I stand here totally devastated. Thinking around 48 hours ago Sunil or Agroo as we affectionately called him was alive. Just a flash of a moment and it was all over. What a tenuous thread keeps us tethered to this world.

I feel grateful that I have met such wonderful people in my life, who influenced me positively. Made me realize the negative people who I should avoid.

My first meeting with Agroo was on the 17th of July, 1978, in front of Carmen Block. I can still vividly remember him wearing a checked shirt, moustache and dense hair. We connected immediately and the 4 of us, B. Venkatesh ‘Venky’, Sunil Datta ‘Datta’, Agroo and me shared room no. 119-120 in the slums.

Agroo was an extremely generous person and would share the shirt off his back with anyone who asked him. It was not necessary that the person should be a friend.

Our first night in Men’s Hostel was spent on the floor of the upper common room in, a mandate of the initiation rituals. The mosquitoes almost consumed me alive. Agroo seeing my discomfort shared a tube of Odomos mosquito repellent. The respite that small gesture gave was amazing.
He was the only person in our Batch to have a cassette recorder. Those days having a music system was a big thing. People used to come to our room to listen to music and some would borrow it for private listening. Agroo never refused anyone. We his room mates would get exasperated but his response was, “never mind”.

One of our classmates just revealed that Agroo paid his mess bills, when he was short of money. Agroo believed in not letting his right hand know what his left hand did.

He always talked about his family and the sacrifices his father made to educate them. He was determined to pay them back in full and live up to the expectations his father had from him. As all of you know his father has very ill recently but it was Agroo who literally snatched him from the jaws of death.
When he was on deputation in CMC Ludhiana, I was doing my MS there. He was my teacher during the day and my friend in the evening. His son Varun and my son Akshai also became friends. It was the second generation of friendship.

The first surgery I did as an MS, was on the 1st of January, 1994. It was an incisional hernia in a patient who was a hundred and plenty kgs in weight. I remember the date, because we tried to dissuade the patient from getting operated on the 1st day of the year. But he refused to get the hint. Under Agroo’s guidance I did an excellent job, despite a night of revelry.

His home in Ludhiana was a refuge for the Velloreites and also for the students.

He was very popular with the students in Ludhiana and I remember him taking clinics there. He used the word chumma a lot, as it’s customary in the Vellore parlance. But he forgot that it means kiss in Hindi. The students could be seen suppressing their smiles.
He enjoyed the company of the young and I can make out that he and Indu were very popular as fosters. I have come across touching eulogies by his foster children in the social media.
My daughter who has met him only once last April messaged me yesterday, “he was very sweet and very nice”.

Agroo was never guided by any established religion. He attributed it to his school where religious practices were discouraged. But he was guided by his love for his fellow men and his belief in what is right and wrong.

I could go on forever with my memories of a beautiful soul, but I have to conclude somewhere.
In conclusion despite he being taken away prematurely from us. Even in this short time, he managed to touch people’s lives, ensuring that he will be remembered forever. I am sure he is in a much happier place and will guide us in spirit.

May his soul rest in eternal peace.