FAMILY BACKGROUND
Santanu Kumar Acharya, born on the 15th May 1933, in Calcutta ( Kolkata) where his maternal grand father, Kulamani Mishra, an Ex Military Engineer of World War 1 served the then Calcutta Corporation. Acharya’s father Ananta Charan, a reputed school teacher hails from the village Sidheswar Pur of district Cuttack, Odisha. Incidentally this historic village is the native place of the celebrated Gopal Chandra Praharaj, the famous compiler of the Oriya Purnachandra Bhashakosh ( 4 language Lexicon cum Thesaurus) of International fame.
Early Childhood
Santanu lost his mother Krushnapriya early in life, at the age of nine, in June 1942. That was a critical period of history of both at the National and International levels. On Aug 9 , 1942 the Quit India Movement started with the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi. After that the whole nation jumped onto the fray with cries of Mahatma Gandhi ki Jay ( Victory to Mahatma Gandhi). Millions of people quoted voluntary arrest by breaking law. Santanu, a little boy of 9, joined the procession shouting Mahatma Gandhi ki Jay and Subas Bose ki Jay! Santanu’s father, a village school teacher, an avowed Gandhian, was threatened for being arrested. His family got ostracized by the village elders who were land lords and supporter of the British. His childhood was also influenced with International events like World War II ( 1939-1945).In 1942 Japan attacked India in the east. War planes bombed towns near his village. The scare of the World War became more real when long convoys of heavy military vehicles, packed with armed soldiers started moving on the dusty roads passing by his native village. That was how his childhood was shaped paving the way for a different kind of consciousness to blossom forth.
Early Poetic manifestations
Mother’s death combined with the socio political uncertainty of the times caused the young boy to find solace in aloneness with Nature. That woke up his poetic sensibilities towards Nature. He began writing poetries on Nature. But very soon aesthetics turned into introspection. He began writing poetries on a metaphysical tone. As a school boy he developed the taste for trekking and cycling alone in dense forest roads. At the age of 11, he began writing serious poetries that earned him the recognition as the School Poet. Those are recently recovered from the archive and are published, under the title of Mandakini (2022) in the book form.
Education and Profession
Qualification : M.Sc ( Chemistry), Litt.D ( Hon )
He got his primary and middle school education from village schools at Kandar Pur Lower Primary School, upto class 3 (age 8) , Middle School upto class 7 at his village Siddheswar Pur ( from class 4 to 6 ) and Subarna Pur, Banki ( class 7), next got his 4 year High School Education (class 8 to 11) in Ravenshaw Collegiate School, Cuttack, the most famous education institutions of Odisha that produced National Leaders and great litterateurs and Scientists like Utkal Gourav Madhusudan Dash, Netaji Subash Ch Bose,Raibahadur Gopal Ch. Praharaj, the compiler of the world renowned 4 language lexicon cum Compendium, “Purna Chandra Bhashakosh”, Dr. Prana Krushna Parija the renowned Scientist and many more luminaries of the country and adventurous persons like Biju Patnaik who later became the Chief Minister of Odisha, after India became an Independent Sovereign country, in 1947. After passing High School in 1949 Santanu went for College Education at the State level Ravenshaw Collge Cuttack, and studied there from Intermediate Science ( I.Sc.), B.Sc ( Hons in Chemistry) to Master of Science( M.Sc) classes in Chemistry, from 1949 to 1956.
Acharya belongs to the faculty of Science, by way of qualification, with a Master’s Degree in Chemistry from the Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, under the Utkal University of Orissa.He served the Govt. of Orissa in the Dept. of Education as a college teacher and then as Senior Education Administrative Officer since 1958 to 1992 from where he retired in the post of the Registrar Of the Utkal University, in the rank of Professor. He held the posts of College Principal in various graduate and postgraduate colleges of the state and discharged meritorious service as the Deputy Director of Public Instructions (science), Orissa, during the seventies. He pioneered the International Science Education Program in India, under the aegis of the UNICEF, at the school level from 1971- 1976 that had become the foundation of modernized teaching methods of science in Odisha.
He taught in important colleges like the B.J.B.College, Bhubaneswar and Ravenshaw College, Cuttack for long years before entering into the cadre of senior educational administration. He worked as the Principal of many colleges of the state like-Karanjia College, Karanjia, Maurbhanj, S.V.M. College, Jagatsingh Pur, Rajdhani College, Bhubaneswar, and S.C.S. College, Puri before joining as the Registrar of Utkal University in 1990 from which post he retired on the 30th Jun. 1992
LITERARY CAREER
Acharya is a leading literary figure of the State and the Country and is hailed as the pioneer of the new school of fiction, in the Indian Literary epoch, in the aftermath of Independence. As a Novelist, Story Writer, Science fiction writer, Children’s Litterateur and columnist he has been amply recognized and awarded both at the State and National levels. He was awarded the National Sahitya Academy Award for short stories in the year 1993. Prior to that he received the Orissa Sahitya Academy Award, for his classic novel, Nara- Kinnara, in 1962. His contribution to Children’s literature also got National recognition, twice, in the years 1961 and 1963. However, his main body of literary works has received profound critical attention from the very start quite early, in the sixties, and is being continuously reviewed through deeper research at the higher academic levels, in the Departments of Language and Literature of post graduate studies in the Universities, with simultaneous reach and spread of his popularity amongst his ever growing number of fans.
Some classic novels and short stories of Acharya have been translated into English, Russian, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannad, Telegu, Malayalam and other Indian languages and have been published in reputed periodicals like Indian Literature [English] New Quest [English], Dharma Yug [Hindi], Sharika [Hindi], Desh [Bengali], Mayur [Kannada] etc. His stories have also been included in publications of international publishing firms like HarperCollins and Raduga Publications, Moscow, and other publishing houses of the country like the National Sahitya Academy, New Delhi, National Book Trust of India, Central Hindi Directorate and Bharatiya Jnan Pith etc. Some of his novels have also been translated into English, Hindi and Gujarati and published in Delhi and Ahmedabad [vide publication list attached]
