The Barpali Days: Prashant Kumar Meher : A corporate honcho, but poet at heart

As per Hindu scriptures Goddess Sarswati stands for vidya or knowledge. Whereas goddesses Laxmi stands for wealth or the material prosperity. But rare are the persons who are being blessed by both knowledge and wealth. Both of them can’t reside in one house. But in rare cases we can find both these Goddesses coexist. Prasant Meher is such a person who has received the blessing of both Goddesses Saraswati and Lakshmi.

Prasanta Meher is a successful corporate honcho, as well a renowned Koshali poet. Over the past two decades thousands of young professionals from Odisha have flown to far western countries in pursuit of successful career. Likewise Prashant even went abroad and was able to flash a beam of light as a lead engineer with one of the fortune 500 companies. He might be a highly paid consultant serving prestigious global clients, but his work is restricted to his company, colleagues and clients. But what makes him stand apart from the rest is his passion for culture and literature of the land where he was born and brought up. It would be apt to remember a phrase from the poetry of swabhaba kabi Gangadhar Meher of Barpali:

ମାତୃଭୂମି ମାତୃଭାଷାର ମମତା ଯା ହୃଦେ ଜନମି ନାହିଁ

ତାକୁ ଯଦି ଜ୍ଞାନୀ ଗଣରେ ଗଣିବା ଅଜ୍ଞାନୀ ରହିବେ କାହିଁ

It was in the year 2017 Prasanta compiled his best 20 poems that he had written until then and got that published as a book titled “Matir Surta”. He had the proud privilege to release that book in the Nuakhai Bhetghat function which was celebrated at Indian Consulate, UAE. It was released by the Indian Consulate General along with a few senior members of sambalpuri community. "Matir Surta" was the first ever Sambalpuri language book which has been released in any foreign land. It was an anthology of poems related to village or the rural life of Odisha where he himself was born and brought-up.

It is worth a recommendation to read the poem titled “gaon iskul”. Here this poet able to narrate the scenario of a government primary school. It is all about the playful acts of children and paying due respect to their teachers. The other poem which is worth a read is “jhi janam”. It is the heart wrenching piece of poetry narrating the plight of taking human birth as a girl. This poet able to make a keen observation on the social ethos of Odisha. Bravely he has narrated the cruelty of the society when a feline baby takes birth.

The other book which he has published is titled “matir mahak”. This book was released in the Nuakhai Bhetghat 2019, Bangalore. It is undoubtedly the biggest platform of Sambalpuri culture in entire India. This book is a compendium of his other 16 poems. You are recommended to read the poem titled “rakhi puni”. Here Prasanta has picturised the great Indian tradition of a sister tying a rakhi or the holy thread on the right hand wrist of her brother to safeguard him from any untoward danger to his life. The other poems in this book are "daibi ra maar tirbar sat" and "ma ra dake bhasar ulgulan". The poem daibi ra maar is just a real depiction of the current corona pandemic. This poet has narrated despite all the advancement in science and technology how human beings are helpless if they work against the law of nature. In the poetry "maar dake bhasar ulgulan" is a compelling poem where Prashant is shouting all the writers and poets to give a thought on the current plight of his mother land.

Prasanta Kumar Meher was born to a Bhulia Meher family at village Jamla of Padampur block of Bargarh district. His father Sh. Uddhav Meher is a marginal farmer and was cultivating paddy, pulses and all other seasonal vegetables in the agricultural field that he inherited from the family. In this drought prone area where a majority of population are illiterates his father had a rare enterprising aptitude. Due to such skills instead of abiding to their community vocation of weaving Sambalpuri ikat handloom textiles, he ventured out to do civil construction jobs. And yes he able to sustain in his business without even acquiring any civil engineering degrees.

When Prasanta reached the age of six years his father made his admission in the primary school of his village Jamla that is run by the state government. Prasanta recounts his school did not have the basic infrastructure. In the classroom they were not having the wooden tables and benches. All the children used to sit on the floor. He recalls the roof of their primary school had terracotta tiles called khapar in Odia. Every monsoon while it was raining, water used to leak inside the classroom. Their classroom used to be poorly lit as they did not have the electric lights. They were managing with whatever sunlight that was entering through the windows.

As a kid Prasanta was observing from a close quarter how hard his father was working to rear his family. His father happens to be a beam of light in the life of Prasanta. In the year 2000 even without attending any private tutorials Prasanta passed 10th altogether with a First Division. It was not only a first of its kind academic achievement in his family, but altogether for the Bhulia community of his village Jamla. He took admission in +2(i.e. 12th) Science at Anchal College, Padampur. But he discontinued his studies after attending college for almost ten months.

While following the established rule of his community his father wanted to engage Prasanta in his own vocation of farming and trading of paddy and mahul flowers with which country liquor is made. In a span of just eight months Prasanta earned almost 2 to 3 lakhs at such a young age. It instilled enough confidence in him that he can sustain in any given circumstances of his life. But the mind of Prasanta was ever wondering. He was thinking of what use passing 10th board exams with First Division? Was it for tilling their farm land, sowing the seeds, harvesting the crop, taking cows for grazing the grass or milking the cows? Prasanta thought to study further and to work in any big company in a metropolitan city in order to live a glorious life.

It was the year 2003 Prasanta asked for 3,000 INR to his father and boarded the train for New Delhi. His friend Loknath Bhoi came to receive him at Nizamudhin Railway station. He stayed at Shakti Nagar along with two of his friends. He took admission in humanity subject at Nanakpura College, Moti Bagh. He had no money to fill his hungry stomach, so thought of doing a part time job. Every evening instead of roaming or running after any pretty girls on the streets of East Delhi Prasanta worked as a tele caller. Since the incentives were solely based on the sales performance, it was not enough to sustain in an expensive city like Delhi. So in the weekends as well he was working for whole days so as to earn extra bucks. For an academic course duration of 2 years Prasanta took as much as 5 years to complete and finally in the year 2005 he passed 12th.

By submitting his 12th pass certificate Prasanta took admission in B.Tech at Indian Institute of Management and Technology(IIMT). While doing the part time job that lad pursued graduation and finally after four years he acquired the B.Tech degree in computer science. Then it was the year 2008 and the Indian economy was in the slumber. There were no avenues for a fresher like Prasanta to work. After a couple of months he got a job with Samsung as a network engineer. Though the name was big but the job was contractual. On the other hand the salary was a meagre 5,000 INR a month. Only after two years he got a better offer at Barco, where he worked for long 5 years.

While working there at New Delhi he always kept his eyes and heart open for the wellbeing of his fellow citizens especially those who hail from western parts of Odisha. Prasanta had helped financially to many poor patients who were going to New Delhi for getting advance and critical health treatments which are otherwise not available here at VIMSAR, Burla. He used to physically present while admitting the patients in the hospital. But in case the patient was financially strong this fellow instead of forwarding money was just giving moral strength by saying all is going to be well to the family members of the patient.

He recalls helping two persons who have undergone heart valve replacement. While Prasanta financially helped one who was from his own Bhulia community. But on the second case he did not forward any financial help since he was a Marwadi and was self-sufficient.

Yet there was a kid of around 5 years who was taken to AIIMS, New Delhi from Paikmal of Bargarh district for a heart valve replacement. Prasanta helped the family and as a result the kid survived and is now healthy and attending school.

On the other hand there was a 63 years old leukaemia(blood cancer) patient from Kermelibahal, Melchamunda whom Prasanta attended. Unfortunately he was unable to recover and finally succumbed to death after long two years of suffering.

It was the year 2016 when Prashanta got a breakthrough in his career. He got recruited by IBM. Then it happens to be world’s 2nd most valued company in the list of Fortune 500 magazine. Prasanta caught a flight from IGI Airport and flew for 2000 kms. On landing at Dubai he discovered a different world altogether. The attire and lifestyle of those people are different from what either Oriyas or Indians wear. He became a virtualisation consultant in cloud computing. At present Prasanta is working with DXC Technology which is the world's leading independent, end-to-end IT services and solution provider.

It is important to review the academic and career graph of his life. As early as at 13 years of age there seen early signs Prasanta undertaking leadership positions. In his high school he was the class monitor and was ensuring all his batch mates in the classroom should observe discipline. In the school he was taking the overall charge to conduct Ma Saraswati Puja and Ganesh Chaturthi in the school. He was collecting the fee from each student of the school; buying the idols; decorating the place of worship with sarees and flowers and finally immersing the idols in the pond. Likewise off the school campus every year he was actively participating with the elders of his community while celebrating Gangadhar Jayanti on the day of Srabana Purnima.

Prasanta has got a presence beyond his office premises. Thousands of people across India and three continents recognise him for the cause he stands for. Prasanta is one of the founding members of Juhar Parivar, New Delhi. It is the association of Sambalpuri people residing at New Delhi. This community stands united for the culture and language of Western Odisha comprising nine districts namely Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Sundargarh, Bargarh, Balangir, Sonepur, Nuapada and Kalahandi.

It was in the year 2006 the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University who hails from western parts of Odisha started celebrating Nuakhai in the JNU Campus itself. But in the year 2010 some like minded people of western parts of Odisha made an association to celebrate the festival of Nuakhai collectively. Nuakhai is the major agricultural festival which is celebrated in western parts of Odisha to earmark the harvesting of paddy crop. But it was only in the year 2015 Juhar Parivar, New Delhi has been registered as a society of which Prasanta Meher was one of the founding member.

In the winter of 2017 they celebrated Pushpuni festival as well. In that event they invited our Sambalpuri poet Haldhar Nag as the Chief Guest. The following day at the Indian Consulate of UAE poet Haldhar Nag released the book Matir Surta. It’s an anthology of Sambalpuri poems that were written by our self-evolved Sambalpuri poet Prasanta Meher. But in next two years Prasanta released yet another book titled “Matir Mahak” by compiling his new set of Sambalpuri poems that he wrote. And this time it was on one of the biggest platforms of Sambalpuri culture i.e. none other than Nuakhai Bhetghat, Bangalore.

It is essential to know about the antecedents of Prashant Meher. His maternal grandfather is octogenarian social reformist of the Dahita village Shri Budhadeb Meher. And this grandson endowed some humanitarian values from his grandfather.