I lost an older brother recently. Though he is not blood related, for all practical purposes he was my older brother. I have been fortunate enough to be “adopted” by my childhood friend Uno’s family. I met Uno in my 10th grade (1972) and we have remained the close friends to date. As I was growing up, I became an integral part of Nellore family. I spent considerable amount of my after-school hours at Uno’s place, and I don’t ever remember a single function celebrated at his home where I was not involved, not just invited.
I always felt that I was twice blessed having two doting families in my life. Om Dev Annayya (honorific for older brother in our culture) was a kind and gentle soul. I have seldom seen him without a smile, seldom perturbed by unforeseen circumstances. He was a quintessential electronics hobbyist, and a gentleman who embraced new ideas and encouraged us youngsters to be open and inculcated in us a curiosity to learn new things.
Though I can go on and on, I want to share a few things that he encouraged me to try that may not seem to be of any significance to others. But both our families celebrated them. First and foremost, is perhaps the first solid state audio amplifier (using S2020 audio chip) ever existing in my hometown. To boot, this audio amplifier had a wired remote control for, volume, balance, bass, and treble. Under his tutelage, I assembled the circuits, learned about the importance of matching components in pre-amplifier stage, learned about acoustics, and tonal quality.
The second experience we both shared is an activity “sponsored” by my (own) older sibling who is affectionately called “poolarangadu” (bohemian to the core; those who knew him will agree) . This time it was an electronic musical horn (sound synthesizer that played the Cavalry charge bugle) that was installed in my older sibling’s car. As you played the horn, you could change the tempo, and tone in real time and was a real attention grabber. I was not sure if my brother’s car was unique in that respect.
The third project we did was far more serious in its implication. We had a plan to go commercial with it. It was circa 1980. In those water-scarce days of Hyderabad, most homes had underground sumps for collecting water and a motor to pump from sump to overhead tanks on the roof tops. Only way one would know if the overhead tank was full was either be on the roof top and observe or wait for the tank to overflow. The latter would result in wasting a few tens of gallons of water in a typical home. After installing a proof of concept at my home, we received a “contract” to install it in a high-rise property that my father’s real estate company developed. Due to the height of the building, the overflow detection method would result in a loss of a few 100s of gallons of water. The circuit was published in Elektor magazine ( https://www.elektormagazine.com/magazine/elektor-197999/44443 ) and we built it. The circuit board for that gadget was photographed and developed in my college dark room by two of my classmates, Raghavan (Raghu) and Aditya Margam. We learned about etching and photo masking in the process.
It was my good fortune that he was my friend, guide and philosopher, who would not hesitate to help another person, ready to jump into any challenge presented, and more importantly did it with a smile. He was such a gentle soul, and never hurt anyone. I will miss his wit, smile and sagacity. My friend of 50 years on his 50th birthday (he is to left in the photograph).
I went back to Hyderabad in 1987 for the first time since I came to US in 1981. When I asked him if I can bring anything for him, he rather hesitantly asked if I can bring a 10Mb hard drive for the school they were running. Their school was, to the best of my knowledge is the only private educational institute that had a personal computer for the use of students. Just days before my departure, a 20Mb hard drive came to US market and I took that one. Though due to logistics I could not be there to see his reaction upon receiving it, the news that a private PC with largest hard drive capability in the entire city at that time, made it to the local news paper. My happiest moment: It was named Sury computer.
I wanted to share his unique accomplishments that would be otherwise lost in time. He had been the personification of humility, humbleness and modesty and this small homage is my albeit weak attempt at highlighting those brilliant accomplishments that my friend and our families talk about, but almost lost to posterity, for the rest of the world. I lost my brother not once but twice. RIP Om Dev Annayya
