'Industry lost a leader and I, an elder brother'

Bhaskar Da or lovingly called BD da by me was a man with full-on energy and competitiveness. I worked with him in the earliest part of my career when he moved from Ahmedabad to Mumbai to the Response Department of The Times of India. He wanted to be out in the marketplace and was facing resistance from established seniors of the Response Department, who were reluctant to take him out. He made me his Executive Assistant knowing very well that I knew the market and had a very good connection. Bd and I used to make daily 8 to 10 market visits and calls and in NO time he knew all of the Mumbai market. He was generous in attitude and once he had a grasp of the market he told me that I had a better future in line sales than in being his EA and that I should go back to Response. Fortunately, my bosses in Display did not bear any grudge against me about taking BD across the market.

BD was very very competitive to the extent that he even competed with his team. When I left TOI Response for for Star India and later onto Zee, I used to meet BD many times in forums or at clients or agencies. We both used to connect well but had a major difference of opinion about a Touchy subject. I used to tell BD that while it was alright for him to meet every one in the market, the deal should be done always by the team and not him. I always felt that it is the best way of empowering a team and making them accountable. BD would not agree with me and wanted always to front deals and even call me later to say which all deals he had cracked.

I was very very close to him . I used to always joke with him saying BD da you are very bookish and not practical . Since television was my forte he used to often run across some business plan related to TV with me and I had to always point out that many of these were so aggressive on paper but would not be feasible practically.

I traveled with him across the world on various media forums and his energy to learn was very contagious . Always competitive, he often got into debates with even the compere who was moderating the debate or panel discussion..he played to the gallery and was witty. He was humble and ready to do any work and under anyone ..he is a true loss. 

He was also into fitness and loved to discuss with me what bench press he did or what he walked or lifted. His energy and will to live was contagious and inspiring.

We used to joke with him to talk English which the comman man understood and not his Shakespearean language which was full of quotes and tough words.

Though not a foodie BD sportingly went along with us on our various experimentative food jaunts. He did not even like to experiment with food and we used to pull his leg and coax him to do a course in culinary with tasting compulsory, in addition to the various degrees that he was constantly studying for.

Our industry has lost a leader today and I who was very close to him have lost an elder brother.