Francis Xavier
I can’t correctly recall when I first met Samir Acharya, but everyone in Port Blair of those days met him somewhere sometime. Our first serious discussion was about the Moravian Missionaries in Nicobar. I was looking for information about the Brethren who came from Tranquebar to convert the Nicobaris to Christianity, but perished, except for one, due to the inhospitable climate. When I mentioned it somewhere Samir Acharya said he’s got the letters of the lone survivor with him. I didn’t believe it. It was in the early 80s and how could a businessman possess such documents, that too in those times when internet was non-existent and letters took ages to reach Port Blair!
Thereafter I would occasionally bump into him, in the college or at some meeting. He had a singularly unfriendly appearance, chain-smoking, unsmiling with a permanent scowl. But inside he was a charming person, a brilliant conversationist with enormous knowledge on any subject. He should have been a professor at some university instead of selling lab equipment.
There were times when I thought he didn’t like me. That was probably because I was for the Lt. Governor. Perhaps he thought I had some part in the Administration’s decisions. And, Acharya was always against the policies of the Administration!
When he formed an organisation called ‘SANE’ (Society for Andaman Nicobar Ecology) people laughed and called him ‘INSANE’. He never bothered and continued with his criticism of the Administration, a ‘one-man army’.
When big tremors occurred in Diglipur in 2002 (I was OSD to the Lt. Governor then) he wrote a long letter to the LG, the late Mr NN Jha. It was full of details about plate tectonics, earthquakes etc. But one word was new to me – TSUNAMI ! I had never heard that word before. Acharya described the word in detail and forewarned that a Tsunami was imminent, sooner or later. As usual people thought he was insane, and the letter was ignored. But then the tsunami did strike us in 2004! This was no ordinary man.
We became close again when I took over as Principal JNRM. He would come occasionally to complain about delay in payment of bills but would sit over a cup of tea to reminisce about the early days of the college, his desire to donate some books and specimens to the college. I learnt that he had worked as PS to Mr Mahabir Singh, the man during whose tenure the first college in the islands came into being. We met again when Mr Mahabir Singh’s son came on a visit to Port Blair. I organised a meeting to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Mr Mahabir Singh and invited Acharya. “I don’t go out anywhere these days, but since you’re asking, I’ll come”, he said reluctantly. Speaking on the occasion he described the style of functioning of the Chief Commissioner’s secretariat in the 60s and how Mr Mahabir Singh started the Kendriya Vidyalaya and the College.
After that we met here and there a few times. I wanted to call on him after my retirement but due to my ill health and Corona that was not to be. Perhaps we’ll meet later in a “SANE” place.