R.I.P. Rocky

Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, also known as Rocky in the markets, remained the original perma-bull till his last day

- UDAYAN MUKHERJEE

The first time I met Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was at the turn of the millennium in January 2000, as the global technology bull run was galloping to its heady climax. I was only a young TV anchor in my late twenties and he had already quite a reputation, though not quite the multi-billionaire yet. I had walked in to his office, with some trepidation, to find a portly man staring intently at a trading screen, furiously chewing paan, the run-off from which had stained his trademark white shirt. When he turned to me, I may have nervously asked if he didn’t tire of staring at the same screen all day. I still remember his reply. With a gleam in his eye, he shot back, “My friend, it’s like having sex for six hours every day; would you be bored?”

That was Rakesh for you: sharp and witty, with a ribald sense of humour that marked him out in a room full of uninteresting punters and brokers.

Over the years that followed, I met him several times, often more than once a year and what remains with me is this lively personality of his, more even than the fabled investing acumen on which reams have already been written. What endeared him to me, and perhaps to many of his countless friends, was this exuberant and unreserved quality in him—in turns joyous, animated, even angry and foul-mouthed, but never dull. To tot up the kind of wealth he did, he must have been a shark at some level, but always one who wore his heart on his sleeve.