He came to Pune to retire from an active and successful life as an architect in India and abroad, carrying with him a head and heart full of memories, experiences, names, faces, places and the rich gifts of a full life. Nestling down in an apartment in Kalyani Nagar, he began to savour the pleasures of serious reading, listening to jazz and enriching himself with spiritual pursuits. Finally, one day, he turned up in Gyaan Adab Centre and enrolled as a library member, tucking himself into what became his favourite cane and cushioned chair, with a mug of deliciously brewed coffee beside him.
Adi Patell minded his own business and quickly, almost imperceptibly, became an institution. Our then librarian got instantly intimidated by his straight talk… he questioned the choice of magazines on our racks and appeared as if he was keeping an eye on the calibre of our programming.
No one knew how to handle him. Not that he needed ‘handling’. The secret lay in letting him be what he chose to be – himself.
And then one day we got talking and I discovered that inside him sat an aesthetically evolved human being, a lover of great jazz, a philosopher, an art appreciator and – a writer. Adi started turning up at all our programmes and soon we began to realise that an event was incomplete unless Adi was there. He attended exhibitions at our gallery and became one of our most respected art collectors. He bought books at book functions and was always out there cheering new writers and poets. Adi Patell in his crisp smart shorts and T shirt or comfortable casual bush shirt, a cap sitting on his head and a satchel slung on one shoulder became an integral part of our lives at work.
Then he came one day out of the ranks and presented a brilliant illustrated talk on ‘La Chapelle du Ronchamp’, a masterpiece of contemporary architecture which was designed by Le Corbusier. He took the audience off on an architectural pilgrimage to France. And the cherry on the cake? He treated the audience to tea with delectable cheeses, croissants, French jam and other savouries. French jazz music played in the background as those present enjoyed their coffee and conversation.
Now that was Adi coming out in style.
Then suddenly he vanished and took a break from Gyaan Adab, leaving us bereft of a presiding institution. He left an empty space inside all of us. A space which no one else could fill for nearly a year.
But the story does not end there… he returned into our lives as quietly as he had first arrived. Now he is a daily fixture. That’s not all! Adi’s first book of stories and memoirs ‘The Last Parsi Standing’ will soon be out.
We doff our hats to Adi Patell and all the septuagenarians and beyond who continue to keep the cultural life of our city alive and well-grounded. They show us every moment of the day that life is to be lived full to the brim and over the brim and that we must never be afraid to reinvent ourselves.
“I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’
Gleams that untravell’d world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.”
From Tennyson’s Ulysses.
Randhir Khare is an awardwinning writer, teacher, artist and storyteller who has mentored a whole generation of creative talent. He is Director of Gyaan Adab, Pune’s premier cultural centre. Randhir Khare writes every week for Pune365.
- Randhir Khare: I am my own Competitor, says Sudipta Mukherjee - November 9, 2016
- Randhir Khare: Art is now a commodity - November 2, 2016
- Randhir Khare:A Curious Adventure - October 19, 2016
