This is amazing, Robert. Just last week I was reading about how influential Hari Prasad Shastri's English translation of the Rāmāyaṇa was. Who would have thought that an Indian teacher, an accomplished Sanskrit scholar as he was, would have largely translated from the French translation of a Western scholar rather than from the original Sanskrit.
Nancy and I take this opportunity to express our utmost appreciation to you and Sally and your team for your lifelong project of translating the critical edition of the Rāmāyaṇa into English. The team from the Oriental Institute, Vadodara (Baroda), working from 1951 to 1975, gave the world the first critical edition of the Sanskrit Rāmāyaṇa. Your team gave the world the first reliably accurate English translation of the Rāmāyaṇa. The value of these two contributions cannot be overestimated.
Best regards,
David Reigle
Colorado, U.S.A.