Towards the end of the condolence meeting for former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar at IIT Bombay, his alma mater, Budram Barai, a retired security guard at the institute, respectfully asked if he could walk up to the stage where a photograph of the late minister was garlanded. He kept his walking stick in a corner, and tearfully walked up to the picture, with folded hands. “ Manu nahi raha ,” he said, bursting into tears.
Mr. Barai remembers, till date, how Parrikar would eat his meals with him, while staff members looked on in amazement. “There were other students here, but he was special. When he graduated in 1978, I told him he wouldn’t really be gone. I have named my son Manu, after him.”
Mr. Barai even remembers Parrikar’s hostel room: “No. 66, hostel 4, first wing,” and how he would wake him up in the wee hours for study. “I am so proud of him and what he has done for the country,” he said.
Acting director of IIT Bombay, A.K. Suresh, said Parrikar remained a true friend of the institute who “never turned down the institute if he could help it”. Educational entrepreneurship was among his favourite passions, he said.
Former abode: A view of Hostel 4 where Manohar Parrikar used to stay while studying at IIT Bombay.
“His commitment to probity in public life, his simplicity, his accessibility and his resilience in the face of personal difficulty are values we try hard to inculcate in our students. He made IIT proud,” said Mr. Suresh.
Former director, professor S.P. Sukhatme, said, “Most of us have lost a friend and a wonderful citizen of the country.” He said Parrikar retained his simplicity throughout his career as an entrepreneur, as Goa’s chief minister and as the nation’s defence minister. “He walked into this very hall, in his half-sleeve shirt, with no one accompanying him or running around him.”
He also recalled how Parrikar had encouraged higher education in Goa, providing a few lakhs every year as scholarships to deserving students without seeking a bond in return. He knew that some day, the students would pay back to Goa.
Apurva Apte, a student who had worked under Parrikar in a waste management project in Goa and whose tribute was read out on stage, said his “simplicity was beyond words. He has shown us what true dedication means”.
Perhaps the best tribute came from Vilas Rajwade, a Pune-based consultant and IIT-B alumnus, who stayed on in the city so he could attend the meeting. He recalled the time when he had gatecrashed an event where Parrikar was invited.
Mr. Rajwade said, “Parrikar kept saying, ‘Come to Goa, we’ll do this and that.’ Someone told him sarcastically, ‘You talk as if you are the Chief Minister’, and he said he was indeed the CM. There was stunned silence afterwards.”
