In Praise Of Prashant
Prashant Likhite has announced that his book on Bollywood actresses will be published soon. Seema, the leading lady of Marathi movies of yesteryears will be writing the foreword. I feel it is time to write about Prashant, there are some unique qualities in this young man whom I like [and envy!].
When I met him almost twenty five years ago, Prashant was a young man [he continues to be so at heart now], full of vivacity and action. Fortunately these two remain hallmarks of his personality even today. His zest for life, an indomitable will [if you are in HR they call it ‘passion’] to pursue dreams relentlessly differentiates Prashant from others. These are rare qualities indeed.
But what makes him different from others is that he is not chained and shackled by the desire to reach perfection. Please do not take this as a back handed compliment; it is not meant to be so. Many persons, [needless to say me in particular] often do not move and take steps because we feel we have not yet perfected our action. We actually sacrifice ‘good’ waiting for perfection; the perfect being the enemy of the good, and wait endlessly to make the first move. Prashant has never been restrained by such thoughts. He understood early in life, or perhaps it comes to him naturally, that perfection is attained by practice and moved on when he felt confident. This is another point why I envy him. The need to attain perfection has been so drilled deep in my mind by parents, teachers et al. that I have always found it difficult to take first step. I have [and I may say many others too] find it difficult to accept praise for the same reason.
There are several occasions when we have discussed subjects for writing articles; sometimes he went ahead and wrote in a flourish. There is a ‘flow’ that one often notices in his writing, lucidity and simplicity mark his style. He actually writes as he speaks. And on a rare occasion he comes out with some hard hitting stances – in one of his articles he directed his ire against an indecisive manager calling him as slippery as a tomato seed! But those are rare instances.
His appreciative mind takes over quickly and he sees a lot to aspire for and admire. Music comes to him naturally, I believe he is not trained in classical music, but he understands enough to appreciate it. [He does not think it necessary to learn classical music in order to enjoy it, and yet again, I agree]. Essentially his is a mind that wants to enjoy life to the fullest; he is a man who appreciates that his glass is half full and would also like to work on the half empty part to his advantage.
His latest book covers the life stories of beautiful actresses of Bollywood. He has written about vicissitudes of their life. I have had a chance to discuss with him some of his write ups. It was my pleasure to discuss how events in one’s life shape a person’s future, how luck plays a role and how destiny intervenes at the crucial junctures in life to give it twists and turns. Biographies bring this out so well. May be someday we will read Prashant’s autobiography! After all, an autobiography is the story of how a man thinks he lived.
On this occasion of publication of his first book I can only say: Kudos to Prashant. Kudos to your spirit of adventure. Kudos to your zeal for life. And as I always said to him ‘I am proud of you!’
Vivek
I have been in the category of obsessed by perfection for long. It is refreshing to read about Prashant.
I M PROUD TO BE ONE OF THE FRIENDS OF PRASHANT!!! KUDOS TO PRASHANT!!!
keshav korgaonkar
I agree with Vivek………a point that i would like to add here is that he is a complete family person….I remember once i had facilitated a very good opportunity for him at mumbai at twice the salary…….he consulted his family & thet told him not to take it for some valid reasons………Prashant let go of that 7 he was upfront abt it…………the other instance that comes to my mind is that he came back from US/Canada, leaving a plum assignment as he felt that his old parents needed him more in Mumbai……he is a great human being & I am proud that I am associated with him.
Kudos to Prashant. I also know him for nearly 23 years and I saw he had the guts to take on whatever came his way.
I am proud of him and I am very happy for him.
Have known Prashant for avout 4 years now, and anazed at one tging….. How nuch he has NOT changed since Vivek wrote this article.
So full of life, so nuch fun to be with, a complete family man. A heart that sings, and such people can not help but do one thing… Spread Happiness and Sunshine wherever they go.
I am also so fortunate to see Prashant in his second childhood.. With his granddaughter… They make such a joyous bundle…