Imphal, Aug 23: Lest We Forget : The Sangai Express will carry the stories of the heart breaks and tears of the family members of the five persons who died in the terror attack at ISKCON.
Here is the second part of our story - Dr Binodkumar

"Lord Govinda called him back to his heavenly abode on the Srikrishna Janmasthami Day amidst the Ras Lila rendition.

Good persons are short-lived and called back to the heaven by the Almighty", was the condolence message of Swami Sivachidanda Saraswati of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh to the bereaved family of Dr Binodkumar who passed away in the terror attack of August 16.Despite the fitting condolence, the bereaved family still finds it hard to be consoled by those words of the Swami.

"One extraordinary quality of late Dr Binodkumar was his inexhaustible energy to organise camps and workshops for promotion of moral and physical health of youths" noted Ibetombi, widow of Binodkumar.

Besides being a devout Gandhian, Dr Binodkumar spent all his life for the cause of youth's welfare and promotion of spiritualism among the youths.

In the morning of the fateful day of Janmasthami, he attended one last meeting for observation of International Peace Day which falls on September 21 at Imphal under the aegis of the Manipur Peace Committee.

Dr Binodkumar was the general secretary of Manipur Peace Committee.

Ibetombi, an Assistant Professor of Gynae Department, RIMS, recalled that on the afternoon of August 16 before the cruel hand of terrorism struck its cruel blow on the peace-loving family, they offered prayers to Lord Krishna at ISKCON temple quite oblivious to what lied ahead of them.

The heart broken widow said, "Although we have no issue, he showered his love to all children alike and I have been his keen follower with all my heart".

To the perpetrators of such a heartless act, she only said, "That is too much and unpardonable".

Dr Binodkumar (70) used to wear only khadi clothes and was a pure vegetarian.

He worked in the Naturopathy Hospital, Kolkata for some years but he could not concentrate on his work there as he was always concerned with the welfare of youths back home.

Overcome by his intention to work for the youths, he left his work at Kolkata and became an activists for the cause of youths in Manipur, remembered the shattered widow.

His dedication towards promotion of peace in today's violent and restless world can be confirmed from his active association with several organisations including the Gandhi Gram Rural Institute, Didingul, Manipur Sarvadaya Mitra Mandal, National Youths Organisation, South Asia Fraternity, World Conference on Religion and Peace, Manipur Unit, Centre for Gandhian Studies, Manipur University etc.

Not only that, he had been to several international peace and spiritual conferences with the message of peace in the USA, Australia, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sri Lanka, Nepal etc, said the widow of the terror victim.

She informed that in honour of her peace loving husband's concept of oneness in religion Sabadharma Sadhana a prayer session of all religions would be held one day ahead of the saradha ceremony.