For someone who’s love for jazz sometimes outweighed his passion and commitment to the law, it can’t just be a coincidence that Soli J. Sorabjee departed on International Jazz Day. With his passing, not just has his immediate family lost its patriarch but it has left the legal community in India and aboard with a void. One that no one will ever be able to fill. They just don’t come like him anymore. While his extraordinary brilliance, legal skills, court-craft, commitment to human rights is what legends are made of, now’s a good time to also highlight his compassion, empathy, generosity, unimaginable wit, curiosity and mischievousness, oftentimes almost naughtiness. But above all, he was a human-being par excellent. His going is a great personal loss for he was much more than a neighbor to my parents and me. He was family. The grandfather that one otherwise missed seeing. He will be sorely missed.

As one sat to write this tribute three things jump-out in one’s mind. First, Mr. Sorabjee Loved everything surrounding his birthday. Planning for the annual celebrations on March 9^th started several months in advance. Everything from the caricature on his invitation card to the menu was personally fine-tuned. And each year one noted many additions to his guest list, never one from the past dropped. Most new entrants were ‘young friends’ he encountered in the year gone by.  One was surprised at how many of those they were!

Second, Mr. Sorabjee loved a good meal and often times would eat all that his doctor had advised against. It didn’t need to be extravagant. Simple rice and potatoes would suffice. Dhansak was optional but desert was a must. The chocolates used to be hidden between newspapers and his stack of cookies would always come out when Aunty Zena was away.

Lastly, Mr. Sorabjee loved his annual pilgrimage to London, something he was unable to do for the past 2 years. His trips followed a pattern – same place of stay at Barbican, meeting under the Selfridge’s clock at noon and evenings at his favorite bar in Mayfair. Yet, he made no fuss about any of this for he was totally unpretentious. One spent dozens of evenings last year during the lock-down discussing his next trip to London and the plays he wanted to watch.

While one was personally unable to bid him Farewell, his life is not to be mourned, but really to be celebrated. And so let’s tune in for the virtual all-star 10^th anniversary global concert to mark International Jazz Day, which can now also be christened Soli Sorabjee farewell day. The tipple for my parents and me will be the grand-old-mans favorite Old Parr whiskey and one hopes they play his favorite Benny Goodman song ‘Farewell Blues.’ “Sadness just makes me sigh, I’ve come to say goodbye, Altho’ I go, I’ve got those farewell blues. Those farewell blues make me yearn…..someday I will return.…Dreaming of you is sweet, Someday again we’ll meet.”

Satvik Varma is a Senior Advocate in New Delhi. @satvikvarma

First Published in The Hindu on April, 30th, 2021.