Raghu Rai passed away on April 26, 2026 in Delhi. He was 84. He was the first photojournalist to put India on the international photojournalism map, and become a celebrity because of his ebullient personality and his images that immediately caught the eye. My friend Sondeep Shankar, a fine, dedicated photojournalist, was his student. It was Sondeep who introduced me to Raghu Rai when he was with The Statesman, New Delhi, then a leading English language daily. We met in his office which had an att