Pratap Bose Truly Made Life Large

We first met in 2002 at the Ogilvy sabzimandi office in Delhi. But even before we met, I had heard stories of this legend. A man known for his shackle-breaking, out-of-the-box creativity, he is credited for playing a key role in shaping Indian advertising into what it is today. I had the privilege of knowing him beyond the legends.

Over countless conversations, he’d tell me about his days as an accountant and how following his creative instinct helped him. He always had his way with words and people. He absolutely loved life and everything he did, which explains this distinct energy and conviction that he had. It just made it extremely easy for him to convince anyone. That one-of-a-kind energy was infectious, and it made everyone believe in seemingly impossible ideas and execute them to perfection. That’s probably how we won our first Cannes Lion in 2003.

From Ogilvy to DDB to Social Street and beyond, I’ve had the privilege of having him by my side every step of the way. But there’s a lot more to our friendship than a professional partnership.

We’ve experienced a lot of life together. 21 years, 3 agencies, and countless awards later, there are 2 things that I’ll always be grateful for – his love for sports, and fishing. He absolutely loved sports, football, cricket, F1, you name it, and he’d get into an in-depth, hour-long discussion with you on it. He was the guy who knew everything about everything, even at work. While people on the floor barely knew each other, he somehow knew every single person, their stories and skills. Not that he just happened to know these things, but he wanted to know everyone, and made sure that we help them become the best version of themselves.

I’ve learned many things from him at work, but it’s the simple ‘life fundas’ he gave informally that stuck with me. The biggest life lessons I’ve learned were over our many Goa-fishing-trips and chess games. He always knew the right thing to say. He taught me the value of always making the right moves in chess and in life, and how some seemingly risky plays have high rewards. He taught me how to fish, and life-skills to learn from fishing (patience and being calm). While talking about life, he taught me how to make the most of it. The beauty of it? His lessons were never a single lecture, they were constant nuggets of wisdom sprinkled over our 21 years together.
The year was 2004 and my bags were packed. I was ready to move to Canada and leave advertising and my life in India behind forever. He sat me down, spoke to me and as anyone who has ever had the privilege of working with him would tell you, he did the impossible yet again. He convinced me to stay and that was the best decision I’ve made. We moved to DDB and eventually became co-founders at Social Street. Another piece of his advice I’m grateful for.

Life does truly come full circle – I found out about his passing while I was fishing and practicing the techniques he taught me.

To Pratap, the legend, the mentor, the boss, the partner, the friend, the one who truly made life large and touched countless lives.