18
T W O
Monday, 16 April, 2001 HT TECH 4U
In the Picture
W
hat do you say about someone who was 38, who loved life, who loved his work
with a passion and who would have gone to the ends of the earth to do something
he believed in. What do you say when unexpectedly and shockingly, without even
a goodbye, he disappears into the ether?
I never believed I would have to write a piece like this, where I would feature
Dewang Mehta in a column that was his to pen and where he spoke about people
he admired. To remember Dewang is to think of so many things. At 38, he had
achieved a larger than life image of a key driver of the Indian software and
IT industries. He wasn’t just the president of NASSCOM, he was NASSCOM.
In fact, he scarcely had a life outside the association and most things he did
were inextricably linked in some way or another, to his first love, the office.
This was his domain, his fiefdom, where surrounded by mementos from across the
globe, his music, television and colleagues he thought the world of, he would work
through the day and often late into the night.
I often used to marvel at the almost single dimensional manner in which he lived
his life. Personal consideration of health and home were placed on the back burner, because
the software industry needed him round the clock.
I recall once when I told him to slow down, or face burn out, he remarked that the
time to do things was now. “I want to build India into a great nation,” he said.
Normally, I would have raised a cynical eyebrow and sniggered silently in answer
to such politically correct rhetoric. But I guess it was something about the way
he said it, the sincerity with which it came across, and the fact that I have known
him for over 11 years, that I fell quiet.
I will always remember him to be a sunny soul, someone ready with a joke and
a hearty laugh. Nothing really deterred him and if it did, he’d bounce back with an
enthusiasm that was almost infectious. As far as journalists were concerned, they
were all his friends. His life was open to them 24 hours a day, and most of us, I’m
sure, had access to his mobile.
VINITA CHAWLA
