From the moment I knew him he was this cool big brother of mine who was always aware of what I was fond of..like I still remember I must be around 9 years old and shekhar bhaiya was visiting our home in Korba. At that time of the year Godzilla (1998) was released and I was very fascinated by it because it was the first of it’s kind. So bhaiya had this cool t-shirt of godzilla which had a button on it and when pressed made this awesome sound of godzilla screaming and I got fascinated with it.

So I asked my mum and dad to buy such a t-shirt for me too but it was an exclusive godzilla merchandise, so unavailable in India. I was sad with this news but somehow shekhar bhaiya came to know about this and he offered me his t shirt. Not only that he also gave me a Spiderman T shirt. I was not only the most happy kid at that time but I also came to realize for the fact that I was the most privileged to have such a kind cool, awesome and caring elder brother. Because of his unexpected selfless gesture, I had this new found love and respect for him and that was my first impression for him which just kept on growing growing. I had those T shirts for years.

I feel privileged to be a part of an incredible life journey of an angel that walked the earth and blessed us with his presence, love, care and happiness leaving us with wonderful memories.

We shared a circle of friends, but Kavi and I really knew each other exclusively in the context of a $20 bet and one unbelievable Frank Tyree grab. (The one and only monetary bet I will ever make!) The summers afterward, when he’d come home from school, we’d hang out here and there in groups.

Then, I went along with my dad on a business trip of his to New York. I’d never been, my dad was busy in conferences all day, and he’s not exactly the type to go out for drinks. So I reached out to the one person I knew in the city, and even though we arguably weren’t close, he responded in quintessential Kavi Shekhar Pandey fashion. He took me to Caroline’s for my first comedy show (Michael Che!!!), we got dinner? drinks? (the details are hazy), and ended the night at Dave and Buster’s in Times Square. We killllllllled the trivia game just to rack up tix, and ended up getting my bro an NYC souvenir pair of D&B’s boxers – size XXXL.

I visited Kavi a few other times in New York. Every time, without fail, at the end of the night he’d refuse to let me take the subway home, and instead would either accompany me all the way to my hotel, or put me in a prepaid cab. He always took impeccable care of his friends.