Page 52 - Seniors Today - April Issue

him from my dabba, preciously prepared we hope to soon make the Asiatic a cultural
by my mother. He would tell me, “First
you weaken me with Saraswat food, and
then beat me at chess. Not fair.” One of
his favourites was ‘Kulitha Saar’ a soup
made from horse gram that is considered
a speciality in South Kanara cuisine. But
he was a gambler with a principle. He
never walked out of a casino with his
winnings, because he considered it ‘bad
money’. I remember researching Bloody
Mary recipes because that was one of his
favourite morning drinks when he came
home for lunch. He once congratulated
me for an excellent Bloody Mary that was
complete with the celery stick, and that
made me think I had arrived in the world
of mixology to have his approval.
The Asiatic Library, which Bal Mundkur helped to restore at a time.
Bal’s public life was something anyone
would admire and aspire for. He helped to
restore the Asiatic Library (founded in 1804)
which was in a sorry state. Dom Moraes is
known to have said “It was like meeting a
beautiful woman one loved years ago and
finding she has syphillis.” Bal went about
the task of restoration with great gusto. “It’s
a time bound, military-style operation, and
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show-place” he said. He also restored the
Afghan Church in Mumbai. He raised funds
for a cerebral palsy wing of a children’s
hospital. Brought the choir of the Trinity
College to perform in the beautiful church
of St Francis of Assisi in Goa. The people of
Goa were enthralled with an international
performance of repute.
His love for Western Classical Music was
legendary. He once waited at the Salzburg
Festival to meet Herbert Von Karajan and
convince him to visit Mumbai with the
Berlin Philharmonic. Bal was successful. But
Wilhelm Furtwangler who was considered
one of the greatest symphonic and operatic
conductors of the 20th century was his
favorite conductor. Bal often secretly wished
he had the talent to be a maestro. In fact, he
got his first job with DJ Keymer thanks to
his interest in classical music. He is known
to have caught the eye of Bob Hardcastle
then head of DJ Keymer in Mumbai, whilst
browsing for vinyls in Rhythm House, Kala
Ghoda because he impressed Hardcastle
with his knowledge of Mozart. A lunch
later at the Wayside Inn with Hardcastle is
known to have launched Bal’s advertising
career. One of his proudest achievements
post-retirement was setting up the Museum
of Christian Art in a remote seminary in
Salcette, South Goa. Bal was a voracious
reader, the kind who devours several books
One of his favourite statements to me in
his last few years was, “I have one foot on
a banana skin, and the other in my grave.”
I was shattered to see him go. There was
more to Bal Mundkur than business and
money, an increasingly rare quality to find
with today’s CEOs and entrepreneurs. And
most of all he had the rarest quality of all for
today’s times – he was a man with a heart.