Vinit Thakkar – a cheerful spirit and a wonderful human being taken away in his prime.

“A single person is missing for you, and the whole world is empty”. Joan Didion wrote this about her loss in her moving memoir “The year of magical thinking”. Since the afternoon, I have been in a kind of trance, rooted to a spot, unable to speak or eat, lost in a melancholy tunnel with only a kaleidoscope of memories whirling through the brain and choking with each breath. The tragic death of our beloved, Vinit Thakkar, has seared the very fiber of our being. It is yet to sink in, let alone fully. How can that fair cherubic face, those sparkling and playful eyes, that curly hair, that smooth talk, those bursts of laughter, that generous heart, that pillar of strength, that consummate professional, that savvy salesman, that quick wit, a wonderful husband, a doting father, and an unconditional friend, disappear! It is all too sudden, this vivacious form brimming with life, and its dissolution.

No one who has ever come in contact with Vinit can ever forget him. He had that kind of mesmerizing personality, a charm, a manner of speaking and relating to others that came naturally to him. For each one, Vinit touched during his lifetime, this loss will remain personal, acute, and unassuaged. He has left behind so many vivid memories, so much love, and affection, that to digest his absence will be a labor of Sisyphus, no matter how hard we try, a wellspring of memories will rise from the very depth, to revive the agony and the pain.

Both of us live in the same neighborhood. Vinit’s home is bang opposite to mine. He would often joke with the trademark smile on his face that he surreptitiously kept a tab on who comes and goes out of my bachelor home? Before I started writing this eulogy, I opened my door and stood looking at his home, for a few minutes, hoping Vinit would, like he typically did on many days, open his door and walk out with his son or wife or both, and the moment he noticed me, would wave and shout an exuberant hello, no matter how hurried he was. But today, his home has put on a solemn look, a melancholy face, as if in mourning, as if the walls somehow knew that its beloved inhabitant wasn’t going to return to its care once again, and would never again be seen walking through its doors. My eyes teared up, and before I broke down completely, I got back inside and closed my door. Vinit’s generosity during the pandemic times will always remain fresh in my memory. I have lost count of how many times he called to let me know he was coming over to drop off food, or sweets (he knew my weakness for sweets). And he did it all without an iota of expectation or reciprocation.

What a career Vinit had at NIIT? Vinit always loved mentioning that it was during his stint in Mumbai in the early 2000s as an NIIT MS Office instructor that he learned the art of selling. He would say, “You know, Bala, each time I taught a class, I would get more classes based on the feedback. That’s when I learned I could be a good salesman if I could bring the same passion as I had for teaching to any sale”. And my God! What a good business development manager he evolved into? Vinit’s customers were not just customers for him, he was part of their family. They treated him as one among them. He instinctively understood the pulse of his clients, and regardless of what technology or education offerings we were selling, he would do what it takes to make it appealing to them. To him, customers came first, and he knew how to nudge his internal teams within NIIT, gently or persuasively as the situation demanded, to tailor a solution to fit their needs. If one needs a role model to learn the art of customer engagement, Vinit was the man to follow. He carried a very mature head on his young shoulders and adapted himself to conversations at whatever level with consummate poise and skill. He was not academically oriented, in the sense, He didn’t believe in reading books on sales or on the art of selling. He had a natural flair for it, a gift, and he often relied on his astute understanding of human nature to dictate the flow of a sale. In a sense, he was an artist in his field in his own way.

In these moments of deep grief, my thoughts gravitate towards Emily and Neal, Vinit’s wife and kid. They lived in a beautiful world filled with happiness. I haven’t seen too many couples with the quality of love that Vinit and Emily shared between them. You could see in their eyes that their lives were intertwined in ways beyond understanding. And Vinit’s best moments were always with his son, teaching him the art of growing up. On many evenings, the father and son duo would play with neighboring families and kids, shout their hearts out, and run all around the community chasing paper planes or playing hide and seek. Vinit never prioritized the time he had with his son over anything else. It was the most precious thing for him, and watching him grow into a fine young boy was the greatest joy of his life. I cannot imagine what the family must be going through now. Words cannot assuage the bereavement over such a tragic and unexpected loss. We will hope and pray with all the powers at our command that the family finds peace and courage to bear this unbearable loss, the countless beautiful memories that Vinit has left behind for them, and that chronological time can somehow ease the pain. That may be a vain hope, but still, that is all we are left with, isn’t it, and nothing else.

NIITians will miss Vinit. He was universally loved. He had a wonderful relationship with everyone he worked with. His untimely death has left a void that is truly impossible to fill. Again, in the words of Joan Didion, “Grief often turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it.” She is right, In the passing away of Vinit, we have touched the vortex of grief, completely taken in, shocked and paralyzed by the sudden loss. The last words I remember of Vinit one evening, a couple of weeks ago as he got into the car with his family was “Bala, got to run man, will catch you soon”. Little did I realize that fate had decreed he will be gone a far distance, run away to a distant place somewhere, a place to which others may perhaps go to someday, but from where none ever returns.

I join all who knew Vinit in their prayers for Vinit’s soul to rest in peace, and that his family finds the courage and fortitude to withstand this deep, profound, and irrevocable loss.