Do not go gentle into that good night- Dylan Thomas

I came into my father's life pretty late into his already exciting journey. He was 33 odd years when I was born, but I know most of the details for he loved to talk and if he found a captive audience "you were fair game"

He must have been pretty bright. He used to tell me that he had a photographic memory and could visualise the entire text. Even right till the end he could reel off cricket statistics, instantly multiply 4 digit numbers and tell you the product. I never knew if the answers were right, since I didn't have that talent. 

Having finished his matriculation, in those days the 11 th std, at the tender age of 14 he proceeded to do his BSc which also he finished by the time he was 17. However, being still too young to study medicine and not wanting to waste a year, he decided to join pharmacy. He went all the way to Nagpur in Maharashtra which must have been pretty daunting in those days of poor communication, lack of financial support and difficult travel conditions. Thus began his journey into adulthood.

He had the tenacity to get what he wanted, was ambitious and unafraid of taking risks. He was willing to step out of his comfort zone but through it all, unwilling to stray from the straight path. I remember one Diwali, a big box full of crackers was gifted by someone and my brother and I were super excited since we had never got such a big haul to literally burn but the minute my father got to know of it, he called the sender and made him take it back. He said you are welcome to give me sweets or dry fruits for diwali but nothing else. Some of those decisions of his were not popular in our house!

When he was the vice president at Pharmax, the company needed to get a licence for approval to manufacture some drug and since he wasn't willing for the company to grease palms, the file got 'lost' 12 times. Each time he would say "ek aur file banao" the drugs controller was his junior and well known to him and when my dad asked him "why is it not getting approved?" he said, "the file isn't reaching my desk"

Finally the MD of the company said "Why are we wasting our time? Mr Hegde, let's just pay and get it over with." But he said "we aren't doing anything wrong, why should we bribe? We will make however many files are required but we will get it honestly." That was the man he was. 

He was also a mass of contradictions, he was super organised and would be able to tell you exactly where each item in his cupboard was located. He wrote his accounts down daily and we still have his resume from the 1970's in triplicate! But he still managed to lose my PAN card! He was apparently much loved in the office but at home he could be quite the terror and we would jump up the minute we heard his car. We speed cleaned the house and dumped everything out of sight into random drawers. 

He was able to make and keep friends for life. But didn't hesitate to shout at complete strangers spitting on the road- at such times we would quietly slink away and act as if we didn't know him. 

He was also quite courageous. During the 1984 anti-Sikh riots he rescued a Sikh watchman who was stuck in the bottling plant in Govindpuri and hid him under the front seat of his ambassador car and covered him with a blanket. He was waylaid twice by mobs of men. One can only imagine how terrifying that must have been but he lied glibly that he was on the way back from a temple and that he was a Hindu, a South Indian, and was thus allowed a safe passage. The man was saved but sadly his family didn't have a Hegde to save them.

He could quote Shakespear, Oscar Wilde or George Bernard Shaw. Aside from such literary pursuits, he enjoyed gossip and knew of the latest tabloid sensations. 

Living with a man with so much ambition cannot have been easy for my mother, for we were constantly moving from city to city and it was hard for her to hold down a job. She eventually made her peace with it and there is no doubt that it widened our horizons and made us truly national with no clear roots or allegiance to any one place.

He had a great deal of affection for family and friends and would get very excited if someone was academically bright or good at sports. He wanted even his grandchildren to excel and would closely monitor my son's exam performance. I think my son worried more about 'Ajja's' expectations than mine. I hope he manages to fulfil them and I hope we can follow in his path and live a life of integrity.  

John Wooden said "A true test of character is what he does when no one is watching." If there is anything my father exemplified, it was personal integrity.

He was, as he himself might have said "quite a character!"

We miss him.