The struggle that involves and evolves a human and enhances to nourish a better future for others is called life. The life teaches the pursuit of living.
Ashoke Sen Gupta
Brojo Roy is much an acquainted name among the ‘Doctor’s and the Social Welfare Working Community’ of West Bengal. Born in 1936, Brojo Roy lost his father at a pretty early age. He joined Bongabashi College after passing school.
He was involved with the Left cultural activities during his college days. In 1952-’53 he joined the ‘People’s Cultural Movement’ that included dramas, street plays and other forms of performing art. Later he disassociated himself from all cultural associations and got involved in hardcore politics. “In order to run my family of four members I used to earn by odd jobs” – he said.
Brojo Roy gradually was getting involved in political activities. HoHe was one of the hguAnanta Singha (12th December, 1903 -25th January 1979) was one of the top names in Chittagong Armoury raid. Kolkata the then Calcutta was in socio-political unrest. Different revolutionary bodies emerged during that period.
In the fag-end of 1970s, under the leadership of Ananta Singha emerged the Naxalites body MMG (Man Money Gun). There were serial loots in banks in one of such banks, Brojo was arrested and got imprisonment. He was accused of bank loots and he was arrested from a place named Garia, West Bengal. His name was also in the list of time bomb blast along with the infamous robbery in Park Street in the year 1969. Braja Ray had spent eight long years (1969-1977) behind the bars.
How did you get this unusual motivation for initiating a movement for the preservation of the human body? With a calm mind and real intensity of words, Braja Ray answered “ During my last years of imprisonment two of the profound and legendary names – Jawaharlal Nehru from India and another premier of China leader Zhou Enlai, met with their demise and their Asthi or the ashes were flown into the divine water. I was moved emotionally and hammered as well. This triggered a thought that these dead bodies if could have been preserved, and could have contributed to many living souls”
A nascent thought of preserving of Nehru’s & Zhou enlai’s dead bodies that could have been used for the anatomical study for the medical students. Copping with his situation in jail there was turbulence for a change in Brojo Roy’s mind.
In the 19th century, parallel John Burdon Sanderson Haldon, a British scientist left Britain and took the citizenship of India. “Reality is more unreal than what we dream”, were his words. Dr. J.B.S Haldon spent his last seven years as a proper Bengalee in Kolkata and in Bhubaneshwar. He had acquired sincerely the Bengal culture and on a regular basis learned lessons in Bengali. Even being the blue-blooded British his life was alike a Bengalee and this inspired Braja Ray to initiate his own movement.
After Braja Ray’s release from jail, he observed different superstitious thoughts have engulfed the society stopping it from any advancement. Meanwhile, with the thought of abolishing the superstitions in mind, Braja Ray met his life partner Tripti Choudhury who was an employee at the Telephone Exchange office.
He was still recollecting some thoughts- “Life is filled with so many superstitions, discrimination amongst people.” Instead of all these is the preservation of dead bodies possible, will it seriously come to use? All these questions mingled in the minds of Braja Ray ignited him to create Gonodorpan.
In 1984, without seeking any help from either from the government sector or any other sector he alone initiated the process of organ donation and preservation of the dead bodies.
In the year 1986, 5th November, on the 95th birthday of Haldon, he along with other 34 donors who pledged to donate their bodies after death, among these the prominent names were ex- advocate General Arun Prakash Chattopadhyay, Veteran singer Debobrata Mukherjee, the founder of Student’s Health Home Dr. Arun Sen. Then after he started his awareness campaign many people joined hands with him.
In January 1990 RSP member Boren Dan’s body was taken to The Medical College for the process, but as there was no action regarding the transplantation of human organs the body was returned. It was on 8th July 1994, the bill was passed when Shankar Dayal Sharma was the President and gradually the proper infrastructure for the purpose was built. Brojo Roy said that he had approached many health officials of the state but hardly could get a proper response.
Gonodorpan was the mouthpiece of Brojo Roy’s brainchild and with time he had been successful in convincing the society and people and the number of donors had reached 14lakhs.
The prominent names who had donated their bodies for the preservation – Jyoti Basu, Binoy Choudhury, Shibanarayan Ray, Gauri Ayyub, Ila Mitra, and many more. Even some eminent creative names were Sunil Gangopadhyay, Subhash Mukhopadhyay.
A seminar is arranged to be held in Kolkata on 6 -7th July this year to mark the 25 years of the passing of the act. Many prominent personalities active in this field will participate. R. G Kar medical college and hospital has a bank for the last ten years but currently defunct, SSKM hospital has a ‘skin bank’ since 2013 but work progress is very slow, all these problems will be discussed in the seminar.
There has been a nation-wide initiation including West Bengal. The demands that are put forward:
- Every Medical and Homeopathy Colleges should have the infrastructure and the facility.
- Post mortem of every human body is essential.
- Every dead body’s usable remains should be utilized for the right purpose
- In the case of brain death, there should be actions taken correctly after following the rules.
- After the passing of 24 hours after death, any human should be officially declared dead.
As time rolled the memories as an anti-social was completely erased and obscured. Brojo Roy is the finest name amongst all in the society, the Pathseeker!
