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The Boy Who Invented Email Web PDF
The Boy Who Invented Email Web PDF
Table of Contents
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39
Chapter 1
The Promise
I was born on December 2, 1963, a dark-skinned, lowercaste Indian, in Bombay, India.
The face you see on the cover of this book is a 14-year-old
version of me from 1978. I was just a boy, and only seven
years had passed since I left my motherland India for the
United States. At the time, I was working in Newark, New
Jersey, one of the poorest cities in the United States, where
I invented email, the email we all experience today.
Like that face, each of our visages reflects our unique
journeys across multiple worlds, starting at home to
beyond and back to our self. The beauty of life perhaps lies
in our common struggle to find patterns of connection
across those worlds.
from
our
apartment offered a
jolt to ones senses. I
saw
skyscrapers
and
modern
buildings made of
glass,
metal
and
steel that stood sideby-side huts made from twigs, grass, old tires, straw, mud
and wires.
Our neighbors were Jews, Christians, Hindus, Muslims,
Jains and Zoroastrians. Sadhus and yogis meditated along
the road. Transvestites, transsexuals, gays, straight men,
women, and children walked hand in hand. Being multi8
the
summers,
these
scenes
changed.
Bombay
sunrises,
sunsets,
bright
smiling
faces,
draw
kolams
on the entrance to
the home.
She used milled
white rice flour
that
flowed
who
looked
upon
them
into
different
states
of
consciousness.
As one came home, one could not avoid the kolam, a
reminder one was entering a special place. Two solid teak
doors were the entrance into a small 10-foot by 12-foot
room, which served as the living room, dining room and
sleeping room. Ahead, one could see the kitchen, where
something was always cooking. The fragrance of cumin,
ginger, cardamom, red pepper, and freshly grated coconut
filled the air.
Heroes: Gods and Shamans
Heroes: Gods and Shamans
In the living room, near the edge of the ceiling, along all four
walls, hung pictures of great deities and heroes such as
Shiva, my namesake, who destroyed, created and
transformed; Rama, the virtuous and noble hero of the
Ramayana; Devi, the mother Goddess; Parvathi, wife and
consort of Shiva; Ganesha, the elephant headed one who
removed obstacles; Jesus, Gods avatar and the Savior of
12
beautiful
peacock
feather.
My
grandmother,
ancient tattoos. She had a nose ring. Her hair was pitch
black, she chewed tobacco and betel leaf. Her face was like
the earth, dark and hues of red, with eyes that extended to
the beyond and lines that marked her journeys of many life
times.
Sick
Patterns of Health
Everyday someone would come to her, asking for help
concerning their health, and on weekends, long lines
extended from her door. I was amazed by her ability to
diagnose someones problem by simply observing his or
her face. She had learned powers of diagnosis from yogis,
monks and adepts including Siddhars, the practitioners of
Siddha, Indias oldest of traditional medicine, by simply
observing the face, an ancient practice known as Samudrika
Lakshanam.
She shared with me how the Siddhars believed that the
entire cosmos including the smallest particle to the largest
universe were connected by consciousness and energy.
14
The face was just a mirror of our entire body, and areas on
the face were connected to organs, emotions and mind. The
Siddhars connected the dots, based on centuries of
patiently observing patterns; similar connections that
modern
systems
by
interconnecting
chains of molecular
interactions.
I remember how she
would
carefully
19
with
the
singular
22
Chapter 2
Inventing Email
On December 2, 1970, with $75.00 in his pocket, my father
moved his young wife and two small children to the United
States to pursue the American Dream.
My parents Meenakshi and Vellayappa Ayyadurai had
worked hard to get an education at a time when people of
our
were
background
treated
as
untouchables
in
had
realized
for
in
that
a
unique
program
in
Professor
Mullish
established
an
25
I was the only Indian in the class, and would travel from
New Jersey to New York each day. We were taught seven
programming languages including digital hardware theory.
I finished number one in the class, so other academic
challenges were needed to keep me engaged.
My mother, a feisty woman of 88 pounds, convinced Dr.
Leslie P. Michelson, an experimental high-energy physicist,
who became the Director of the Laboratory Computer
Network (LCN) at UMDNJ to provide me an opportunity to
use my skills in math and science amongst adult
professionals in the field.
Dr. Michelsons Lab was specializing in the use of
computers for medicine, and scientific and data processing.
At UMDNJ, as in the rest of the world, only technical people,
computer systems operators, scientists and engineers, at
that time, had access to and used the computer. Given my
interest in medicine, I thought Dr. Michelson would allow
me to use skills in programming to pursue a medical
26
research project.
But, he had a different challenge in mind. He asked me to
translate the paper-based interoffice mail and memo
system into an electronic communications format. The new
system needed to be practical and easy to use. Everyone
from secretaries to CEOs should be able to quickly and
reliably manage
and process the
interoffice
memorandum
in
digital
format.
Users must be
able to make a
seamless,
effortless
transition
from
old-fashioned
29
Official US Copyright Notice for Email Issued on August 30, 1982, now,
in the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History
(NMAH).
30
32
of
innovation?
Could it be that a
dark-skinned boy in
New Jersey simply
does
not
fit
the
33
Isaacsons history is a glaring example of denial, written -under a populist guise of collaboration of those within
that triangle, which marginalizes or simply ignores
innovators outside of it. Furthermore, it exemplifies how
Americans must continue to be brainwashed into believing
that great innovations can only come out of the militaryacademic-industrial complex, which President Eisenhower
warned us about. After all, war protects us, weapons keep
us powerful, and this holy triangle makes our lives modern.
So, who would ever question such a force of positivity? (A
force, by the way, which keeps us funding wars to
dominate, maim, and kill our enemies, mainly poor,
people of color, and the disenfranchised.)
But the creation of email did occur outside of the bastions
of government, academia, and for-profit corporations.
Thats why it is not included in Isaacsons Innovators, which
begs the question: how many more besides me have been
excluded from the club?
34
Now, I am not the kind of person who has ever pulled the
race card in my career, for benefit or advancement. My
record speaks for itself. But this is such a glaring denial, that
it must be exposed. And, it must be exposed fully, not for
just correcting the facts about the invention of email, but to
expose something far more insidious.
The writers of American History have a pattern and
practice of denying that people of color and of lower socioeconomic status have contributed in a significant way to
the evolution and advancement of the scientific and
technological growth of this country. There are untold
African Americans and other inventors of color that were
ignored and unrecognized for decades.
It was no mere accident that those inventors were not
recognized, but it was done deliberately, as we are seeing
right now in the case of Isaacsons book, so as to not have
any mention in the history books that such people were
intelligent, innovative and creative. E
35
such
narratives
continually
and
class
trains in India
or
you
reading these
words
right
now.
This
issue,
however, isnt
about my wanting glory. On the contrary, its about not
wanting. Its about refusing to enact the script thats been
played out for much too long in the lives of people from my
background. I just cant be the long-suffering untouchable
in a rural village resigned to his karmic destiny.
37
38
Chapter 3
39
compute.
However, the 14-year-old boys journey reveals a
fundamental truth: innovation can occur anytime, anyplace
by anybody, and shatters false narratives and exposes their
brainwashing, which attempt to bind the source of great
innovations, such as email, within their golden triangle of
the military, big corporations, and large universities.
40
Had I not
42
44
The
point is that they are someone who inspires you and can
guide you in a practical way, for you to explore this
important aspect of being a creative human being.
In India, during ancient times, there was a teacher or
guru, not someone promoting religion or some
megalomaniacal agenda, but a productive and practical
member of society, who worked with you, one on one, to
impart wisdom, and to lead you on a path, so you could lead
yourself.
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51
53
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