P. C. Das

Dr. Das started his professional career as a teacher in rural Bengal at a very young age when he was only 21 years old, right after graduating from the prestigious Calcutta University and afterwards he got the post graduate degree and the honour of PhD.That was a very humble beginning. But his passion for educating the not-so-privileged students of rural Bengal, his tireless effort and care for developing the young minds earned him a special place for the thousands of students who graduated and later established themselves in life. Many of his early students are perhaps of the same age as him, but his students young and old, academically successful or not, hold him with high regards and that for a very good reason. When the school became a popular destination for the students of the entire region he had to overcome another hurdle of improving the infrastructure. There was insufficiency of rooms to accommodate the large number of students. Government support was scarce; so he roped in his colleagues, well-wishers and ex-students for raising fund, paying from their own pockets. Others were cautious as they were not to sure of the motive. Naysayers were up in their arms. But gradually what started as an honest effort turned into a sort of a revolution when the villagers and other wealthy donors came forward to join hands. Most students in Bengal specially those who are not convent-educated or not raised in a family well-versed with English language, are really scared of the very sound of English. The grammar books available to them were scholarly but had the shortcoming of not knowing how to present to the students who are already frozen in fear of English. Dr. Das started writing books for them using his experience of decades in teaching English language and his deep understanding of student psychology. His books on English grammars are very popular and today they are widely circulated in Bengal and some other states of India including the capital Delhi,Bangladesh,Srilanka and African countries like Ghana. To measure the popularity index of his books a simple Google search with PC Das or PC Das English Grammar is enough. Even at this age of 76 yrs he is still writing books so that his students can understand the nuances and appreciates the beauty of English not just as a foreign language but a language they have to rely on if they have to build their career in the 21st century. Dr. Das compiled a very popular English-Bengali Dictionary which is unique in its category as it not only plays with the words but shows how to use them in a context. Popular demand from his students and general readers prompted him to compile another Dictionary but this time to do it in reverse from Bengali to English. Being spent much of his life in a place named Radhanagar, the birth place of Bharat pathik Raja Rammohun Roy, Dr. Das was drawn to his illustrious work, ideas and contributions that shaped modern India. But perhaps more fascinating is the amount of misunderstanding and myth people has about him and his apparent contradicting positions he held in life. Dr. Das tried to dispel the misunderstanding and myth by collecting facts and figures from contemporary and successive periodicals and journals as well as with the help of the descendants of his extended family and followers after so many generations. Thus came out two books on Raja Rammohun Roy in an effort to put him in right perspective and to establish him in the lightthat was long overdue. His book Rammohun, a Bridge between the East and the West in English as well as Biswapathik Rammohun in Bengali is much acclaimed in the Academic circle. Nobody wants to listen to advice specially the ones, young and defiant, but everybody wants to listen to stories. That was the style of a great story teller Paramahansa Sri Ramakrishna. He used to deliver his sermons through simple stories of everyday life to educate people and shake their conscience to achieve higher level of human consciousness. Dr. Das being a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna himself took another initiative to narrate the stories of Ramakrishna for the common people in his two books Sri Ramakrishna Jiban O Kathamrita and Sri Ramakrishner Galpa O Kathaprasanga . These two books too are much appreciated by the readers community for its simple yet elegant presentation. Dr. Das authored over 50 books in English and Bengali. Some of his popular books later translated to Hindi as well. His autobiographical novel The World in My Home has been published by Austin Macauley Publishers, London, Cambridge, New York in 2019. He was honoured with Jewel of India Award by International Institute of Education and Management (IIEM) on 6thApril 2016.And he is honoured with Rammohun Award of Excellence by Public Relations Society of India on 23 July, 2023.