শ্রদ্ধেয় অনিরবান স্যার

Anirban Banerji

Image Courtesy: Bodhisattva Bandyopadhyay

Like every middle class kid in their undergrad, i too dreamt of going to the US, and pursue some mix of work-study setting. While i could not manage to pursue my undergraduate degree abroad given financial constraints, i was able to make it to the foreign land soon enough. During my second year of undergraduate degree, i developed a flavour for research and started actively working on research projects. This is when i got introduced to Anirban Banerji, who at that time was a postdoctoral scientist at The Battelle Centre for Mathematical Medicine, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Department of Paediatrics, The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

During our very first Skype conversation, he inspired me a great deal, and we became instant friends. He gave me a problem to solve, which was challenging enough for a graduate student to solve, and i was still an undergraduate, one year into my degree. Nevertheless, the problem did indeed help me develop a mathematical perspective of my understanding of things, while giving me a deep enough understanding of research in mathematical biology. Before i knew, i was well worsted with graph theory, complex networks, and their computational implementation. i can keep on expanding about my learnings, but this story is about Anirban, so let’s go back to him.

Anirban Banerji, as the name suggests, was a bengali, born in Kolkata, but lived in pretty much all of India, and had seen/known most of the other cultures worldwide, some in-person, some through first person accounts. He was extremely well read and informed, dedicated to doing science. Was an intensely sensitive poet, musician (guitarist and vocalist), writer, philosopher. He was a magnificent orator who could even make you believe that black is white, and vice-versa. He would do things with a child-like innocence, and you would easily believe in his wrong-doings too, which happened in the first place with his logic and thoughts (which he would convince you were right). He was a challenger of the status-quo, and helpful in all the possible ways that he could. He had his own way of doing things, and living a saintly life of minimalism, where he could just focus on his pursuits of gaining more knowledge.

The relation Anirban and i shared was a very unique one. He was like a mentor, guru, friend, guardian, and guide to me. Impressed by my work, he was the one to help me land an internship at OSU, where i could work on further mathematical constructs with him, and expand our research. The offer he got me was one which is not generally made to people in their sophomore years. He was my only trusted point of contact in the US at that time, and was the one who got me to the US. He was generous enough to offer me his place to stay, and made me promise him that i would not bring the topic of paying him rent for the apartment, as that would upset him. He helped me settle down in the foreign land, not by doing everything for me, and presenting on a platter, but rather pushing me to be independent and do my things by myself, something that i cherish as one of the most valuable advice even today.

He had a background in physics with a really strong grounding in mathematics. Any topic in math or physics, you name it and he would know it. He had some pretty exciting offers from top companies and labs, but decided to stay in academia and continue working with OSU.

We used to have never ending discussions about math, sciences, innovation, politics, etc. He would always come up with some innovative idea to apply to everyday things. During our discussions, he would never fail to surprise me with something that I never thought about or was unaware about. He was a voracious reader. He generally knew so many things, that I seemed imbecile in front of him. He would always motivate to read more and more, do more things with life, live life to the fullest, give back to the community, work for the enrichment of science, give your life wholeheartedly to science without the expectation of a return. He was so focused that he didn’t marry until 39, but was thinking of settling down in the December of 2015. He was one person, I have always admired to be like and was very fortunate to meet him.

Just 33 days past my stay in the US and with him, one night Anirban died in a silent heart attack in his sleep, without making any sound. Although in the next room, I wasn’t able to hear him. It was this incidence that shook me to the core and in that one instant I was mentally grown up. Inspired by him I became more independent and committed, and started taking things more seriously. It was these 33 days that I spent with Anirban which motivated me to explore my interests further and devote my time towards doing good science. It was these 33 days that motivated me to pursue a PhD, as it is one of the most important steps to take up challenges in science. He taught me, both in his presence and absence. The 33 days i spent with him had the most profound impact on my thinking, my decisions, my career path, my surroundings, my everything. If he was reading this, he would have certainly pointed out to the bad structuring of this writing, and would have asked me to make changes.

Today, August 12th, 2019, marks the 4th death anniversary of Anirban. Though he is not present in a physical form with us, his memories, his legacy, his thoughts, his conversations, and his sudden appearance in certain form, both kids and old, keep me, his family, his friends, and his acquaintances running, and do things to the best of their ability in his honour. He lives in our thoughts, and his thinking has somewhat motivated people around him to function like him, in whatever little way possible. He is deeply missed.