A tribute to Ganesh Chandra Kalita Sir

The name of my father-in-law Ganesh Chandra Kalita is almost synonyms to the subject of Mathematics, especially for someone who is connected to the Don Bosco School, Guwahati in the period 1973 to 2004 and even thereafter.

Coming from a very humble background, Sir had completed his primary education at Halogaon, a small hamlet near Sualkuchi. Thereafter, he pursued his studies and obtained his M.Sc. from the Gauhati University. Initially, he joined as a teacher in the Bihoguri High School in the district of Sonitpur for a few months. Thereafter, in 1973, he joined the Don Bosco School, Guwahati as a Mathematics Teacher and within a very short period of time he became extremely popular with the students. His reputation became such that any student, irrespective of the school at Guwahati would be able to score high marks in the Mathematics paper of the HSLC Examination under his guidance. Students and guardians used to make a queue outside his house to get the guidance from him.

Don Bosco School, Guwahati had the best of the faculty members during that period and Sir was one of the 'Gems'. One of his students has aptly said that Sir broke the student-teacher barrier. In fact he was more of a friend and perhaps for this reason, there was no communication gap resulting in better understanding of the subject and making it easy. Though I had not taken personal guidance from him, I could secure very high marks in the subject in the HSLC examination, the credit for which goes to him. In fact when one of his student who was not too comfortable with the subject, got high marks after his guidance, his mother remarked that it was Sir who had secured the high marks and not her son.

Sir was very much fond of travelling and in the year 1988 itself had gone for a Europe tour in the school group. Even after his retirement, his love for travelling continued and apart from various parts of the country he travelled Dubai, South East Asia etc, with his family.

A self- made man, Sir used to do all his personal works by himself and never depended on anybody. He used to go for morning walk daily and was physically fit. Sir was infected with the dreaded COVID-19 on September 3 and after struggling for more than 15 days, he succumbed in the morning of September 21. Though death is inevitable, none should die of this dreaded disease and the post death rituals become simply pathetic. The near and dear ones are not even allowed to go near. But one cannot help, as that is the present protocol.

On this day of his Adya Shraddha, we all pray for him and though he is not physically present with us, his thoughts and ideals will always continue to guide and inspire us. Om Shanti.

– SK Medhi