JOE SANTAMARIA
Batch mate, class of 1961, Cornell University (now deceased)
First met Ratan during the fall of 1957, during our freshman architectural design 101 course. At that time, he was a junior, having transferred into architecture from mechanical engineering. That’s why he had to start the required design course sequence with 101 along with us freshmen. Ratan was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity at Cornell. When Bob Allen, Bruce Herbert and I pledged Alpha Sig, we became better acquainted with him.
I recall one incident vividly, what I call the Great Pledge Raid. During the spring of 1958, we pledges began to get fed up with the more demeaning aspects of pledgeship and decided to take some action.
Being 18-19 years old, foolhardy and not particularly safety-conscious, we planned a late night/early morning raid on “Rockledge”, as our chapter house is known. This raid involved lots of large cherry bomb firecrackers, shaving cream, and other items designed to wake up the brotherhood and irritate them.
Boy, did we wake them up and did we make them mad! The house entry hall rang with the sounds of shouted curses and cherry bombs exploding, and the walls were sprayed with shaving cream. A monumental scuffle ensued between the brotherhood and the pledges, with the outnumbered pledges being finally subdued.
JOE SANTAMARIA
Batch mate, class of 1961, Cornell University (now deceased)
Ratan, who was wiry to begin with and seemed to have some prior experience with martial arts, was everywhere, wrestling down pledges and helping to restore order. As punishment, we were made to do calisthenics and then clean up the mess we had made.
The next day, the brotherhood was really mad at us pledges, but Sam Bodman, our pledge master (and former US Secretary of Energy) was delighted that we had shown the “spunk” to plan and stage such a raid. Looking back, it’s a wonder some of us weren’t seriously hurt!
I still remember Ratan, the prankster, from those days 50 years ago. In 1961-62, my fifth year at Cornell, Ratan and Bob Allen lived in the upstairs apartment at 113 West Lincoln Street for the first semester, and Bruce Herbert and I lived downstairs.
The two apartments were not very soundproof, and Bruce had a rather obnoxious theatre organ record that he delighted in playing loudly. This irritated Ratan, and late one night, when Bruce was playing it, Ratan, followed by Bob Allen, stormed downstairs, grabbed Bruce’s record, secretly switched it with an old record of his, and then broke his own record into small pieces.
Bruce was really crestfallen, but when the lights were turned on, we discovered Ratan’s prank. We all had a good laugh.
I feel fortunate to have known Ratan at Cornell, and am pleased that I have been able to keep up with him from time to time since then. It is a pleasure to see what he has done for himself, his companies, for India and for Cornell.