Journey of Thinking and Destiny: Pranay V. Shah 1954-2012
Pranay joined IIT Bombay in 1971 after schooling at Cathedral High School, Mumbai. P Shah had many “avatars” at IIT….some knew him as a guitar player, others as a bridge player, some as a prolific reader & a philosophic person, and yet others knew him as the proverbial “mumbler” with one ear tucked in. Whichever “avatar” it was, a common thread ran through all of them….he endeared himself to one and all. After graduating from IIT (Mumbai, batch of 1971), Pranay left for the US to do his MBA and pursue a managerial career. Being extremely reticent when it came to his own achievements, few of us would know that he graduated as a Babcock Scholar (the highest honour) from Wake Forest University, North Carolina. He rose rapidly in the executive ranks at Hanes, recognized always as caring and competent. Later, in 1995, he joined United Healthcare and stayed on till 2000. In parallel, he continued studies into the “meaning of life”, which he had begun in high school! In the late 1980s, Pranay discovered a kindred philosopher in Harold Percival whose masterwork of "Thinking and Destiny" became his touchstone. In February 1997, he reconnected with Mala Dayal, his school friend and they married happily. After returning to Mumbai in 2000, Pranay took up consulting and executive coaching.
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In 2001, Mala and Pranay moved to Pune and Pranay added the mantle of becoming a life coach to friends….new and old, young and experienced. The lower you were in the socio-economic echelons of society the deeper was Pranay's involvement and the quicker his influence. As he would often describe, “They don’t carry any baggage and can grasp the true meaning of life in an uncluttered manner”. This life coaching, which was indeed precious to all who were fortunate to know him, shone even after he was stricken with leukemia and right to the end. Even in his last few months, Pranay brought so many estranged friends together, to carry on the journey of life as he had coached them to….with meaning and purpose. For Pranay, and an inspiring mantra for us, it was always "Forward". So it is.... Uday Bhende C-76