Dr.Abir Lal Mukherjee, the
legendary ENT surgeon of Calcutta
died recently. This post is about my recollections about this great man.
Calcuttans cannot forget that our Kali pujo and diwali became less noisy
because he took an initiative along with West Bengal Pollution Control Board
and lawmakers to curb noise. That he was a legendary surgeon is well known. But
that he was a good writer and elocutionist is known by few. We knew Dr
Mukherjee because he was my maternal grandfather’s junior in medical college Calcutta. Because my
grandfather knew him well, he performed my tonsillectomy when I was 5 years
old. Later on he performed a surgery to treat my sinusitis in 1996 when I was
in college. My post is regarding that incident.
I was admitted in Calcutta Pay
Clinic, a nursing home built by my grandfather Dr. Murari Mohan Mukherji and 11
fellow doctors. After the surgery Dr. Abir Lal Mukherjee visited me. After
clinical examination I asked him “Were you by any chance a student of noted
writer Bibhuti Bhushan Bandyopadhyay? “. He was quizzical. He asked me “How do
you know?” Then I told him that Shyamal Gangopadhyay was writing a biographical
novel on Bibhuti Bhushan in Sananda and I found his name there. It was written
there that Bibhuti Bhushan was a teacher in Khelat Chandra Memorial Institution
in North Calcutta and Abir Lal along with his friends accompanied Bibhuti babu
to his mess bari in Surja Sen Street (erstwhile Mirjapur Street). Bibhuti babu
offered them ‘soan papri’ and asked Abir Lal how he was doing his ‘lathi khela’
despite a small frame. Now listening to this Abir Lal dadu got nostalgic. He
sat down, took away his spectacles, cleared them and started going down memory
lane. He told me that I was right indeed. He was in class VII when this
incident happened. He spoke fondly of Bibhuti babu. He told me how great a
teacher he was and how sensitive a man he was. Then he told me that on the day
of my release he will present me something. It was a pleasant surprise for me
when he presented me a copy of his book named “Amar Shikshak Bibhuti Bhushan”
published by Mitra & Ghosh in 1996. In the front page he signed and presented
it to me. I was more than glad and it became my proud possession.
Post-release
when I visited him he asked me what was the book by Bibhuti babu on his
experience of Khelat Chandra Institution? When I told it was Anubartan and I
have read it he was so happy. It was not only his affection that elated me but
he made one suggestion to my mother I can never forget. He asked my mother on a
visit what I wanted to become in life. Please don’t forget I was in 2nd
year of B.Sc. (Honours) then. He told my mother “Sadhana, so many of your
family have been illustrious teachers! Your grandfather Jogesh babu was a legendary
professor in Physics in Rajabazar
Science College.
Murari da was a legendary surgeon and a professor in plastic surgery. Why don’t
you tell your son to follow their footstep? Tell him to teach. He will do well.”
I never quite forgot that!
How happy he would have been to
see me today as a teacher!
PS: The book on Bibhubhushan by
Abir Lal Mukherjee was a great one. It showed his association with Bibhuti babu
as a student and then his association with their family after Bibhuti babu’s
death. It also had a glimpse of Calcutta
of late thirties and early forties. He wrote how Bibhuti babu used to teach
them Bangla, Geography, History. It has some rare information on Bibhuti babu’s
life – how Bibhuti babu finished his education with the help of his teachers,
how he evolved as a writer and how he influenced students. If he scolded students
he would go and lament whole evening, such a sensitive soul was he.
Dr. Mukherjee was also a good
elocutionist. I remember him reciting Rabindra Nath’s ‘Ebar Firao Mor e’ on ‘Aaj
Raat e’ in Calcutta FM flawlessly. I remember one of his splendid article “Shobdo
Brahmo na Shobdo Doitya?” about the menaces of noise pollution in Ananda Bazar
Patrika in 1996.
RIP Dr. Abir Lal Mukherjee. These
days they don’t make them like that anymore.
