Friend remembers: ’70s shaped him

Gopal Tandon

As soon as news of Arun's passing came, memories took me back to our friendship dating back to the 1970s.Though we studied in the same school, we became good friends only when we joined Delhi University in 1970. Even there we were in different colleges.

Yet, there are certain images of Arun which flashed past my eyes on Saturday afternoon. The first was of June 26, 1975. I was sitting, as usual, in the coffee house which used to exist behind the Vice-Chancellor’s office. Arun was rushing when he called out to me that he was going to Maurice Nagar Chowk to court arrest (to protest the imposition of Emergency). It was only then that the enormity of what had happened the night before struck me. Just the day before — on June 25, 1975 — we were together for a couple of hours before he left for Jayaprakash Narayan's rally at Ramlila Maidan.

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The next image that I have of Arun is from 1976. I used to work as a casual announcer in the Yuv Vani section of All India Radio. One day, while walking from Broadcasting House to Connaught Place, I heard someone call out my name. I looked around but couldn’t see anyone I knew. It was only when I heard someone shout out my name again that I looked closely. And there in a jail van was Arun, waving at me from behind the grill. I too waved back before the van left.

The third memory is from the late 1990s. A workshop had been held in India Habitat Centre for around 60-70 senior and middle-level journalists, mostly those on the desk, on the various pitfalls one encounters while dealing with a copy. One session was on legal issues. I was sitting virtually in the last row close to the exit as I was late for the session. While everyone was dispersing for lunch, Arun, who was being escorted by a very senior person from the management, stopped, gave me a hug and told that person that I was one of his oldest friends. That person remarked that Arun always introduced people he knew as being among his oldest friends. But Arun reiterated what he had stated earlier.

I also remember the days, and nights, I spent at his house in Naraina and his mother’s love and affection. The fact that we used to roam around the university together led to some remarks being passed by a few of my college mates. I am told some of them used to call me the DUSU (Delhi University Students Union) mole in Stephen’s.

It was through him that I came to know a number of his friends and ABVP colleagues. It's a different matter that I lost touch with them later or did not care to stay connected. And I can also say that Arun became friends with some of my friends in Stephen's. One of them, a former IAS officer who quit the service way back in 1984 to settle down in the US, came to Delhi two years ago. He reminisced how he met Arun at a function in Washington, D.C., and the latter shook his hand calling him by his nickname.

In 2009, my daughter was studying at Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar. Arun had come to their university for a seminar. After the seminar was over, my daughter just walked up to him and introduced herself. Such was his memory that he met her seven years later and called her by her first name. About three months ago, he met my elder sister. Again, he called her warmly by her first name and enquired about my brother-in-law, who had been meeting him in his official capacity ever since Arun became a minister in the Vajpayee government.

That Arun was an excellent debater goes without saying. Inter-college debates were major events in DU those days. Arun was among the best.

I last met Arun at his daughter's wedding. Though he had had a long day and was sitting on a chair, he got up to greet us as soon as his wife saw us from a distance.

I would be lying to myself if I say that I did not have tears in my eyes when the news came of his demise. We were hoping that he would pull through, but that was not to be. Farewell, Arun.

His friends from St Xavier's School, Delhi, will miss him a lot at the 50th anniversary of the reunion of the batch of 1969-70 planned for November- December. 

The writer is a veteran journalist