People who influenced my life - Hari Babu

Hari, as he was affectionately called by all of us is a person who came into my life influenced and just went off. I do not know where he is today. Some of my contacts says that he is in Kerala and is actively into politics. Well, that's nothing new for those who know Hari.

When I joined Equations, he was one of the persons with whom I really got to work very closely as Hari was an expert with the issues related to Coast (he is from Kozhikode, which is a town on the coast). It was the time when the Anti-Cogentrix movement was at its peak. There was a protest rally organized by the network in Mangalore. Hari and myself traveled to Managalore for taking part in the ralley. Hari introduced me to so many people in the coast and few of them I still remember. Yathish Bykampady, Natesh Ullal, Ranjan Guruvayanakere, Leo Saldanha, Dr. Ravindra Shanbhag, Dr. Sharatchandra from DANIDA, so many other people. I was amazed at the knowledge Hari had about the coast and the violations on the coast. He was prolific in the area of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). No one could beat him in this subject. I kept on wondering as to how simple and down to earth a person can be. Hari spoke to me in length about the issues faced by the fishing community, the threat to the coastal environment, ecology on the coast, deep inside the sea. His knowledge was as huge as the ocean itself. I always dreamt of thinking like him and gaining knowledge like him. I cannot even imagine of reading like him. He used to read so much and it's a wonder that he had so many thought processes in his head.

Hari had a lean towards communist ideologies in Kerala. He was from Kozhikode and during his heydays has been part of so many movements in the state. He is an avid reader, he was into film making. He used to tell me about the film he jointly produced "Amma Ariyan".

More than anything, one thing which bonded both myself and Hari was the craze for hindi film music. I still remember, whenever we used to go traveling, he asks me to sing some Mukesh numbers and just gets emotional. The song "Humne Tujh ko pyaar kiya hai itna" sung by Mukesh became so popular for me only after Hari spoke to me in length about the intensity of that song and the love. Another song of Mukesh "o jaanewale ho sake tho laut ke aana" is one song which he just loved and today, whenever I listen to that song, I just remember him and the picture of Hari's eyes filled with tears comes in front of me. Such was the intensity with which Hari loved music. I never knew that a song can be loved so much. I learnt a lot from him. I learnt to listen more of malayalam songs because of Hari. He made me taste the kerala paratas in Thippasandra, he used to joke about Arvind Swamy's face in the song uyire uyire from the fillm Bombay, mentioning that the guy makes his face as if somebody is squeezing his bottom.... :) Such was the zeal of Hari.

Not sure where he is. Hope to meet him some day