When we were children, friends’ parents were a bit of an oddity. Some parents were tough, some were standoffish. Yet others were friendly and some were indifferent.

Aloke, Barun and Sanjoy Gupta’s father Manik Gupta, didn’t fit into any of the categories for me. And in the beginning we restricted ourselves to a hello good morning and bye good night kind of equation. Perhaps I attributed it to the fact that the Guptas were certainly more affluent than us and with their Golf and Clubbing and Partying lifestyle, didn’t see us minions (children of government servants) as someone they spotted on their radar too easily. That is in retrospect a bit unfair as a comment but that is what we felt when we saw the so called Banjara Hills crowd bonding on life.

In fact the Guptas had a dog called Pasha who was a certified killer and the debate always was whether to be more scared of uncle or the dog. This inspite of the fact that I had Bengali roots and spoke the language fairly well.

But it was only later, many years later that I had a chance to interact with the man. And that was indeed a revelation..

My father was very keen that I get into computers but I wasn’t. So when he forced me to join some programming classes I decided to play hooky. I’d leave every morning at 730 with fuel money for my bike and then find a place to park while the class was ostensibly in session. I would of course go once in a while to class to keep up the pretence, not that I learnt anything of value. Punching data cards was definitely not part of my foreseeable future.

Then one day I decided to drop in at the Gupta’s during morning class time. Uncle was awake, perhaps reading the newspaper or something and he casually asked me what I was doing at their home so early in the morning. Till today I have no idea why, but I confessed that I was being forced to go to some class or the other and I had come in search of sanctuary for an hour or so.

Imagine my surprise when he guffawed and welcomed me into the kitchen, spoke to his wife Radha Aunty and organised breakfast for me. Then he called my friend Aloke down and left us to our selves.

But what took the cake however was the fact that he waved me off later with a ‘See you tomorrow’ invite.

And thus started a few days of my regular interaction with Manik Uncle, an interaction I shall never forget.

This morning he passed away and I felt a part of my memories fading into the fond corners of the mind. And I felt bad that I hadn’t managed to see him though he was on the same floor and wing I was at the hospital. But maybe that way I shall always remember him as the ramrod straight surprisingly understanding uncle, and not as a patient in the last legs of his life.

Bye Bye Manik Uncle and Good Day!