Gerson had already moved on from Lintas when I joined as a management trainee in 1986. He was, we heard, deploying his vast advertising and communications experience promoting breastfeeding in Brazil for UNICEF, as exotic an occupation as I had ever encountered. The initiative, which used popular telenovelas to change attitudes, became a global template in behaviour change communication and won him the gratitude of the government of Brazil in the form of the Order of Rio Branco. From Brazil he moved to New York where, among other contributions, he worked on drafting the United National Child Rights Charter, one of the most ratified treaties in history which has framed most child rights work around the world since. Gerson himself was sceptical as to its impact, however.

Though he lived across the landing from my grandfather, I first met him in his capacity as a board member of CRY - Child Rights and You when I joined the organisation in 1998. Gerson, famous for his resonant baritone, appreciated my gravelly voice and never failed to remark on it when we spoke. It reminded him, he said, of a Parsi colleague at the Times of India. The lady in question was once asked by another colleague, a man with a particularly squeaky voice, whether she was ever mistaken for a man on phone calls. Her response: “Yes. Are you?

Gerson was highly critical of the people who manned the phones at CRY often complaining about their manner. Things came to a head when he called CRY, was asked who was speaking, responded “Gerson da Cunha!” only to be asked, “Kahaan se? Poona?”

Then in his mid-70s, his stamina was awe-inspiring. One particular day, he arrived somewhat late for a CRY Board meeting because his previous AGNI meeting had run long. He went straight from our meeting to a meeting with the Chief Minister. When I ran into him at the end of that busy day, at a concert at the NCPA, he looked and sounded a great deal fresher than I did despite being twice my age. The crisp, white, Lucknowi chikan kurta, immaculately coiffed white mane and twinkling smile no doubt enhanced the impression.

His work with Bombay First and later with AGNI, building citizen engagement, voter education and other critical issues of urban governance was path-breaking and relentless. The last email I received from him, in September 2021, presented a meticulous accounting of funds raised towards preparing for the municipal elections of 2022. Few 90-year-olds are as actively engaged. For the record, his personal contribution to the campaign was among the highest.

I don’t recall seeing him perform on stage, though the pictures of him in his theatre roles, especially as a swashbuckling Petruccio in The Taming of the Shrew, are majestic. With Alyque Padamsee, Feisal Alkazi and others he put Bombay’s English language theatre on the world map.

Indefatigable, multi-talented and gracious to a fault he leaves a deep impression on the city he loved, describing it in his poem Bombaywallahs as 

"Nowhere is ever home
but this may be the town
of least effort for me."