Those who have stayed in Patel hall, would invariably recall the long list of restrictions that one had to observe during the introduction period, when you first set feet into the Hall in the second year. One of them was not to go home during the weekends. However, there was this guy, who dared to get away from the Hall during one of the weekends. When this was realized in one of the interactions in the mess, the angry seniors threw all sorts of queries on him. The guy replied in a very cool manner that he had gone to Kolkata to be a part of an anti-reservation rally. While some seniors still shouted at him, after they were gone, I commended him for it. Having been a part of another such rally a few days earlier, I knew what it meant and how it is hard to restrain your feelings when such an issue arises. And then, the guy introduced himself as Ankik Dhar. When I tried to look back in the time today, these were the first reminiscences of Ankik that came to my mind.

During the days that followed, Ankik grew up to be hugely popular in the Hall, with his charm and persona and a friendly attitude towards all. He was full of energy whenever you saw him. (With no offence to many of my good Bong friends,) he had broken the general perception about the Bongs, who had been largely found to be aloof, sitting in their rooms, cramming up the books, in an attempt to build high CGPAs. But Ankik was different. Be it the football field, be it the drams practices, be it the tempo shouts – he was everywhere. He was the ever-reliable goalkeeper of Patel Hall and IIT Kharagpur football teams. While many dream of representing their institute at the Inter-IIT sports meet once before they pass out, he was representing Kgp ever since his second year. He was directing plays and was a regular feature in almost all the plays performed by Patel, and even won a best actor award, this feat too achieved in his second year itself. And not withstanding all these achievements, he did maintain a high CGPA also, 9+ right throughout! And above all, was a great human being and had a wonderful rapport with all his batchmates, juniors and seniors. It was hard to find him without that big smile on his face. His never-dwindling tempo led to the coining of the popular epithet of “Tempo Da” for him.

Quite befittingly, he was awarded the Best Outgoing Patelian for 2009. He got a much-coveted job at JP Morgan and a promising future dawned onto him.

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When I switched on the TV yesterday evening, all the channels were blaring with the news of the blast in Pune. It was being told that the cause of the blast was bursting of an LPG cylinder in the German Bakery, a popular restaurant in an uptown area in Pune. Very soon it was confirmed that it was not so, and a terrorist attack had taken place and explosives had been used. Nine people had died and several others were injured. Heart went out to those who had lost their lives. But for a country which had seen so many of such tragic incidents in the recent past, with much higher casualties, it wasn’t exactly an incident to sit down and mourn. What could have we done, apart from cursing the terrorists and blaming the inefficient government and the intelligence agencies.

Then within a couple of hours, I got a phone call from Mandal. I got the news that had shattered all of us who knew Ankik. He had gone to Pune to meet his sister and the two, along with a friend were sitting in the ill-fated restaurant. These terrorists had taken him away from us. Suddenly, the figure of nine appeared to be too high. These three constituted one-third of that nine! Moments of disbelief followed. Whoever I tried to contact, was either not in a state to talk or was saying, “No this cannot happen”. The news channels were saying that the bodies had not been identified. But the Patelians who were in Pune had visited the site and they had identified the body. It was our very own Ankik! The population of India is over a billion. And out of that billion it was he who was sitting in the restaurant.

And this news didn’t change much either. We could not do anything still! Once someone is gone, what else is left to be done? All day I had been hoping that someone says that he had been wrongly identified and it was not him and he is just injured and is in hospital. Man always tries to hold on to the tiniest of the twigs, in the form of hope, when the fate has pulled him down.

Just a thought goes out to his parents. Sitting far away in Kolkata, it took them just a moment from being a happy family to losing a young son and a young daughter. Indeed, life lies so much in an unsteady poise. One moment here or there, and nothing is left of it. Some people say life is invaluable. May be this is the reason. When something is so delicate, it has to be invaluable. But it does appear insubstantial at times. After all what was his fault? Just going to enjoy an evening with his dear ones? Did he have anything to do with the designs and the motives of those ruthless terrorists?

Rest in peace Tempo Da! You can leave this world, but never our hearts. May the Almighty give all the courage to your family to get across this.

I had this video of him singing Kal Ho Na Ho on Patel Hall’s farewell. Who knew what the tomorrow had in store for him.