Within my six months of my tenure as an impact assessor of Project WATER, an XIM(B) endeavor ,I have had few memorable and personal encounters with Professor R.C. Das. Albeit as a student of rural management of XIM, I already had an opportunity of deriving some lectures and classes from this stalwart on environmental issues and watershed management. But it was only when I got the opportunity of working under him that I got to know him better and closer.
I feel humbled and bestowed in getting the opportunity to write about such an enlighting personality of Orissa. Professor Das is one of the noted educationists and visionaries that Orissa has had. He is a man of great repute and stature. An ex -Vice Chancellor of Sambalpur university, he had decided not to pull down his socks and call it a day. Rather he has shared his vision and expertise in management with XIMB in spearheading the environmental project in collaboration with the government. In this project he has blended his previous experience and innovative knowledge in entwining scientific know-how with community for holistic development. In order to make the project sustainable he has always emphasized and inculcated community participation at all levels with greater importance to women beneficiaries. He has been constantly networking and personally meeting government officials and motivating them to ensure their cooperation on this project WATER.
Working under this great man has always been enjoyable as well as a learning experience in itself. To build a cohesive work group he would promote informal get-togethers. On off days we would all gather for ordered lunch and and amidst a lot of banter and leg pulling would together sit down to eat, from the lowest to the uppermost officer in the hierarchy of the office.
Many a times we youngsters would look for interactions with him which are very informative, intuitive and whacky. I remember a day when he had truly commented that it was not important as to how many administrative officers Orissa produced, but it was vital to build entrepreneurship amongst youth for Orissa’s sustainable economic development. He is a beacon of knowledge and literary excellence. A day when my senior officer, Suchitra madam asked him for an appropriate name for a developmental magazine, he immediately and aptly worded the name ‘Manthan’ meaning the churning of ideas. Dr. Das initiates and argue with him on gender and its sensitivities, he would retort with a twinkle in his eyes that women were basically caregivers/nurtures whose main need was to nest.
On one visit to Konark, where a gender training programme was being conducted, I would secretly admire Professor Das and his wife, an literary exponent who had accompanied us. They looked a perfect foil, complementing each other perfectly with Prof Das being the humorous, jovial man and his wife the quite, thoughtful rudder .I remember a day when we were all walking back on the cool, pristine sands of Chandrabhaga ,I could not help but overhear Madam Das asking him “Can we come back later into this serenity of this place so that I can write.?’ Professor Das looked ahead at the setting sun and answered “We will”.
After a few days of our return, we heard the tragic news of Professor Das’s stroke and his loss of ability to comprehend and verbalise. Yet, it is a really noble and incomparable task that his family has decided to gift him the book that he once wrote with his heart. This act itself shows unquantifiable and indomitable love, positivism, true dedication, singleminded determination and unconditional support for him at this critical juncture. Today, as i walk down my memory lane, I silently send a prayer ….for him to get back his colossal physical loss and I, to get back a teacher like him.
I feel humbled and bestowed in getting the opportunity to write about such an enlighting personality of Orissa. Professor Das is one of the noted educationists and visionaries that Orissa has had. He is a man of great repute and stature. An ex -Vice Chancellor of Sambalpur university, he had decided not to pull down his socks and call it a day. Rather he has shared his vision and expertise in management with XIMB in spearheading the environmental project in collaboration with the government. In this project he has blended his previous experience and innovative knowledge in entwining scientific know-how with community for holistic development. In order to make the project sustainable he has always emphasized and inculcated community participation at all levels with greater importance to women beneficiaries. He has been constantly networking and personally meeting government officials and motivating them to ensure their cooperation on this project WATER.
Working under this great man has always been enjoyable as well as a learning experience in itself. To build a cohesive work group he would promote informal get-togethers. On off days we would all gather for ordered lunch and and amidst a lot of banter and leg pulling would together sit down to eat, from the lowest to the uppermost officer in the hierarchy of the office.
Many a times we youngsters would look for interactions with him which are very informative, intuitive and whacky. I remember a day when he had truly commented that it was not important as to how many administrative officers Orissa produced, but it was vital to build entrepreneurship amongst youth for Orissa’s sustainable economic development. He is a beacon of knowledge and literary excellence. A day when my senior officer, Suchitra madam asked him for an appropriate name for a developmental magazine, he immediately and aptly worded the name ‘Manthan’ meaning the churning of ideas. Dr. Das initiates and argue with him on gender and its sensitivities, he would retort with a twinkle in his eyes that women were basically caregivers/nurtures whose main need was to nest.
On one visit to Konark, where a gender training programme was being conducted, I would secretly admire Professor Das and his wife, an literary exponent who had accompanied us. They looked a perfect foil, complementing each other perfectly with Prof Das being the humorous, jovial man and his wife the quite, thoughtful rudder .I remember a day when we were all walking back on the cool, pristine sands of Chandrabhaga ,I could not help but overhear Madam Das asking him “Can we come back later into this serenity of this place so that I can write.?’ Professor Das looked ahead at the setting sun and answered “We will”.
After a few days of our return, we heard the tragic news of Professor Das’s stroke and his loss of ability to comprehend and verbalise. Yet, it is a really noble and incomparable task that his family has decided to gift him the book that he once wrote with his heart. This act itself shows unquantifiable and indomitable love, positivism, true dedication, singleminded determination and unconditional support for him at this critical juncture. Today, as i walk down my memory lane, I silently send a prayer ….for him to get back his colossal physical loss and I, to get back a teacher like him.
