Dehradun, Nov. 3 -- OBITUARY

Last month I sent a what's app message to Bibek Debroy inviting him to deliver the keynote address at the Chennai edition of VoW on 13/14 December, and I was a bit concerned for his reply was not as prompt as usual. A few days later, he wrote to me saying that he may not be able to travel outside of Delhi for medical reasons. So one knew that he was unwell, but the hope and expectation was that he will overcome. And therefore it was with a sense of great shock that I received the (now viral) forward of his own obituary that he penned for the Indian Express, where he published his columns regularly. Even as it was reflective of life and death and the 'in-between', it was both realistic and platonic. This was a...