Mithun Madhusudan, 5th Year Undergraduate Student, Patel Hall, shares his sense of grie
f on the unfortunate death of a friend in the following words.
I am not one given to extreme displays of emotion, but memories of Ankik Dhar cannot be penned down without it, for that was the kind of person he was.
It’s always hard to deal with death. Each of us has our own ways. Some prefer to let it all out, some bottle up everything and wait for the pain to pass. This piece is my attempt at remembering Ankik.
Ankik Dhar, or Tempo Da, as he was known by seniors, batch mates and juniors alike, was never one to do anything without giving 200%, which is made obvious by all that he achieved in four years of his stay at IIT Kharagpur. An ace student of the Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, governor of the Bengali Technology Dramatics Society (BTDS), Inter IIT goalkeeper, and an all round dependable person. I would not be exaggerating if I said that a majority of us who knew him here were in awe of him. A gem of a person, his moments of brilliance carried us through to victory many a time.
Ankik, we will miss your voice ringing through the corridors of Patel Hall, we will miss the exuberance that brightened our dramatics practices, and pushed us to better performances, we will miss your shouts from the goalpost to the strikers on the football field, we will miss your finger tip saves, we will miss your lopsided walk and your madness in the wings.
Patel Hall and IIT Kharagpur will miss you. But you will live on in our hearts. Forever.
Update: Here is a page created by his batch mates from the Department of Electronics, IIT Kharagpur.
Ankik was one hell of a person … the passion that he brought to anything he did was exemplary … may he rest in peace
Don’t know, what to say. Was with him for a very short period (in 1st year as both of us were volunteers in SF and KTJ in same family). I have very few words for him: zindadil, very friendly, so intelligent and brilliant (2-3 din pahle hi kuchh friends ke sath charcha ho rahi thi ki agar bina padhe koi 9li maar sakta tha, to bas Ankik Dhar)…. without any exaggeration, a huge loss to India…. Bhagwaan tumhaari aatma ko shaanti dein aur Maa-Pitaji ko aise time ko face karne ka himmat
Well I know Ankik da from class 11, he used to take part time classes for us. He was a person I always looked upto and he was always there to help us out. I still can’t believe he is not with us anymore, I still feels like a terrible lie. We miss you Ankik da!
I hardly know how to speak bengali. He convinced me I could speak Bengali and act on stage. Surprisingly, I did act and yes, in bengali. All because of his tempo and passion.
As they say “whom the god loves die young” .. why doesn’t god hate us and leave them for us to love
A grave loss to India, his family and us! may Lord bless his soul and rest in peace forever.
let this time of sorrow be handled with the great moments he spent with us. His undying energy and enthusiasm kept all the people around up and running. He was a great person to follow and an idol to many juniors. His qualities stretched from academics to sports to dramatics and what not.Let his absence be filled with the great moments of joy he spent with us.
shocked to hear the news,I ask almighty to gve stregth to ankik family my all condolence s there….aAdarsh Rajexpress 0989353076
May His Soul Rest in Peace
I never met this Guy. But after reading his story here,I felt like writing few words.
Guys you have his life infornt of you,his memories,his motivation….there is lot much to learn from him…his memories lives on. MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE.
I have never met Ankit. Learning about his sad demise was a poignant experience.
To eliminate a human life is definitely by default the discretion of time. But by dsign by a sinister, who can only be pardoned by us and never by almighty.
Passing away of a human life is so ultimate and final that words cannot make up, neither is that intended.
This is just to express condolence to the kith & kin, whom I do not know and prayers for his soul to rest in peace.
He will definitely be alive in every ones memory, more than if he would have ended otherwise.
From a a person, just like his Father.
He represented life itself, was an extraordinary human being and a dear friend. I have learnt a lot from him and will cherish his memories forever. You will live in our hearts. Rest in peace my friend.
I do not know where to start from, and where to end at….I first met this guy in BTDS freshers audition (within two weeks of our coming) and from the very first day he showed up with a difference….He became sick in the middle of fresher’s rehearsals, he was bleeding from his nose, his mom came to KGP to stop her from acting in that play…but still, till the last day, he attended the late night rehearsals, before retiring from the show….That was what Ankik Dhar was. Today, after this great personal loss, thousands of sweet memories of yours are gathering in my mind. With a peculiar and unique dressing sense, extraordinary intelligence, utmost dedication to everything he did ( Acads, Dramatics, Football … ) and never ending energy and positive attitude, KGP’s “Tempo Da”, our dear friend, will always be ever green in the deep of our mind. RIP Ankik! Kash “OROM”(aisa) na huya hota!!!
I didn’t know him personally..but I do have my school friends in Kharagpur,have colleagues at ZS who were batchmates,seniors to him. Personally,my heart bleeds for his family. I am seriously speechless and I just hope that his family and friends have the almighty on their side to bear such a loss ! I am just heart broken to say anything else !
Ankik was always a mark above the rest. His methods were unorthodox and unpredictable. even so in parting
known him since the first year. Was in my section, and clearly shined above all other. I would daresay people were even jealous of him. The dexterity with which he managed acads with the extra curriculars was in our dreams.
I remember how before the tea party towards the end of second year i was scampering among my friends to see if somebody had an extra formal. I went to him, and although I didn’t know him well, all he had do was call up a senior and ask him to lend me a shirt ( as if that was no big deal in the first year ). such was his persona. Humble to the core, never believed in doing a thing half haeartedly.
Ended up being the spokesperson for most groups. Known for straight talk. i still remember how he stood up before the dean during a preinternship meeting and tried to convince him that the stipend for the internship wasn’t enough. all of us wanted to say so, but no one but him would dare to stand in the front. An active member of student protest groups like youth for equality. I believe he’s even braved a lathi charge for it.
I can recall numerous since incidents and I am sure most of you can. Tempo da’s favourite words were “orom hoi!”(it happens), and I’m sure if he were to comment here below, he would say ” orom hoi, load nish na! ” rest in peace ankik.
I first met Ankik during Class 7, he was just a year ahead of me in school, and was my cousin brother’s best friend. My first impression was wow!! where does he get all his energy and enthusiasm from? And believe me even after so many years I have not found a second persn. In school he was the hero, outspoken, excelling everywhere he touched. When I qualified for IITJEE I was not sure at first of coming here, but the first person who phoned me up was Ankik, and do you know what he told? “Peace maar, aami achhi na.” The first day hen I came to IIT, he met me and told me, “Chol you have to come to IIT. Good, lets go to veggies.” And that was my first treat at KGP. Over the last four years, I became even more in awe of everything he did. God, that guy was everywhere and doing everything. When Youth For Equality came about, he was the first person I knew who signed up, and Naveen you were right, he not only did brave a lathi-charge, but went to jail twelve hours for that also. His reaction on coming back, “Their food is better than our mess food.”
Most of follow trends, do things because others do it, or someone tells us to do it. For Ankik it was different, it was he who set the trend, he did things only because he wanted them to do it. The zest of life, the passion for everything, about which we the rest just dream about was present bubbling in every cell of his body. Apart from Ankik, his sister Anindyee was my brothers batchmate at school, two years junior to me, and believe me she was another Ankik.
What more can I say, only that when I will walk down Schols Ave. I will find myself longing for his full throated shout from afar, ” Ki re Debangshu, shob theek to?” And I will tell him about some inconsequential oad or the other, and he will smile and say, “Chaap nish na, orom hoi.”
Rest in peace Ankik and Anindyee.
R.I.P Ankik, Anindyee and three other friends..we dont know what awaits us in our next step
13 feb, 2010: It may be just another day for many when only 9 lost their lives and more so for the media people & politicians as damage has effectively been controlled what with zero foreigner casualty and promise of 1 lakh as ex gratia already been made; but this will always remain a day when I lost a part of my life.
Rest in Peace my friend.
Ankik .. the more I hear about you, the stronger the bonds I feel .. kgpian, inter-iit footballer and the bong tempoman .. your loss is hugely damaging to our nation and to the kgp fraternity my brother! May your soul rest in peace in the heaven !!
Ankik was a gem of a person.. the true Patelian with immense tempo and attitude.. its really horrifying to hear the news.. Life is not fair..
I just can’t imagine what his family must be going through, I pray for them and wish God gives them strength to see through this difficult time.
Ankik will forever live in our hearts. His passing away like this has been felt like a series of holes punched through the heart. I wasn’t that close to this gem, but the person that he was, had made his presence felt when he was alive and now his absence has only plunged us into hours of agony. His demise has taken my faith on God and subjected me to the travail of unanswerable questions.
My heart has been a rebel and I do not want to believe he is gone. I cannot accept this injustice of fate to such a pure soul. I want to believe we will meet again, probably in some other world. Till then, we shall make sojourns to him in our memories and in our dreams. I donot want to say goodbye to his soul but I do want to say, see you again Tempoda.
If there ever lived with a pure and unblemished heart, it is Ankik. I have known you Ankik as a classmate in school and then Kgp and never once have you met me without a broad grin on your face. That is Ankik. Innately happy. Innately driven. Your loss is a tremendous one. But I will not lose you Ankik. I will always, always cherish moments spent with you.
I do not know Ankik but whatever little i read of him makes one feel that he was a Gem.. One does not understand Destiny or the ways of God but at this moment makes my feelings towards God Very Bitter… I know he will never come back.. All i can do is Pray that His Parents have the strength to bear this Irrepairable Loss..This may sound premature but in case the IIT Alumini sets up a fund in memory of Ankik, I would feel privileged to contribute.
We have seen Octo grow up over the years and all we can do now is recollect his shenanigans to mitigate the feeling of loss.
RIP, Octo & Ankhi.From all your elder-brothers in BB Block.
I first met Ankik when I was the TA of the analog electronics Lab where Ankik was attending as a 2nd year B.Tech student.After that I talked with him for so many times. I can remember one incident: One day I asked him at the tea break of summer course organized by Advanced VLSI Lab, why are you not uploading the then newly released movie “Shoot-out at Lokhandwala”on dc. He immediately replied me to be patient by saying “It will be uploaded very soon” and started telling the whole story of the movie. He was a good actor. One day he had invited me to watch their drama and I had seen his talent in acting.He was a football player and mostly played as a goalkeeper. I have seen his play when there was a match between Summer course students and the summer course teachers. academically He was among the first few students in his class. He was intelligent and Brilliant with full of enthusiasm in versatile fields.
I was shocked when I got the news that he was in the list of the eight / nine unfortunate innocent people who were MURDERED (Yah, its a murder!) BY THE BUTCHERS (I feel any kind of Terrorism is a butchery)! May his soul rest in peace! Its tough still I pray GOD to strengthen his family members mentally to withstand the shock.
May God bless you Ankik. May he give your family the strength to overcome this. Just too sad to write anything more.
For me and all those fortunate enough to know Ankik, it has been a great loss. Its almost two days now since I got the grave news and I havent been able to bounce back.
Ankik Dhar’s persona was larger than life. My heart goes out to his family – who lost two very young kids.
Circo 2006: Ankik was sitting in my wing, wearing a pink shirt and black trousers during OP. To one of the many silly questions we as seniors asked, Ankik had replied “mere mein tempo hai”. I cant remember what the question was – but damn I remember the answer – the answer that turned a starry eyed second year of Patel Hall into our beloved “Tempoda” of IIT Kharagpur
touchwood no one close to me has suffered in these recent spate of blasts .. but reading about Anindya and how his sister and their 3 friends lost their lives hit me a lot even though the only thing common among us was that we were from the same IIT .. life is so illusory and i don’t know what good these terrorists achieve from this mindless snuffing out of precious life .. if there is an after life .. do rest in peace ..
noone can forget tempo da……
“mujhe raat mein tempo aata hai”
I met this guy just once, and I swear i’ll never forget him. May his soul rest in peace.
I first met Ankik in class 11 when he used to take some JEE tutorial lectures for us. We all looked up to him and heard about how with jaundice he still “managed” a top 500 rank. While teaching(Physics and Maths with all that tempo) he continuously told us not to call him Sir, bhaiya and so on; which was how we teased him. Upon coming over to Kgp we didn’t meet that often, but when we’d bump into each other he always had this terrific smile and the cursory Hi which made me so happy.He was a huge inspiration during those JEE years and for all that and more his persona will always be etched in my heart.
Rest in Peace Ankik (Sir, bhaiya and so much more) and Anindya.
May you’re family find strength through this tough period.
I would be close to his father’s age and being an IIT-KGP alumnus (’75 Batch) we had a few of our hall-mates who exhibited these qualities and they were always revered and looked up to.I can imagine that if this was his popularity among colleagues, how difficult would it be for the family at this time of grief.
May God give them the strength to bear the loss.
He was my cousin. My soul mate. I love u Octo.. Take care of muna.. She was a sweet heart.
Ankik was one of the most charming people I have ever met in my life. He was idiosyncratic yet lovable in his own. Although our interactions were limited from 3rd year onwards, we always met in jest! Probably I related to his shouting out to people loudly on the streets to ask them how they were as I had a habit of doing the same much to the chagrin of my friends.
I cannot but help stopping his voice from ringing in my ears for the last two days. An incident I remember about him is from my 1st year. We used to travel back home from Kharagpur to Calcutta very often on weekends with other guys from the city. Ankik would insist of purchasing every tidbit or eatable item any vendor would bring along! Even hilarious was his desire to give alms to every beggar who came by! I remember him telling me, “Dekh mere paas paisa nahi hai …. pichchle wale ko maine diya tha …. Ab tu ise dede..”. I was scandalized as I had already given alms to a coouple of beggars at his behest.. Nonethelesss, this brought out his benevolent and philanthropic nature. If he could have had his way, he would have created a utopia where everybody was pleased in his own way….
I feel gutted thinking I will never hear his booming yet high pitched voice ever again. I hope God grants his family courage to shield themselves from these troubled times. May he and his sister RIP.
Goodbye Dear Friend…
I never met Ankik and will not meet him in mortal life. But it seems I know this braveheart for long- through all the remembrances posted. We should all inherit his Tempo so that there is at least one Ankik in each lane and bylane of this country which will definitely weed out the mindless terrorism— and Ankiks will not meet such untimely end.
Dear Ankik’s mom, I know this is very difficult time for you to go through, which cannot be explained. Only the experiencer will know what the experience is. May you over come your silence and move on.
Peace for mankind
Sangeetha
To Ankik & Anandi Parents,
Sir & Maam, I did not know your children but from what I gather they were brillant..It’s a tough time for you right now. Your Gems were perhaps destined to live a short but eventful live..their being snatched so early is crime but somewhere they have also made you proud by living their life to fullest & by touching so many lives.
I hope & pray that God gives you strength to overcame this tough moment. You may not get answers to many questions right now. I hope you will keep faith in humanity. I suggest that you setup a trust in your children’s name & help the needy students achieve their goals. This would perhaps be a fine tribute to your gifted children
I accept have not met Ankik ,but i accept that it must be very hard for his parents ,his mom and dad to come in terms with the truth that two of there children are no more and in future will no more be available to be loved and carrased by them . I feel the shock becoz i too have lost my brother some 2 months back and i have still not come to terms,forget about my old parents who depended on his support for the rest of there life. for his parents the sadness is profound and painful. i am all there with my family ,friends from IIT-KgP and rest of my countrymen to share the grief.
i do believe that now it is our moral duty to root out terrorism with a firm hand now that it is touching our lives in such a painful manner. otherwise the fire will engulf our family , neighborhood, and country and it would be too late.
i pray for Ankik and his sisters and friend’s soul to rest in peace. For us no peace will be final until we fight and win the war on terror even if we have to go into the heart of fucking pakistani soil to avenge the death of our fellow brother.
No more peace call plz !
I don’t know Ankik personally but this tragedy has moved me to the core. Once again innocent lives have been lost in the name of religion. I wonder why some people choose terror as the method to achieve their agenda. I wonder why a religious community which is accused most often for the terrorist acts doesn’t come out more openly and strongly against some of its people who have gone astray. I am just wondering. I am not accusing, for I know that all religions are basically the same and they all are peace-loving. The problem of terrorism cannot be addressed by the war and rhetoric, it has to be addressed from within the community and by talking about the real issues. Unless that happens many innocent lives will be lost like this. Myself and my loved ones may be one of them in the future.
May god give the family and friends of Ankik, power and purpose to move on in their lives.
There are always a few people who touch your lives in ways you cannot express. Tempo was the kind of person who touched the lives of a lot of people. I have no doubt in my mind that we, the country and the world lost a person with the will, the intelligence and the drive to set things right, on that fateful february evening. Met him the first week in 1st year and from that moment on he seemed different. Over the years we built and organized BTDS from a difficult position and shared the stage on Netaji countless times. Sometimes on the same team and sometimes as competitors. We shared a lot of laughs, night outs, an awesome trip to gangtok and many treats, picnincs and what nots. Over the years we shared a rapport i shared with a very few. I feel fortunate to be one of the few he shared his life with, his dreams, and a few of his problems. I tried my best to understand him and help him out as he did for me.
There is a reason why I am writing this more than a year after his demise. It took time to sink in, then I lived in shock and denial and now finally I am realizing he is no more. Having known his family and Anindyee very well I had felt compelled to rush to Pune and did my best to support and console his parents. Those days were the longest days of my life. It is my unique misfortune to be the one who performed his last rites and to have seen the liveliest person I have ever seen in such a state that I still shudder when I think of it.
On the hindsight I believe this incident changed me as a person. I cherish the smallest of things and take joy in everything I do. It is my way of being grateful for this life and my promise to tempo to live life to the fullest.