Last week, Jon Lord went to meet his Lord and Maker. Seventy one years old, he died of pancreatic cancer. You’re wondering, ‘Who’s Jon Lord?’ For rock virgins, Lord was the keyboardist and founder of the rock group Deep Purple. Yeah, the dude who wrote the hit song, Smoke On The Water.

For many of us growing up in the late ’70s, Deep Purple was the Enid Blyton of Classic Rock. The Catcher In The Rye of heavy metal. The band was our introduction to the big bad world of drugs, sex and rock and roll. (Well, rock and roll mainly.) Listening to the magic of this group was like going to vibrant Goa for the first time, after vacations to staid Manali. Deep Purple made The Beatles seem like soya in a world of red meat.