Tributes for Late Bharat Rana

What a gentle soul was he

His demeanor calmed everyone around him

His scribbles were a work of art

Drawings of fighter planes, and cats and boats

What a gentle soul was he …

He could eat lunch till dinner

And would remain calm to a fault

But his soothing presence was adored by all

What a gentle soul was he …

Miss the all-night walks in Chanakyapuri

And the balancing of beer bottles on table edges

And our trips to hills to follow our hearts

What a gentle soul was he …

He was so fun as roomie in Bombay

Spent many nights at Bade Mia’s and Gokul

Our MHS gang with Mumbles and percolator

What a gentle soul was he

So unfair to lose him so young

Who was so close to so many

Will think of him till the day we pass

What a gentle soul was he

We miss you, dear friend.

Jaikishan Desai says, Bharat stands apart from all the normal people, someone from an altogether different world you wish you understood. He considers himself lucky that he walked a few lengths with Bharat.

Jaiki writes:

‘So many years gone by,
So many paths I have crossed;
Still haven’t met anyone quite like him.
Thoreau would have known him.
He marched to the beat of his own distant drummer
It sure was a languorous one
He sure was…..something out of this world’

He also writes:

“I had a friend in India in the city I grew up in.
He was different from everyone else, in so many ways
But none more so than the beat he kept.
A languorous one suspended in time and space.”

Bharat loved Bun samosa and his friends lividly remember him as a slow eater. Jaiki reminisces that they all once planned to watch a movie and when they called Bharat, he was eating his lunch. After an hour and ahalf, when they reached his place, they found him still eating his lunch. “Phursat Mein banaya gaya tha who” says Jaiki .