The passing of Ramesh Thadani has comeas a rude shock to me and I feel a deep senseof personal loss. I have known Ramesh for overtwo decades. His involvement in media researchbrought me in touch with him first. He was aman of few words but his actions spoke for histremendous work. He was an outstanding professional whose contribution to market researchin this country has been immense. His outstanding leadership of IMRB has not only brought IMRB but also the discipline of market researchinto the forefront of business activity itself. Hiscontribution to the evolution and developmentof National Readership Studies is particularlynoteworthy. The void created by his departure is indeed difficult to fill.

N. Murali
The Hindu

Ramesh was teaching the course in Market Research at the Bajaj Institute in Bombay while Shashi was a student there in 1984 - 85. Shashi remembers Ramesh as a great teacher, whose clarity of thought was reflected in his teaching style. He even made sampling techniques interesting!

It was because of this that Shashi decided to work in Market Research, even though it was not considered to be a popular option at the time. While at IMRB Bombay, Shashi worked under Ramesh on a number of projects. She accompanied him to a number of meetings with clients where, despite being a newcomer to the profession, Ramesh always introduced her as “a colleague”.

In the office, Ramesh was a ‘tower of majesty’ whose softer side only found expression from time to time. However, when this happened – as in a conference in Goa when he rolled up his trousers and strolled down on the beach with the REs – it was a delightful experience.

Shashikala Raj
McDowell and Co.

I remember meeting Ramesh when he joined IMRB. What really struck me about him was that he was a person who would not even hurt a fly. Sometimes we had a fiery session, but you never saw him losing his cool, or be ruffled... sometimes you can see animosity in peoples faces,when they look daggers at you. You never saw that in Ramesh. He stood there, sort of, ver y passively listened to everything, and countered the argument or whatever was being discussed and presented his viewpoint in a very articulate manner. Some people have a great vision and they say, ‘okay this is it, now how do we get there?’ But Ramesh did more than that. He worked on how to get there too.

He had a mind of his own. We always learnt something from him, inthe sense that when he talked or opened his mouth about anything, itwould not be out of ignorance or lack of knowledge. He knew what hewas talking about, he had thought about it very cogently and very articulately. He had a very positive outlook, very apolitical.

Some adjectives that I would apply to Ramesh... fun to be with, persevering, caring. When I say ‘caring’ it’s because of his warm family situation, he cared for the organisation. He really cared for his people. He had the ability to talk to everyone and create a rapport. He had the ability to get along with people. Always calm, collected, cool. I neversaw him flapping.

Nikhil Nehru
McCann Erickson