Atul Chitnis (February 20, 1962 June 3, 2013), was a man who wore many hats: Linux pioneer, FOSS evangelist, gadget guru... the list is long. I first saw and briefly spoke to Atul in FOSS.in 2007, when I was a still a FOSS newbie. I got to know him better over the years and interacted with him on twitter sporadically. A man who openly stated that he had `no time for fools', he found himself in the eye of many storms over the years. The first time I saw it happen was when he wrote his now infamous 'Omelette post' ( http://foss.in/2008/fossin2008-the-omelette-post ) In which Atul raged about how he would not tolerate the dilution of what he saw as the defining features of FOSS.in.  Atul was indeed the father of FOSS.in and if anybody had a say as to what it ought to be, it was him, but his manner of conveying ideas displeased many and put off many more.

As a result of such outbursts, Atul had developed a reputation of being arrogant and autocratic, but those who knew him personally know that he was anything but that. Another thing that confused many people, especially newbies in the FOSS world, was that he was nothing like the archetypal FOSS/Linux guy.  While Richard Stallman uses a Lemote Yeeloong laptop because he wanted a laptop which was one hundred percent FOSS (including the BIOS), Atul used a MacBook! Many people thought that it was a contradiction for a FOSS guy to endorse a brand that was so much about being 'closed', but Atul made it clear that it was his personal choice. He was a product guy and not a brand guy and he appreciated and recommended good products, irrespective of its branding. He would also be fairly severe on anybody who argued for products on the basis of hardware specifications. His oft-repeated line was "Don't talk specs. Talk about usability."

Atul Chitnis was a man who affected and influenced a lot of people. He had his share of quirks and peculiarities, but his contributions to FOSS, in particular, and the society, in general, are vast. In a conversation that I had with him in March this year, we touched upon the book he was working on. He hoped to be able to complete it soon and I wished him luck for that. I had no doubts then, that he'd be able to finish it, because though I knew he was very ill, I didn't expect that he wouldn't even live to see the end of this year. There was so much life and so much fight in him. I'm sure he had so many more things mapped out, things to do, things to write about and things to talk on, things to share... and things to learn. I hope he managed to finish his book. I hope we'll get to read it, but irrespective of the fate of his book, Atul, and his memories, will live on in the hearts of his friends.