Thursday, September 1, 2011

Macabre joke on Nasir’s death

Macabre joke on Nasir’s death
I didn’t want to write this piece but my conscience has kept torturing me ever since I learnt this macabre joke about my dear friend Nasir Kamaal, who is no more. Nasir died of cardiac arrest last month in Mumbai where he was under training at Times of India for the paper’s soon-to-be-launched Bhopal edition. He was one of the finest human beings I had (have) ever known. And my circle of friends, relatives, acquaintances is no small, if not exactly a legion.
Forget friends, even those who have had a nodding acquaintance with Nasir were shocked to learn his untimely death. Fate had done great injustice to this talented and honest journalist. There was an absolute consensus among his friends that Nasir deserved much more than he got- career-wise and otherwise. It was only in the twilight zone of his career that he landed a job in Times of India and we felt that Mamu has, albeit belatedly, got a position he always richly deserved.
Only one man probably differed and he betrayed his anathema to Nasir’s respectable rehabilitation in a manner beyond belief. He was a Nasir’s and mine ex-editor.
Nasir died in the afternoon on August 6. The shocking news circulated fast through mobile and SMSes. Every one who got this news was shocked. This ex-editor was amused though. He had got the news on his mobile through a SMS from a common friend who is also a prominent citizen of Bhopal and known for frequent SMSing.
I can only visualise his expression on reading the SMS but sadness was definitely not on the ex-editor’s face. He called up a friend (who is my friend too) to ask, “Where is Nasir?” The tone had a bemused quizzing ring about it. The friend on the other side said Nasir is in Mumbai in Times of India. “No, No, just find out”, the ex-editor sought to deepen the mystery and switched off the mobile. The friend was baffled.
In the meantime the friend too had got the SMS about Nasir’s death but since he was busy talking to some one, he had not read it.
Soon after the ex-editor’s guess-where-is-Nasir call, the friend got a call from another common friend. He broke the sad news. They shared the sorrow genuinely. And then it dawned on the friend what the ex-editor had wanted to convey. What a way to convey the message! The friend was shocked. Can there be a more insensitive -- I’d dare call barbaric- way to break the sad news about the death of a person who never antagonised any one wittingly or otherwise? Who was known as an Ajat Shatru in Bhopal media?
I was appalled when I learnt about the entire episode. This has kept haunting me ever since. Now that I have written this piece, I feel a little light but the insensitivity of human nature will remain an unforgettable memory for me forever.