The Unbearable Heaviness of Being: On the Passing of Naren Gupta (Part 1)

Naren died.

Suddenly.

My pear tree

still has some golden leaves.

Rain drips disbelief.

It can’t be.

It is.

These are the only lines I could come up with on Sunday afternoon.

Vinita emailed Dominique and me from her flight back from North Carolina with the news. She also emailed Enrica and Pierluigi.

She arrived in the afternoon. The four of us spent the evening with her piecing together what unfolded in the hours prior.

Naren died in North Carolina at Vinita’s sister’s house on Saturday morning. They were visiting to be together following the death of Vinita’s brother-in-law. Naren had a heart attack. He was gone within minutes. Just like that. As Vinita was in the shower.

Naren Gupta was a towering figure in the Indian startup world. Very early on in its evolution, he believed in the dream that Indian entrepreneurs could build product companies with global impact and founded Nexus Ventures to support that conviction. Druva, one of his earliest investments, stands poised to go public soon at a multi-billion dollar valuation. Many other “Unicorns” are in the wings.

I am a writer. I process a lot of life through words. I asked Vinita last night if I could write about Naren. If I could attempt to capture the essence of the man whom I have loved in a literary portrait.

Vinita too is a writer. She too will write in due course. For now, she needs time to be present for myriads of those whose lives Naren has touched, for those who have loved Naren, for their family and their friends.

I have time.

I am sitting here, sifting through my memory, watching the golden leaves tremble, the golden leaves fall one by one.

The wind is accelerating. Leaves are blowing in the wind. Gold sprinkling in every direction.

Soon, this tree will be bare.

This segment is part 1 in the series : The Unbearable Heaviness of Being: On the Passing of Naren Gupta
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