August 25 proved to be a sad – indeed devastating — Monday for all of us in EducationWorld. Sanjeev Bolia, Promoter-Managing Director of the Kolkata-based Afairs Exhibitions & Media Pvt. Ltd (AEM, estb. 1994), a company that pioneered the business of showcasing India’s premier education institutions — schools, colleges, universities – in India and abroad, passed away in Kolkata following a sudden heart attack.

A dedicated supporter of EW ab initio, Sanjeev was only 56 years of age when the grim reaper struck. But in this short life span he blazed a new trail and placed India on the global education map by providing a travelling platform to the country’s best schools to attract students from across the country, and the Indian diaspora abroad. Over the past 31 years, AEM has curated 1,200 education expositions in 22 cities across India and 200 overseas, enabling cross-cultural fertilization through student body diversity in Indian schools.

Business acumen and entrepreneurial drive aside, uniquely Sanjeev built AEM into a Rs.100 crore transnational company through his excellent people management skills. With a quick wit, ready repartee and anecdotes, together with his joined-at-hip Director Vivek Shukla, they were able to quickly charm Middle East Sheikhs and South-east Asian princes, dictators and business tycoons.

In EW we are proud that we discerned his admirable qualities early. In January 2014 we featured a full-length cover story narrating the Afairs success story (https://educationworld.in/ew-january-2014/). Five years ago, we conferred an EW Lifetime Achievement in Education Leadership Award, 2019 upon him. Sanjeev’s premature demise in his prime and when he had finalized plans to promote India’s best private universities in Central Asia and Africa has come as a heavy blow to Afairs, EW and the national interest. An education visionary impossible to replace. RIP.