Ambatt Sreedhar joined us in the 1972-76 batch of REC/NIT Calicut.

The fact that he had a great heritage – his father was a District Judge and his mother hailed from the Cochin royal family – didn’t prevent him from mixing freely with everyone regardless of caste, creed or religion.

He was a quiet and gentle person. Though he didn’t participate in any extra curricular activities, Sreedhar was very popular in the hostels for his polite and gentlemanly behaviour.

After graduating in Mechanical Engineering, he worked in various projects in South India, especially Telengana and Andhra Pradesh before settling down in Paravur in the 1990s.

He was doing various consultancy services and managing the family owned Dr Menon’s Medicals. In 2002 he was asked by his friend and batchmate T K Salim to take charge of the Kerala projects of Koya and Co. , one of the leading contracting companies in South India.

Sreedhar, in the past 30 years had successfully completed various pipe line projects of the Hyderabad based firm all across Kerala especially the World Bank aided projects in Calicut, Cherthala, Kollam etc.

Sreedhar was an independent Director of Koya and Co when he was diagnosed with liver disease.

What marked Sreedhar from others was his love and total dedication to his classmates. He was a regular presence in the get-togethers of the 72-76 batch. He was particular about his participation, even during his illness in the 2023 get-together at Kumarakom and the 2024 get-together at Hyderabad. Sreedhar and wife were regular members of the family tours to various places in the State organised by the Kochi friends. His last visit to my residence in Muvattupuzha was while they were returning from Vagamon, a few months before his departure.

He was an active participant in the activities of the NITCAA Cochin chapter as well as the Recca Club Cochin. Sreedhar has actively served in the organising committee of the World NITCAA meet held at Kochi.

He remained cheerful and positive even when he knew that the end was near. He would invite us to visit him at his Kakkanad apartment and would tell us that he forgot all the pain when he was among friends. My own last visit extended to 6 hours when he insisted that we stay back to meet our classmate Damodaran, whom we had not met for several years.

The large contingent of friends and family who were present to pay the last respects is a testimony to the love and regards everyone had for this gentle, humble and lovable person. He is survived by wife Sheela, daughter Sruthi and two grandchildren.