Kamal Vyas: Rest in peace brother ...

Kamal Vyas whom I called Kamal Bhai or Bade Bhai was a close friend, mentor and elder brother, all built in one. He was a great human being, always smiling and always available for a conversation. My association with him began in 2005 and since then, it was a wonderful journey with him. Even though we were colleagues for a long time, the relationship with him was more on a personal front than official.

10 Jul 2020 | By Vinay Kaushal

(l-r) Kamal Vyas and Praveen Patel of Hira Prints at Drupa

Kamal Bhai was married to Sangeeta Bhabhi and they have one daughter Vijayshree who is married. He used to relish his time with his granddaughter. He was very keen to move to Jodhpur. Even though he was a 24/7 sales person, his passion was "teaching". He came from a family of educationists.

For all our domestic and international travels, he was my roommate as we got along so well. He would get up early by 5.30 am and would be ready by 6 am so that I can get ready without any interference. He was a very sensitive person with an understanding about others. He always thought about others first. He was fun to travel with on overseas trips, he always tried to ensure that we explore the cities. Even though he was a teetotaller, he will be the first to take me to duty free shops as he knew I had purchases to make. 

Similarly, he would accompany us even during our evening drinking/ dinner sessions. In spite of the fact that he was a pure vegetarian and mostly consumed homemade food. He had simple gastronomic tastes. As far as I remember, his dinner would be aloo jeera and a dal (with no onion and no garlic). 

During the long flights, he maintained a steady banter, so that we both didn't get bored. There were many aspects of life we would discuss on and on. Both of us relished these guftagus. For an overseas trip, we always took a flight together either from Delhi or Mumbai so that we could travel together. Even though it meant a bit extra travel time (mostly for him).


Kamal Vyas at Vinay Kaushal's daughter's wedding in 2015
Sangeeta Vyas, Pravin Patel and Vinay Kaushal are seen along with the bride and groom 

Kamal Bhai's USP was "to learn and update your knowledge all the time". All of us know about him as a printing expert but he was not a trained print technologist. He applied himself and reached the position.

Whenever he inked a deal, he would share the details, first thing in the morning. And there were many achievements. The most recent one was the deal with Jay Packaging in Vadodara for a Manroland eight-colour press.

The news of his demise has come as a big shock to me. I will be missing him for his ever smiling and candid personality. 

Rest in peace brother ...

(Vinay Kaushal is director of Provin Technos)