Alberto, the
perfect gentleman
I formed an indelible bond with
Alberto ever since his visit to the IBM Research lab, in
2001-2002.
He spent roughly six to eight months at the institute and I got
to
know him at many different levels: a collaborator, a friend, a
mentor,
a confidant. He helped me buy my car. Quickly realizing my
ignorance
on the subject, one fine afternoon he drove me to the dealer and
did all
the negotiating. The result: I drove home a brand new BMW. He
warned me
not to wiggle in my car since the BMW, being the fine piece of
engineering
that it is, would wiggle with me.
Later, during that visit I once
invited
Alberto and family home for dinner. In the foolishness of my
youth, I made
the error of serving some Italian inspired dishes (I remember
what I had
cooked but will spare you the details). Few days later two
Italian-Cooking
magazines mysteriously appeared in my mailbox. I now shudder to
think that
I even served him some local wine. It was later that I was to
learn about
his taste in wine (and food). And, somewhere along the line,
like
David Sankoff, I have also become a regular consumer of
Prosecco.
The year 2008 was special. I
missed
the celebration in CPM at Pisa. I organized a small surprise
birthday party
for Alberto at the Trieste School (attached picture). And, I had
the good
fortune of staying at his place in Padova during my birthday,
where he
had a surprise cake for me (attached picture). Sometime, between
the two
celebrations, I was on his boat (attached pic with Rosa).
Penchant for positivity
I have never ever heard Alberto
say
a negative thing about anything. He had this uncanny knack for
giving a
positive spin to all.
Once I had worked for weeks on a
proof
of a theorem, but, as luck would have it, it all collapsed. I
was very
disappointed and when I told Alberto about it, he said, again in
a style
that only he can say, "a lot can be salvaged from the rich
debris
of a wreck". Sure enough, he joined me in the rescue effort.
Here is a hilarious one, that
always
brings a smile to my face.
Once after a week in DIMACS,
where we
had co-organized a workshop, I came home to a very tall pile of
dishes
in my kitchen sink. Later I was complaining to Alberto about
this and he
said "You are lucky that the dishes were not all over
the house-- under the sofa, behind the TV, on the bed, etc etc
where they
could very well have been. At least, they were neatly placed in
the sink
for your convenience."
Well, there is one exception.
Even Alberto
could not get himself to say something nice about yogurt. He did
not like
yogurt. He was only too happy to give the credit for inventing
yogurt to
the Greeks (or, Indians when I so insisted).
Simply funny
Alberto loved to spend the month
of
August sailing. I have heard great many boat stories from some
of you and
from Alberto. Here is a little one of mine:
Once I had to reach him during
the month
of August and needed his signature urgently for a document.
Given his location,
he said that I should feel free to replicate his signature (let
me assure
the reader that this was for a very innocuous purpose) and so I
did. A
few more times as well. Then later he came back to me saying if
I
could send him a copy of his signature, so that he could study
it and replicate
his own signature, for the future.
The Perfectionist
People who know me also know of
my strange
desire to get one in a real or fake tango pose for a Kodak
moment. Alberto
always dodged my request, perhaps because the perfectionist in
him didnt
like the idea of faking, and pushed someone else to oblige me.
But finally,
he gave in at one of our Dagstuhl workshops (maybe because Titti
silently
insisted- attached picture).
As I recall and write these, I
realize
how he touched our lives in so many ways.
Unquestionably, a great scholar
with
depth as well as breadth- almost an impossibility to achieve. I
continue
to work closely with many of his academic descendants. At a
personal level,
he was a perfect gentleman and the nicest man I have ever known.
I will
always miss him.
Laxmi
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