Working with Uday was a great learning experience for me. It is not that I should write only great things about him just because everyone is reading this, but trust me great words is what I can remember of when I think of the most humble person I have come across in my career. He had abundance of patience when it was time for listening and he would address every concern that was put on the table with utmost importance and care.

He would think of a solution intelligently, meticulously and very practically in addressing the issue or situation that was put across. I can never forget how much he had encouraged me to pursue trainings and said I should go for what i had planned, for the benefit of my career.

Thanks to him with all my heart for the work life balance that I have today as he was the one who encouraged and enabled me to work in a convenient shift which was so well thought by him. He understood my personal challenges and offered to put me in a shift that enables me to tackle those challenges bravely.

I have taken a lot of learning from him on priorities, address challenges, patience, understanding, alertness to cropping issues and many more in the short stint we had with Uday but gained great learning in that short time. If the guru is right, it hardly takes time for a learning to take place!!

That was Uday Ponnapally for all.

I still cannot register your absence because I still follow your guidance every day. May your soul rest in peace and may your golden words reach my ears in time of my professional crisis. Thanks for the great support and teaching Uday. You are thoroughly missed...

....Girija Rao (Hilliard Team)

We attended Accenture interview and got selected on same day. I met you once again in Kakatiya University campus where we applied for convocation.  We joined Accenture on 01-OCT-2003 and soon became close friends, roommates and got in to same project. You were my team lead and elder brother though we don’t share our blood. You were part of my biggest career choices; I wouldn’t have got in to Hyperion world without your encouragement.  You had mentored me in several difficult situations.  I still remember your advice in one of the difficult and emotional situation, you said to me “Be matured and calm, your reaction always display the maturity level. It is very important that you control the emotions and don’t let your emotions control you.”

I still remember the events that shared with you, waking up early at 7:00 am, going to office , working late and returning home early morning next day,  Having late night dinner at empire and mogul hotels, watching movies at REX cinema, walking across Commercial Street and MG road, playing the cricket at home, riding the bike in Bangalore streets and commuting to work in single car at Hyderabad.  What a amazing memories…

I really had wonderful time with you, I am sorry; I couldn’t help you much by not being at Hyderabad when you were suffering with cancer.   I always remember your great support, encouragement and mentoring. Oh brother... I missed you forever physically but you are always with me emotionally… Nagaraju

I know him personally for about 9+ years. He was a serious person at office but very different person at home, he used be like an elderly brother to all of us. He used to interfere if there was any kind of fight between roommates. He was very professional at work and would defend his team members at any situation.

I first met Uday in Hotel Harsha Park Inn, Bangalore (Transit Stay during Accenture Onboarding). Myself, Uday, Naidu, Nagaraju Kondadi and Kumara Sundaram all 5 joined Accenture on same day (1-Oct-2003). All 5 had two things in common that was we all were from Microsoft technology background and came from Hyderabad. After induction program in Atria Hotel Bangalore, we all 5 decided to stay together and search for two bedroom house near to Bang 1 office (Cunningham Office). Uday & Kumar were the negotiators for the rent and we wanted to avoid the 10 months deposit and were ready to pay higher rent. Finally we got a duplex house with two bedrooms with 2.5 months deposit at Queen’s Road. We saw his negotiation skills in a new place with no knowledge of Kannada. All the effort of getting the house near to Bang 1 flopped after we came to know that we will be going to Diamond district Office (Old Airport Road, Domlur- Accenture Bench in 2003).  In Diamond District office we were told that Dell project will be interviewing all the Microsoft resources. The project didn’t get finalized and all four except Kumar were locked to Providian project.  I saw Uday’s career progress in this same project from SSE to Manager.

We used to always see him & Naidu leave early to office and the last one to come back home at around mid-night. Uday was work alcoholic and sometimes missed his dinner while working on some production issue. We all roommates felt sorry for Naidu since Uday was his supervisor and always had to leave office along with Uday most of the time and probably he is the one who is very close to Uday till the end.

I still cherish the moments when we all used to meet up at Hotel Empire for the dinner (Only Hotel after 11 PM IST) and Uday never missed his favorite Curd rice. During weekends we used to go to Commercial Street for the awesome idly & dosa and to Cantonment for lunch (full meals).The favorite hangout place for us initially during weekend was MG Road.

In 2007 there was a moment when 3 of 5 roommates (Myself, Uday & Naidu ) had a chance to be at Onsite (Pleasanton, California) for WAMU project. This is when we saw the culinary skills of Uday. He was an awesome cook which we didn’t know till we met in US. I always used to land up at Uday’s apartment during weekend to play cards game and also have the food prepared by Uday. Uday used to always order his favorite Mango Lassi whenever we used to go to his favorite Indian restaurant “Tabla” in Pleasanton.

Uday’s outdoor personality was known only during his stay in US. He was a good tennis & cricket player.

I cherished all the moments that we had during stay in US & Bangalore and also miss the elder brother affection. Rest In Peace – UDAY and we miss you a lot…. Sanoop Bhaskaran