There was an old Bombay and there is a new Mumbai. A significant part of that old Bombay died when Charles Correa passed away; Alyque Padamsee's death is one more nail in that coffin. These are men who strode over our metro like colossuses. They had wives, kids, lives, but you felt what really drove them was creating the next big idea, creating something for the wider good, not just for themselves.

What can one say about Alyque Padamsee? I hesitate to use the words 'great man' or 'genius' or 'guru' because they're so overused, but he was definitely a key influence for me, a 100 per cent teacher. Often in tough situations like today, both in advertising and theatre, I still ask myself, "What would Alyque have done?", and invariably I find a solution. That makes him pretty damn special for me.