A friend remembers: For Jehangir Pocha, charm came naturally

Editor’s Note: Journalist Jehangir Pocha passed away on 13 July. His friend of many years writes about him. By Niloufer Dundh His warm smile, twinkling naughty eyes, the passion he threw behind what he wanted and believed in … this is the Pocha I knew. He always had a nice thing to say about everyone, always willing to help. I don’t know how he accommodated so many of us. Jehangir Pocha kept re-surfacing in my life through the years and that’s how I stayed in touch with him. The first time I heard of Jehangir was when I was in school, in the 8th standard. He was always the eternal ladies man – many a JB (JB Petit) girl would gush over him, as he could talk his way into anything. Two of my closest classmates at school were his neighbours (at Shyam Niwas). I smile as I remember those days and all the stories. [caption id=“attachment_1615895” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Jehangir Pocha passed away on Friday due to cardiac arrest. Courtesy: Twitter[/caption] It was in college that I got to know Pocha (that’s how we all addressed him) and worked with him. We were all devoted to AIESEC. AIESEC was Pocha’s life. He made some lifelong friends at AIESEC, and if you look at his Facebook wall it’s flooded with AIESECers lamenting this shocking news…. Pocha no more has not yet sunk in. He was my senior in AIESEC and many of us were in awe of him – the way he spoke, his presentation and oratory skills, his knowledge on every subject. We were all young – I was 17, Pocha was just 19, but Pocha was different from us all … very committed and very thorough. After AIESEC, I lost touch with him as he moved abroad and so did I, but once back in India we re-connected as we both worked in media. When I was working at Hungama Digital, the husband of my then colleague and now close friend turned out to be Pocha’s best friend since childhood… so we re-connected once again. About three years ago, I bumped into him at Asiatic departmental store at Churchgate. I had popped in to buy some medicine and he was browsing in the perfume section. “Hey Dundh (that’s how he referred to me) can you help me choose a perfume (obviously for a lady)?” I helped him make a choice, and we chatted for a bit. We paid our bills, took our respective parcels and left. When I sat in my car I realised that there was a gift-wrapped package in my shopping bag. That’s Pocha for you – I don’t know when he surreptitiously bought two bottles of the perfume or how one got into my shopping bag without my noticing it…Pocha’s élan and charm came so naturally to him. God bless his soul and give strength to his wife and kids.