met, then in Delhi in the small NASCOMM office at Ashoka Hotel in the early days of NASSCOM and later in Hannover, Germany.

With the assistance of Microsoft, Unlimited had sponsored a trip of Dewang Mehta to Nepal. This was when he addressed an inaugural dinner of CAN Info Tech and also the seminar for South East Asian Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC) in Kathmandu.

I find that I have a lot in common with Dewang. He also started his career as a journalist, as I did. He is also not educated into the field of computers but later went into it by choice. Dewang is a chartered accountant by education. His insights into the computer industry with the South Asian perspective, his fight against piracy, his ëromance' with the media, Promoting ITes (IT enabled services) in this region, extensive work in the areas of office bearers of an association with him in NASSCOM and me at Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) are all areas that both Dewang and I share the same level of fervor and dedication.

One of the many curiosities I always had was to find out whether Dewang's hair was for real or it was a wig he was wearing... I guess I will never find out.

I was always vocal that we need to ëclone' and create another Dewang Mehta for the Nepalese software industry as well to do the magic of promoting Nepalese software overseas. Now with Dewang nowhere at sight, even that seems to be impossible, even though cloning technology seems to be possible now.

I clearly remember that Dewang used to start his presentations with a photo of Ganesh and start off by stating that in India, they pray to their computers as if they were gods.

I also remember a joke that Dewang used to say: "For the vacancy of a job for an accountant, there was an American and an Indian who applied. During the interview, the American was asked what two plus two would be. He promptly took out his laptop, punched in a few keys and then answered, four. There was a good display of technology as well as the correct answer. But during the interview with the Indian, the applicant for the job went up to the interviewer and replied, what would you want the answer to be." I remember Dewang saying that Indians cannot only give the correct answer but also tailor the answer to anything that the customer wants, hence Indians were more successful in software and IT sector.

I wish the same was true in the acts of God and that the answer today could also be changed to what we want it to be ó to have Dewang among us to tell us more of these jokes. Wherever you are, Dewang, Rest In Peace!

(Allen is CEO of Unlimited Software Network Pvt. Ltd., a leading IT company in Kathmandu.)