Life As I saw it

Presently leading a retired life after having served in various administrative capacities as a Civil Servant for more than 35 years. 

Basically, studious and organised; apt in computer handling and online activities.

I am very inquisitive. I have a keen desire to learn new things. This urge made me learn the work of a printing press in my very childhood, and later to acquire the aptitude for driving cars and handling computers and the internet. These were all by my own efforts. I did not have the institutional training in any of these. 

Believe in plain living and high thinking - have a brilliant academic record behind.

Born in a place called SYLHET presently in Bangladesh on the 4th of February 1943. Official date of birth is, however, 5th February 1943

Schooling at Jorhat except for a very short period at the primary level at Silchar in Assam. Awarded Scholarship for the first time in life in M. E. Examination in 1956 when in Class VI. Passed the Matriculation Examination in 1960 from Lakshmi Union High School, Jorhat having stood First in order of merit in the Guwahati University. As people said, I was the first-ever Bengali student to have stood first in that examination. Have not taken the trouble of finding its veracity. Intermediate Science in 1962 and Graduation with Mathematics (Hons) in 1964 from St. Anthony's College, Shillong having ranked first in the I. Sc. and securing first Class in Graduation, none other having secured first class in the subject that year. Post-graduation from Calcutta University in Applied Mathematics while in service. Changed various institutions including Presidency College, IIT Kharagpur and Jadavpur University and disciplines in Engineering and Mathematics in academic life.

Displaced from the homeland Sylhet consequent on its annexation to East Bengal (later East Pakistan and now Bangladesh) following the Partition of India. Brought up at a place called Jorhat in the state of Assam in an ambiance of privation.

Joined West Bengal Civil Service (Executive) on Dec 4, 1967, having stood first in order of merit in the said Civil Services examination. Served in various administrative capacities in regulatory, revenue, and developmental wings at different places in West Bengal including Rajbhawan and Writers' Buildings. 

Joined Indian Administrative Service on promotion in 1995 after forgoing it under compelling circumstances at the first instance in 1992 and then again in 1993. Facts and circumstances leading to the entry in 1995 can be seen on the page "History of entry to IAS" of this site. Retired from service on Feb 28, 2003.

 Couldn't sit for the All India Civil Services Examination for direct entry to IAS or other all-India services due to the age bar.

Service and settlement in West Bengal.

I am reserved and soft-spoken outside the ambit of the family. Since my early childhood, I had been soft-spoken in all situations, but it started changing in the family situations sometime in my post-marital life. 

I am intensely romantic and emotional by nature; love for someone grew in me in early puberty, though it could never be made known to the one for whom it grew. I had dreamt of a life full of love from early puberty, but that dream remained unrealised due to unfavourable circumstances.  

I believe genuine love is a strength in the struggle of life and helps in attaining life's goals. Deceit in the name of love causes deep cuts and creates unwelcome complications in life's course. 

I love the past; the past comes alive in my imagination. My oneness with those bygone days inspired me to create this website and write my life story. I find the past soft, pleasant, and charming, while the present is hard, painful, and dry. That, of course, does not mean I live in the past. While in the present,  I try to keep my life purposeful through frequent travels and engagement in creative activities.

Reading, driving, working on the computer, and photography.

 Since I became well-versed in Computers and the internet my reading has been mostly limited to electronic materials though at times I read printed books too. Besides, the books I have in my physical library, I have 510 e-books stored in the electronic library on my computer, most of which I have completed reading. Of late, I have acquired an e-book reader, "Kindle Paperwhite" where I can borrow and read an unlimited no. of books on various subjects at a nominal monthly subscription. This device works on its own via Wi-Fi (required only when downloading a book) and does not need a computer for its function. Being small in size (4½"x 6½") and thin in-depth it can be easily carried everywhere. This gives me the advantage to carry it when I am travelling which is not too infrequent. I have read 375 books on this device till  May 2022.

I have a kin interest in Photography and have been working on it since the late 1980s,  first with a traditional camera and then with a digital point and shoot camera. Lately ( October 2016), I acquired a Nikon DSLR camera and presently working with it. I have added a separate page titled "My Photographic pursuits" to this website with a link to Photo-show videos created with my latest photographs. These will show the extent to which I have progressed in this field.  To go to that page click here. 

To view an album on some of my decent shots one may go to my shared album in Nikon space by clicking here. That album will open in a   new tab and can be seen as a slideshow by selecting the slideshow option on the top left of the album screen. The album contains  6215 photos. These 6215 photos stay grouped and categorised subject-wise in different albums on the Nikon Space website. While making those photos shareable,  they had to be made into a single album for the convenience of link-sharing. 

Touring in forests, hills, historical places, and sea-sides.  

Description, photos, and videos of most of the trips I have made so far (as of 2019) are available on the related pages of this website. For description and photos click here. For videos click here.            

Hypocrisy, Insensitivity, Sycophancy, and Untruthfulness.

"Uprightness", "Plain living and high-thinking", "Honesty is the best policy" & "Spend where you must"

Farsightedness, Honesty & Integrity and Sincerity of purpose

"Strong likes and dislikes", "Rigidity of character,"  "Sentimentalism", "Egotism" and "craze for beauty". 

Not an atheist in the true sense of the term but does not believe in rituals. Decry superstition.

I do not believe in destiny. To the contrary, I subscribe to the aphorism “उद्योगिणाम पुरुषसिंहम् उपैति लक्ष्मी:" and tried to adapt it in my life. Whatever success I had attained, was because of my hard labour and enterprise.  Having said that, I wonder if certain unknown forces had not been at play behind a series of events of my life viz. repeated changes of the institutions and the disciplines for study during my academic career, circumstances leading to my entry to service, and later to my marriage. Even the acquisition of a flat or a house in Salt Lake would not have been possible for me if certain unexpected events had not taken place. The facts will reveal in the course of my life story presented here. I still feel the presence of this force, though at times; it restrains harm from coming my way in the course of my day-to-day living.  

Liberal, has no bias towards any community, does not believe in casteism.

Non-political.

Music has always held a fascination for me.  I can't sing myself, but I love listening to music in idle times, and when in a romantic or pensive mood. I have a collection of 4933 songs in Bengali, Hindi & English in my electronic music library. Of the 1997 Bengali songs I have, 835 are Rabindra Sangeet including dance dramas. My collection of 2614 Hindi songs includes Bollywood classics, Gazals, and immortal songs from the pre-1960s to date. When I feel sad, I play my favourite songs and then I don't feel so bad. I love working on the computer with the music turned on.

I get up from bed when the house sleeps, then prepare and drink my cup of tea, make my bed, do the Pranayam and the exercise,  and then sit on the computer, my favourite avocation since I got used to it. I do creative work, information search, and online activities like the digital transfer of money, household purchases, and payments of dues (as and when required) using the computer and the internet. I continue working up to  4 PM with short breaks for breakfast and lunch. Take an hour's rest after lunch. From 5 PM to 8 PM or so, I again work on the computer and then take a stroll for about half an hour or so.  From around 9 PM, till midnight, is my book reading time. Occasionally, I talk to my childhood friends and others locally or over long-distance calls. Once or twice a week, I go for marketing in the morning. 

 Since the last week of November 2020 (within the pandemic period),  I have made some changes in my daily routine. After having tea and completing morning activities I leave home at around 7 and drive down to a bio-diversity park known as BANABITAN at a distance of about 3 Kms from home.  There I practise photography while doing my morning walk.  I roam about in the park for about one hour and a half. Returning home, I follow other programs as detailed in the preceding paragraph. 

From August 2022,  I have reverted to my original routine, as detailed in the first paragraph above. However, I had to discontinue my photo-shooting practice in the park since the Govt of West Bengal has, meanwhile,  imposed a charge of Rs. 300 to take any camera inside the park. Even otherwise, one has to pay Rs. 10 on each occasion for entering the park for a walk in the morning. 

Obviously, I owe the most to my parents who brought me into this world and stood by me in all situations till I grew up to take charge of myself. My gratitude goes to all my teachers in the school and in the college, who by their words, manners and teachings helped in bringing out the best in me.

I am also grateful to the authorities of St. Anthony's College, Shillong for providing me with free education in the College and free board and lodging in the college hostel for the entire course of the four years, I had stayed and studied there. But for this help from the college, it might not have been possible for me to complete my education.

To read Travel Stories, Click the button on the right  

To view Travel Videos, Click the button on the right