It was sometime in the year 1998 when I met Indranil at a magazine stall at Gariahat in south Kolkata. A magazine on information technology named 'Chip' was being published and it so happened that both of us took keen interest in Chip as a reliable source of information on the happenings in the world of computers. After a stint of about three years in a finance company, I was working in an IT firm and Indranil had just purchased his home PC which he affectionately christined 'Titanium'. Soon enough something made both of us realize that we could work as a team. We sat down together and tried our hands at small tit-bits like simple applications on MS Access. We made a small application for the Library of Ramakrishna Mission Bhubaneswar which was installed and made running. We made a simple website on our profiles, hosted it on geocities and were pretty excited about it. It was in 1999 that we were asked to do the website of Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture at Golpark, Kolkata. I still remember the last stages of work took three days and nights at a stretch. Subsequently, websites of the Bengali journal of the Ramakrishna Order and two other NGOs followed.

In January 2001 we thought of giving formal shape to our venture in the form of 'Oceanus Creative Technologies'. The name 'Oceanus' was Indranil's brainstorm. He rang me up in the middle of the night and said:

"What is your opinion about the name Oceanus Technologies?"
"What does it mean?" I said.
"Well it means something surrounded by ocean" came his reply - "that gives a surreal feeling - but there is one small problem!"
"What's that?"
"The domain names oceativetechnologies.com or oceanus.com are unavailable".
"Can you add Creative in between and check?"
"That's available."
"Then let's name it 'Oceanus Creative Technologies'".

Thus began a journey spanning over eight years till a fatal accident took away Indranil in the afternoon of 22nd March 2009. Delving into the past eight years it seems a memorable chapter. We didn't mint money but enjoyed what we did. During the course we spread our wings out of Kolkata - in Delhi, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Shantiniketan, Hazaribag, Shillong and even far flung places like Cherrapunjee. We met so many people and faced varied situations which enriched our experience. We planned and put those into execution. Each project was different from the other. Crisis came at times but we managed to tide over.

Indranil used to oversee the technical part and the commercial part was left to me. Never did Indranil question my activities. He signed documents and cheques which I gave him without even batting an eyelid. Such was his faith on me. I can rarely think of a time when I saw him morose and sombre. He was so full of life. His technical acumen was something worth mentioning. He had learnt it hands-on. For any technical hicups he came out with a solution.

Biking was his hobby. He was one of the founder members of a biking club - "The Roadrollers" of Kolkata. Long week-ends gave him the opportunity to go for their trips. I still remember the glowing accounts he gave after his Kolkata-Gangtok and Kolkata-Puri trips on motorbike.

Unfortunately, the trip to Ranchi turned out to be his last. On the fateful day of 22nd March (2009) while on their journey back home, Indranil's motorbike got run-over by a truck near Jonha Falls about 35 kms from Ranchi. Eyewitness accounts said that death was instant. Last rites were done at Ranchi.

Indranil had a lot more to give - to his profession, to his hobby, to his near and dear ones and to the society at large. Such untimely passing away only deprived him of the opportunity. But I suppose he was happy for what he was able to and what he wasn't.

- Partha Sarathi Bose