Dev Anand

As a nation, we are not very adept to the public display of grief. Elsewhere, after the passing of a personality like Dev Anand, there would have been a memorial. In every city, there would have been a spot were people would have gathered with flowers, pictures, cards, candles, to show their love for the dear departed, as they did for Lady Diana in front of Buckingham Palace, for Michael Jackson everywhere, for Steve Jobs in front of the Apple stores world over.

On the contrary, here, after we received the news of Dev Sahab’s death, we went to Facebook and posed a RIP, or a Youtube video of our favourite Dev Anand song. That’s it. That’s how we show our love.

Talking about Pune city, where Dev Anand started his film career, and where he met his famous friend Guru Dutt, the FTII could have been a wonderful and relevant site for a Dev Anand memorial, today, and it would have been a heartfelt tribute.

Another site could have been the erstwhile Lucky Restaurant. Even during its crumbling last days in late 1990s, a huge blow up of Dev Anand in black and white adorned the wall behind the counter of the Irani restaurant, famous for its bun-maska, and biryani. And ask anyone who frequented the restaurant and they’d tell you how Dev Anand would walk from the FTII during his student days and come there to dine. The bond was strong as long as the restaurant existed, goes the legend.

Now, a monstrous mall stands on the site, which also houses a KFC joint, and the evergreen star is dead and we mourn him on the internet.