Amartya Sen remembers his grandfather Kshiti Mohan (below) at the programme in Bolpur. (Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya)

He was a thinker, researcher, writer, teacher and a friend, philosopher and guide, and on his 130th birth anniversary Acharya Kshiti Mohan Sen was remembered as all these and more.

A close associate of Rabindranath Tagore, Sen was instrumental in giving shape to the poet’s dream in Santiniketan.

“He was an example of Tagore’s farsightedness and ability to understand human nature and Kshiti Mohan lived up to that dream,” said Bhabatosh Dutta, one of the speakers at a commemorative programme organised by the state information and cultural affairs department at the Gitanjali theatre in Santiniketan on Monday.

Born on December 2, 1880, in Varanasi, Sen completed his masters in Sanskrit from Maurice College and took up a teaching job in Chamba in the foothills of the Himalayas. In 1908 he came to Santiniketan on the invitation of Tagore and stayed on till his death 52 years later.

Paying homage to the multifaceted personality were his family members — grandsons Amartya Sen, Somshankar Dasgupta, Kalyan Kumar Dasgupta, Santabhanu Sen and granddaughter Supurna Dutta — and his student Somendranath Bandyopadhyay.

Amartya Sen remembered Kshiti Mohan not as a researcher, writer and teacher but as a guardian.

From early morning training in grammar and discussions on various topics to inculcating a sense of punctuality, the economist’s portrait of his grandfather captured it all.

“He used to set the watch in the house 15 minutes forward. When I asked him why, he told me that it made me reach places on time. It is something that I still do now,” said the Nobel Laureate.

According to Amartya Sen, his grandfather was open-minded and his explanation of the distinction between good and bad was more “epistemological than ethical”.

Anup Motilal, the director of the information and cultural affairs department, spoke about Sen as a writer of books like Dadu, Hindu Mushalmaner Jukto Sadhana and Kabir.