Prof. Ali Baquer

Prof. Baquer died on Saturday.

I first heard about Prof. Baquer through Sneha, who told me that I should meet him as he is an interesting character.

Almost a year passed before I met Prof. Baquer, even though he lived on the campus. The occasion was a site visit to Concerned Action Now(CAN), an organization founded by Prof. Baquer. CAN runs vocational training program for disabled children and they wanted to start a non-formal education center for children in one of the nearby slum. For this they wanted funds. I was more entranced by their vocational training program and convinced them to submit a proposal to us. Alas, that proposal has been languishing for the past two years. This year finally after much prodding from Sabita and others, Asha-SV became interested in it. But it was simply too late.

Prof. Baquer was an advocate of equal opportunities for the disabled. He pushed for legislations, his organization helped the disabled living in the slums access the government schemes, he wrote books, and he ran CAN. For a person who had two by-pass surgeries, who had a complete organ failure last year and who clawed his way back to life, who had a minor heart attack again late last year, he was full of energy and enthusiasm. Every holiday, be it Id, Holi, Diwali, or New Year, he would send us a card or an e-mail.

And every email correspondence I had with him over CAN, he would never fail to remind me of Ghalib's gazal:

Hum ney maana ke taghaful na karogey lekin
Khak ho jaein gey hum tum ko khabad honey tak

(I accept that you will not be indifferent to my needs but I may mingle with dust by the time you react)

I had hoped it might not be true but fate had something else planned apparently...