Romesh Chander was the smartest man I had ever met. He always wore the smartest suits with a well designed handkerchief in his breast pocket. At night pyjamas with a silk dressing gown.
He was born on Christmas day 1929. The second child and eldest son of Harbans Lal and Damayanti Murgai. He was the Grandson of Rai Bahadur Shiv Narayan, a prominent Public Prosecutor, later to become a chief minister of one of the prominent states of India. Handling such cases against the famous freedom fighter “Bhagat Singh”, who was later hung!
He had three sisters, and three brothers.
Dad was born in Ferozepur, Punjab and was bought up by European nannies. As a child he loved hanging around his family’s stables where he developed a keen interest in horse riding and hunting.
He was educated at the local school, where He had interests in photography, badminton and was the District swimming champion. He was a leading member of the Scouts, where in 1947 he was invited by the British camp to the UK.
Upon his return he discovered that his father, a government contractor, was killed during the partition riots. He had to take over the responsibility of the day to day matters of the family and the villages where they had vast agricultural land. Even then, the villagers would go to him to solve disputes always respecting his decision.
Being in agricultural land gave him a lot of social activities. He was the first civilian to become a full time member of the famous Ferozepore Army Club, where he would mix with the head of police, the District Commissioner, British Senior Officers. He became an outstanding Bridge player. He used to tell me that he would win a lot of money over 29 days and then lose it all on the 30th day playing 3 card brag. It was a wonderful life!
Then the hard times began. There were heavy floods which destroyed the fertility of the lands. Bills had to be paid. Dad made the decision to come to the UK in 1958.
He got into the lace business and for the first time in his life had to work. One day he went to pick up his Auntie from work and bumped into my mother, picking up her mother. He fell in love with her straight away and told my Auntie that this was the girl, he would marry!
During their engagement, he gave up his business where they went to live in Bombay for a while. They married in 1960 and returned back to the UK.
He got back into the lace business where R Chander & Co. was formed in 1961. It grew from strength to strength.
In 1965 he gave birth to me, his only child. During my childhood, the daily ritual was that I would come home from school and put my face on the window waiting for Dad to come home. I would grab him straight away and we would go outside and play football, table tennis then we would go swimming. He was my world I couldn’t imagine ever leaving him.
His parties were legendary. There were so many beautiful women and invariably it was not long before people would jump in the pool!
Whoever came to the office, whether it was a delivery man, a business colleague, he would always sit down and have a cigarette a cup of tea and a chat listening to people’s problems. It was his philosophy that things were not always easy for him and he would help people emotionally and generously.
My father was loved by all. His best friend John Raynor said that Romesh had the ability to make everyone feel he was their best friend, whatever their age.
Daddy you made this world a better place!