Mumbai : From afar, the world of Mumbai Customs and it’s operations
may not seem as interesting but delving deep into it, brings out some
unbelievable stories. White Singham of the Mumbai customs department, as
he is fondly known these days, Assistant Commissioner Deepak Pandit’s
life is no less than a Bollywood movie, say authors Sheetal Bhan, a
TedEx speaker and writer & Aamir Bengali, an upcoming Hindi film
screenwriter. They have come together to initiate the process of writing
a book on the stalwart’s life.
“Deepak Pandit has been a man
who has had polarising effects on the people he has met in his life. He
has been stubborn enough to be corrupted and this is what makes him
truly righteous and worthy of reverence”, says Aamir Bengali.
When
asked about the elements of entertainment and reality to expect in the
book, Sheetal responded, “The most incredible thing about this book and
Dippy Mama's life is the rich presence of intense Drama along with deep
wisdom. Entertainment is a guarantee. But you know what they say about
enlightenment, seek and ye shall find!”
Aamir added further by saying, “Do not read this book with any prejudice in your mind.
Make
yourself a blank page and only then will you be able to entertain
yourself through the life of a man who has lived it without planning any
of the drama in it. Besides the Cricketing journey of Deepak sir, his
close calls with the underworld and his thrilling stories with the
customs and its departments, the book is sure to fascinate all. The love
story is the cream on the cake.”
The authors said that they were
so inspired with the life of the stalwart of the customs department,
that they couldn't wait to begin penning it down. Their writing sessions
often involved hours of plain discussions on their individual
perspectives on Deepak Pandit.
The authors further added that
they individually brought in such contrasting yet similar kind of
anecdotes from their individual experiences that eventually it all
shaped up into a box full of assorted chocolates of the same family.
Sheetal further added that Deepak Pandit’s love story with Arushi Misra,
the daughter of former Supreme court judge, Justice AP Misra is in
itself a potential film script.
The book has been announced
through a trailer which includes quotes in praise of Deepak Pandit by
legendary Indian cricketers like Maninder Singh, Chetan Sharma, Praveen
Amre and one of the senior most officials of the CBIC (Retd), a
department under the Ministry of Finance.
“Deepak is a highly
resourceful officer with proper knowledge of law and procedure. It is a
pleasure to work with an officer like him”
- John Joseph
Special Secretary to Govt of India and Member (Retd) CBIC
“A great fighter who we called a swing master for his huge in swingers and an aggressive cricketer.”
- Chetan Sharma
(Chairman, Selection committee, Indian Cricket Team
and Former Indian Cricketer)
Deepak was a thinking bowler who troubled the best batsmen in domestic circuit with his swing bowling
- Maninder Singh
(Former Indian Cricketer)
The
writers have also mentioned that they look forward to every session of
writing for each session gives them a chance to discuss the entertaining
episodes of Deepak Pandit’s life. The process of writing thereby
becomes extremely adventurous for them.
