Sheela & I, saw Sameer  for the first time in 1965 in Virginia, when his parents paid us, a short visit. We had no children then & so this was our first exposure to a baby in the house.

Tiny as he was, he nevertheless left an indelible impression on us, being so full of life, uncontrollably demanding, making his parents tend to him 24 x 7.

Honestly, we got so petrified & wondered if we had the abilities to handle such a baby of our own. Resultant effect we postponed our parenthood by a few years

Thereafter, we have seen him grow.  We met him practically every year, during the visits to India & when on a few occasions we stayed with them in Bangalore and Florida.

During the first visit to their home in Florida, Sameer was at the Tampa Airport to receive us.  He was so proud of the way Tampa airport was laid out – he told so many details with so much passion.

During the various interactions with him, my children found him to be a very likable person.

Intellectual discussions with him were very stimulating. He always listened to and respected the counter views & smilingly, laughingly. But accepted those if he was so sold.

He always had something new to tell us about Mumbai and Life in Mumbai that too in a novel way.  Many times he came up with observations which in hindsight  made us wonder as to why we had not seen it that way.

In subsequent years, I always looked forward to catching up with him whenever my travels took me to wherever he was.

I got one such opportunity when he was in Madrid, Spain.  We had a wonderful afternoon together – here was Sameer a grown up young man, working with McKinsey Consultants – first time discussing the politics, the world around him, his work,  etc with me  whilst giving me a low down on which wine could go with which cuisine etc.

I was so impressed with the interaction that I immediately wrote to Naren,  letting him know how happy I felt meeting him & how well Neena & NC (Naren) had reared him into  becoming such a fine young man.

After many years, I met him again in Florida, post his chucking the job with McKinsey Consultants.  He wanted time out to think through his next options in life.  He was so so relaxed whilst thinking that  I could not but help  letting NC know that this characteristic  was so very different from that of NC.

I had many other interactions with Sameer thereafter as well & what impressed me most was his personality.

He knew what he wanted in & from life.  Even when deciding to choose his life partner, despite requests, persuation, goading etc.by his parents time over no. he waited & waited till he met  his dreamgirl in Surekha.

In my minds eye, I will always remember him as  very clever, very clearheaded, Jovial, accommodative, helping person.

May God rest his soul in Peace

Sheela-Mahendra
Poorvi-Ashish
Swati-Deepak