In our life, we get to meet many people. Among the countless, few of them leave lasting impact on us with their perspective and actions. In such cases, the length of association with them becomes irrelevant, its their impact which counts. To preserve and recount their story, and sometimes presenting it to a wider range of people seems a beautiful way to recall their influence and the impact of their work. Among the many that I have been fortunate to come across during my stay in Japan, I will like to remember my friend Yurie Moriwaki today, on the day of her Birthday.
Knowing Yurie
During the India Festival in October 2014, held annually in Kobe, my friend Yoshiki Tomita told me that a friend of his wants to go to India, and would like to get some information from me in that regard. I was happy to help Yoshiki's friend, and invited them to the Riken Open house day, which too is held annually in the third week of October. That is how I was introduced to Yurie Moriwaki.
After the preliminary introduction, Yurie told me that she is working for a startup, named Shiru Cafe, which aims to bring recruiters and university students together by providing information through a cafe. A large portion of the expense of this cafe is borne by the sponsorship from the companies. The cafe had already opened its branch in few Japanese universities, and it was looking forward to expand its branches in India, in particular, the IITs and the IIMs. In this context, Yurie wanted some information about my Alma mater, IIT Kharagpur. It was decided that she will collect her set of questions for this, and I will try to answer them, in the context of feasibility of opening the cafes in India.
Shiru Cafe and its Opening
We met after 2-3 weeks of this in a Thai restaurant. She had brought her set of about 10 questions printed in 2-3 pages, and the effort and detailed work she had put in that was evident. Her effort was aimed towards understanding what are the strong points of the IIT system, would the administration help or hinder opening the cafes etc. After finishing the dinner and most of the questions, I also promised to introduce any other relevant person in this regard. Subsequent to this meeting, we interacted a few more times using social media. Yurie always had detailed questions, and she tried to understand the finer point of things.
One of her effort was in the direction of getting in touch with some administrative person from any of the IITs. I recommended to find the IDs and mail the gymkhana VP, or the different Deans of the institute. I am not sure if she could have a prompt response from these email IDs or not. Fortunately, from my friends, I got to know of a Japanese faculty who was working in IIT Hyderabad. Yurie got in touch with him, and he helped them a lot in their future steps.
After these prepatations, in the early months of 2015, Yurie had the first chance to visit India with her Shiru cafe team. Though they wanted to visit multiple places, but they only could visit IIT Delhi, Hyderabad and some other place. Despite their effort, their team could not visit Kharagpur this time. During this visit, they had very positive response from IIT Hyderabad.
Returning from their trip, Shiru cafe team started to work fast paced towards pitching for the cafe in these campus, and they planned another trip in 2-3 months. I met Yurie second time in person during this, where I helped her preparing to give a presentation to the Deans, and why the cafe should be opened. Smart and dedicated, she was never tired of her job, irrespective of the time. Her practice speech this time ended about 2 am, where I was dead tired but she had no trace of any tiredness!
Fast forward few months, I came to know that Shiru cafe was not only accepted to open in IIT Hyderabad campus, but it was going to do the inauguration in April 2016! The speed of the work was too fast and good to be believable at first to me, but they did do the inauguration in scheduled time.
Last Meeting
After she was back from the opening of the cafe, I was curious to meet her to hear about her experiences in India, but it could not materialize due to the busy schedules. Fortunately, 4 September worked good for her, we met at my share house at Nada. I prepared some easy Indian dishes and snacks. In what I got to hear, she was positive and kind of neutral in her experiences in India, though the spicy food was not up to her taste. She did mention that her iPhone was lost somewhere in the trip, which was sad to know, but she treated it as a minor thing.
I also inquired her about what she intended to do in her future. My assumption was she would keep working for startups, or go for an MBA, but she mentioned she wants to go for a Masters in Computer Science, and after which she wanted to work for a large company. I recommended that in that case, instead of Japan, she could go to Europe or US for a Masters, and then come back to work in Japan. She replied that she will look for the relevant information in this regard. After a long chat, she proceeded to her home. Before that, I invited her to the India festival which was coming next month. I joked that I might actually forget later to invite her, but irrespective of that, she should come over there. She laughed a lot at this, and promised she would try to come.
Final Goodbye
As fate had it in store, one night before the India Festival was scheduled to start, I got a message from Yoshiki, about whether I had heard the news or not. With trepidation, i replied in negative, and came to know that Yurie had left for the heavenly abode. The incident involved a collision of Yurie's scooter with a luggage truck. Such incidents are not so common in Japan, but life is always uncertain.
Due to this turn of things, instead of being able to see her in the India festival, I was attending her wake ceremony (part of Japanese funeral), which is the last chance to pay respects to the departed soul. The father of Yurie had to make some comments there, most of which I could not understand. He did mention he has resolved to work for reducing traffic accidents. It was very brave of him to be able to speak on such a sad occasion.
After this, I had an opportunity to get to know some of Yurie's friends from Shiru cafe. I was extremely surprised to know that just before a day or two of the accident, she had resigned from Shiru cafe, which she helped grow and nurture to such an extent. It was as if she finished one of her jobs with dedication and honor, and set out for bigger things!
People live by their actions
In her life, Yurie achieved more than what we do in much longer life, and she continues to live through the Shiru cafe she was so instrumental in being opened in India. In the few interactions I had with her, I was always struck by how busy she kept herself in the multiple things she did. Her persistent laughter also would have been a stress buster for her friends. I am sure wherever she would be, she would be making things easier for people around her by her sheer energy and workforce. She would always be alive in that spirit, and I consider myself fortunate to have got to know her.
Knowing Yurie
During the India Festival in October 2014, held annually in Kobe, my friend Yoshiki Tomita told me that a friend of his wants to go to India, and would like to get some information from me in that regard. I was happy to help Yoshiki's friend, and invited them to the Riken Open house day, which too is held annually in the third week of October. That is how I was introduced to Yurie Moriwaki.
After the preliminary introduction, Yurie told me that she is working for a startup, named Shiru Cafe, which aims to bring recruiters and university students together by providing information through a cafe. A large portion of the expense of this cafe is borne by the sponsorship from the companies. The cafe had already opened its branch in few Japanese universities, and it was looking forward to expand its branches in India, in particular, the IITs and the IIMs. In this context, Yurie wanted some information about my Alma mater, IIT Kharagpur. It was decided that she will collect her set of questions for this, and I will try to answer them, in the context of feasibility of opening the cafes in India.
Shiru Cafe and its Opening
We met after 2-3 weeks of this in a Thai restaurant. She had brought her set of about 10 questions printed in 2-3 pages, and the effort and detailed work she had put in that was evident. Her effort was aimed towards understanding what are the strong points of the IIT system, would the administration help or hinder opening the cafes etc. After finishing the dinner and most of the questions, I also promised to introduce any other relevant person in this regard. Subsequent to this meeting, we interacted a few more times using social media. Yurie always had detailed questions, and she tried to understand the finer point of things.
One of her effort was in the direction of getting in touch with some administrative person from any of the IITs. I recommended to find the IDs and mail the gymkhana VP, or the different Deans of the institute. I am not sure if she could have a prompt response from these email IDs or not. Fortunately, from my friends, I got to know of a Japanese faculty who was working in IIT Hyderabad. Yurie got in touch with him, and he helped them a lot in their future steps.
After these prepatations, in the early months of 2015, Yurie had the first chance to visit India with her Shiru cafe team. Though they wanted to visit multiple places, but they only could visit IIT Delhi, Hyderabad and some other place. Despite their effort, their team could not visit Kharagpur this time. During this visit, they had very positive response from IIT Hyderabad.
Returning from their trip, Shiru cafe team started to work fast paced towards pitching for the cafe in these campus, and they planned another trip in 2-3 months. I met Yurie second time in person during this, where I helped her preparing to give a presentation to the Deans, and why the cafe should be opened. Smart and dedicated, she was never tired of her job, irrespective of the time. Her practice speech this time ended about 2 am, where I was dead tired but she had no trace of any tiredness!
Fast forward few months, I came to know that Shiru cafe was not only accepted to open in IIT Hyderabad campus, but it was going to do the inauguration in April 2016! The speed of the work was too fast and good to be believable at first to me, but they did do the inauguration in scheduled time.
Last Meeting
After she was back from the opening of the cafe, I was curious to meet her to hear about her experiences in India, but it could not materialize due to the busy schedules. Fortunately, 4 September worked good for her, we met at my share house at Nada. I prepared some easy Indian dishes and snacks. In what I got to hear, she was positive and kind of neutral in her experiences in India, though the spicy food was not up to her taste. She did mention that her iPhone was lost somewhere in the trip, which was sad to know, but she treated it as a minor thing.
I also inquired her about what she intended to do in her future. My assumption was she would keep working for startups, or go for an MBA, but she mentioned she wants to go for a Masters in Computer Science, and after which she wanted to work for a large company. I recommended that in that case, instead of Japan, she could go to Europe or US for a Masters, and then come back to work in Japan. She replied that she will look for the relevant information in this regard. After a long chat, she proceeded to her home. Before that, I invited her to the India festival which was coming next month. I joked that I might actually forget later to invite her, but irrespective of that, she should come over there. She laughed a lot at this, and promised she would try to come.
Final Goodbye
As fate had it in store, one night before the India Festival was scheduled to start, I got a message from Yoshiki, about whether I had heard the news or not. With trepidation, i replied in negative, and came to know that Yurie had left for the heavenly abode. The incident involved a collision of Yurie's scooter with a luggage truck. Such incidents are not so common in Japan, but life is always uncertain.
Due to this turn of things, instead of being able to see her in the India festival, I was attending her wake ceremony (part of Japanese funeral), which is the last chance to pay respects to the departed soul. The father of Yurie had to make some comments there, most of which I could not understand. He did mention he has resolved to work for reducing traffic accidents. It was very brave of him to be able to speak on such a sad occasion.
After this, I had an opportunity to get to know some of Yurie's friends from Shiru cafe. I was extremely surprised to know that just before a day or two of the accident, she had resigned from Shiru cafe, which she helped grow and nurture to such an extent. It was as if she finished one of her jobs with dedication and honor, and set out for bigger things!
People live by their actions
In her life, Yurie achieved more than what we do in much longer life, and she continues to live through the Shiru cafe she was so instrumental in being opened in India. In the few interactions I had with her, I was always struck by how busy she kept herself in the multiple things she did. Her persistent laughter also would have been a stress buster for her friends. I am sure wherever she would be, she would be making things easier for people around her by her sheer energy and workforce. She would always be alive in that spirit, and I consider myself fortunate to have got to know her.
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