Miss you

By Shiny Phillip (acj, 1999-2000)

It's a strange feeling... My first meeting with Sanyal was before I actually walked up the steps of ACJ, Bangalore. I was at a writing workshop in Whitefield for which he was a resource person. At that time, ACJ wasn't on my radar. Here was this man, zealously denouncing 'legalese' almost as if the 'jargon' had given him a summer rash.

At the end of the session, we had to write a short story. When I got my paper back, it read, “An excellent Roald Dahl ending. Keep it up.” Of course I was thrilled.

Two years later, ACJ happened. Two sessions later, when I had my worksheet literally thrown back at me, my hangover vanished. It was an uphill climb, plodding through the redundant phrases and weeding the excesses out of oneself. I still go back to his 'style sheet', using it as a compass when I lose my way in murky texts.

It was on Sunday that I heard he died. He must have been very lonely, I mused. We will all miss him -- his temper, as Meena says, his missionary zeal, as Ashish says, his sense of intolerance, his restlessness... we will miss him.