He is 99, Fought the British, Served the Poor & Has Just Won the Padma Shri !

He is 99, Fought the British, Served the Poor & Has Just Won the Padma Shri: Sudhanshu Biswas

This 99-year old freedom fighter takes words like ‘compassion’ to another level. His love for the country and fellow human beings touches the heart of anyone who meets him. After fighting for freedom of the country in his youth, he chose to settle down in a remote village in his after-years. 

Dedicating his life to children in need and their education, he runs Sri Ramakrisha Sevashram (SRKS). Even at this ripe age, his energy, enthusiasm, dedication and passion is commendable. Biswas sets an example of how age is just a number and does not matter if your intentions are pure. Visit his ashram to know how inspiring this person is.

Such people make us think deeply on what it is that makes heroes – ordinary men and women who make extraordinary sacrifices so that others around them can live better. Whether through love for his country or love for his fellow human beings, Sudhanshu Biswas teaches the values of compassion, perseverance and belief in one’s purpose.

 

 The 99-year-old freedom fighter from West Bengal has been honoured with the Padma Shri award for the year 2018. His philantrophic organisation runs schools, orphanages and dispensaries for the poor and the downtrodden.

Owing to urbanization, old people get deserted by their family. The hermitage provides shelter to 29 senior citizens from the nearby villages. A charitable dispensary is also run as a part SRKS. To top it all, well into his seventies, Mr. Biswas studied general medicine and Homeopathy, observing the irregularities of doctors in villages. He collects medicine samples from physicians and distributes them among the sick.

Main objective of SRKS: “To impart man-making education”. The depth of conviction came from his own first-hand experience of being arrested from the examination hall by the British police during his childhood; a memory that has driven him since to help educate the less privileged—backed by his understanding of the importance and meaning of education.

He had left home while still in his teens to fight for India’s freedom. He successfully carried ‘live bombs’ to lodge an attack on the British Administration. Mr. Biswas dodged death a number of times in gun battles. He was caught by the British and jailed for several years. The simple man before me has been a part of the famous revolutionary group – Anushilan Samity.

After independence, enthused by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda – “Service to man is service to God”, Mr. Biswas founded SRKS. No wonder he had chosen this poverty stricken village where I was surprised to see that neither any temple nor mosque existed – an unusual occurrence in India.

In the last four decades, he has set up 18 free schools for the poor children in remote villages in the nearby Sunderban area. The teachers of the schools belong to the same village and hence an ownership is created. Till date, thousands of orphans have stayed and studied in SRKS and currently he is bringing up 67 orphan students who study and take care of all the work of SRKS.

He sits straight, glows bright while talking about the past with deep eyes revealing his knowledge about ancient religious scriptures. He talks and hears well, as he showed me the ashram which has a pond, small agricultural tracks and fruit trees. Every day he takes Mathematics classes in the school. I truly believe now – “This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.”

Physique: At 99 he does more physical work. Work: A visionary and does more significant work. Sacrifice: His entire life is for and among the poor. Love: He still carries the bullet marks he received due to his love for his own country and billion countrymen. Academics: He still teaches 10th class mathematics, without the help of calculator. Scripture knowledge: He has the ageless wisdom around himself.

You could visit their Website for more information on their work, and how you could help them in this. While monetary assistance is needed, even donations in kind are appreciated. Due to the poor access to the place, it is not easy to attract and retain primary teachers and mentors. Also, they are unable to offer very lucrative packages for good teachers to live there. To solve this, we are exploring the feasibility of holding virtual classes. This will be possible if we can manage to get desktops, webcams and internet connectivity.

In addition to this, stationery items, groceries, woolen clothes and blankets would be highly appreciated. When I visited them second time, during December it was a pity to see these kids in half pants! They would also highly value individuals who could give them some time and support to help them reach out to more people with their work and sustain themselves with revenue-generating activities.