The city of Bangalore bade farewell to one of its more illustrious sons, Mark Mascarenhas, with a deeply moving - and impeccably conducted - memorial service at St. Patrick's Church on Wednesday morning. The church premises were full to overflowing, with people from all walks of life coming to pay their final respects to the "man who loved life king-size" - as Ravi Shastri put it in his speech. There was also the usual straggle of hangers-on, anxious to catch a glimpse of Sachin Tendulkar, who arrived to pay tribute to his close friend and manager. After the priests conducted the memorial service, Tendulkar, Shastri and Ian Chappell talked about the man they knew so well. Tendulkar's speech was easily the most touching, if nothing else because he is usually economical and reserved with words. Dressed all in black, with grief etched on the planes of his face, he said, "Mark was like an elder brother to me. Whenever I had a problem, I just needed to call him up and he would tell me what to do. He was more like family that way. The last five or six years, he made sure that I never had to worry about the commercial aspects of my career. All he ever told me when he called was, `Sachin, go out and score a double-hundred,' or `Go win this match for India'. I never had to worry about other things.

"Whenever we met, he would play this song especially for me - Simply The Best. That's what I'd like to say now. That's what Mark was, simply the best."

A visibly moved Chappell spoke of how much he would miss "the games of backgammon and the endless chats about cricket and baseball". On a lighter note, he added, "I even forgave him being a Yankees fan. He used to love taking his son Paul to the Yankees games, and because of that, I can forgive him ... I don't think Mark would like us to be sad today, because he was someone who made those around him happy."

Shastri probably gave the priest a heart flutter when he said, "Mark would hate it if I said that he had a big heart. I think the appropriate word is `balls'." While some in the congregation gasped, he turned around and apologised to the priest for the use of "unparliamentary language". Shastri spoke of the man who single-handedly changed the face of television in India and to whom "most players of the current generation - in the subcontinent - owe their comfortable lifestyles". He added, "He was like my big brother and he gave me my first break in television ... I can feel my phone ringing. Mark's saying, `Hey, Ravi! Where are you, man? It's a great morning. Let's get to the stadium and watch Sachin score a hundred'. He was the best ideas man I knew, and despite recent disillusionment, he never stopped fighting."

Mascarenhas's body will be flown to Connecticut on Friday night, and the funeral will be held on Saturday. His wife, Karen, and children - Anne, Paul, David and Rose - flew down for the memorial service. When Mrs Mascarenhas's speech to her children - read out by Mark's cousin Barbara - was over, there was scarcely a dry eye in the congregation.

Yet, when you walked out into the sunshine, you got the idea that the big man himself wouldn't have approved of all the black ties and sombre suits. As someone who worked with him told me, "He'd probably be pissed that we weren't in bright printed shirts soaking up the sun and planning a game of cricket with a beer or two afterwards."

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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