Last evening, a very dear friend of mine, and a keystone of the battle for RKBA in India, was claimed by cancer, after a long and bravely fought battle over 5+ years.
In 2020, he was given 6-10 months by the best doctors, but by sheer force of will, he kept pushing and with full enthusiasm, to the end maintaining his innate joie de vivre.
His name was Rahoul Rai, ( and besides his many professional achievements and patents), he was many times national champion in his chosen shooting sport, wore the Indian team jersey in multiple international competitions, won domestic and international medals.
Anyone who shot skeet or even trap, in India between the early 1990s till about 2010 would very well know him. Besides his main event, he also competed in and was Renowned shot in centrefire pistol and big bore rifle. Having seen him shoot both rifle and pistol, I can attest to him being a rare self taught talent across all disciplines.
I think, to put my words into better perspective, I should begin by sharing with all of you, how I came to meet such a fine gentleman, who to me was many things - a mentor, a guide, a coach, a friend and above all, an elder brother.
Our very first interaction, was via an innocuous email sent to me via my personal blog, this was back in the fall of 2006. I took it in my stride, as one of the many emails I get from enthusiasts, and I sent in a perfunctory response, not thinking much about it. I forgot about it, as he likely did as well.
Then, I got another e-mail from him in mid 2009, telling me that a concerned member of parliament needed urgent information, as there was a move within the government to make the gun/ arms law harsher for all.
That was the beginning of our real connect... A conversation, that led quite quickly to the formation of NAGRI, which Rahoul spearheaded and made possible. All through his unique combination of energy and networking.
While there were and are many contributing persons in NAGRI, I don't think any one of them would grudge my making the following statement - NAGRI was only made possible by Rahoul, and a lot of its success accrues to him and his stubborn steadfast personality, where he was always and repeatedly willing to put his own neck on the line, for things to get done.
Rather quickly, we got to be good friends as well, shared interests and values didn't hurt
it became difficult to distinguish his lifelong friends from my own. And over the years, I (like many others), I came to look upon him, as a mentor, big brother and a guide, who was a big part of our lives. In fact, in our closed circle of friends, we would affectionately refer to Rahoul as, "Master Ji" an honorific which he richly deserved.
What an amazingly gifted story teller he was! With the perfect inflection and emotion, not just children, even adults and seniors would wait with bated breath for the next episode of whatever story he was relating.
I would like to add so much more here, but I think this post has already gotten much too long.
His cremation will be held at Lodhi Crematorium, New Delhi, on 13th November, 2025 at 12:30 PM.
Anyone who would like to come and pay his/ her respects, is most welcome.
Om Shanti, may our elder brother find peace with the almighty.
