To Prem, with Love

Friday afternoons, more so the ones before a long weekend, have a tendency to introduce sleep. Yesterday, I was just heading down to get a coffee from the cafeteria around 2pm when an email from Judy Lendvay-Zwickl, the Director of Research at the Conference Board of Canada, made me sit up with shock...the message line said, 'Sad news about Prem' Intuitively, I guessed its contents. My friend, Prem Benimadhu had kept his last appointment in life...

Over the last few years I had been privileged to get to know this wonderful human being. Vice President at the very respected think-tank, the Conference Board of Canada, he was best known for his in-depth and brilliantly delivered forecast of the Canadian Human Resources scene every year. The annual 'ceremony' (yes. I call it a ceremony because Prem's presence made it one) in October where he unveiled his forecast of what salary growths etc. one could expect in the Canadian economy reminded me of similar occasions in the sixties when India's most prominent lawyer Nani Palkhivala used to analyze the budget every year on March 1, the day after it was delivered in Parliament, to an audience of economists and financial experts on the lawns of the colonial Cricket Club of India. It was an occasion to wait for and experience. The numbers one could always read off a presentation, the way Prem delivered them was what made the difference.

As a new Canadian and member of a visible minority I felt proud that one of my 'country cousins' (I intentionally use that word) had this oracle-like status, and, would puff up with pride as he answered questions with a gentleness that spoke of his deep wisdom. Born in Mauritius, Prem was totally fluent in French, and, God did I love the way he could intersperse his English comments with French, like a full-blooded True Norther...I could fall in love with the man just for that...

Very early in life I learnt that the best way to learn was not to enter into arguments with the wise, but, to just listen to them. So, I was content to let Prem do the talking while I sat back and listened, and, let his wisdom sink in. Once I suggested to him that we go out for lunch after the meeting. Somewhat gingerly I asked him if he like Indian food (don't know about these desis who have been outside for long). His eyes lit up and said a definite, "Yes." And that meal set the foundation for a friendship that I value.

Thereafter we went out for lunch a couple of times (it always was Indian food) and on one such occasion after I had got to know Prem and could foist my humour on him, I told him that we were country cousins. He corrected me and said, "No, we are not country cousins...we are bhaiyyas..." ('bhaiyyas' literally means 'brothers' in Hindi...however, the word "bhaiyya" is also a somewhat derogatory reference to the intellectual capabilities of the residents of the North Eastern states of India, UP and Bihar, made by their supposedly more intelligent South Indian counterparts...Prem's ancestors were from North Eastern India, and, I am from the South)

Working out at a gym some years ago, I saw Prem on TV being interviewed on an Asian channel and he was talking, yes, Hindi...Ever since then I have always ribbed him about the Hindi interview...he told me that he was surprised into speaking Hindi by the anchor...she hadn't told him that he would have to answer her questions in Hindi...btw, his Hindi was good and grammatical, not the Bambayya I spoke...

I told Prem once about the book I had co-authored, 'the Itinerant Indian',and, sent him a copy. I had actually told him that I would not autograph it, but, send it with a thumb impression as that was the way the colonials taught illiterate Indians to sign documents. Prem actually read the book, and, told me he liked my nostalgic account of the Indian Railways. Thereafter I have noticed that he used to introduce me as a published author. Once I added, "Yes, of a book that is competing with the Bible for the largest number of copies given away free..."

Whenever we met we talked, not of Labour Economics (in any case what I know of Labour Economics can be written on the back of a postage stamp with space to spare), but, of Indian weddings, food and strict parents. The last time we met I introduced him to South Indian cuisine and we talked about the menu I was planning for my daughter's upcoming wedding. He asked me 'How many guests ?' I said, 'About three hundred..." and, he said, "That is a small wedding by Indian standards..."

On that occasion, Prem took a fascination for the South Indian sambar (a tangy gravy made with tamarind) and I had promised to call him home and make it for him. Looks like you will have to take a rain check on that, Prem...

Wish you and yours much peace as you make this transition...

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For those who have not met this wonderful person here is a link to the Conference Board's site

http://www.conferenceboard.ca/about-cboc/et/prembenimadhu.aspx