Former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee’s legacy will live on forever. Even though he’s no longer with us, his simplicity, impeccable memory and academic prowess will be remembered for years to come.
After his demise, his friends and family have been revisiting their past and revealing interesting stories about him that sheds light on the kind of person he truly was. Here’s one such story.
According to NDTV, while recollecting fond memories with Pranab Da, his close friend Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay said that Pranab ji used to walk barefoot while going to a village school in West Bengal’s Birbhum district during the 1940s.
Since the village roads were generally muddy and waterlogged during the monsoon season, Pranab Da would wear a gamcha and would carry his pants in his bag and walk barefoot for 2 kms to go to school.
Mukhopadhyay, who is a professor, and Pranab were friends for nearly seven decades and they even went to the same college in 1952. That’s where the journey of their lifelong friendship began.
Mukhopadhyay does have one regret though. He couldn’t fulfil his friend’s wish to write a biography of him. In an interview he said:
A few days before he fell ill, Pranab telephoned me and said it was getting late and told me that after the coronavirus pandemic is over, he will come to Kolkata and give me three complete days to record his interview for the book, but that was not to be.
Pranab Da was someone who believed in hard work and perseverance. Before getting an LLB (Bachelor of Law) degree, he started working as a tutor as he didn’t want to take any money from his father while pursuing his degree in Kolkata.
A people’s person, and a giant in politics, that’s how we will always remember Pranab Mukherjee.