Dear Viswa, Thank you for letting us know, and for writing such a beautiful text in memory of your friend. Please send my condolences to his son.
Much love, Andreas On Thu, Mar 5, 2015 at 3:07 PM, ViswaPrabha (വിശ്വപ്രഭ) <vp2...@gmail.com> wrote: > Dear Wikimedians all over the world, > > One of our stalwarts at ml Wikimedia community, Wikiuser:BabuG > <https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Babug> ( > https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Babug) expired yesterday night. > > Despite having paralyzed due to a severe stroke and severely affected by > several subsequent health problems, he was guided to Wikipedia by his son, > Dr. Ajay, another prominent Malayalam Wikipedian, as a possible remedy to > escape perpetual loneliness. > > His real world name was G. Balachandran.He was born on 14th October 1938 in > a small village off North Parur, Ernakulam District, Kerala, the > Southernmost state of India.He joined the Armed Forces Engineering College > and then continued to serve the Indian Armed forces for long many years. > > He started contributing to Wikimedia, particularly to Malayalam Wikipedia, > in the year 2008. > > His initial contributions to Malayalam Wikipedia were based upon a > pulp-converted digital Encyclopedia, released by the Government through > GFDL licence then. He continued to create even more full-featured articles > on his own, later. By 2014 October 18 - the day he edited last in > Wikipedia- he had 1935 full-blown articles initiated and expanded by > himself in ml.wikipedia.org. Besides, he also contributed more than 350 > images to Wikimedia commons and a handsome amount of contributions to > Wikisource, Wikidata and Wiktionary. > > He always attributed his renewed energy and life's aspirations to the > Wikimedia mission, for having returned to a meaningful life after a 20-year > long and frustrating solitude while constrained to an immobile chair. Ever > since 2008, he stood up and started walking and moving around. His was an > extreme example for us in Malayalam WP to showcase how Wikipedia can change > lives. > > In almost all our Wikipedia Outreach sessions, we utilized this great > example to motivate and excite the newcomers to WP. > > Tory Read mentioned about BabuG thus, in a document > <http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/india-chronicles.pdf>, a review > on the state of Indian Wikimedia Communities, in 2011: > > G. Balachandran, a septuagenarian who lives outside of Ernakulum in Kerala > > state, said that working on Malayalam Wikipedia helped him recover after > a > > stroke left him paralyzed. “He’s much sharper now,” said his wife > Jagadamma > > K. “He’s made a lot of new friends, and that’s been good for his health.” > > > For us in Malayalam Wikipedia, today is a black day, for having lost a > great beacon on our voyage to ultimate openness and freedom in knowledge > and wisdom. > > > Yet, we feel, BabuG has made his life stamped immortal for ever and has > shown us the pathway we should follow in continuing our humble > contributions to the ultimate cause of mankind. > > > -ViswaPrabha > (On behalf of Malayalam Wikimedia Community) > http://ml.wikipedia.org > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>