My earliest memory of Kunal (Kunnu) is of him sitting in Navu’s room 246 Shivalik Hostel in 2002, taking some stuff from Navneeraj. I had just joined the college and did not know many of my classmates by face or by name. The first question that was asked was – what’s ur name and branch, followed by “what’s your rank?”. The latter often led to questions on IIT rank. It was then I noted that Kunnu had achieved a good rank at JEE entrance but somehow could not make it to finals. I had an instant opinion that this shy guy was intelligent.
Over time I came to know about the day-ski group consisting of Rajat,RG, Sharara, Buddy, Jasleen, Vachla and Kunnu. Somehow kunnu was different from others. He was soft spoken, shy and a simple person. I had interned with him in Kotsons, Agra where we were staying together at his Chacha ji’s home. We both used to stay at the top floor room, where Chachaji had kindly installed a cooler to keep us warm from the sweltering heat. The evening was spent in walking around the locality, looking at transformers and happily amusing ourselves by putting to practice our newfound knowledge. Every day we used to go to the bazaar where we used to drink “Bel ka sharbat” – a sweet yellow drink. Because Kunnu did not know how to drive, I used to drive the scooter to work in the summer of 2004, and we used to keep on chatting about so many things..
Kunnu was a down to earth person who was very interested in knowing about new things. We used to discuss current affairs, what’s going on in college, who is doing what in class, some music and all that stuff that Second Yr students usually discuss. Agra was experiencing electricity cuts that summer and quite often at night we used to find ourselves sleeping under the open sky, talking about the day’s events. Through our talks I realized that Kunnu was quite inquisitive and always wanted to improve himself. Even in Noida when I used to visit RG , Kunnu and I talked about all things under the sun. At that time he was very interested in MBA and I was only too happy to give him my idiotic Gyaan
He had no deceit in him, he could not harm anyone and he was too simple to fool any person. When were in Agra He once said, “Its too hot, I’ll wear a wet Gamcha around my head to keep cool while going to Kotsons” . I had laughed a lot about this and said, “pagal hai kya, pata hai kitna ullu lagega tu!”. It was only a simple person like him who could think of doing things like these, which the image-conscious me could not even imagine.
And I think it was precisely that he was so harmless and simple that people used to take his case, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
People think that it was a love affair that killed him. I disagree.
It was his ‘friends’ who drove him to such desperation and sadness. I wont say what exactly happened, But his friends know very well what they did with him, how they behaved with him, how they used to make fun of him. With not even a single anchor, not even a single true friend..how would someone feel? I really don’t know.
Let the world think that it was a failed love affair, after all the world wants to be deceived; so let it be…Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur
From my side, Kunnu I’m sorry , I never gave you a call, never replied to your messages.. I was too busy in my own idiotic life to think of anybody else. I’m truly sorry to have failed you.
Peace be upon you.
Rajat-RG-Me-Kunal in PEC Chandigarh, 24 may 2006
