by Mathew A Varghese

I think back how someone who was already a well-known anthropology professor by the mid-90s, became one of my best academic comrades. I think back on how I, who was in tenth grade in mid-nineties, can confidently and with all warmth say so about Thomas Hylland Eriksen. Though we met and talked longer for the first time only in 2019, at the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) conference in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, in April, I have had brief exchanges with Thomas after my doctoral work. I remember it as a crossway-moment, a flux, with faint ideas on some little enquiries. This was after the Urban Ethnographical research. Thomas's very interesting writings like 'Small Places, Large Issues' and many on the then emergent Global processes probably gave me better moorings on a domain I thought I knew! The basic questions on what anthropology is or how to engage with it, seemingly suggested that I have never even skimmed some of the pertinent and rich debates. On the other hand, these gave me possible roads to ethnographically engage rudimentary passions re-emerging now through climate or ecology, among other things. Thomas's realms of engagement were of course far wider and deeper than the little prompts I fished out. The fields in Pacific, different state systems, regional contexts in Africa, Scandinavia, the Arctic North and the variant village systems were too vast. He swam in the heterogenous social structures through themes like kinship, ethnicity, nationalisms or ritual. My own supervisor Bruce Kapferer or now, Thomas Hylland Eriksen suggested the significance of details and those which often emerges as stories from small societies and contexts. In my state of flux in 2014-15, I was set to take a few steps further from the boyhood charms of ecology and animals. Thomas' works on environment and the anthropocene gave me good dimensions. Thus started our more sustained short conversations. And then we met in Galicia. I also came to know of Thomas's health condition. He has been open about the tryst with cancer. The continuous academic encouragement he gave me from time to time took all these realities off my mind though. And then more than a year back he sent me a mail. This was an invite to participate in an anthropology forum with very interesting minds from different parts of the world. The World Council of Anthropological Association WCAA, a network of national, regional and international associations which aims at worldwide anthropological communication and cooperation, was a new page. Thomas in many ways brought me into the crux of anthropological dialogues right when I was longing for these. The discussions and dialogues with Thomas and the likes of Andrew Mugsy Spiegel, Gordon Mathews, and others, took us to the World Anthropological Union (WAU) 2024 Congress in Johannesburg. Together we designed a multidimensional panel on anthropological values after dialogues. These are not 'all', this scholar, mentor or academic comrade has been. There have been small episodes of encouragement he gave even when health was failing. After WAU, when we had a conversation, he was at a hospital care in Oslo. He told me that he can comment on a new theme I once shared with him if I have this in draft! Not only did he recall my shared idea from a few months back, but he found the days at hospital a routine time to help an academic comrade and a starter! It spoke in volumes. After I heard from my friend in Oslo, around 5 am today that Thomas is no more, I sat for a moment, thinking in flashes. I typed a message to my supervisor Bruce Kapferer, the first one of this academic mettle I could be with years before I met Thomas. Bruce wrote back that he was the PhD examiner for Thomas decades back. I thought whether I should sit back and think. Then I went out of the gate, I decided to take a long jog. Thomas Hylland Eriksen will stay. Love.