Madhusudan_Das
Madhusudan_Das
Madhusudan_Das
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34 <strong>Madhusudan</strong> <strong>Das</strong> :<br />
of marvellous craftsmanship of the silversmiths of Cuttack than a shop.<br />
His imagination worked marvels and it was he who brought out teapots<br />
out of cocoanut shells and shoes of pure bark of tree without any<br />
leather.<br />
Coming to think of him two traits of his character stand out<br />
very prominent. The first was his intense regard for his mother. Even<br />
in his old age whenever he would speak of his mother his eyes would<br />
indicate his feelings. Again and again did he allude that it was his<br />
mother who taught him the rudiments of high personal character. How<br />
many times on the platform I have heard him say that it was his<br />
mother who taught him "Apana Mahattva Apne Rakha". That is, keep<br />
up your own prestige yourself. The child that lisped those words on<br />
the mother's lap remembered them well and carried the torch of that<br />
lesson high throughout his career. It is this spirit that bred in him<br />
an optimism that recognised no defeat. He had known many phases<br />
of life. He had tasted poverty after being rich. But he never murmured<br />
and he never lost hope. Never did he lose sense of dignity and prestige.<br />
Throughout his chequered career he never forgot the lesson imbibed<br />
from his mother.<br />
The second trait was his love and regard for the poor. His was<br />
an open house and in his usual evening walks by the side of the<br />
Mahanadi he would often pick up some rustic and talk with him as<br />
a brother. He always used to say that the statesman's real work is<br />
amongst the poor and as a Minister he tried to carry some of his<br />
ideas into fruition.<br />
It is heedless to report that his work as the Father of the Orissa<br />
Nationalism has been recognised well. It was his cherished dream to<br />
bring all the Oriya speaking tracts into one administrative unit and<br />
he plodded laboriously for this end. He was a keen journalist and<br />
it was a well-known fact that the now defunct "The Star of Utkal",<br />
the triweekly newspaper of the late Khirod Chandra Ray Chaudhury,<br />
derived contributions and editorials from him often. After "The Star<br />
of Utkal " had set, he edited "The Oriya" for some time. He could<br />
write brilliantly and there was a note of suave witticism when he was<br />
scathing in his remarks. As a speaker he could stand out as one of<br />
the best dozen speakers of India. A keen educationist he was ; he<br />
always used to say that education and agitation were the two media<br />
through which a statesman should work.