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| Robin Banerjee. Picture by UB Photos |
Golaghat, Aug. 6: Conservationist Robin Banerjee, who gave Kaziranga pride of place on the wildlife map, passed away here this morning at the age of 95.
His death brought the curtain down on the remarkable journey of a man whose tormented soul found peace in his adopted home after experiencing the horrors of Nazi concentration camps.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi led the state in mourning the death of the passionate nature-lover, whose documentary Kaziranga brought alive the wonders of the game reserve before audiences worldwide.
In accordance with his last wish, Banerjee’s body was consigned to the flames on the lawn of his residence here. The pyre was lit by two of his long-time associates, Jitu Tamuly and Indrakshi B. Choudhuri. The duo had been taking care of the ailing conservationist for several years.
Banerjee would have been 96 on Tuesday, and his friends and admirers were planning a big bash. He always took pride in adding another year to his life, saying it made him “wiser”.
Born on August 12, 1908, in Murshidabad district of Bengal, the Padmashree winner lost his mother when he was just five. He studied at Santiniketan and earned a medical degree from Calcutta Medical College before leaving for Liverpool University in 1934. He also studied at Edinburgh University in 1936.
Banerjee joined the British Royal Navy in 1937 and soon experienced the horrors of World War II. He confessed later that he had lost faith in humanity after witnessing scenes of torture at Nazi concentration camps in Europe.
The war also took away the love of his life, a nurse from New Zealand, whom he had met aboard a ship. She was killed in an explosion in Burma just three days before the war ended in 1945.
His mind in turmoil, Banerjee arrived in Assam in 1952 as an assistant to a Scottish doctor who was the chief medical officer at Chabua tea estate in Dibrugarh district. He first visited Kaziranga the next year, fell in love with the place and decided to settle in Assam.
When he was given a permanent post in the Dhansiri Medical Association at Bokakhat, near Kaziranga, Banerjee grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Using an 8 mm movie camera gifted by an Englishman, he made a film titled Flowers of the Bungalow Compounds.
Everybody who saw the film was full of praise for it, inspiring Banerjee to head straight for Kaziranga.
A German duo requested Banerjee to allow Kaziranga to be telecast on Berlin Television. That was in 1961 and the rest, as they say, is history. Kaziranga became famous the world over as the last natural habitat of the great one-horned rhinoceros.
Banerjee went on to make several other films.