Brief Personal Bio

Childhood to Youth

I was born in Dhanbad, Jharkhand (erstwhile in Bihar) on 9th January 1945. My father Samarendra Basu was an Electrical Engineer from Jadavpur University, who retired as a General Manager in the Post & Telegraphs  Dept. My mother Santi Basu was a devoted home-maker, who took excellent care of me, my 4 brothers (Partha, Sukumar, Sanjay, Surya) and 1 sister (Maitrayee). After studying at Childrens' Corner, Kolkata till classs 2, I was transferred to St. Alloysius High School, Jabalpur, where my education continued till class 7. On return to Kolkata in 1958, I got admitted to  South Point High School, from where I completed the  H.S. Exams in March 1963. Presently we live in Kolkata and our permanent residence is at Chandernagore, a house built by our father. Our ancestral home was in Satkhira, Khulna.

I joined IIT Kharagpur in June 1963 for getting trained in Civil Engineering. Thus began one of the happiest but crucial periods of my life, where I had a very enjoyable 5 years till I graduated in June 1968. While in college, I took part in various extracurricular activities. I enjoyed music a lot; I played the harmonica, and performed at competition-level during the Spring Fests. I was also interested in sports - athletics, gymnastics, football, etc. - representing IIT KGP in various inter-IIT meets. I was lucky to have a great set of friends, who are one of my major sources of sustenance till today. I am an active member of IIT KGP Alumni, Kolkata Chapter.

Youth to ... well, I am still young :)

After graduation, I joined M.N. Dastur & Co. Pvt. Ltd, Kolkata as a Structural Engineer in August 1968.  where I worked for the longest duration of my professional career - a long 21 years till November 1989. I got married to Nandita Mitra (a.k.a. Jhilly) of Bhowanipur in August 1970. She was the daughter of Satyaprasanna and Monica Mitra. She is a graduate in English (Hons.) from Calcutta University, with additional proficiency in French. In the following 6 years, we had 2 children - a daughter, Indira, in October 1971; and a son, Sugato, in March 1976. 

I was selected by the company in January 1976 to join the first team of engineers to visit Misurata, Libya for construction of  an Integrated Steel Plan of 2.29 Million Tonnes. I spent 7 out of the next 10 years at Misurata, where apart from work we were pioneers in various areas - we set up a residential campus, started an Indian Community School, organized a 'Mini-Olympic' between engineers and contractors of various international companies, conducted sports activities (for children, ladies and staff), arranged cultural activities and other  Indian festivals ( viz: Puja, Diwali), etc. My family joined me at Misurata  for 3 years, staggered during 1980, 81 and 84. We travelled extensively, to the east of Libya  to  Benghazi and Tobruk upto  the Egyptian border, and to the west till Tunisia. On the way back from Libya, we toured continental Europe twice, in 1981 and 1984. I also visited Malta during Id-Holidays in 1982.

On return from Libya, I left Dastur in November 1989 - following  which  I worked in different companies in various  positions, including Deputy General Manager at  Century Iron and Steel, General Manager (Techl.) at Birla Technical Services, etc. In 1997, me and a good friend of mine,  Siddhartha  Sen set up an  independant company for  rendering  consultancy services and named it "United Consultancy & Services (UCS)", where I was  the Managing  Partner till 2000. Thereafter, having spent  the next 5 years in  the  capacity  of a Consultant to various organisations, I am currently engaged as a  Director in Siddhartha Logistics & Co. Pvt. Ltd, Kolkata .

In the meantime, my son Sugato got married to Shalini and my daughter Indira married Ananish. My son and daughter-in-law now live in Redwood City at Silicon Valley, California and work at a research institute called SRI International (previously known as the Stanford Research Institute), while my daughter and son-in-law live in Auckland, New Zealand and are affiliated with the University of Auckland. Me and my wife spent some time each year visiting them. We recently visited NZ to see our baby grand-daughter Ishannita (Titli) and spent a very good time there; while in US we had a great time with our son and daughter-in-law, travelling to different places and meeting/chatting with some of our nephews and nieces who now live in US.

So far, my life has been very fulfilling. I have been lucky to have travelled widely across the globe to be  part of a loving and ever-growing joint family, been blessed by some great friends, and  to  have  worked hard and played hard. Let's see what the future holds for me ......... but then again: Que sara sara, whatever will be will be, the future's not ours to see, que sara...sara...what will be will be!!

By the way, I note down some thoughts once in a while on my blog site.