Lord Meghnad Desai’s passing is a deeply personal loss. I will always remember him with the utmost respect and fondness — not just as an eminent economist, thinker, and parliamentarian, but as someone with a rare zest for life.

As someone who could chat as effortlessly and animatedly about finances and fundamental rights as he could about food and films. As someone who crossed thresholds with clarity and purpose, building unseen bridges that spanned worlds and ideas. His passing at 85 marks the conclusion of a remarkable life that consistently defied easy labels and ideological boxes.

July 2025 marked the first summer in over a decade that I didn’t meet him in London. During my annual trips, a lunch at the House of Lords and his birthday celebration — always held the weekend after July 10 — had become a permanent fixture in my calendar. Over the years, he graciously attended several of our Foundation’s events, not only in Delhi but in other cities as well.

In public, be it at book launches, policy discussions, or leadership summits, Desai invariably was the centre of attention. The sparkle in his eyes revealed a man who wore his intellect lightly. Whenever he rose to speak, the atmosphere in the room changed. Here was a man who could quote Marx and Milton in the same breath, pivot effortlessly to Bollywood, and lace it all with wit sharp enough to provoke but never wound. Desai was not just a scholar but a sage who refused to play the part of one.

What I admired most about Lord Desai was his intellectual eclecticism and his sharp sense of humour. I still remember the first time he met my wife at the........

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