Extremist tag for a person whom I considered my friend, philosopher, guide? Terrible!

By Rajiv Shah

The other day I met someone I had never met, though this relative happens to be a very distant relative. I had heard a lot about him. This gentleman, whom I met at another of my relative's place, once happened to be a friend of top Gujarat activist Achyut Yagnik, who passed away in August. This gentleman is a US citizen though was in Ahmedabad recently.

I had heard about hm from Achyutbhai many a time. He would tell me how nice this gentleman was, though only to add, "He is quite conservative."

I informed this elderly man about the death of his old friend and showed him on my mobile a blog -- an obituary -- I had written on Achyutbhai. This gentleman only, "I didn't know he had died." After I told him that I always regarded Achyutbhai as my friend, philosopher and guide, his reaction totally took me aback. "Achyut was an extremist. He would write anything without caring about anyone", he said, even when he was preparing to leave for the US.

An extremist tag for a person who always called a spade a spade? I didn't understand how those who are so well qualified could be so careless. All that I told this gentleman was: Achyutbhai, a journalist who worked with Gujarat Samachar during the initial days of his career, had written two excellent books, one on history of Gujarat, and another on the history of Ahmedabad, both of which I reviewed in The Times of India during my TOI days.

This gentleman, who must be about the same age as Achyutbhai, 77, when the latter passed away, showed no interest in all this, but commented, "He changed his name from Jayendra Jani to Achyut Yagnik for writing what he wrote"!

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