Sitaram Yechury passed away this morning (12 September 2024) around 11.30 at AIIMS. He had been unwell with a lung infection for the past three weeks admitted in the hospital. Our last meeting was at Sahmat, probably on 18 August. All of us had lunch together and then he stepped out for a smoke with Sohail and NK Sharma. His right hand was not steady and it trembled as he took a drag on his stick. He coughed non-stop. Something in me said, he must stop smoking. We had a good time together on Seema’s birthday sometime in Jan this year, again at Sahmat. I have some pictures of them cutting cake and offering it to each other. I recall how unsure or hesitant he was to sign a copy of his book for me for which I had designed the cover. All he wrote was “Greetings”. It was a compilation of his speeches as a Rajya Sabha MP. On 14th Sept his body was brought on a carriage to AKG Bhavan, the Party office, for friends and Comrades to pay their last respects. Sitaram had donated his body to All India Institute of Medical Sciences for research. So Long Comrade.