Rakesh’s Memorial 08 May 2021 (slightly shortened for the zoom call).
Good evening everyone, my name is Asgar Latif. Like all of you I have had the great honor of having Rakesh as a close friend. We met in 1975 as freshers at St Stephens, three years later we were together at the Bajaj Institute and in 1980 we also started our first jobs together at Nestle. It was suggested that I speak about our time at St Stephens, but I got to know Rakesh really well when we were together at Bajaj and in the years that followed. As the canvas I have to cover is pretty vast, Ranjan, please forgive me if I exceed the allotted three minutes if only by a tince!
I speak today on behalf of so many of us who were in school, college, at Bajaj and even those who met Rakesh later in life. Rakesh touched all of us with his warmth, his laughter, his sharp mind, his amazing memory, his generosity and for always being an incredibly good friend. If there was one expression that would best describe what he personified it would be “Joie de vivre”, the joy of living, the joy of good food, the joy of laughter and most certainly the joy of having good friends.
Rakesh came to St Stephens brimming with confidence. He had an easy manner about him but was certainly no push over. He excelled academically, played badminton, bridge and was on the Chess team. Rakesh was also known in college residence for having a nice large hamper carefully hidden under his bed full of wonderful homemade jams and bottles of fruit squash. Being Rakesh’s friend certainly had its benefits! Thank you, Malti Aunty, for so many who enjoyed your wonderful treats during those years!
I recall Rakesh narrating with a completely straight face how he felt that it was a grave injustice that the athletics team at St Stephens were given the much sought-after college track suits whereas the chess team was not. After all he said the chess team needed to warm up as well!
Nick names have a strange way of developing. At St. Stephens, in keeping with his personality Rakesh was called Raucous. At Bajaj he evolved into Rocky or just plain Rock…to a few even Rakshas! Without any offence ever intended, we often asked about our father’s first names. I had an ancestral “Ali” which once revealed, Rakesh, despite my protesting decided to only call me “Ali”. In Rakesh’s case, well his full name was Rakeshwar, and his father’s name was Hareshwar and just to pull his leg another dear friend Shreeky and I were convinced there must have been an ancestor named Mahabaleshwar and possibly even a “Walkeshwar”. So Rakeshwar was rechristened Walkeshwar – or just “Wolly” to a few of us. In fact, I think my last message to him, not ten days ago, started with “Wolly, my old friend “!
The Bajaj hostel in South Mumbai gave us easy access to some great restaurants. Rakesh definitely preferred Western food. Anything to drink had to be really chilled or as he would say “Barraf ke samman”. He was loud, laughed a lot, was full of mischief and he walked into any establishment like he owned the place. The joke amongst the rest of us was that given his aristocratic family and the trappings of feudal Sitapur, Kotra house etc., Rakesh had an imaginary character called “Ramu Kaka” available at his beck and call to double up as a “pankah vaala” and also “massage” him whenever he wished.
Early on at Bajaj Rakesh demonstrated his entrepreneurial acumen by making a plan for a fruit processing facility. But soon that skill was brought in a little closer to us all. A little context - for all the younger folks in this group, 1978 was by comparison the dark ages. No computers, no internet, no cell phones – it was a time when pen and paper was all you had. At Bajaj however we had this impossible requirement to submit all our term papers “typed”. Our term papers were only ever completed just hours before the deadline and amongst our group Rakesh was the only one who had a typewriter. So the day before deadlines his Remington typewriter was pulled out, Rakesh contracted typing with a few desperate souls, but buyer beware if he didn’t like your conclusions he would change them as he typed. Bugsy, my roommate, who was one such victim, put up the sign on the door to Rakesh’s room that read “Typing services undertaken here – friends and relatives are not recognized “. Needless to say this was all jokes and innocent fun.
Just after our graduation we took a wonderful trip to Chennai, where we stayed with Charlie. ATK arranged an amazing Cattermaran trip out to sea for us. It was a nice group, Goofer, Randy, Shreeky, Charlie, Saurav, Raucus and me… We lost our money at the races in Ooty and had to hitch hike our way to Mysore. Arrived unannounced at Druckers home and then on to Bangalore for Sax’s wedding. Raucous would sing as we trekked in the hills, often teasing and taunting several of us, but he is the only one I know who could sleep while he was standing in a state transport bus.
Rakesh and I joined Nestle in 1980. He drove this older model fiat from Lucknow and arrived with literally a car full of things – just enough space for him to sit in the driver’s seat. I wish I’d found the photograph, it was a real keeper. I reminded him of that car in a conversation about a month ago and he immediately rattled off the car license plate number. He stayed with us at my parents home in Delhi until he found his own place. My parents were completely charmed by Rakesh and in later years would often ask about him.
Rakesh had a lot of respect for his parents. I know he missed his late father dearly. At the first Diwali after he passed Rakesh called my wife Fozia to ask that we light a Phuljari for Uncle. Sadly this year we have another phuljari to light!
As Ossi, Texan and a few other were saying the other day, Rakesh was so loved by so many of us that he is probably the only person we all know who could call us repeatedly at 3 oclock in the morning, tell us the same jokes, laugh loudly at them and we would still happily take his call at the same time the following week! He was so blessed in so many ways and yet he had to deal with so many difficulties in his personal life. And each time he faced a setback, he was like that little boy who stumbled then pushed himself to get up, dusted off his pants and ran forward with as best a smile as he could manage!
Thank you Malti Aunty, Kirti, Prashant, Madhav, Sid and Piyusha for sharing Rakesh with us. We may no longer be able to give old Wolly a hug in person but there is something special that he left with each one of us, that makes us all just a little better than we were. Farewell dear friend, you shall be missed.