a short encounter.

I first met him on February 29th 1992. I remember the date distinctly as this was a leap year and there are not many I witnessed. It was also the first birthday party of freshly entered in her teens Dr Vasudha Dhagamwar, her 13th that she could celebrate although she turned 52 that day. I had struck a chord with this young lady a couple of years bedore when we shifted to Delhi in 1989 and soon after our arrival here Abha started working with MARG a socio-legal organisation founded by Vasudha. MARG was a family that I was a frequent visitor to.. it was full of young ladies..lawyers and some social development experts who could be termed activists although none of them like that term. The family bonding still existed, often times when you went there just to drop or pick up or just like that when you are passing through the area you would end up spending couple of hours with laughter all around.. since besides Ranjan, a promising development researcher, and couple of other administrative guys there were not many male members, often times I used to feel a bit shy. I had special bonding with Vasudha since I was the only one there who conversed with her in Marathi that I had become fluent in, after I spent nearly 11 years in Bombay-Poona circuit a year before we shifted to Delhi. Our friendship gradually grew to the extent that we started going to see Marathi plays together in Mandi House. I immensely enjoyed her company, she was a legal luminary and one of the few who had a doctorate degree in law from Oxford university, where she often went back as visiting professor or for doing some research activities. She also had a huge influence over the overall legal circuit in UK and India where she commanded great respect. But that didn't stand between our friendship.. age, status were brushed aside in our relationship.. I had become her favourite son-in-law as everyone used to say since all female MARG colleagues she treated like her daughters. Like in any family, everyone didn't like her all the time as head of the organisation she had also been a demanding boss and it's not always an easy relationship. But with me there was no such hindrances. 

Gradually, I also started visiting her home. The relationship continued till she lived in Delhi. She was a fighter, a cancer survivor and managed her household and office responsibilities single handedly but then the health took its toll and gradually it was becoming difficult for her to manage day to day affairs, I think it was 2004 or so that she finally decided to leave her child MARG and moved to Pune where she had her niece as well as the city where she lived a long many years. She handed over the organisation's operations to Abha who had left MARG some 9 years back after spending 6 years there and developing a great network, literature, audio-video training material and pedagogy for legal literacy. 

With her shifting to Pune created some vaccum for me although in later years I hardly been visiting her but that move kind of cut the cord of our meetings and "outside the work"  conversations. She left for heaven abode 18 days short of her 74th birthday on Feb 10, 2014. Leaving just the memories of our association to cherish.

Returning to the excitement of her 13th birthday (she was born on Feb 29th, 1940) on Feb 29th, 1992, entire MARG family was there in her 2nd floor house in Hauz Khas just behind the grand building of National Cooperatice Development Corporation erected in 1978, an architectural marvel designed by Kuldip Singh whose work could be easily identified by another similar looking building of NDMC at Palika Kendra that came up in 1983. There were a few of her other friends Maja Daruwala (Sam's daughter), some bureaucrats, some academicians, some lawyers as well as some others like me. Party had just began when an elderly "young" looking gentleman stepped in with a big smile on his face, I was right at the door and attended him soon after he entered and before he could go further I asked if I could have his long jacket, he looked at me surprisingly and with great affection, the smile I remember to this day. After he handed over his jacket and I deposited that in a rack in one of the bedrooms when I returned to the room, I saw him quenching his curiosity about me with Vasudha who was deeply engaged in explaining who (a nobody) I was. 

Many years later both our sons would also touch upon organisation that his well known daughter, a famous lawyer) has created, a law firm of repute AZB Partners, Arnav as an intern in 2008 and Divij as an associate lawyer in 2016-17.

Yesterday I was sobbing without shading tears when I heard the news that the great jurist of India, former attorney general and the charming and pleasing gentleman I met on Feb 29th,1992 Padmbhushan Soli Jehangir Sorabjee is no more. Died at 91 years of age (March 09th he celebrated his 91st birthday) leaving behind so much that no ordinary person can achieve. He wil surely be missed by many and I will always remember that short encounter with him.

RIP Soli.