Nariman’s trusted lieutenant of 40 years speaks: ‘He was a prophet for me’

Nariman’s trusted lieutenant of 40 years speaks: ‘He was a prophet for me’

“Where Ganges, woods, Himalayan caves, and men dream of God, I am hallowed, my body touched that sod… I do not wish to die in bed, but with my boots on, speaking of God and India…”

This was one of the passages Subhash Sharma, Fali Nariman’s trusted lieutenant for nearly 40 years, read out to him from a 1952 speech of Paramahansa Yogananda about five hours before the eminent lawyer breathed his last in the wee hours of Wednesday.

“I started crying after reading the speech…looking at me, Fali started weeping too,” Sharma told The Indian Express.

“Paramhansa used to think Mahatma Gandhi was a prophet…for me, Nariman was a prophet,” he added.

Sharma is a well-known name in the legal circles and has been the devoted gatekeeper for Nariman’s offices. As his junior since 1986, Sharma’s name appears in virtually every case handled by Nariman. It was Sharma who would be the first point of contact for lawyers or litigants to Nariman’s office since the veteran neither carried a cell phone nor directly accessed his email account. Printouts of emails were often placed before him the next morning. He then dictated responses which were typed out on a letterhead which were signed and attached to emails.

It was a stroke of luck that Sharma got an opportunity to work with one of the country’s most well-known lawyers. “The Bar Council of India had started a programme, assigning young members of the Bar who lacked opportunities to work with a senior advocate. I was one of the 20 orphan-category candidates whom Bar picked… Nariman even paid the fee of my son who is studying in the USA,” Sharma said as he received visitors who walked in to pay their last respects at Nariman’s Hauz Khas residence.

On his long association with Nariman, Sharma said that he felt he had a “spiritual connection” with him.

Recollecting his experience working with Nariman in 2015 when the Senior Advocate led the challenge against the Modi government’s National Judicial Appointments Commission, Sharma said that the duo worked from morning till 2:30am.

“During this time, he took no case for six months,” Sharma said.

“I think he believed that when lawyers chase multiple cases, it harms the clients… this is what happens today,” Sharma said.

Sharma also remembered Bapsi Nariman, Fali’s wife who passed away in 2020. “Bapsi ji was a gem of a person. She always worked for the underdogs…I give her even more marks than Fali to her for compassion,” he said.

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