Opinion | Rohit Bal And The Grandiosity Of Grief

“Irreparable loss,” the phrase that leapt out for this author from economist and author Bibek Debroy's last piece of public writing published posthumously, is one of the blandest cliches casually thrown around in obituaries. Debroy, in his characteristic sardonic humorist style, punched a hole in the vacuous loftiness of the phrase. Irreparable loss to whom and why?

When everything is superlative and exaggerated, including a show of emotions, what happens to the normal-sized sentiments? When everything is already campy, how do you express the loss of something that was really grand to begin with? Like Rohit Bal's creative convictions.

One of the pioneers of the Indian fashion industry as we know it today, Rohit Bal, is dead at 63, leaving behind a legacy of design sensibility that almost everyone admired and a persona that raised many an eyebrow. He seemed to care for neither and carried on regardless.