ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846 A Cat’s and Rat’s View of History: Arun Sadhu (1942-2017) ARUN KHOPKAR Arun Khopkar (
[email protected]) is a writer and film maker. Vol. 52, Issue No. 41, 14 Oct, 2017 Arun Sadhu was a journalist, writer and teacher whose works reflected his ability to listen and eloquence to express the sufferings of the marginalised and the hypocrisies of the powerful. His life itself was testimony to his aversion to pomposity and manipulation. Here, writer, award winning film maker and Sadhu’s friend for over four decades, Arun Khopkar, writes about him. Arun Sadhu, who passed away on 25 September, had turned 76 on 17 June. He was a much respected journalist, well-known to his readers in English for his thoroughly researched, analysed and ably synthesised articles, through his long career spread over four decades. His was the kind of journalism that flourished when the “Word” reigned supreme. Sadhu believed in the lived and experienced truth of the word, rather than its surface glitter. Urbane, soft spoken and dignified, he brought his incorruptible values to understand the corrupt world that his profession needed him to write about. He hated pomp, hypocrisy and dishonesty and his life and writing showed how to live without any trace of these traits. His not-so-frequent appearances on television discussions had none of the trappings of the dramatis personae seen in the masked commedia dell’arte of today’s electronic journalism, like flashy costumes, grandiloquent gestures, threatening postures and moral impostures, histrionics and hysterics. His sheer presence, with his high forehead, neatly sculpted ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846 features, intense brown eyes and smooth sun-kissed complexion - he was from Vidarbha - had quiet gravitas.