Dedicated to my late father, Dr. Arup Mukherjee

My father, Dr. Arup Kumar Mukherjee

12/02/1953 – 12/17/2018

I am dedicating my first book to my dear and late father, Dr. Arup Kumar Mukherjee. I started writing this book in mid-2018 as part of a bigger project. My father knew about this project from the beginning, gave me solid advice, and encouraged me from start to finish. He passed away just a day after I finished writing this book, on December 17, 2018. It will be my life-long regret that I could not tell him that I finally finished this book. And I regret that I could not give him the happiness he deserved because, to my mother and me, he left this life at a young age before he could enjoy it with us fully.

I want to share a few things about my father. Naturally, every son will say that their father is the greatest. As a father, he taught me mathematics and science, fought for me whenever I ran into trouble in life, helped me win multiple spelling bee competitions at school, helped me attain full-tuition scholarships, and taught me solid principles and ethics to be a good human being later in life. But I know objectively my father is an incredible soul, not from my experience, but from the words and experiences of those he touched in his life. He started his education at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. He completed his studies with the highest honors while fighting for student rights. He even spoke to the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, on behalf of student welfare at IIT. He married my mother when he was only 25. He moved to the U.S. soon after. With only a few dollars in his pocket, he started our lives in Knoxville, Tennessee where he was allowed to skip his Masters and begin his Ph.D in Management Science from the University of Tennessee. Later, our family moved throughout the country and eventually settled in Pensacola, Florida. I grew up in Pensacola and saw my father’s biggest impact when he became a full professor and the Chairperson of the Management Information Systems department at the University of West Florida. He wrote several journals and research articles on topics like Management Science and Decision Support Systems. He continued the practice of his youth, that of fighting for others, by inspiring his students to stand on their own two feet, utilize their talents, and pursue their dreams.

Unfortunately, both my mother and my father struggled during the last few years of his life due to his multiple health problems; my mother was his constant caretaker. He lost his ability to see and take care of himself, so he fell back on using his mind the most during this time. It was during this time also that I finished my MBA and I was brainstorming multiple ideas and projects. I shared some of those ideas with my father. He brainstormed with me, steered me in the right direction, gave me words of wisdom and constructive criticism, and helped me grow my mind. He started seeing himself within me. I would eventually go on to write my first book based on the knowledge I learned on my own in mobile development, DevOps, and cloud services. Even though I could not give him all the joy he deserved at a late age, I hope to keep his name alive in this book and in future projects to come.

My late father was more than just a father. He was my mentor, my friend, and my confidant. Words cannot express how much I love him and how much I will miss his advice and his jokes. Consequently, I dedicate this book to the most intelligent, wisest, most compassionate, and most patient man I have ever known, my late father, Dr. Arup Mukherjee.