A Messiah In The Disguise Of A Scientist

Science and literature, though a lethal combination, makes this man stand out of the crowd. A simple linen dhoti with a shawl around his neck, Satish Chandra Dasgupta was man who never chose the normal road but preferred walking through a forest.

Satish Chandra Dasgupta: Man on a mission; Source: Naukri Nama

Our universe is damn big. Consisting of trillions of living things ranging from animals, birds, trees, and many more, we, the homo sapiens, form an extremely small part of it. Somehow, the leash of control is in our hands. It is perhaps because of that extremely complicated structure present inside of our skull or even more complicated scientific bent of the heart (not mind). We have the power to reach the moon, meet Mars, melt icebergs of Antarctica, control Mother nature and whatnot.

Yet we live on a small planet that revolves around the sun and spirals around a massive galaxy of hundreds of billions of stars. Even after being the smallest of creatures, we stand at the topmost position of the world. All of this becomes possible only because of those people with white coats who work in the laboratories day and night to bring about a revolution in the world. These people are termed, scientists.

With brimming curiosity in their heart and scientific bent of mind, scientists are certainly an interesting breed of people. Creative, adventurous, critical, and pragmatic are certain qualities that define this species. The constant nag to find the truth and satisfy the hunger of curiosity leads them on a road far from the normality of daily life.

One such man who though did not work within the confines of laboratories, brought a huge change in the grassroots levels of society. From working for the success of the farmers to making Gandhi’s Khadi movement successful, Satish Chandra Dasgupta proved that despite hailing from a poor background, his financial conditions or lack of proper education could not stop him from achieving what he wanted.

Born and brought up in Bengal, Satish belonged to a poor family. Even the basic luxuries of life were a far-sighted dream for him. Nevertheless, those tough times made him even stronger. After a lot of hard work and dedication, Dasgupta was finally able to complete his Master’s degree in Chemistry at Presidency College in Calcutta.

After completing his studies, Satish went on to work in the Bengal Chemical Works Laboratory that was pretty much a public lab for all the chemistry students. Das’s work was closely looked upon by Acharya P.C. Roy who later gave him the job of factory superintendent in the Bengal Chemical Works Factory.

Glad at the opportunity for getting a job, Dasgupta worked pretty hard to make the organization successful. Working day and night in the labs, he came up with some of the amazing inventions one could never imagine, during those days. Satish developed some medicinal products such as strychnine and caffeine which later became so famous that along with domestic use, these items were also sent to other countries.

Dasgupta was a master of all trades. Apart from working in the labs, his precision was unmatched in the factory, the forge, and the carpenter workshop. It was as if he had ten hands, specially built for doing a variety of jobs. One of his most innovative inventions was the Fire King, an extremely efficient fire extinguisher.

After working with the Bengal Chemicals for several years, the call of nationalism by Mahatma Gandhi led him to join the national service. Despite a lot of requests by the directors not to abandon the factory, Satish snuck out at night and left his workplace forever to join the call of duty.

Donating his entire savings of several lakh rupees, Dasgupta gave himself to the cause of serving his motherland. He was given charge of the Wardha Institute for Research in Village Industries. The incredible magic in his hands turned Gandhi’s charkha into a more improvised version and he also made a ghani used to crush oil with a simple yet effective mechanism. If this was not enough to show his incredible talent, Satish went on to bring forth more effective and cheaper ways of making paper from bamboo pulp.

After India got her much-awaited freedom, Dasgupta was offered posts of high offices. But a man hell-bent on serving his motherland declined this lucrative offer and continued working at Khadi Pratisthan at Sodepur. He improved the working of the mustard seed crusher and also found a more effective and economical way of manufacturing palm gur and twisted jute yarn.

Even at the ripe old age of 86, Satish did not stop striving for the welfare of the farmers. During the drought period of Bengal, he started researching soil and found various ways to increase the water retention capacity of laterite soil tapping groundwater resources and raising good crops on fallow land. Something as simple as making safety matches from bamboo sticks and hand-made paper was also an integral part of his projects.

Author of several books including Cow in India, Home and Village Doctor, and Fountain Pen Ink, Chandra proved that just because he was a scientist, it certainly did not mean that he couldn’t dance to the tunes of literature. Amidst preparations for some of his new projects, Satish Chandra Dasgupta finally made his exit towards the end of his life on December 14, 1979.

More than a sophisticated scientist working in comfortable conditions of a lab, Satish was a Messiah for the rural poor. While not expecting anything in return, he gave up everything of his, just for the sake of the betterment of his motherland.