Good guys finish first

On his big day, MiD DAY calls up Dharwad to dig up details about the young Nandan Nilekani... He was respectful, concerned and generous

On his big day, MiD DAY calls up Dharwad to dig up details about the young Nandan Nilekani... He was
respectful, concerned and generous

Noble tradition
Nandan Nilekani joins an illustrious list of Kannadiga engineers, such as Sir M Visvesvaraya and N R Narayana Murthy, who gave up the opportunity of personal enrichment for the larger good of their societies. When Nandan goes to Delhi, he sets an example for India's best minds, and makes his techie fraternity proud. Bravo, Nandan!

He donated Rs 4 cr for a hall

Karnataka's golden boy Nandan Nilekani, who's been appointed chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, is many things to many people.

He's the guy who helped build the legendary Infosys, the one who inspired columnist Thomas Friedman to write his book, The World Is Flat, the student who still goes back to his alma mater.

His teachers remember him as bright and well-behaved, generous, concerned and cultured. And others who know him well agree though wife Rohini was a little more guarded in her response to his new posting. "I don't know anything about this and wouldn't want to comment on it," she said.

But here's what others had to say:

Dr Veena Shantesh-war, Kannada novelist and Nilekani's English teacher during his pre-university course:
"He is a very generous person. When Karnatak College was about to celebrate its platinum jubilee, I met him and told him about the college's progress and about our plans to construct an auditorium. I requested him for a donation. The estimated cost for the auditorium was Rs 80 lakh but the cost went up to Rs 3.5 crore which he took care of. Apart from this, he also donated Rs 50 lakh for the auditorium's maintenance. Construction started in 2000 and the auditorium started functioning in 2002. He wanted to name it after his grandfather, Dr Annajirao Shiroor, and it is now a centre of art and culture in North Karnataka.

ALL EARS: Nandan Nilekani with his wife Rohini FILE PIC

"In those days, the PU course was for a year after which he joined IIT Bombay. He was a very bright student and well-behaved. He was also very serious about his studies. He used to play badminton and was interested in music and cultural activities. Even after completing his studies, he would visit the college once in a while whenever he used to come to Dharwad. His last visit was four years back. Now, both he and his wife Rohini are in touch with us over the phone and e-mail. I continue to be the secretary of the Dr Annajirao Shiroor Auditorium Charity Trust. He was very close to his teacher,u00a0 Professor Shafie Khan, who is no more."

Rajgopal Acharya Arya, writer and treasurer of Dr Annajirao Shiroor Auditorium Charity Trust:
"Nandan Nilekani is one of the most exceptional people I have ever come across. He was very bright even then and very concerned about the country and its development. He is a very simple man and maintains a middle class lifestyle. He has contributed a lot to the nation. He also started the Akshara Foundation, which has a countrywide network and helps educate poor students in a big way. This is being carried out without much noise. Also, Karnatak University has awarded him an honorary doctorate."
"He has built an auditorium after his grandfather Dr Annajirao Shiroor which is university property now. Apart from this, he has created a fund to maintain the auditorium which is one of the best in the country. We took Girish Karnad's help with regard to technical aspects. I spoke to Nilekani today and congratulated him on his new assignment."

Nandan's new job
Nandan Nilekani, who will resign as co-chairman and board member of Infosys Technologies Ltd,u00a0 will now have cabinet rank as chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India.
He will implement the government's ambitious scheme to assign a unique identification number to every Indian.