'A nonpareil scholar'

Gopi was someone special to me. He was much more than a civil servant though very illustrious.He was a non-pareil scholar with a rare gift of carrying his profound knowledge lightly. His command over English language was unparalled,interspersed with imaginative use of words with a philosophical sweep. His vast reading and uncanny insights into human nature would have made him a foremost literary personage,if only he had earmarked his career that way. I give below one small speciman which will bear out what I mentioned above. This is taken from his mesmerizing farewell address he gave on the eve of his relinguishing office as the Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund. It was a memorable speech,unique one which, according to the cognoscente, no one in the history of the IMF ever matched.

Here it is:

"Mr. Chaiman, Dostoyevski has written somewhere that God has a special soft corner for sinners who repent.It is difficult to judge the empirical validity of this observation for God`s actions with respect to former sinners have not been scientifically catalogued and analyzed.However, in the Fund there is living proof that there is a welcome with open arms for those who see the truth after a long and dark night of travail. There is some delicious irony here because at a time when so many who trusted the doctrine of perfectibility of man under Plato's guardians seek enlightenment in the anonymity of markets, those who considered it to be their sacred duty to spread the gospel begin to doubt whether it is such a good thing after all to actually practice what the gospel says. Uruguay Round is a case in point"

[Exracted from Gopi`s Farewell Speech to the Executive Board of the IMF,March 12,1993.

I can do no more than to memorialize the immemorial!

Deena Khatkhate