It’s been nearly more than 10 years and my memory is still afresh. I could still visualise that day. It was one of those night shifts when I was posted as a Preventive Officer at the Chennai International Airport. In between flights, the customs enclosure in the airport wore a deserted sleepy look. Neither were there any passengers around nor the airline staff. Feeling brisk after a cup of tea, I took a walk in the arrival hall and there I found a few officers at the far corner. There was one fair middle aged man sitting on the counter and doing the talking while the others surrounding him were listening intently with intermittent burst of laughter. Being deputed from Hyderabad, I hardly had friends in the Chennai Customs and since I could sense that the conversation was interesting, I walked to the group and tried to involve myself. The group fell silent and all the eyes around were staring at me. I felt a sudden lull in my thoughts; probably I was not invited there. Still gathering my strengths, I moved towards the group. The middle aged man gave me a welcome smile and put forward his hand and said “Hey, I am Mohan Kumar”. That started a friendship which endured the vagaries of time and which literally put me today in nothing but utter darkness.
As the days passed by, I had become more and more close to Mohan that my boss once when enquiring about Mohan, asked me “Where is your alter ego” It is probably his captivating smile which was the main reason for people flocking around him and I am no exception to it. His sense of humour knew no bounds. Always enthralling people around him, I have never seen a sad man in his vicinity. He was nothing but a child with beard and moustache. I still remember when we were watching “kasae than kadavulada”, a Tamil movie at his house, he laughed, laughed and laughed loud like a kid enjoying the comedy. I had seen people use the word ROFL in messages but none would have literally seen it. I had seen him rolling on the floor and laughing for a piece of comedy.
Mohan and I were PROs in Customs so that gave us the flexibility to move around. In between flights, we used to go out for a smoke and discuss varied subjects. He was very articulate and logical in what he wants to speak. In fact I could spend hours together just listening to him. Our discussions were on subjects ranging from economy to external affairs. His passion for music is unparalleled. It was he who introduced me to the music of Muthuswamy Dikshithar, Aruna Sairam and others. If I have developed a liking to carnatic music, the credit really goes to Mohan. He used to take me to the various sabhas around Mylapore in Chennai during the Thiruvaiyaaru Festival and explained to me the nuances of Carnatic music.
Another driving factor to friendship is that we both are food lovers. We were frequent visitors to Saravana Bhavan, Ratna Cafe and Amaravathi Restaurants. There would be no time constraints for Mohan. It would be mid night and he would say “Mapplae pasikudhu da” (feeling hungry bro) and immediately we would be at an eatery for our gluttony. Moving back to Hyderabad, I used to visit Chennai often. Many a times on such visits, I had stayed in his house and enjoyed his hospitality. I always had the liberty to ask Priya, his wife to cook some food. We used to enjoy the home food and all the while he keeps telling me how great a cook is his wife.
There were a lot of memories with him which I could relish my life time. The long drives to Bangalore to visit my family, a drive to Mahabalipuram just to have a bottle of beer, the list goes on. In fact, I feel that with him I relived my teens with all vigour and energy. All this association with him happened just for a smile. Never have I seen a man with such a million dollar smile on his face all the time. In fact, I couldn’t recollect a day when he frowned or a day he was angry. He was energy itself and he shared it to all who were around him. There was always a sparkle in his eyes and coupled with his smile, he had a dash of divinity. If there is something that I learned from him is that to take life easy and smile when in adversity. He always used to say to me “Free a vudu maamu” (Leave it free bro) Yes he too has left himself free today.
The day I saw him in CCU, with bandages on his head and tubes around him, I wanted to yell at him and ask how you could do that. As always he was serene and was sleeping with that divine look which answered me “Free a vudu maamu”. Never did I believe that he would desert us. Probably the Gods needed him to cheer up the heavens. The Gods have betrayed us, Mohan has betrayed us – never have I witnessed such a betrayal. How I wish I never met him. How I wish I was not attracted to his pristine smile. How I wish I was not posted to Customs at all.