Nagpur: The news about former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s demise cast a pall of gloom over his innumerable associates in the city. Vajpayee visited Nagpur frequently and had many friends here who enjoyed hosting him.Remembering him as a very dear ‘chacha’, Roopa Rai, daughter of former Puducherry governor Rajani Rai says, “He was full of humour and had a heart of gold. Many times, he stayed at our home on his visits to Nagpur. On one such visit, he learnt that a Kavi Sammelan was underway at Mor Bhavan and we all went there with him. He heard the poets and also recited some of his immortal poems.”Rai adds that once in the 70s, she watched an Amol Palekar film with him at Panchsheel. “I think it was Golmaal and he laughed uproariously. We also enjoyed samosa and cold drinks,” she recalls. “When he became the prime minister for the first time, we had gone to Delhi and were watching him at his residence from a distance as the SPG would not let us go near him. He spotted us and called. I hugged him and congratulated him and we both had tears in our eyes,” says Rai.Whenever in Nagpur, Vajpayee would also visit the home of Sumatitai Suklikar. “During the 60s and early 70s, my mother travelled to UP, Bihar and Rajasthan with him. They would travel in second class compartment and Vajpayeeji would galvanize the party cadres with his remarkable oratory,” says Jagdish Suklikar, secretary of Bal Jagat.“In 1987, my mother took a group of children from Deendayal Shodh Sansthan to Delhi. Vajpayeeji invited all the children to his house. Devendra Fadnavis was also part of that group,” says Suklikar as he fondly remembers Vajpayee. “He even attended my moonj ceremony and visited Bal Jagat in 1993,” he adds.But for his good friend NM Ghatate, Vajpayee was a very reclusive person. “I have travelled with him during elections and he would keep reading books. It’s only when he came before the public that his oratory would come to the fore,” he says and adds, “After the 1984 debacle of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he addressed the cadres and said, “Hum Kabbadi kheltey hain aur mar ke bhi zinda hona jantey hain.”Remembering her Mamaji as a foodie, Vajpayee’s niece Anita Pande says, “He was very fond of good food and I would make his favourite items like a moong dal dish, kachori, boondi ladoos which he loved. But he developed knee problems after becoming the prime minister and as I live on the first floor he would stay at Rajani Rai’s place.”Recalling the time when Vajpayee visited their home, businessman Vilas Kale says, “He was a very relaxed person and it was a pleasure listening to him. I used to be in total awe of his persona though he would make people very comfortable with his easy and inspiring talk,” he says.“He connected with my father Shridhar Bhaskar Varnikar as poet. My father was a Sanskrit scholar and Vajpayeeji released a book ‘Pradniya Bhartiyam’ which was a total compilation of all his works, at a huge function organized at Ram Nagar grounds in 1993,” says real estate developer Shrinivas Varnikar.Lamenting the loss of a great parliamentarian and an orator par excellence, MG Vaidya, senior RSS member says, “I had a long association with him which began in 1945. Today, I am too overwhelmed by the loss to say anything.”

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