Ajit uncle was a dear friend of my grandfather. He had been a professionally acclaimed, bespectacled man, who used to visit our home quite regularly.

Just a couple of years back I met him once again. He had come to visit grandfather, to catch up with things. All this while, Ajit Uncle had been in Darjeeling. He was there on business. Later when I probed grand dad, he told me that uncle was planning on taking up some tea estate business, for which he had frequented his Darjeeling visits.

I was slightly confused. I mean, I knew that uncle was now well beyond his retirement years. It had been 2-3 years since he had retired from his professional commitments. So, then, why he felt the need to start all over again, with some tea business etc…This was beyond my sense of understanding. One thing was sure. He wasn’t the kind of person who’d sit idle, doing absolutely nothing during those sunset years. He had contacts. His networking skills were huge. He made all the right noises, and had all the right contacts that he knew how to convert into milestones for himself. So, with all this working in his favor, there were less chances of him sitting relishing his innumerable cups of tea in a day!, and more chances of him plunging into the tea cup! (I mean into tea estate business)!

And so he did what he knew he could do the best— and that was business. Till a ripe age, Ajit Uncle diligently worked toying with the tea business. For this purpose, he even shifted base to Darjeeling. His health wasn’t altogether on his side, but his determination was full throttle on his side. He personally used to look at things like finances, dealings, logistics etc. His son had partly taken from him, and had begun shouldering the tea estate responsibilities. But Ajit Uncle’s supervision was quite intact.

……….I distinctly recollect his last visit to our home. His shoulders had drooped. He had grown quite thin. The man, who never had an attitude of taking the slightest help from anyone to lift even his bags, now carried a wooden stick to help him walk firmly. His face had worn out completely, and wrinkles were eminent all over his cheekbones and forehead. In short, he was really very old now. But what hadn’t changed was his style of dressing up.

Even at that extremely ripe age of 84, uncle walked up our home stairs, wearing one of the most enviable set of wrinkle free shirt, crisply ironed dark walnut colored trousers and jade black polished leather shoes and socks!

He had always worn wrinkle free shirts, as far as I remember him. Back then, we never used to get these kinds of shirts in India. He used to be a globetrotter, and used to amicably pick shirts for himself while he used to travel to long hauled destinations, where his work used to take him.  And he was particularly particular about the Wrinkle Free Shirts. His wife whom we dearly called Moni had once joked, that he never wore wrinkled shirts. She later went on to add “Don’t know if he’ll at least accept my wrinkles once I grow old!!” She had amusingly remarked this at one of the dinner parties held at our place, the occasion being my grandparents’ anniversary.

Jokes apart—But today as I reminisce uncle’s last visit to our place, when he had come down to meet grandfather regarding some legal discussions, he still had that polished dressing in place.

And the best part that struck me was even in the middle of such advanced old age, where wrinkles were his companions; he hadn’t compromised on his dressing style, and had still worn a wrinkle free shirt!!!—a nice pastel cream shade…I even remember complimenting uncle that day. And I genuinely meant every word I spoke. I told him he still looked very handsome in that attire. He blushed and joked “Wish your Moni aunty had complimented me often on my shirt purchases…!”

Well, last year, uncle breathed his last. Apart from the fact that he was hard working, smart, go-getter, with a perfect business acumen, etc, what I will forever remember him for would be his wrinkle free shirts. It’s kind of funny, but then, we usually have this tendency of associating people with something. Of course, his work spoke for itself. No doubt. But for me, it would most definitely be his shirts. People more often than not have peculiar habits, and there are certain typical things in people, we just cannot dissociate them with those things. Wrinkled Ajit Uncle’s Wrinkle Free Shirts is one such thing I still cling to as a fond memory I can never ever forget.

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