Yesterday I felt very happy, special and humbled all at once by my well-wisher Mr.J.Kesavardhanan, CEO of K7 Computing – the makers of World Class Anti-Virus Solutions for nearly two decades.
The reason I was happy was the occasion of K7 Computing moving to a new sprawling 25,000 square feet new office in OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road) about a kilometre from Tidel Park – in between MARG and HCL buildings on the left-hand side when coming from Madhya Kailash Temple. I have great admiration for Mr.K7 (as he likes to be called), learned from him over the years on both technologies and on running a business. As a matter of history, K7 Computing is the only employer for whom I worked for (for about 3 months), before I started Vishwak and I greatly cherish the experiences I went through in that short duration.
I was feeling special, because K7 after honouring his guru Mr.Pulikesi, gifted me with a “Gold Coin” for being their first customer of Vx2000 15 years or so back. In 1990, when I bought the copy of Vx2000 for Rs.190 for our publishing company LIFCO, I was in my school and honestly didn’t know I was their first customer nor realized it will become history one-day. I remember seeing the below issue (November 1990 or an early issue of 1991) of SysReader, going to a small lane in Saidapet, Chennai and meeting a smart, bearded person Mr.Balu in a tiny room with a PC. Balu acted normally, sold me the product and that I time I didn’t get to meet K7. In the next few years from then, I met K7 many times in SysReader office and events. It was in 1996-97 when I worked briefly (thanks to my other long time well-wisher Mr.Asokan P) in K7 Computing I got to meet K7 closer and the Balu I met in 1991-92 was my line manager (he was a tough manager to satisfy on delivery schedules).

See here Vx2000 earliest advertisement copy that appeared in the above SysReader issue.
Finally, I was humbled to see the simplicity of K7 – even with all these successes behind him, K7 hasn’t changed a bit, he is the same person I met 15 years or so back.
Instead of gifting people items which never gets used, they kept a selection of books in the exit. People were requested to pick their choice. A very thoughtful act, considering that K7 Computing is a Knowledge (IP) Company and even on these Google days – what is more apt to symbolise knowledge than books. Earlier someone gifted me a book was in an event at TCS – read that post here.