Passing of a legend DARA

It is with great sadness that my childhood hero, Dara Singh, wrestler, actor, director, parliamentarian, passed away this morning (12th July 2012) at 07:30 am at his Juhu residence in Mumbai. He was born on 19th November 1928. He was 84.

He suffered a cardiac arrest a few days ago and was on a ventilator at the Dirubhai Ambani Hospital.

Respecting his wish, he was moved back to his home where he passed away surrounded by his family and friends.

The last rites will be performed at 14:00 hours Indian Standard Time.

He is survived by his wife and two children.

Dara never lost a fight in the ring. He was the undisputed world champion. A very gentle personality but a towering fighter, he gave all when he was in the ring.

He served the nation in the Rajya Sabha and will be remembered by all who ever saw him fight in the ring.

May he rest in peace.

Delhi hosts us

It was so great that the Delhi Cathedralites Alumni organised a special event so that Annikki and I could meet with them yesterday.

Two of us present were wearing the new Alumni tie - 49er Yezad and myself. Deepak has one, but he thought the event was informal, so did not wear it. After all, he organised it, so his strict definition of "smart casual" was tieless! :-)

The Cathedralite Delhi Chapter had so thoughtfully brought back a tie for his classmate, Jamshed, which was presented to him at the occasion by Yezad. I was so touched that Jamshed made it to the party.



Among those who attended included 49ers Jamshed Desai, Raj Bhandari and Yezad Kapadia (with wife Rati). 54er Rahul Bajaj, Savage House Captain and also a Stephanian, stayed back in New Delhi especially to be present at the occasion. Ravi Jaitly, another 54er attended with his wife Krishna. 55er Anil (Bobby) Bhalla was present. 56er Pradeep Anand was there. The 57ers present was Tony (Ashok) Jaitly, who is also a Stephanian, and Annelita (nee Uttamsingh) Thadani and her husband, Ravinder K Thadani (Baby). 58ers were represented by Maiti Sayal. 59ers included Harmo Rani Malik (née Uberoi) accompanied by her daughter, 82er Priya and Vijay Nayar, (and myself). 60ers were Dellinder Kohli and Jotsyna Singh (née Jaitly) accompanied by her husband, my Stephanian classmate, HE Ambassador Siddarth Singh, and the 64er present was Deepak Deshpande who organised the entire event with the help of his colleague, my fellow mallu from Alleppy, Joceylin. (Dellinder Kohli left early, so is missing from the photograph. Also missing in this picture is Deepak's lovely daughter, Pallavi, whom I got to talk to quite a bit about journalism. Pallavi took the group picture with our camera. Thanks!)

The food was simply superb and served scrumptiously. I had a bit too much of everything, especially the delicious sweeets.



The Delhi Alumni presented Annikki and me with a wonderful gift, "The Speaking Tree Collection" of the Times of India column in 4 Volumes plus an extra volume, entitled "Inspiration for the Soul".

It was so touching that they had chosen to honour us both in this fashion.

(I was also so happy that Deepak thoughtfully arranged it that all those who helped in running the event also got their share of the food.)