I myself maintain and am strongly convinced that a nation or an organisation is much bigger than any individual , who keeps on coming and going, having a little or no impact on the larger entity. However, once in a while comes a very special, larger than life individual, who leaves a strong impression and whose departure leaves the larger entity depleted.
Last week, our great nation lost two of its stalwarts on the same day – Fali Nariman and Ameen Sayani and their death certainly left the nation bereft of two of its great sons. While the eminent jurist Fali was known for his no nonsense approach and his deep knowledge of constitutional provisions made the centre and states look up to him for proper interpretation thereof, Ameen Sayani was the voice of the nation the kind of which was neither heard before nor will be heard anytime too soon in future! His signature bhaiyon aur bahnon, glued millions of radio lovers to their respective sets ! And for more than 4 decades, his Bollywood music countdown programme was the last word on the popularity of any song. It almost became a habit, an addiction for millions of his fans !
Though both lived their life to the full, yet there’s this feeling of déjà vu, a sort of big vacuum left by their departure! Both of them have inspired a generation of jurists and radio/tv jockeys respectively and shall continue to do so for long long time to come!
Arvind Arya blog 