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.

When I joined the Michigan Daily, I was the third Indian person on the Arts staff. Kavi immediately took me under his wing, offering career advice and a never-ending list of TV and movie recommendations. He suggested I apply for editorship and with his help, I got the position. For one night a week, we spent our entire evening working at the Daily, and we dubbed it The Dark Night.

Dark Nights often began with chai from the cafe up the street and included dinner at Raja Rani, which Kavi loved because they had Peshwari naan and Kingfisher beer, (I make a point to always order it now if it’s on the menu). Whenever I needed edits, I went to Kavi, to his favorite corner of the newsroom where we’d talk about TV and campus life and dumb inside jokes while he occasionally underlined some sentences of my articles. We’d send each other unfinished articles a lot of the time as a sounding board (he hated if anything was “good” or “great” — it had to be “face-melting”), and blasted Bollywood music for hours (sorry, Scuttlebutt).

Also, Kavi devised a system of ‘Brown Points,’ presumably to eventually crown one of us the Daily’s most loud and proud Indian employee. The points system was definitely rigged in his favor, but it brought out a hilarious competitive streak in us, like when he brought Frooti in on a Tuesday night.

Years later, I still hear songs or references that I can trace back to the Dark Nights. I basically work at the Daily for grown-ups now, and it would have been impossible without Kavi’s guidance, friendship, and humor.