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ObituariesIn Remembrance: Deepak Narayan Died on December 24 2018Deepak Narayan passed away on December 24, 2018, after battling cancer. He was 58. Narayan was a professor of surgery at Yale School of Medicine, directed the residency program, and was interim director of the Cancer Center's Melanoma Program as well as chief of plastic surgery at the West Haven VA Hospital. The School of Medicine posted a tribute on their website. |
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May 28, 2020. Natick, Massachusetts.
Deepak Narayan Shetty. I spoke to Deepak a few years prior when he was practicing at Yale. (It was
a conversation with Deepak after +/- 35 years. We were classmates in high school in India. A common friend let me know Deepak was at Yale. I looked up Deepak and called.) Unfortunately we didn't keep in touch after. Later I learned of his passing. I was disturbed; quite unexpected. I still have memories of Deepak that I run through in my mind frequently; have been remembering all these years. Yesterday there was much talk about Deepak in a high school reunion forum.
In 9th grade Deepak and I played a lot of chess. I really enjoyed playing with him. He was a much stronger player. We played during lunch breaks. First period after lunch was Physics with Mr. VTV Prasada Rao. My seat was in the middle row of the classroom. Deepak was a couple of rows behind, in the same column; 2nd last row. On a particular day we didn't finish our game during lunch block. We decided to continue play during Physics class. I moved to the back row so I could sit next to Deepak and continue the game. Mr. Rao during instruction walked up to the back of the classroom, and in a very calm manner, no questions asked, took away the chess set. It was Deepak's chess set. He always carried one in his backpack. He played chess with me, and with a couple of other kids in different grades. This confiscation may have spelt the end of chess between Deepak and I.
Roll forward a couple of years into 11th grade. Deepak was no longer in high school. If I am recalling correctly, at the end of 10th grade, Deepak moved on to pursue a one year pre-university program (PUC) instead of the two year pre-university option at our high school. While in 11th grade, one day I stumbled into the back equipment storeroom of the Physics laboratory. Somewhere tucked away in one of the shelves I saw Deepak's chess set. While playing chess, whenever Deepak moved a fork, and I was in a bind, he would chime phonetically "... the principle of AETHER GOSA", rubbing it in that I was going to lose either one of my pieces. Since then I picked up that phrase, and use(d) it as my own when ever I play(ed) chess.
I saw Deepak as a very sharp person, and felt a sense of honor to be around him. I remember thinking that this guy has wide knowledge. That having wide knowledge is a way to be intelligent. Deepak had a sharp sense of humor, and gave apt nick names to any one - peers or adults. I understood his logic of nick-naming. He was very good at language, a big reader of story books - devoured Agatha Christie and such, and was just very eloquent. Deepak, there is a part of you etched in me. --ratty ramaravadi@comcast.net