A man is known by the company he keeps, once Aristotle remarked as a benchmark of a person's character. If it were the absolute truth, it will be impossible to discern Pradeep Guha as a person for his company is legion.
The book Pradeep Guha: The Legend I Know is a pastiche of accounts from friends, family, well-wishers and colleagues who have each tried to outline the media mogul through their personal experiences and interactions with him.
As readers, we are left wondering who the real PG is. Is he the legendary media maverick known for throwing lavish Page 3 parties? Is he the thoughtful 4 am friend who could read you like a book? Or is he the pioneering firebrand student leader who once set out to take down capitalism? One may never know.
Pradeep Guha: The Legend I Know is a hardbound 180-odd paged coffee table book compiled by Jaideep Gandhi. The book is a compilation of personal accounts of over 160 people who have all known PG personally or professionally. It was released on June 6, 2022, his birth anniversary.
Each recounts stories that made a lasting impact on them and further added to the man, the myth and the legend that was PG.
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The book starts with a foreword from John D'Souza, PG's college-mate and the co-founder of the Centre for Education and Documentation (a repository of news that was a blessing to scores of students before Google and the internet).
D'Souza recollects the fond memories of his friend from their shared youth: "From Taposh, that bright young boy in Laxmi Court in Wadala through to Pradeep the Activist, and the Csar, this seems to be the play."
Aarti Surendranath, who penned the opening chapter of the book, spoke about how PG opened the door of Cannes for the Indian ad world.
"He could make a coincidence happen," said Agnello Dias, Chairman and Co-Founder of Taproot India. "PG wore his influence lightly. Not like an armour across his back, but more like a casual linen jacket tossed over his shoulder."
Brand Coach Ambi Parameshwaran remembered the respect and regard with which PG treated him, a 'junior.' "I am sure he is planning on yet another big Ad Asia or Bombay Timeseque part wherever he is now."
The accounts are testimony to the fact that PG left a lasting impact on the people he met. These eulogies come from people from different walks of life such as law enforcement, politics, business, journalism, entertainment and the culinary world, showcasing how wide PG's social and professional circle was.
Police commissioner Arup Patnaik wrote glowingly about PG as "a man with transcendental abilities" with the same fervour as industrialist Mukesh Ambani who called him "one of the most persuasive and courteous people I have ever met."
Journalist Bachi Karkaria's recollection of PG is painfully honest as she grudgingly admired her "impossibly brilliant and insufferably arrogant" former boss when she was an editor at the Times of India.
"When I quit BT within a year of its launch to join my husband in Bangalore, he told me, 'Finally. I've got an editor of the right profile for Bombay Times,'" she wrote of his straightforwardness. "Pradeep Guha, as blunt as he was sharp."
Former boss Samir Jain remembered the zeal with which PG led the 150th-year celebrations of TOI and how he often regarded his workplace as a second home. "Pradeep was destined for greatness," he underscored.
Despite their distinct experiences with the man, there are certain leitmotifs in the stories that point towards the same thing. PG was indeed a man of unparalleled genius, someone who recognised people's potential and a friend whose generosity was fabled. They all seemed to remember the lavish Diwali parties he threw and the hospitality of the Guhas -- Pradeep and Papia.
The book is an easy read with short chapters peppered with candid pictures of PG. It ends with an epilogue from his friend of 35 years, Eric D'Souza. An illustration of PG graces the back cover of the book in a style that is familiar to any newspaper-reading Indian.
The book and its accounts add to the lore of the man who led many transformational changes in the Indian media landscape, and the world is only poorer for having lost him.