“I met him thrice and found him to be simple, earnest with a lot of integrity,” recalled Basant Kumar Birla, chairman of the B K Birla Group.

R P Goenka, chairman emeritus, RPG Enterprises, said: “A long life of turmoil has finally come to an end. India is mourning the demise of Jyoti Basu.” Goenka had an interesting anecdote to share from 1989 when Bengal was suffering from a huge power crisis. “When Basu came to know we had some shareholding in CESC Ltd, he was surprised but not upset. When I explained to him that the power sector needed modern management techniques, I found he was pragmatic and receptive to the concept. He told us to prepare plans as to what could be done to end the power crisis in Kolkata and that was the beginning of a new relationship through CESC.”

Harshavardhan Neotia, chairman, Ambuja Realty, also took us back to 1986 when the realtor’s business club, The Conclave, had opened. “Basu was invited to The Conclave. I was very nervous, but when the host of the evening introduced me to Shri Basu, it just took him a few moments to make me at ease. He even took the pain to walk around the place to see the entire place. Over the years, he has been a pillar of great strength and support to various initiatives that I have taken up in West Bengal.”

“Cricket has lost a helping hand,” rued Jagmohan Dalmiya, chairman and managing director, M L Dalmiya & Co Ltd, and former president International Cricket Council. “Everyone knows he was an outstanding orator, eminent parliamentarian and an expert administrator. Not many people know he was an ardent cricket lover and he made huge contributions towards cricket.”