Lest We Forget…

BAPU RANE

Exactly a year back, on this day, we lost a very dear friend and colleague. Shanta Ram Rane. We called him Bapu Rane. Bapu, in short. He liked this association with Bapu Gandhi and would gladly pose for photographs wearing borrowed bifocals. Nafisa Sayyad used to say that all we needed to create a traffic jam was tying a white dhoti around his waist and letting him walk around bare-bodied with a stick. Mumbai would grind to a halt!
Rane had a distinctive dressing style – loose-fitting trousers, half-sleeved short kurta and leather slippers.

Ruksana Khan's daughter, ALIZA pays us a visit

He never took the walking track, but would cut across the Garden and displaying a toothless grin, did a jig before joining us for the exercises. His calling card was “Namatte”! But for Monthi Serrao, he always reserved a special “Good Morning”. Many such memories are linked to this gem of a gentleman – incidentally, one of the founders of our Club. His energetic dance with Shekhawat every day after the exercises, the home-made besan luddoos he brought on special occasions, the jokes he shared on counting mango trees back in his village, the way he slipped in his dentures when a ‘party’ was on… Completely non-controversial, he kept to himself and yet, was always there for everybody.
Then one day, he stopped coming. We heard he was unwell and could not ingest food. On rare occasions when he showed up, he said he was taking ayurvedic treatment.

Business as usual in the Garden

Word got around that he had cancer. Many of us offered help, but he was too proud to accept money. And when the doctors gave up, discharging him from hospital, we knew his days were numbered. He had stopped eating.

Monthi Serrao

Even then, lying on his death bed, he drew up a list of people to whom freshly-plucked mangoes from his village should be sent. That was his last wish... and a parting gift.
Did we observe Rane’s first death anniversary?
No. For one, memories of his suffering are so raw that none of us has the courage to relive that grief. For another, there is little we could do beyond paying lip service with a prayer. And Rane never stood on ceremony. But if there is life after life, surely he would have watched over us this morning with a bemused look -- chuckling at Shekhawat’s non-stop pranks, Arora sharing a video clip on his iPad, the attention Ruksana Khan’s daughter Aliza got from the oldies… and perhaps have even greeted Monthi with a silent ‘Good Morning’ as she winged her way to a wedding in Bangalore today.
Life goes on. But we will always miss Bapu Rane.
Jagmohan Papneja:
Blog Monster, you have truly touched my heart with this extraordinary homage to our dear friend, late Bapu Rane. Really, there are special people in our lives who we can never forget, long after they are gone. Late Bapu Rane is one who will always live in our hearts.
Harish Wadhwa:
Life changes so fast, so unexpectedly. The pain stops for many of us as we meet new people and friends at Big Laaf, but the gap of love and respect for a missing member never closes. No one can fit that space. Those toothless grins, his “Namatte” greeting all, impromptu breaking into a brisk waltz with Shekhawat-ji... showed his simplicity and humility. We remember and pay our respects to Rane-ji.