Dhanada K Mishra, Hong Kong, 8 June 2023
It was 1st February 2020, and the venue was the Asian Institute of Public Health (AIPH) University (see photograph 1). We were organising the annual conference for the public health university during my short stint as its pro-vice-chancellor. The pandemic was just about to come to India from Wuhan. Still, there was very little by way of awareness or preparation to face the looming disaster! Only about a week earlier, the Government of India had declared a piece of special news. Prof. Radhamohan and his daughter Sabarmati would be jointly given the Padmashri honour for that year for their contribution to the field of organic agriculture. None would have been more delighted than me that day. I wanted to be among the first to felicitate Prof. Radhamohan, whom I always looked up to like my own father – more as a friend, philosopher and guide. I called Prof. Radhamohan to express my delight at the much well-deserved honour that had been announced. I also requested him to grace the Annual conference of AIPH University. To my great happiness, Prof. Radhamohan accepted my request. He would generally be reluctant for such invitations, especially if it involved a pure formality of a felicitation. The organisers generally would be keener to bask in reflected glory rather than any other noble motive. I was always convinced that his thoughts and insights needed to be heard by as many as possible in these uncertain and challenging times. It made him agree to use the platform we were only too happy to provide. No wonder his speech and interaction with him were memorable and will remain etched in my memory forever. Little did I know that it would be the last time I would be with him physically!
Just as I had always come to expect, his talk that day had an original perspective on the impending pandemic. Quoting the famous philosopher Will Durant from his book “Story of Civilization,” he said in the context of the imminent coronavirus crisis that – “these microbes will someday join hands to bring down the marauding bipeds”. While mankind has been worried about population explosion for a long time, some experts are now predicting a crash in population in coming decades from the effects of climate change driven pandemics. Little did any of us know that ultimately, the virus would have a role in his untimely demise a year and a few months later! For me, it was doubly shocking news as I had lost my own father only a month earlier to the after-effects of the Covid 19 infection.
It was most unfortunate that I came to know Prof. Radhamohan relatively late as till 2003, I was mainly outside India. By that time, Prof. Radhamohan was already a leading light of Odisha’s non-government voluntary sector while being a thoughtful speaker, writer, thinker, and philosopher. I can recall at least two occasions on which I was greatly influenced by his thought processes. It would make me always seek opportunities to spend time in his company to learn from his wisdom in myriad ways.
The first was a visit to the Sambhav campus almost 15 years ago with my wife Babita and son Anish while I was trying to emulate his magnificent work in Paralakhemundi on a much smaller scale. Visiting the campus and having Sabarmati show and explain all the work left a profound impression. Our Rural Technology Centre near the JITM Engineering college (now Centurion University) tried to emulate many of the ideas we had seen at Sambhav. Enabling farmers around the JITM campus to take to sustainable organic farming was one of them.
The second was when I had the opportunity to work alongside him on the Odisha State Higher Education Task Force set up by the then minister Sri Debi Prasad Mishra. The Human Development Foundation (HDF) trust was appointed as the Task Force’s work secretariat. As the Chairman of HDF, I had the great privilege of working with many leading lights of the state, such as late Prof. Trilochan Pradhan and Prof. Radhamohan, among others. His insights on what ails our education system from primary to University level were valuable. His suggestions on the elements of the basic education model promoted by Gandhi, contextually adapted for our times, were as original in their conceptual value as necessary in terms of their potential utility. Many of these ideas, such as hands-on experiential training oriented education that we ultimately placed in the Task Force report, can be today seen in the National Education Policy (NEP).
Prof. Radhamohan was a great champion of many people’s movements in the state. He was also a big supporter of the Right to Information (RTI) campaign and law. It was only fitting that he would be appointed as an Information Commissioner by the state government in those early days. It was also the height of the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement. Some of us, including Nishikant Mahapatra – an RTI activist close to Prof. Radhamohan – were strongly involved in the campaign. I remember the visit of Arvind Kejriwal for an RTI workshop and our meeting with Prof. Radhamohan. It was a time when one could genuinely feel that as activists, we had a real stake in governance and the opportunity to contribute positively and productively in the administration and protection of people’s rights – especially of the downtrodden.
I recall fondly the great sense of humour Prof. Radhamohan would always bring to any meeting or occasion. It would often help lighten the mood even in the middle of a grave crisis or help find a way out of an intractable situation. He was a veritable amiable personality who could bring people with diametrically opposite points of view together on any issue! It was a skill I was fortunate to observe in action on many occasions. Once as we were discussing the formation of a political party as the logical next step of the IAC movement to clean up politics, I thought there was none better than Prof. Radhamohan to be its symbol given his blemishless public life and philosophy. However, the way he evaded the suggestion was a masterful lesson on being faithful to one’s calling and not being diverted from it while not disheartening others. Very light-heartedly, he said, “I would wait for the day when batches of people in large numbers like the workers, the women, the farmers, and others would come in turn and sit in front of us to demand that I enter politics!!”. That he felt would be a fitting way to take the plunge, and he knew that the same would never happen, which would spare him the trouble!!
Finally, I share a couple of precious photographs below of Prof. Radhamohan being our guiding light during and after the unfortunate Kandhamal riots. When we formed the Odisha Shanti O Sadvabana Abhiyan with many from the voluntary sector in Odisha, Prof. Radhamohan readily agreed to be our de facto leader. With him in the lead, all doors opened for us to intervene in Kandhamal to help bring the riot-hit areas some measure of peace and communal harmony. Subsequently, we organised the first-ever ‘Gandhi Katha’ by Sri Narayan Bhai Desai whose “Gandhi Katha” had made a reputation around India and abroad. In the first photograph, Prof Radhamohan is presenting a memento to the late Sri Narayanbhai Desai. He held large audiences (see photograph 2) spellbound in Bhubaneswar as he would beautifully communicate the essence of life and work of ‘Gandhi’ through his ‘Gandhi Katha’ lectures. This was a watershed event for many of us and helped as a balm on the deep wounds left from the events earlier.
I am not sure if my pen is able to do justice to all the admiration, respect, and love I have for this humble, diminutive person who always invoked Gandhi in me! He will forever remain for me a role model and a second father whose lofty standards I will continue to strive hard to reach!
