Tribute for Late Snehpaul Sachdev

Snehpaul was a happy go lucky person. Very friendly and helpful to all. All hostel mates would remember his bubbly nature. He was a gem whom we have lost now.He was so helpful that he came to pick me at Richmond, USA and while driving back told me to watch for the signboard for railway station. I asked him why he said his eyes were bad and could not see clearly. I asked him then why do you drive. I was touched when he said I came to meet a friend after 36 years. He looked the same though had little grey hair.

 

 

A Tribute to our dear friend & mate Snehpal Sachdeva.

Paul, as he was known to friends, joined only in secondary school but made a place for himself quickly amongst peers with his endearing ways. He made friends easily, had a cheerful persona with a most contagious laughter and was loved and appreciated for his camaraderie and goodness. He was a hosteler and his spirit of adventure bode well for it. I shared a lot of fond school time memories with him, the many escapades together still play in flash back.

After school we again connected in Chandigarh where we were doing our respective colleges. We would meet frequently, chilling at Aroma, his favorite & only 24 hour coffee shop in town then. In 1983, he moved to the US for his Masters in Optical Sciences and worked on to accomplish much over the next few decades of his professional career. I had  no track of him in the intervening years until in November’17 I got a call from him out of the blues, a thrilling surprise indeed. We started where we had left, everything seemed unchanged, the same familiar giggle of his and it was most wonderful to be able to reconnect. He was visiting Delhi and we had a great nostalgic evening together. He made another couple of trips over the next six months and we would catch up every time. By now we were also in good touch over what’s app.

Paul was again in India sometime in July’18 but missed to make contact. I later got a message from him that he had taken ill while in India last, had rushed back to the US and upon immediate hospitalization was diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia. I reckoned it were a manageable condition but was immensely shocked to hear of his demise soon after in August’18, it was absolutely beyond belief.

A good friend and a good soul had departed, he was also a family person to the core and extremely close to his son Evan. Paul will be remembered and missed, may he Rest In Peace and feel surrounded by much love !