Manas Ranjan Mahapatra, Puri, 11th December 2022

Caring about what people think of you is useless. Most people don’t even know what they think of themselves. I don’t wait for things to get better. The last two years have been very painful for me. I have lost many near and dear ones, some to Covid, some to heart attack and some in accidents.

Many times you realise that what you did when in school or college were either childish acts or because of emotional outbursts. But that was life at that point of time.

One such incident was my learning of English. Our house was near the sea shore and I used to meet people from many countries. One day, I met a gentleman from England and proudly told all in the family after coming back home that I met an Englandian! My uncle just laughed and I argued that if one from India is Indian, why can’t one from England be called an Englandian!

Later, while on the Expert Committee of IGNOU for introduction of American Poetry and Drama at M.Phil and Ph. D level, I remembered the incident and laughed to myself. How limited was the level of our knowledge those days…..

This morning I was thinking of Dr. Haraprasad Parichha Pattnayak. He was teaching English and was the teacher of some of my friends. But we were contemporary authors and friends. When he was Secretary, Odisha Sahitya Akademi, I was his counterpart in the Government of India as the Odia Language Editor of NBT. Together we organised several unique literary events in Odisha.

I am writing with a lot of pain and anguish about Dr. Haraprasad Parichha Pattnayak today. He was a poet, translator, and critic of eminence. Being from a family where feudals thrived, all his actions were aristocratic which had a sense of aesthetics. It’s almost a year since he has left for his heavenly abode.

It was 1981. Janaki Ballav Pattnayak was Chief Minister, Odisha. Haraprasad Parichha and I met in a buffet lunch hosted by the Chief Minister for young writers. “Lekhak Sammukhya” was just born comprising some authors and translators.

In 1984 “Sambad” was born as a newspaper in Odisha. I was selected to join it, but I preferred to join Government of Odisha as a school headmaster. Haraprasad Parichha and I met in 1985 at a Literary Event called Sahityotsav of “Lekhak Sammukhya” at Parlakhemundi. Later, he worked as the Guest Editor of the Literary Page of Sun Times, an English Daily published by the “Sambad” Group. He published my poems in English in that paper. Haraprasad was used to do literature and literary meetings with style and panache. Possibly, Odisha was not ready for it then.

While climbing up a hill, don’t forget the base from where you had started. If you lose your base, you lose the mountain too. Many mountains in this world have gone to the oceans and many new mountains have come up. I remember Haraprasad Parichha Pattanaik today as we were co-workers in climbing the mountain of Odia Literature for four decades.

Haraprasad Parichha and I had distinct differences and tremendous similarities in our style of functioning. He had tremendous love for bureaucracy, though he was in academics. I was in a semi-bureaucratic set up, but my functioning was fully academic. We were foodies and believers in doing literature in a stylish and sophisticated way. Though we were members of several high level committees for selecting winners of literary awards, we neglected our own writings, and never ran after awards nor promoted our family members for awards or favours. Incidentally, we had friends worldwide.

There are several incidences to remember involving my journey with Haraprasad Parichha, but I will recollect only two. Both happened in the years 1997-98.

NBT and Odisha Sahitya Akademi became partners in literary events after I took over as the Odia Language Editor of NBT. We started working together when Indubhushan Kar was Secretary, Odisha Sahitya Akademi. In 1998 we were doing the first ever Women Poets’ Meet of Odisha at Gopalpur on Sea. Dr. Sumatheendra Nadig, the then Chairman, NBT was very friendly with me. He agreed to grace the occasion. That year, Haraprasad and I did three literary events together, at Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Gopalpur. The Bhubaneswar event was inaugurated by the Chief Minister, Janaki Ballav Pattanaik, the Cuttack one by Satakadi Hota, President, “Lekhak Sammukhya”. Haraprasad never invited a dignitary twice in the same year to a literary meeting in which his organisation is either a partner or organiser!

Then, what to do for Gopalpur? Someone matching the status of Chairman, NBT should be invited. We roped in Nandini Satpathy, former CM and then, Chairperson, State Planning Board. She gladly agreed.

NBT organised a National Book Festival the next year at Rourkela. Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee was then Director, NBT and he had tremendous rapport with Sunil Gangopadhyay, eminent author from Bengal who later headed the Central Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. He agreed to inaugurate. But suddenly, all train services were cancelled due to a ‘Bandh’. Shri Gangopadhyay was to travel from Calcutta by train. Dr. Sumatheendra Nadig was to attend that festival.

Dr. Haraprasad suddenly got an idea. Surendra Nath Dwivedi, former Governor and Chairman, Gandhi Smruti and Darshan Samiti was staying with his daughter at Rourkela. We both approached him and he gladly agreed.

Dr Haraprasad Parichha Pattanaik for me was a senior friend, philosopher, and guide at Bhubaneswar. I lost whatever rapport I had at Bhubaneswar in the world of literature and culture, after his death. He congratulated me when I took over as Director, Art and Culture of North Eastern Region and promised to organise a party when I visit him. Hopefully, we will celebrate in the other world when we meet there…..