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Exceptional funeral of Ravi Naik celebrates an extraordinary life | Goa News - The Times of India

Ponda: Only once during the hour-long funeral ceremony of minister and former chief minister Ravi Naik did any mourner wail, albeit briefly. It was not because the hundreds who had gathered were not fond of Naik, but because they wanted to bid a farewell befitting his jovial persona.At the funeral held on the hillock in front of Naik's house, an exception was made. Speeches by CM Pramod Sawant, Union minister of state Shripad Naik and others preceded the last rites. Every time a speaker sang his praises, one group or another would forget the circumstances and clap."All of Goa was shaken when it woke up to this news. We will miss our 'patrao' (boss). He used to attract people like a magnet attracts iron, irrespective of religion or caste," said Sanjeev Naik, one of the speakers on the dais. Another bout of claps followed.The lane in Khadpabandh where Naik lived was called Ravi Nagar, thanks to his popularity. "There was a time when there were numerous students in Ponda who could not get an education because they did not have the money for a bus ticket. That is when he established PES College in Ponda. It enabled students from even Sanguem to get an education," Bipin Shenkre, a constituent of Ponda, told TOI outside Naik's home, even as Shri Brameshanand Swamiji and Union minister for consumer affairs Pralhad Joshi jostled for space through the sea of people."We got the news before midnight itself, but were hoping it wasn't true. Once it was confirmed, I came here last night and stayed," said Vaibhav Harmalkar, another 'Ravi Mogi' as BJP state president Damodar Naik put it later in his speech.Politicians who run educational institutes are known to micromanage them, but not Naik. "He never interfered in the college's functioning, but always made available funds or anything else we needed. When students won any prize, he was always at the felicitation event. Before a recruitment interview, he would always tell the external members that 'no candidate here is mine, you select the one who is best for the institute's growth'," said Vikas Pissurlekar, principal of PES College of Arts and Science, who has been associated with the institute for the last 33 years.Most of those who TOI spoke to at the funeral said there were clear signs that Naik's health was failing. But that did not stop him from sitting through a four-hour-long event just a week ago to felicitate 400 or more prominent Bhandari Samaj members from Canacona to Pernem, they said. For a community that has seen a constant power struggle in recent years for control of its association, Naik's gesture proved a tremendous act of binding it together."'Patrao' attempted to keep the Samaj together, he never divided it. When he toiled to get us OBC reservation, he dreamt of seeing people from the Samaj as doctors and engineers and he made it a reality for us," said Gomantak Bhandari Samaj president, Devanand Naik. Gauree Malkarnekar, senior correspondent at The Times of India, Goa, maintains a hawk's eye on Goa's expansive education sector. And when she is not chasing schools, headmasters and teachers, she turns her focus to crime. Her entry into journalism was purely accidental: a trained commercial artist, she landed her first job as a graphic designer with a weekly, but less than a fortnight later set aside the brush and picked up the pen. Ever since she has not complained.

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