Jishnu Sen: The strange man who walked into the wrong meeting & stayed back for life

Soumitra Karnik, Independent Creative Consultant, Lintas, JWT, Dentsu, remembers his friend and industry veteran Jishnu Sen, reflecting on the life, leadership and lasting impact of a veteran who inspired generations of advertising professionals through his vision, humility and unwavering commitment to excellence.

Jishnu and I met way back in 2000 at JWT Delhi. My introduction to him was probably typical of how many people first experienced Jishnu. There was nothing gentle about it. Ours happened in the JWT conference room. He didn't enter the room; he barged in. That was his way of occupying your mind-space before he had even said a word. Then came the voice. Gruff, carrying that unmistakable Calcutta convent accent. Before long, it was a voice you could pick out in a packed stadium. Did I tell you, it wasn’t even the meeting he was supposed to be in, but he joined in regardless?

His default setting was to disagree first. Whatever the subject, whoever was in front of him, he'd first tell you why you were wrong before occasionally giving you the rare privilege of agreeing with you. In our case, that privilege didn't come around very often. We occupied opposite ends of just about every spectrum imaginable. But we were friends nevertheless.

When he moved to Hong Kong, he called and asked me to come over and work with him on the Colgate business. I decided to stay back and continue working on Pepsi. He never held it against me. That was one of the things I always appreciated about him. He could separate disagreement from friendship.

We shared many memorable moments, but one particular Sunday’s story still makes a lot of us laugh every time it comes up in conversations.

We had decided to cook fish together for a potluck at a friend's place – Sumati's. Not just any fish, but since it was Jishnu, it had to be salmon. We picked a recipe from a cookbook that neither of us had the slightest business attempting, though he was by far the better cook between the two of us. We set off in my car to INA Market to buy the fish. On the way, we came across a small accident. A crowd had gathered around an elderly, rather rotund lady sitting on the pavement while her son was trying to lift his fallen scooter. I don't quite remember how it happened, but before we knew it, both mother and son were in my car. AIIMS was barely a couple of kilometres away, and ours happened to be the only car there.

We hadn't driven more than a hundred metres when the lady threw up all over my back seat. Now, I have a very weak stomach. As the smell rapidly filled the car, I rolled my window down immediately. Jishnu, who was far less squeamish, turned around to check on her. He took one look, settled back into his seat and, in that wonderfully unfiltered way that was so completely him, whispered -  "The bitch has puked f***ing chholas all over."

That was it.

The smell was revolting and the situation was serious. Yet both of us had tears streaming down our faces, trying desperately to suppress our laughter while continuing to drive these two complete strangers to AIIMS.

After depositing the mother-son duo there in good condition, we didn't abandon our original plan. We carried on to INA Market, bought the salmon and cooked it. The cooking itself is a story for another day.

As the years went by, we found ourselves on opposite sides politically too. Social media often had us at loggerheads. But Jishnu never let those disagreements spill over into the friendship. More than once, after a particularly spirited exchange online, he'd simply call me, not to continue the argument, but to talk about something completely different. Looking back, I think that was his way of making sure no rough edges remained.

When Momi came into his life, he didn't make a big announcement. He simply slipped it into a conversation one day. Anyone who knew him well also knew how long that wait had been. I remember feeling genuinely happy for him. It felt like life had finally given him something he had waited patiently for, and it was well worth the wait.

For me, Jishnu always remained a total dude. I believed that then. I believe it even more now.