Manas Ranjan Mahapatra, Puri, 23 October 2022
There was a time when I was sending my poems almost in a mad manner to Durga Puja special editions of magazines and newspapers. There were very few and not many were publishing new writers.I remember Bhagban Nayak Burma of Dharitri “Saptahiki” (weekly). He was encouraging new writers….half a century ago!
Now I have reached a position where any newspaper or magazine will happily publish my creations, but the craze of yesteryears is not there in me after seeing the state of literature everywhere. I don’t find a single person like Bhagban Nayak Burma in the group of Odia literary magazine editors today who go by merit of the writing and not by the status of the writer. I feel sad and have almost stopped sending my poems to magazines.
While writing in magazines and newspapers, I came across many wonderful news items. Once I came across news about Bipracharan Pattanaik of Phulbani popularly known as Bipra Sir.
I had many reasons to meet Bipra Sir, for he preferred to be a school headmaster than an Inspector of Schools. He did an excellent translation of Richard Bach’s iconic book, “Jonathon Livingston Seagull”.
My happiness doubled when I came to know that my dear young friend Binay of “Srujanika” is his son. We were doing the largest newspaper of the world which later got the Limca Book of Records award. A series of workshops involving children were being held throughout the country for the purpose. Binay proposed that the workshop for Odisha be held at Phulbani, his hometown in Odisha. I being the Odia language editor of NBT was given the responsibility to conduct the workshop with the help of “Manavik”, an organisation led by Binay’s brother Bijoy.
I reached Phulbani. Phulbani valley is the district headquarters of Kandhamal district, one of the most underdeveloped districts of Odisha. It is home to the Kandha tribes who constitute more than half (54%) of its total population. Literacy rate of the district is low (male 65% and female 44% as per Census 2011). This district located at the heart of Odisha is known for its natural beauty, rich biodiversity, indigenous culture and forest products, including turmeric (with a GI tag), ginger, arrowroot, varieties of honey, mushrooms, seasonal fruits and organic vegetables. This district, unfortunately, is also known the world over for the longest riot of the world that took place in 2007 after the assassination of Swamy Laxmanananda Saraswati, founder of the Chakapad Ashram.
It was a bright morning of April 1999. Bijoy had given me their address. I had been to Phulbani twice before, once in 1995 for attending Phulbani Book Fair organised by my teacher Adhyapak Biswaranjan as a Guest, and later, to hold a Book Exhibition of NBT in 1996. But this time it was different. On the two earlier occasions, I only heard about Bipra Charan Pattnayak, popularly known as Bipra Sir, and this time, I was to meet him and spend a day with his family.
I knocked at their door. A girl opened the door. “Manas Bhai, welcome. I hope you had no problem in reaching here”, she said.
She was Surabhi, younger sister of Binay. They were aware of my visit, as Binay had kept them informed. Soon the entire family assembled. I had a grand welcome with tea.
Our Workshop was attended by over 50 enthusiastic children. I must have done over a thousand such workshops but it was the first of its kind in tribal Odisha. We came back in the evening to a local book store, “Geetanjali Book Store”, which was one of the local book stores enrolled by me during my tenure as the Odia Editor of NBT. Alas, my successor had given no emphasis on distribution of NBT books in Odisha. The owner of this book store was a teacher. He was a student of Bipra Sir.
I had to come back to Bhubaneswar the same night. In the evening, I saw Bipra Sir distributing homeopathic medicines among the local poor people.
“Are you a practitioner of homeopathic medicine Sir?”, I asked.
Bipra Sir smiled and replied, “This is a part of the debt I repay.”
“Repay?” I was amazed.
“Yes”, he replied. “I have two more debts which I regularly repay. I spend only a quarter of my income for me and my family”, he smiled and replied.
Then he said, “I repay three debts as per Hindu view of life. The first debt is “Pitru Runa” or repayment of debt of my forefathers. The second debt is “Bhoomi Runa” or repayment of debt owed to my land. The third is “Deba Runa” or debt owed to Gods. This charity is a part of “Deba Runa” that I am repaying.” Then he said, “Pitru Runa” is what I have done or am doing for my seniors and forefathers. “Bhoomi Runa” is what I spend for education of my children.”
In the night, Bijay dropped me at the bus stand after our dinner. We went on his scooter. Bipra Sir didn’t possess a vehicle. He spent only a quarter of his income for himself and his family…..his simplicity and simple living left an indelible imprint upon me for life.
