JYOTIRMOY SANYAL - A FLASH BACK

By D P SATISH

It may sound strange. I am writing something (obituary?) about Jyoti Sanyal, four months after his death. I didn't know that his full name was Jyotirmoy Sanyal till recently. Dada (Diptosh Majumdar), the most affectionate person in my channel CNN IBN told me that his name was Jyotirmoy Sanyal. Me and dada were discussing something else and I asked him about ' Statesman '. Dada started his career with ' Statesman ' during its glory days. I mentioned Sanyal's name and dada's eyes lit up. He said ' Jyotirmoy Sanyal was already a news editor, when i joined as a cub reporter in early 80 s. We used to fight a lot. For him, journalism was all about desk. He always used to wear dhoti and kurta. He was a very difficult man. But, good at heart '.

****************************************************************************************** Sometime in mid 2001, I got a call from Prof. Sanyal. I had finished my ACJ course two years before that. But, i was still in touch with him. He wanted me to join him for dinner. He used to live alone in a rented house on Coles road in Contonment area of Bangalore. I reached his house exactly at 7-30 PM. He was waiting for me. I was under the impression that he would take me out for dinner as there was nobody at his house to prepare food. Sanyal himself had prepared a pure vegetarian dinner for me. It was a great surprise and a touching moment. We had a long talk after dinner. He was very happy that i was doing well in journalism. He came down with me to the main road to get me an auto to return home in the night. He even paid my auto fare in advance! It was Sanyal. He was a very warm person with a kind heart. He truly loved his students. He was very fond of me from the very beginning. Sanyal was new to Bangalore, when he landed there in 1997. He knew no Kannada. He used to take me everywhere to help him.

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Once, he took me to Max Muller Bhawan (it was on Lavelle road) to meet somebody. I was very young and shy. I waited near the reception, when he was busy talking inside.
He came out after 30 minutes. He came to know that somebody in the Max Muller Bhawan had stopped me there. He flew into a rage and started to shout at the people for not treating one of his favourite students properly. He even refused to have Tea with them and profusely apologised with me, even though it was not his mistake. He took me to the nearest Airlines Hotel for a sumptuous lunch. He even shot off a strongly worded letter to Max Muller Bhawan head in Germany. Sanyal never tolerated any kind of injustice and hierarchy. He was always informal and approachable.

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One day we went to a Carnatic and Hindustani jugalbandi at Ravindra Kalakshetra in Bangalore. We were seated in the front row. Carnatic musician Rajkumar Bharti and Hindustani vocalist Parameshwara Hegde started aalaap. It continued for nearly 30 minutes. Somehow Sanyal didn't like that concert and ordered me to leave. We stopped an auto near Canara Bank head office. He demanded Rs. 30 to drop us back at the Indian Express. Sanyal protested like a true comrade. We tried at least 10-15 autos. All demanded the same fare. I told him that it was okay. But he was not ready to pay even a single paisa extra. He asked me to follow him and we walked back to Indian Express! He was not at all stingy. He was very generous and extremely helpful. But he never tolerated cheating, over charging etc........ He always used to protest in the true Gandhian ways.

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I came to Delhi in late 2001. Sanyal was happy that I was moving to New Delhi in search of better prospects. He had given me a dozen contact numbers in New Delhi. He used to call me almost every week know about my progress in an alien city. He once sent me a cap asking me wear it in the hot summer of Delhi. It was really a touching gesture.
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When his finest book on English writing ' Indlish ' was released, he gave me a call from Calcutta. He wanted me to translate some Kannada reviews for him. He wanted CNN IBN to do a story on his ' Clear English movement '. My boss Rajdeep Sardesai readily agreed and asked me to assign it to one of our Calcutta correspondents. The correspondent who was supposed to do that story was a very very lazy person like most Calcuttans. She took nearly 3 months to do that! Sadly, that story never went on air.

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I was in Calcutta in February 2006. I couldn't meet Sanyal as his wife was admitted to a hospital and he was busy taking care of her. I didn't call him because i didn't want to disturb him. Who knew that lean, mercurial and healthy Sanyal would die of cardiac arrest in his early 60s? I never got a chance to meet him after that. I missed my last chance in 2006. Before I came to Delhi in the end of 2001, I had gone to see him. It was our last meeting. I still remember his smiling face and warm hug he gave me on that day. He is no longer with us physically. But, he is always there for the people like me. He shaped the career of many young confused journalists like me.
I always remember you and love you sir.