Mahesh and Vivek ::: Remembering you , your smile and your laughter
Circa 1983-84 : Place Band Box
‘ Please give me your bank name , we need to transfer your salary ‘ : HR person at BSL
‘ Shamrao Vithal ‘ comes the answer .
‘ I am asking for the bank name , not the name of person ‘
‘ But this is the name of bank ‘ :
This was Vivek Nadkarni who joined MED and was to give details to HR Dept . Vivek had a knack of keeping a poker face while making fun of the other person but immediately open up with hearty laugh letting the person know that it as a joke . And he maintained this trait throughout his life .
How are you Mr Punjawani ?
Doctor Dalal , My name is not Punjwani but Punwani
I am sorry , Mr Punwani .
This daily ritual would be the start of the morning meeting at BYL Nair Hopsital during the installation of Hitachi Brain CT scanner .
“ One day , I am going to call him Hello , Dr Hamal ( हमाल- coolie in indian Langauge ‘ and am sure he will stop calling me Mr Punjawani. This was Mahesh Punwani who had moved from AID to MED and was pushed into meeting with unpredictable mercurial neurophysician Dr P M Dalal . I don’t know if Mahesh really said this to Dr Dalal but they became cordial as the time went by . Mahesh Punwani (MAP) , a quintessential large and open hearted person whose tongue was laced with quirky humour all the time and he made every one around him stretched their lips sideways .
I spent my formative working years with these two guys who were gifted with liberal spread of humour and they used it to live their life to the fullest and on their own terms . Mahesh lived in south Mumbai and I looked forward to my free ride in his Premier Padmini walloping in his rustic jokes before entering drab management classes . With Vivek , I sat behind his tiny Bajaj M50 , reaching mahim , enjoying one liners everytime scooter stopped at the traffic signal .
Both Vivek and Mahesh came in my life around the same time and left this mortal world in the space of one week . Vivek - with his perfect glowing smooth fair skin , could very well be another Balgandharva - were he to born in that era . Often his retorts would come from serious face - and judging the perplexed reaction of the person opposite - he would burst out laughing . We worked together - but I have no memory of working together to accomplish anything . When you have great products , you don’t do any work - you just carry the brochure and the quotation to the customer . You choose your most entertaining companion for this fun and frolic journey to the customer . Vivek was my first choice then . This would often be at the chagrin of our boss who wondered which ‘management principle’ fitted that these two guys to go on a sales call together . But Vivek had his answers ready “ we are going in same direction so it saves company money ‘ or ‘ well it’s same hospital but he is visiting laboratory , I am ICU ‘ . It is painful to realise that Vivek with his robust physical health , healthy lifestyle succumbed to Covid .
Image of Mahesh was always with meticulous perfect attire , well maintained hair style , classy gleaming leather shoes with his Gold Cross pen hanging on his pocket . He loved everything american from Beatles to Cars . We got or rather created opportunities to make visits to Goa for CT Scanner Tender of Goa Medical College . Thanks to our inefficient govt machinery , this tender kept on re-tendering over many years . And we had wonderful opportunity to enjoy beer , sea food over 3 night 4 day trip every visit . o'coqueiro goa at parvorim was his favourite and we never missed it . BSL travel rules were mandatory to visit Goa by air and we capitalised on this perennial business opportunity and company rule albeit without getting any CT business in all my tenure . Some of the fond memories that would stay with me are his wedding reception at President hotel , calling his home few times over beer , inviting me to be his cousin’s family in Bhopal / Goa , seeing him taking care of his dad at home at Bombay Hospital . He was particular about the the language while drafting the letter and one word that he was passionate about was ‘ Appreciate ‘ . I picked up this word from Mahesh and do use it every time I communicate with customer .
I didn’t neet Mahesh since I left BSL , I did meet Vivek on and off and I think my last meeting with him was at Hyatt over dinner . If I were to meet them now , reaction of Mahesh would be “ You buggar B*******t ....I lived my life . You enjoy , you never know when your turn would come ! “ . Vivek would say “ Bad Luck Yaar , But why me ? .. I don’t understand ..लेकिन चलता हैं ... I lived my life “ .......
I shall carry their mischievous smile and zeal for life with in fun and laughter . May their souls be blessed with perennial smile .
Sent from my iPhone
‘ Please give me your bank name , we need to transfer your salary ‘ : HR person at BSL
‘ Shamrao Vithal ‘ comes the answer .
‘ I am asking for the bank name , not the name of person ‘
‘ But this is the name of bank ‘ :
This was Vivek Nadkarni who joined MED and was to give details to HR Dept . Vivek had a knack of keeping a poker face while making fun of the other person but immediately open up with hearty laugh letting the person know that it as a joke . And he maintained this trait throughout his life .
How are you Mr Punjawani ?
Doctor Dalal , My name is not Punjwani but Punwani
I am sorry , Mr Punwani .
This daily ritual would be the start of the morning meeting at BYL Nair Hopsital during the installation of Hitachi Brain CT scanner .
“ One day , I am going to call him Hello , Dr Hamal ( हमाल- coolie in indian Langauge ‘ and am sure he will stop calling me Mr Punjawani. This was Mahesh Punwani who had moved from AID to MED and was pushed into meeting with unpredictable mercurial neurophysician Dr P M Dalal . I don’t know if Mahesh really said this to Dr Dalal but they became cordial as the time went by . Mahesh Punwani (MAP) , a quintessential large and open hearted person whose tongue was laced with quirky humour all the time and he made every one around him stretched their lips sideways .
I spent my formative working years with these two guys who were gifted with liberal spread of humour and they used it to live their life to the fullest and on their own terms . Mahesh lived in south Mumbai and I looked forward to my free ride in his Premier Padmini walloping in his rustic jokes before entering drab management classes . With Vivek , I sat behind his tiny Bajaj M50 , reaching mahim , enjoying one liners everytime scooter stopped at the traffic signal .
Both Vivek and Mahesh came in my life around the same time and left this mortal world in the space of one week . Vivek - with his perfect glowing smooth fair skin , could very well be another Balgandharva - were he to born in that era . Often his retorts would come from serious face - and judging the perplexed reaction of the person opposite - he would burst out laughing . We worked together - but I have no memory of working together to accomplish anything . When you have great products , you don’t do any work - you just carry the brochure and the quotation to the customer . You choose your most entertaining companion for this fun and frolic journey to the customer . Vivek was my first choice then . This would often be at the chagrin of our boss who wondered which ‘management principle’ fitted that these two guys to go on a sales call together . But Vivek had his answers ready “ we are going in same direction so it saves company money ‘ or ‘ well it’s same hospital but he is visiting laboratory , I am ICU ‘ . It is painful to realise that Vivek with his robust physical health , healthy lifestyle succumbed to Covid .
Image of Mahesh was always with meticulous perfect attire , well maintained hair style , classy gleaming leather shoes with his Gold Cross pen hanging on his pocket . He loved everything american from Beatles to Cars . We got or rather created opportunities to make visits to Goa for CT Scanner Tender of Goa Medical College . Thanks to our inefficient govt machinery , this tender kept on re-tendering over many years . And we had wonderful opportunity to enjoy beer , sea food over 3 night 4 day trip every visit . o'coqueiro goa at parvorim was his favourite and we never missed it . BSL travel rules were mandatory to visit Goa by air and we capitalised on this perennial business opportunity and company rule albeit without getting any CT business in all my tenure . Some of the fond memories that would stay with me are his wedding reception at President hotel , calling his home few times over beer , inviting me to be his cousin’s family in Bhopal / Goa , seeing him taking care of his dad at home at Bombay Hospital . He was particular about the the language while drafting the letter and one word that he was passionate about was ‘ Appreciate ‘ . I picked up this word from Mahesh and do use it every time I communicate with customer .
I didn’t neet Mahesh since I left BSL , I did meet Vivek on and off and I think my last meeting with him was at Hyatt over dinner . If I were to meet them now , reaction of Mahesh would be “ You buggar B*******t ....I lived my life . You enjoy , you never know when your turn would come ! “ . Vivek would say “ Bad Luck Yaar , But why me ? .. I don’t understand ..लेकिन चलता हैं ... I lived my life “ .......
I shall carry their mischievous smile and zeal for life with in fun and laughter . May their souls be blessed with perennial smile .
Sent from my iPhone
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