Bidyut Dash : Life begins at 40

Bidyut the literal meaning of which is electricity stands as a testimony to its literal meaning. He was born at Sambalpur during the nascent stage of India’s independence. His father Upendra Dash was an Asst. Sub-Inspector with the Government of Odisha and was commanding a lot of respect in the society. His father was a strict disciplinarian. He was not only following a set of norms to live a wholesome life, but was also inducing his siblings to observe those hard and fast rules to live an accomplished life.  His ancestral village is Kalangapali than in the undivided Sambalpur district, but now comes under the geographical periphery of Bargarh district. He is the eldest son, so with the growing age he realised his responsibilities to look after his two sisters and the younger brother. By race being an Aranyak Bramhmin Bidyut happens to be fair in complexion the way he appears today. As he was lean and thin so was physically agile and the most active kid in the school.  

[His father Sh. Upendra Dash]

Then when he was attending primary school the Indo Pak war outbroke. As a kid he along with his school friends were so jubilant that they wanted to fight the war on behalf of their country in order to give a befitting reply to Pakistan, our neighbouring enemy nation. Then there itself Bidyut subconsciously set his ambition in life to join Indian armed forces. 

[His mother Late Mukhyabati Dash]

When he was barely ten years old unfortunately his mother expired out of jaundice. It was a big jolt that he faced in his life at such an early age. He not only lost the person who was feeding his belly, but she was the lone person who was nourishing him with love and affection. In 1975 his father got transferred from police to the vigilance department at Balangir. Over  there Bidyut joined Government Boys Middle English(ME) School which is located at Gandhi Nagar. His father set the ambition to make his son a Police Inspector, a position which is higher than his own service rank. To make his dream true every morning by 4.30AM he was waking up Bidyut and taking him to the playground of Prithviraj High School. He was making that young kid Bidyut to do a marathon race across the ground four times without giving a pause even for a minute to breath. That was equivalent to the length of two kilometers. Likewise he was imparting training in long jump, high jump, javelin and discus throw. It was how Bidyut turned into a physically tough and well built person. His father even purchased one bat for his son to play cricket. That happened to be the first ever cricket bat any kid of his village to possess. The boy fencing the wicket was holding that bat, but the runner on the other end was holding one stick(ଅମରି ବାଡି) instead of a bat. 

Then his father used to possess a Philips transistor. During the 70’s of the last Century, possessing a radio in rural India was a thing of aristocracy. Every day the farmers of his village after working hard in their agricultural fields were gathering on the courtyard of their home. Radio happens to be a good source of entertainment for those people, a majority of whom were illiterates. They were eagerly waiting for Bidyut  to play the Akashvani Sambalpur. Bidyut and his sisters were guarding the table where that Philips radio was placed. They were removing the cover and delicately cleaning it with a piece of cloth.  

Likewise it was his father the first person of Kalangapali village to buy a black and white  Konark television. Every Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. all people of his village irrespective of gender and age were gathering to watch Hindu mythic tele serial Ramayan and Mahabharat. And in the evening they were watching one Hindi movie. While they were watching that television, sometimes that failed to receive the aerial signal, so it was Bidyut and his younger brother Pankaj who were going to the balcony of their house to rotate the antenna towards the north direction so as to catch the signal of Sambalpur Doordarshan. He would return to the ground floor when people would sought  yes they could see the picture on the screen. But see now how fortunate you are to read this blog while holding the phone on your palm. 

During the school days he was securing either 4th or 5th rank in the examinations. On reaching Class 6th he joined Junior Red Cross. He participated actively in all the workshops which used to be conducted in school. And that staunch kid was selected for the Red Cross camp which was held at Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha. His school asked him to get one new uniform of navy blue half pant and sky colour shirt for the purpose. He recalls that half pant was having buttons, instead of a  zip as we get these days.

With much enthusiasm Bidyut went along with other selected students and their guide(teacher). That curious boy was jubilant because it was his first ever sponsored trip to the counterpart Odisha, which was modern and advanced as compared to western Odisha. His friend has told him at Bhubaneswar there is a Nautala(ନୌତଲା) building where Heads of all government  departments were housed. It  was of nine floors and Bidyut had never seen a tower of that height either at Bargarh, Balangir or Sambalpur. 

During the year 1982 while they were living at Loisinga he was a student of B.Com. Everyday along with his friends he was going to the nearest river for taking a bath. They were so jubilant that they were going to the railway bridge which might be at an elevation of 30 feet or so above the water level. From the centre of the bridge they were jumping into the river. They were not only taking the hazard of confronting the incoming trains, but simultaneously there could be large rocks underneath the water with which they could collide. If any one would have landed on them they could either die on the spot or could turn permanently paralysed. 

Unlike today during the 80's of the last Century there were no entertainment avenues for people to spend time. Every winter there used to be a bioscope display of movies in his village. One night when the show was over Bidyut along with his four friends went down  the steps of the temple pond to execute a mission. They wanted to smoke two Regent King cigarettes that they had purchased. But those stupid had overlooked buying a matchbox to fire the cigarettes. Immediately Bidyut volunteered to arrange the fire to light up the cigarettes. Bidyut went to the temple. He saw the priest was folding things to shut the temple for the night. Bidyut prostrated by folding his both hands while leaning his head towards Goddess Durga. Then he went near the thali where arati was placed. He found the priest was inside the garbhagriha (Sanctum sanctorum) so silently lifted the matchbox and rushed back to the pond. They  ignited those two Regent King cigarettes with the match stick and started puffing them to their lungs content. Those days Regent King  happens to be the most premium brand of cigarettes that were available at a cost of 35 paise each. Then the Gold Flake brand was even not born. Four of them while puffing those two cigarettes in turn one after another his father reached there while doing night patrolling. On hearing the shouting of those young brats his father asked, “who there”? Immediately those boys threw the cigarettes in the pond. His father though recognised his son Bidyut, but did not utter a word over there because he did not want to offend his son in the presence of his friends. While returning home Bidyut was in a state of fear. Does this writer need to narrate further what was the consequence when Bidyut reached his home and confronted his father?

While he was a student of B.Com 2nd year at Rajendra College, Balangir he along with his three other friends filled the application form to appear for the Staff Selection Commission(SSC) examination. On getting the intimation letters a day before those boys boarded the passenger train from Balangir at evening. That train is unofficially called Rangabati. Three of them travelled without buying any train tickets, because then it was the norm for college students to travel  ticketless in the entire length and breadth of the region wherever his University has got colleges. The motive of going Sambalpur  a day before the examination was to watch the then newly released super hit Hindi movie Prem Rog. They went to Ashoka Talkies to watch the evening show. The lead actors of that movie were Rishi Kapoor and Padmini Kolhapure. Since Bidyut and his college friends were teens so they wholeheartedly enjoyed the movie which was based on a love story. When the picture was over  obviously they did not had the money to hire a room in a hotel, so they went to the railway station to sleep on the platform itself. A host of mosquitos  did the sting operation during the  entire night and sucked their blood. In the morning Bidyut woke up and went to the public convenience on the Railway platform itself to refresh. After eating 5 biri baras with motar chana by paying 1 INR(yes One Rupee only) he went to Gangadhar Meher College to appear for the examination.  To the surprise of his two other friends Bidyut submitted his answer sheet within one hour of examination. In the afternoon likewise all of them returned ticketless in the same Rangabati train. It was a joy ride trip for him to Sambalpur. On returning Balangir once again he was preoccupied attending classes in the college.  After 3 months Bidyut got a postcard of 10 paisa from the Air Force recruitment office of Bhubaneswar intimating he has qualified the entrance test. His family members especially father was rejoiced to know about it. It was a big turning point in the life of Bidyut Kumar Dash.

During April 1984 on the very day of Ramnavami which happens to be an auspicious day for the Hindus, Bidyut reported at Indian Airforce Recruitment Centre, Bhubaneswar. Same day at evening he along with 29 other recruits boarded the Express train for Belgaum of Karnataka. He reached the Administrative Training Institute(ATI) located at Sambre. The role of this institute is to impart the non-technical modular training to those who will work in the Indian Air Force administrative offices. After undergoing a hardcore training in office administration and accounts for a year Bidyut joined as an Airman at the Air Force Station, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. For twenty years or so he kept on working in that organisation in various capacities at Kanpur and Nagpur as well. Finally in the year 2004 on retiring from the Indian Air Force he had a firm conviction not to join back in any government organisations be it Central or the Odisha State Government. 

Bidyut returned back to his home town in Odisha. But as a man of action he is not someone to sit idle at home. He searched for different earning avenues even though his pension is secured for life time. As a defence personnel by nature he is very bold and tough. He opted to try his luck in entrepreneurship. He set up one brick kiln at Padampur. Its a Sub Division of Dist. Bargarh. It's a completely dry and arid region having no irrigation facility. Each year there is only a single crop of paddy cultivation which purely depends upon the grace of monsoon rains. As a result of which there are many social evils of unemployment, starvation and migration of labour. But Bidyut failed miserably in his maiden business venture because the people whosoever associated with him were not committed to their words and job. Unfortunately he lost around 2.5 lakhs INR in that venture which amounted to a big chunk out of his lifetime savings. 

He became cautious because he got another 40 years or so to live on this earth to rear his family members. He prepared a resume of self and as if an unemployed youth of 21 years old ventured out in search of a job. It was in the year 2004 Bidyut got a job with AVP Motors, Rengali Camp as its Showroom Manager. That is an authorised dealer of John Deere tractors. Under his able leadership in a span of one financial year his sales force sold as much as 139 units and became the sales topper in the entire Eastern Zone of India. 

[Along with Aparajita Sarangi,
Member of Parliament, Bhubaneswar]

This man made his presence felt in the entire western zone of Odisha. Many organisations from different backgrounds of Western Odisha started inviting him as a guest to their programs. Somewhere in the first quarter of 2005 it was Lakhotia Computer Centre(LCC) that is located at Kalimandir Chowk, Bargarh has invited him to teach English to their students. It was then he realised those college students who so ever passed out of Odiya medium Government High Schools of this region have got the lacuna in  English knowledge. It happens to be a major hindrance for them to get employment in the private sector jobs. To answer the needs of the candidates Bidyut Sir set up The Institute for Spoken English and Personality Development(ISPDE). 

By then Bidyut became a known figure in Bargarh town. The following year i.e. in 2006 the women wing of Bargarh Marwari Mahila Munch sought the help from ISPDE to impart training to their members. Bidyut’s institute imparted an array of personality development programmes to the enrolled members under the title “Elite Ladies”. Since ages the female gender of that community are very conservative and they are not updated with changing times. ISPDE imparted training of personality development; stress management; how to deal with in-laws; smart dining etiquettes etc.

Bidyut was well aware about people of this region lacking the knowledge of English. His institute started offering English Speaking courses at an affordable price to the students most of whom hail from the poor agricultural families of Bargarh district. They were charging a mere 1,300 INR for a course duration of four months, which was equal to an average 10 INR per day . Over the period as many as 5,600 job seekers have enrolled their name and has taken the training from ISEPDE. Three years later he registered a trust altogether by the name AHEAD. It has got two wings. The first one is ”Language Lab '' where they are giving training of English language. And the other wing is called Youth Employability School. Under this venture they are exclusively answering to the array of new employment avenues that have opened in call centres across the globe. Until now as many as 200 of their candidates have got placement with industry leaders like IBM, Daksh, Reliance and so on and so forth. 

Way back in the year 2010 he started an institute for the job aspirants in banking and government sector as well. 

During January 2020 Bidyut was invited along with 39 other defence veterans and felicitated before 6,000+ spectators on the very stage of Dhanu jatra which is world's largest open air theatre. This Hindu festival has even got the space in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Bidyut Dash has done his share of philanthropic work as well. During the initial phase of pandemic Corona outbreak i.e. in the summer of 2020 his organisation tied up with Ajim Premji Foundation of Bangalore. Premji is the founding father of WIPRO and considered to be the Czar of India’s IT industry. His wealth is estimated to be somewhere US$ 7.3 billions. Bidyut  along with his team of volunteers undertook the assignment given by Ajim Premji Foundation. They distributed somewhere 1,500 bags of grocery to poor families in Padampur, Gaisilet, Attabira and Bargarh blocks of our district. Each of those bags carried 30 kgs rice, dal, salt, edible oil, suji, chuda, onions, potatoes and of course salt. It was definitely not a big succour but has provided subsistence to small families to survive at least for a month.

During 2014-17 his institute AHEAD tied up with ACC Cement and imparted vocational training to 600+ unemployed youth of five panchayats of Bargarh district namely Bardol, Bargaon, Dungri, Kantapali and Khaliapali. Out of them around 60 candidates got placements with government departments including armed forces and paramilitary services. On the other hand somewhere around 250 to 275 candidates joined private sector jobs like Reliance Jio, Tata Motors, SBI credit cards, Vishal Mega Mart etc.

In July 2017 Bidyut under Ahead Trust took over a Private CBSE pattern school by the name Sri Siddhi Vinayak Public School located at Rengali Camp, Attabira that was in the verge of clampdown. The school caters education to the wards of the rural families whose prime occupation is agriculture. The motto of this school is to educate the children of the poor families and to make them sustainable.

In India most of the private companies carry corporate social responsibilities(CSR). But Bidyut Dash is someone who is pursuing individual social responsibilities(ISR). In India when the employees of either Central or any state governments retire from their job, they live an unproductive life despite carrying with them the rich working experience. They just plan to spend their retirement life with the lump sum superannuation money that accumulates over their lifetime. But Bidyut Dash says he is not born to sleep. So what even if he is no more guarding the international border of India, but will keep on working for his people, region and the country until the last breath. 

​kiranbima@gmail.com
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E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main Road, Near SBI,
At/PO : Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh, Odisha, India