Remembering Rajeev

Rajeev Motwani worked as my Teaching Assistant at UC Berkeley when he was a graduate student there in the mid-1980s. The course was CS 172, Formal Languages and Automata Theory.
The text was the book by Hopcroft and Ullman. Rajeev Motwani later became one of the authors of the new edition of the text.

As I was teaching CS 172 for the very first time in my life, and had never taken a formal course on the subject, I was very fortunate to have working with me a teaching assistant who was brilliant, very knowledgeable about the subject matter, and very patient with me. It was a joy to work with Rajeev Motwani during that semester at UC Berkeley. I certainly miss him, and will always remember him, his contributions to the course I was teaching, and his contribution to the world of Computer Science.

I met Rajeev and Asha for the first time at their home. I was asked to come and help them with their daughter's difficulty sleeping. She was not yet two. He was thoughtful and attentive as I explained that, when children don't sleep easily, it's often because they have stored up some emotional tension that makes them edgy and restless at night. They were looking for someone to help her stop crying, and there I was, suggesting that they give her their undivided attention, so she could express her feelings and then relax. She would feel better understood if they listened to her. And she would sleep much better, over time.

This was a 180 degree twist on their initial intent, but Rajeev was open, attentive, and, to my great surprise, willing to try this idea then and there. His daughter was getting fussy.

I then saw what an exceptional father he was. He and Asha took turns embracing Anya, providing support, and allowing her to show them what was underneath her fussiness. He was quiet, receptive, tender, and patient. He and Asha both opened their hearts to Anya's tears and fears. They listened. They loved.

Most fathers have a real struggle when children express how they feel. They want so badly to fix it. It's hard for them to witness the prolonged evidence that life is sometimes hard, and that a child has passionate feelings about how hard it gets.

Their daughter cried a long time while they listened and quietly poured their love toward her. Then, she slept.

What Rajeev did that night was exceptional. He listened, he thought, he understood an idea that runs counter to how most of us are raised. He gave loving, quietly confident attention to his crying daughter. He trusted that his caring would get through to her. He worked together with Asha--it was clear how much they trusted one another, and how much they both loved Anya.

I feel privileged to have known him, and to have very directly seen the love he had for his family, a love that allowed others in, but wasn't diluted or distracted by their presence.

I will never forget Rajeev Motwani. His generosity and love ran deep.

I am very much shocked by hearing the news of passing away of Rajeev Motwani. I had not met him personally in real life, but I have studied the famous books written by him. I have studied his book on Automata Theory and gained a lot.

God please give him peace and comfort.

http://mgstudio.com/
'great information provided!

Recently I saw the videos of rajeev's group meeting in youtube
Its a great team shaping up to carry forward rejeev motwani's legacy ..

I didnt know abt rajeev motwani until his sudden dissmissal last year..
I am very inspired by his humble life and the values he believed in.

I hope to see great discussions coming soon ..I thank each and every one of the team and especially" Asha Jadeja " for driving this and taking forward rajeev's ideas ...

I really appreciate if moderator can upload all the videos of the rajeevs group meetings in youtube.. so,everybody in the world can follow it and contribute in there own way to make this group bigger.. ...

Thank You
Sandeep

This is so sad...

Your research papers and books (mainly the Automatic theory) are great. RIP