Lucknow, Sept. 1 -- It was as if the moment had been scripted by destiny with a poignant touch. Former chief secretary and noted Hindi literary figure Dr Shambhunath passed away on Saturday evening inside a quiet auditorium in Lucknow, mid-sentence while speaking about death in what turned out to be his final moment: "The day and time of death are predetermined... no one can change it," Shambhunath said, recalled noted poet and former MP Udai Pratap Singh who was also present on the occasion. "Despite being such a senior officer, he sat with writers and poets as though he was one of us," said Udai Pratap Singh, himself a former head of the Hindi Sansthan. "He had done deep research on Ramdhari Singh Dinkar. His knowledge was astonishing. He had memorised the entire Radhmirathi and poetries of Ghalib, too... " Dr Shambhunath, 80, had taken the stage at the Nirala auditorium of the Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan during the launch of author Manorama Srivastava's novel on Karna. He spoke of the Bhagavad Gita, Khalil Gibran's The Prophet, and Karna's destiny in the Mahabharata. He reflected on the concept that the day and time of death are unchangeable and inevitable. Doordarshan Lucknow's programme head AP Mishra, who was on stage, recalled, "It felt like time had stopped. He wasn't just delivering a speech, he was announcing his departure." His wife Chanda Shambhunwas in the audience. To many who knew him, Dr Shambhunath was more than an administrator. A 1970-batch IAS officer who rose to become chief secretary in 2007, he was admired for his intellect, his humility, and his blend of bureaucracy and literature. From wherever he served, he maintained deep links with the literary circles of the region....