BY GAUTAM SENGUPTA

I met Vinay Sheel way back in 2011 in the office of Secretary (Culture), Government of India. He was about to take over as Permanent Representative of India (PRI) to UNESCO, Paris, he came to my office and we had long chat on a number of issues, mostly related to North-East India where Vinay Sheel has served with great distinction, an area about which we shared strong interest. When Vinay Sheel took over as PRI our interaction became more frequent. We mooted the idea of a Buddhist circuit connected with the principle events of life of Buddha. Vinay Sheel was very passionate about it and had arranged a number of formal and informal meetings with representatives of different Buddhist countries. As India’s spokesperson at UNESCO Vinay Sheel was a great success. In his cool, logical way, he would put the point across the table and win over the support from almost everybody. After I had left Archaeological Survey of India in 2013, our communication became infrequent but telephonic conversations were always interesting and full of anecdotes. His last message came during Diwali. A fine human being, warm and compassionate, will not forget him. Gautam Sengupta