Dipankar-The one who lit a light, Was a light
Some men are born, some are made, some stay on in our hearts long beyond of when they are gone. Dipankar Guha is a name that is not known to many, yet it is also a name that has touched many. Dipankar was a mate, nay is a mate, for even though he is gone he has lit a few names as his name suggests amidst the people he has touched. People who were his mates, friend’s colleagues, or just people who have been at the receiving end of his touch, his generosity his smile
I know him as a mate, a classmate, to begin with, then a mate with whom I shared wit and humor, someone with whom we discussed the good and the bad of life. I know him from the time when we were children when a game of football was more important than anything else in life. A tall lanky boy, always the last in the queue in school on account of his height, Dipankar was amicable as a child, not a brilliant student, but good enough one, to keep both parents and teachers happy. Easy to reach out, helpful he made friends easily. Tiffin box is something that many a child bonds over, his was frequently raided. When someone transferred in mid-year, or even from out of the country, he made them feel at home. One girl who came from Singapore, and had a culture shock, found a helping hand to adjust to life in an alien culture. Years later they still stayed in touch, years later she still remembers him teaching her how to ride a bicycle, what a cricket bat was about, how to use it to play. That’s who Dipankar was, someone who touched you with the simple things in life, easy things in life.
Life happened and we were thrown in the mixer grinder called life. Marriage and career became priorities. Dipankar moved to Mumbai, had a successful career in consulting with Godrej. As I ground my own grind in life so did he. We were both in the same city yet unaware that is how life made us. The balance sheet and his asset versus liability statement changing on a daily basis became his mantra he said. He had it planned. He knew the plan. He saw the plan. Worked on it every day corrected it every time he needed to. But life doesn’t always go to plan, he found himself in conflict with his wife, and they resolved to part ways. The balance sheet took a hit, but more than that he found himself bitter acrimonious. But then help reached out and he went through a life-enhancing program. The financial balance sheet in life started to mean less than the balance in life for him. The urge to give back to the society that had always been within him became stronger until it made him so restless that he found focussing on work difficult. Finally, he made the move. The move from the balance sheet of finance to that of life happened as he quit his job came back home and started something of his own. “Udayan our community our future” a registered trust was born 10 months back in the middle of the scrouge of Corona.
Lord Tennyson spoke of the brook as “men may come and men may go but I will go on forever”. The same holds good for calamity and life. Calamity will come and calamity will go but life must go on. That is what Udayan wanted to work on. While there are a lot of people working on relief, Udayan focussed on rebuilding. On learning and ensuring the mistakes don’t happen and we are better prepared for the next time. Corona brought in waves of migrant laborers back to their homes, leaving them vulnerable, especially the women of the households. It is here that Udayan stepped in. Dipankar identified that even when the pandemic would be over the males might go back to where they work but the women of the house would still say, and monetary support in the way of alternate income would only empower them. Udayan stepped in to help them. Getting together women’s self-help groups Dipankar stepped in to fill in any of the various roles they needed to help them get self-reliant. Whether it be a need for skill development or ideation towards what product the group should try and work on Dipankar mentored them. When the group was ready he helped them search in the various funding schemes available to them to find seed capital to produce and manufacture. Once all of these were done he helped them to try and reach out to markets established and new to sell their products and truly become self-reliant. This was his vision of ‘Atma parichay’
Dipankar in this new avatar was a problem solver, was a visionary who identified the missing pieces and tried to find solutions to fit into those missing pieces. An always patient guy with a wry sense of humor, my lanky now balding friend used all of those skills to reach out and touch people. Whether to assure or to motivate, mentor or just let them know a patient ear is there, Dipankar touched one and all. Amphan came wreaking havoc behind her. and here again helping rebuild Dipankar found people in Sunderbans to have a serious problem in their hands. The estuarine water was unpotable. While it allowed for some aquaculture the rush of saline water during the cyclone or otherwise would often lead to the aquaculture being devastated. Along with ‘Aquasense”, Udayan and Dipankar dived into finding a real-time water testing solution. They developed a POC for this sensing and hence remedy and were moving towards a product development when the second wave of corona struck.
Corona cruel corona, this time around the numbers were not just numbers. As the numbers of afflicted slowly turned into names and faces one of them was Dipankar. As the afflicted turned to casualties, one of them was Dipankar. Dipankar lanky straight-faced joker decided never to smile his wry smile. Dipankar who never danced but danced his boots out when his friend got married would never shake a leg for anyone. Dipankar who dreamed of seeing the northern lights the aurora borealis became one with that light. But Dipankar is a man of miracles. Even as he muted us his friends into silence by the enormity of his silence, he lit a lamp in our hands. Lamps to give back to society as he was compelled himself in his time. We banded together to help people fighting corona as front-line warriors. We did something very small, but more importantly, he made us do it even when he isn’t there. We did it for him.
Dipankar is no more, but in every one of us, he has left a Dipankar to carry on his work. The time was not for him to go, the time was for him to be in the sunshine. ’twas for him to spread his arms.
We’ve known each other since we were nine or 10
Together, we’ve climbed hills and trees
Learned of love and ABC’s
Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees
Goodbye, my friend, it’s hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky
Now that spring is in the air
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun
Dipankar my friend your candle burnt out before your time, but your legend will live in all the candles you have alit. Good cheer till we meet again.
