‘Don’t Get Married, You’ll Never Get Desserts’: Harish Salve Recalls AK Sen’s Humorous Advice

New Delhi: Senior Advocate Harish Salve shared two humorous anecdotes about former Union Law Minister and eminent lawyer Ashok Kumar Sen’s fondness for desserts during an event held at the Supreme Court to unveil Sen’s portrait.

Salve described desserts as the only apparent weakness of the celebrated constitutional lawyer. “Like all great men, he had his Achilles’ heel, desserts,” Salve said, adding that Sen could not resist cake or traditional Indian sweets.

Recalling the first incident, Salve said Sen was attending a conference concerning a public interest litigation involving the Taj Hotel, in which he was appearing for the Tata Group. Cake had been ordered after lunch, but Sen’s wife had instructed those present not to let him eat desserts.

According to Salve, the lights suddenly went out for around three minutes. When they came back on, those present noticed what appeared to be a “paw mark” on the cake.

“Nobody knew who had done it. We could all guess,” Salve remarked, drawing attention to Sen’s playful attempt to secretly have the dessert.

Salve then recalled another incident at a party organised at Delhi’s Ambassador Hotel for a judge who was either arriving or retiring. The banquet hall had several pillars, behind one of which Sen positioned himself to remain out of his wife’s sight.

Sen quietly asked Salve to bring him three gulab jamuns or three rasgullas. 

"Harish, get me three gulab jamuns, or three rasgullas."

Salve complied, following which Sen ate the sweets while continuing to hide behind the pillar.

After finishing the desserts, Sen asked Salve whether he was married. When Salve replied that he was not, Sen offered him an unusual piece of advice: “Don’t get married. You’ll never get to eat desserts.”

Salve shared the anecdotes while delivering the keynote address at the annual A K Sen Memorial Lecture. Remembering Sen’s legal brilliance, scholarship and work ethic, Salve said the eminent lawyer deeply influenced his life. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant was among those present at the event.

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