Pankaj Sarmah. A Telegraph picture

Guwahati, Aug. 19: For some, a lifetime is not enough. And then there are those who manage to attain immortality at 31.

Pankaj Sarmah, a Darrang College alumnus who chose to follow elephants when his classmates were busy pursuing career options to rake in the moolah, will have a department in his alma mater named after him as recognition of his conservation initiatives.

Pankaj died of cerebral malaria last year and WWF-India, for which he worked, decided that starting a certificate course in wildlife conservation at Darrang College in his memory would be the best tribute.

Armed with a Masters in zoology from Gauhati University, Sarmah had trudged down the North Bank Landscape trying to identify what made elephants and men so incompatible.

The three-month certificate course on Wildlife Conservation in Assam in the department named after him will be a continuation of that very initiative.

Darrang College and WWF-India recently signed a memorandum of understanding for the Pankaj Sarmah Centre for Wildlife Conservation. The college will provide space to build a two rooms and a library for the department and WWF-India will fund the project.

There will be only five students in each batch for the three-month certificate course.

Sarmah had worked as a part of the North Bank Landscape (NBL) programme of the WWF in Assam.

The North Bank Landscape is the area between the northern bank of the Brahmaputra in the south to the foothills of the eastern Himalayas in the north and the Manas in the west to river Dibang in the east.

“Pankaj has left behind his deep understanding of elephants in the NBL based on observation and scientific study. He will be remembered through the continuation of the work he initiated and WWF will ensure its success,” a WWF official said.

Sarmah had also been instrumental in the formation of Manas Conservation Alliance, a coalition of 20 NGOs and individuals committed to conserving Manas.