Meeting up with the Legend

Dr.Pranjalendu Roy

On the following day the participants were called in an hour earlier than usual and were taken out into the garden for an out door session. We thought of creating a memorable moment for the life science teachers who represented some of the prestigious schools of the city by providing them a chance to meet up with Dr. Pranjalendu Roy, the retired Scientist from Calcutta. He was in the campus early morning and there were some of his old friends and enthusiastic birdwatchers from Mysore interacting with their field observations.

He is a herpetologist and specialized of frogs and snakes. Being a close associate of the legendary herpetologist Dr. Dutta of the ZSI fame. Dr. Roy had worked with the National Museum of Natural History and served in Mysore for nearly a decade between the nineties and early 2000s, before he was posted to Bhubaneswar from where he served the Regional Museum there till he retired. Like he was one of the torch bearers of building up of the Museum at Mysore along with Dr. Sethuramalingam, Dr. Roy captained the establishing of Bhubaneswar unit also.

 

Dr. Roy with teachers

His power of inquiry and the non hesitant nature in indulging with the living world had made him an excellent Naturalist of our times. He is such a field worker who excels anything from taxonomy to taxidermy.  His theoretical knowledge and logic makes him an ecologist of our time.

The teachers sat around him wonder-struck listening to his discourse on various topics. Every passing insect had a chapter of explanation with him. His narration of the mating process in dragonflies and their life cycle mesmerized the teachers. Without any comment or an iota of taunt, he brushed aside all the ignorance of the teachers and earnestly poured out information in reams. The fact that the dragonflies eat other insects and are eaten by frogs was itself astonishing to them; and accepting that, as insect larvae they take upon tadpoles was challenging.

Dr. Roy in an outdoor session

His experience of retrieving the skeleton of a wild tusker that died in a deep gorge was a breathtaking story in itself. Getting the permission to collect the specimen for the museum, physically lifting the 3 tonne animal carcass to the museum premises and cleaning the flesh…which he said the maggots did it for him! Then came another sort of beetles from out of the blue to clean up all the ligaments. The search for a thousand paper cutters required to tear up the elephantine flesh at Bhubaneswar was the first hick up. Then the empty petrol barrels required to process the huge femur bones of the gentle giant was difficult. In the era of plastic barrels finding twenty empty Petrol barrels was next to impossible and had to be brought in from Calcutta.  Then began the 'cooking- festival' of the savage-kind. The bones were boiled for days in the metal barrels to get rid of the flesh. The skull which would not fit into the barrel had to be cooked upon a huge catering vessel used during the marriages. Of course the owner of the vessels must have been wondering what great festival did the Museum have to be hiring his pots for such a long time.

Every memoir he pulled out of his undated dairy fascinated the novice teachers who had no field experience in biology what so ever. The potter’s wasp, honey bee, their communication, parasites in frogs and so many issues were touched upon in a very casual and graceful manner. An experienced teacher openly admitted the distance she had between her theoretical knowledge and actual facts in real life situation. 

He insisted that every teacher should build a small museum in the school for their children. Practical, hands on experience is the only inspiration a child could have for a strong foundation of science in him. Without strong basement of logic and spirit of inquiry no community can thrive in independence but depend on somebody who knows to apply science.