Neno

Samveda (Giuseppe Polloni) remembers:

Neno – it was one of those wonderful friendships that bloomed thanks to Osho and the Pune buddhafield. I came to Pune in 1981 thanks to a fortuitous encounter in the waiting lounge of Kuwait Airport. Shortly afterwards I met Neno with whom I bonded. Our friendship started casually in the ashram thanks to music. Right from the start we laughed and discussed everything, from the washing machine inside our heads, to love, dreams, meditation, traveling. New Year’s eve that year was one of the best and most fun-filled in my life, it was basically 48 hours of continuous laughter in the company of Neno and Prem Arosha.

Neno’s lightness of being, and his ability to find irony and laughter even in unpleasant circumstances is what I cherished about him the most, and a teaching I will hold in my heart forever. To gift a smile means to leave behind good memories, because in so doing you gift happiness to the heart. This is it: Neno was a smile to the heart.

Claudia Cavalcanti writes:

When I met him on his first day in Pune, he said: “What is happening here? It looks like a big mess. I’m gonna stay for a few days and then will see – but I am not sure I will like it.”

Neno died on Koh Chang Island, Thailand, during his sleep, at age 53.

Credit for photos, alerts and info to Veda Murti, Shola, Mega and Claudia

Tributes

You can leave a message / tribute / anecdote using our contact form (please add ‘Neno’ in the subject field)

I met Neno in Poona, playing music with him at the end of the 90’s. Then in 2001 we went on tour together with Surahbhi, Adarsha, Prabodh around Osho Centres in Europe. We spent a month together laughing like I’ve never done before in my life. Often musicians fight on tour, with him it was the opposite. I really loved him, a light, loving being. He had been around the ashram playing music almost every night but he never officially took sannyas. Nobody asked him why, he was so flowing with the situation, why bother about it. I will miss you very much.

Deva Madhuro

Dear adorable Neno, among all the humans that crossed my path, you are the most likely to be traveling around the globe; the most likely to make everyone laugh about pretty much everything; and the most likely to infuse a gentle rhythm to life.

I know Neno as an amazing percussionist, a animated soul, a passionate world traveler, a meditative spirit, an enthusiastic party animal, a tender individual, a loving creature, a sensitive vital force, and a beach bum.

I met Neno when we were in our early twenties, and, for me, it was love at first sight. Neno’s magnetic positivism was always felt, the energy in the space would shift with his smiles. His contagious laughs, his percussion rhythms, his calm and ironic considerations, were always timed perfectly. Mature and badass brave at a very young age, he knew that traveling was his way of life. Neno chose to live his life playing and smiling with friends around the world while mastering world rhythms and meditative practices.

Ironically, he continues to travel even after his body stopped.

Neno will always have a very special place in my soul. And, I’m optimistic that wherever he is now there are rhythms and laughs.

Rosaria