MUMBAI: The man who taught India to sing together was cremated at noon on Saturday, his mortal remains consigned to flames at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park crematorium. Piyush Pandey, the advertising genius who turned mundane products into cultural touchstones, died on Friday following an infection.
They came in their thousands—chief executives whose fortunes he’d reversed, rival agency heads, Ogilvy’s fiercely loyal staff, office runners. All wept. Pandey had that rare gift: he spoke to drivers and sweepers with the same warmth he reserved for corner-office wallahs. In an industry built on hierarchy, he demolished it with a handshake and that signature grin.
Posters lined the crematorium showing Pandey’s famous moustache and wide smile. His younger brother Prasoon, himself a renowned filmmaker, performed the last rites surrounded by family. Then something extraordinary happened. The mourners broke into song—Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, the anthem Pandey created decades ago that stitched a fragmenting nation together through music.
After the body entered the electric crematorium, Prasoon addressed the assembled crowd. “Thank you for the love you’ve showered on Piyush. He loves you too,” he said, voice steady despite grief. “We’ll celebrate his life with a gathering soon. We’ll keep you informed.”
Pandey would have approved. The man who spent his life connecting Indians through stories deserved nothing less than a final act of collective remembrance.
