Dear Friends,
The Aurobindonian community of Bengal has lost one of its most beloved and revered members. Shri Anshuman Banerjee, Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, Kolkata, has breathed his last on 1 November 2011. Born on 23 July 1929 he was a noted scholar, author and thinker whose published works include masterpieces like ‘Surya-Pathik Sri Aurobindo’, ‘Mayer Lekha Mayer Katha’, ‘Agniyuger Agnikatha’ and ‘Kolkataye Sri Aurobindo Smriti Tirtha’. He was the recipient of the prestigious ‘Sri Aurobindo Puraskar’ in 2010.
A graduate from the University of Allahabad, he started his career as a member of the editorial staff of Amrita Bazar Patrika,Allahabadand was associated with it from 1952 to 1959. He worked as an Accounts Executive with J. Walter Thompson at Kolkata from 1962 to 1965. He was the Manager of MAA (Marketing, Advertising Associates) in Delhi and Chennai from 1965 to 1970. He joined Ogilvy & Mather and worked as the Manager of its Chennai branch from 1970 to 1972; he served on the Board of Directors of Ogilvy & Mather and was the Manager of its Kolkata branch from 1972 till his retirement in 1989. After his retirement he was the Marketing Director of Amrita Bazar Patrika and Jugantar, Kolkata, from 1993 to 1995. From 1996 to 2002 he was the Marketing Advisor to Auto Centre, Group of Bajaj Auto Dealers.
Shri Banerjee was the President of Advertising Club, Kolkata in 1975. He was the President of the Rotary Club of Calcutta from 2001 to 2002 and also served as the Editor of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association Journal for four years till 2002.
Shri Banerjee was also a lecturer at the Bhavan College of Communication, Jadavpur University Marketing Section and Ashutosh College (B.B.A. Hons. Course). He was the Faculty in Advertising Course run by Advertising Club, Kolkata, in 1975 and also in the Ogilvy & Mather International Training Course held in Nepal and Kashmir in 1979 and 1980 respectively as well as Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Academy training seminar held at Kolkata in 1979.
He will be remembered by his contemporaries and posterity as one of the most sincere and faithful children of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. May his soul rest in peace.
With warm regards,
Anurag Banerjee
Founder,
Overman Foundation.
For the 1 December function in 1950, the Mother had followed the way Ila-di coached me to recite Nishikanta’s Bengali poem on “The White Flower of the Mother” (janani’r shubhra phul) : at times she asked to listen more carefully Ila-di’s intonation. It was a great success. An unknown young man hugged me the next day with a square smile. I was told he was the elder son-in-law of our dear Uncle (jyethamashai”) Pramod Kumar Sen.
Down more than half a century, whenever and wherever we have met – in Puducherry, Kolkata, Delhi or Paris – I saw that “White Flower” had remained ever fresh in Angshu-da’s memory. His extreme and alert wit was upheld by a humane affection. We had many friends in common in the artistic and literary world such as his own cousin Kumar Prasad Mukherjee and the writer Dibyendu Palit
Prithwindra.
Thank you s o much for this information.
Since 1997 when I went to Kolkata after a long spell in the Ashram, I had developed a warm friendship with Anshu-da. We participated in a number of programmes in the Bhavan and I accompanied him to a number of public programmes too. As soon as I started coming regularly to the Bhavan, he would joke that another ‘Ganguly’ has thrown his hat in the ring! But above all I remember the evenings when Anshu-da would come to Dada’s (Pranab-da) room in Pondy and share memories of the old Ashram – and it particularly touched me then to know that he had the Darshan of Sri Aurobindo in 1950. His work ‘ Agnijuger Agnikatha’ remains a classic for generations of historians to come as well as for patriots, nationalists and true lovers of India.
He was one of the living few who had the last Darshan of Sri Aurobindo in 1950.