I remember getting a surprise call nearly three years ago from Silchar. The gentleman on the other side told me that he was sad to know about the demise of my father – Radhapada Dutta, a well-known social worker from Barak Valley of Southern Assam. He condoled the demise and expressed his deep respect for my father. 

The gentleman made the call after reading a touching obituary piece on my father by his school friend Kabindra Purkayastha, a former union minister at Late Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee’s thirteen-month long government, at Dainik Jugasankha, a popular Bengali daily of the Northeast region. 

I can well appreciate the gentleman’s attachment and reverence towards my father. I was touched by his noble gesture that day as a son.

Last month, I got another call from Raju Da (Debashish Biswas) who resides at the capital’s Vasant Kunj locality. Raju Da called to share a gentleman’s demise and highlight an issue that the departed soul did not receive his due pension even after retiring from a college nearly eleven months ago.

I asked him about his name. “The name of the departed soul is Dipak Shome,” Raju Da said. Instantly, I said to Raju Da – “I too know him well.” Raju Da was taken aback by my surprise admission about the departed soul. “How do you know him?,” Raju Da asked.

First, I referred to the telephone call that I had received from Dipak Shome more than two and a half years ago, condoling my father’s demise. The second point of reference was Dr Arun Kumar Dutta Choudhury, the late Principal of Nehru College, Pailapool, who inducted Dipak Shome into the teaching faculty of the College.  

Principal Dutta Choudhury was fond of Dipak Shome who used to teach English in the College. Incidentally, Dutta Choudhury was my maternal uncle.

Late Arun Dutta Choudhury was an iconic Principal of Nehru College who laid the foundation of the rural college. Nehru College at Pailapool is doing yeoman service in the Barak Valley to promote the spirit of nationalism. The College has been spreading the spirit of nationalism among the youths and locals of Pailapool and surrounding areas, neighbouring insurgency-prone Manipur state.

Renowned personalities like Late Dinesh Prasad Goala, seven times MLA who served Assam government as cabinet minister for many years, and Late Ganesh Dey, an acclaimed satirist of the Barak Valley, served as faculties of Nehru College under the leadership of Principal Arun Kumar Dutta Choudhury.

That day, Raju Da was apprehensive about the next day’s media coverage of his beloved Dipak Sir as he did not serve any reputed college in Silchar, the main hub of the Barak Valley. I assured him that I would pen down an obituary piece on his beloved ‘Dipak Sir’ whom I did not meet in life but still I was aware of his charming personality.

When I narrated Dipak Shome’s call to condole the death of my father to a family friend, he said “Dipak babu ought to be a noble soul as he paid a touching tribute to your father who too was a noble soul.”

One feels poorer when a noble soul like Dipak Shome departs from this earth – a bit early!

[The writer is a Delhi-based international journalist. He worked with PTI, Reuters, Dow Jones Newswires – The Wall Street Journal. Currently, he is attached to London-based S&P Global Platts.]