I have been a silent admirer of his contributions and achievements in these diverse fields. However, I had a closer interaction with him in my personal and professional capacity very recently. He visited Mumbai in March 2005 to attend the Sachin Choudhury memorial lecture and at that time, I spent almost a full day with him, both in my office and at home.
I was deeply impressed by his commitment to issues relating to micro finance. This prompted me to follow it up with a meeting with all people concerned with the micro finance movement involving NGOs in Andhra Pradesh at the Reserve Bank of India, Hyderabad in June, 2005. Mr. Ray helped in organising this meeting, which gave me a deep insight into the issues involved.