Bibek Debroy: A Tribute
Shri Bibek Debroy, or "Sir" as I called him, passed away on the 1st of November. Truly a darker Amavasya I could not have imagined.
An economist, a translator, a writer, a composer of limericks par excellence were achievements that people would be challenged to achieve in even a single field. Yet he had mastered all, and then some.
My first introduction to Sir was in 2012. I had been searching for an unabridged translation of the Mahabharata, having despaired of abridged retellings that distorted more than they abridged and hallucinated more than they retold, and while there was Kisari Mohan Ganguli's 1896 translation available on the internet, I stumbled upon an ongoing translation by Bibek Debroy.
An equally happy mix-up in an online order on the now defunct IndiaPlaza site saw me ordering the first two books instead of only the first one. It drew a raised eyebrow from my wife, but happily there were no other consequences. Thus began a journey that was rewarding beyond imagination.
