My closest friend Dhiren has left us 35 years ago at a very young age. He was my classmate in S.C.S. College, Puri as well as in Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, was very ambitious and was keen to do so many things for society, within the short span of his life he tried his best but unfortunately, God prevented him by taking him away at a very young age.
Dhiren was the eldest son of very influential Gopal Chandra Patnaik, of Orali in Keonjhar district. His mother Pravash Manjarai Patnaik was a relative of the famous mines giant Bansi Patnaik. His eldest sister Snehalata was married to eminent Electrical Engineer Niranjan Kishore Das, eldest son of famous freedom fighter, Jatiyakabi Bira Kishore Das, and second sister Shanti Manjarin was married to famous mining engineer Bijoy Krushna Mohanty who is well known for his contribution to the development of mines and mineral bases industries in Odisha.
Dhiren was my brother-in-law, he tied the knot with my sister Pratima Patnaik. At their wedding Smt. Gyan Patnaik (one of India’s earliest women aviators) and she was the wife of the Legendary Former Chief Minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik visited the wedding ceremony happening at my residence to bless my sister Pratima, and later on, Biju Patnaik joined the dinner at Dhiren’s house despite heavy rain and enjoyed it.
Though Dhiren was devoted to National Congress Party since his school days, he was loved by the senior leaders of all the political parties. He was very close to P.S.P. leader Banka Behari Das, Congress leader Bijoy Pani and Socialist Party leader Rabi Ray also.
Dhiren had also successfully tried his hands in the entertainment industry. He produced Arundhati with Dr. Miniati Mishra in the lead role which won National Award in 1976. His second film Bandhu Mohanty also won awards.
During the tenure of Shri Nilamani Routray as the Chief Minister, Dhiren decided to establish a women’s college in the capital city to facilitate women’s education in Bhubaneswar. He initially started the college in rented premises in the Kalpana area and subsequently shifted it to Unit-I with Rita Biswal, as the principal. Since her father, most influential I.A.S. officer Akshaya Biswal, was the Secretary to the then Chief Minister Nilamani Routray, there was no problem in getting the unused Government buildings in Unit-I to house the college which was named Kamla Nehru Women’s College.
Instead of naming the college in the name of his parents or himself, he named it in the name of the wife of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as Kamala Nehru Women’s College. During the short tenure of Chandra Prava Mohanty / Patnaik as the principal, the area of the college was extended and a good number of teak and other trees were planted on the premises.
Publishing of newspaper was his objective for which he started a publication house named Priyadarshini Publications and roped in me with him to give a boost to the publication house. With Dhiren as the Editor, we together published Khabar-Kagaj daily, Tuesday Weekly, Odisha Industry Monthly. Tuesday was the first Odia weekly printed in offset at the Trimurti Offset Printers Private Limited which had a record circulation.
Our team included Anada Prasad Ray, Bauribandhu Maharana, Soubhagya Sunder Ray, Rooplekha Ray, Jyostna Routray, Kusum Patnaik, Rosy Mishra, Prakash Satpathy, Santosh Mohanty, Jimuta Bhan Mangaraj, Anil Prasad Mishra etc.
After the sudden and sad demise of Dhiren, though his younger brother Er. Bidhan Patnaik was keen to continue the publications, his youngest brother Arun Patnaik, who was an Allied Officer (defense accounts) and very much loyal to the then Chief Minister Janaki Ballabh Patnaik wanted to hand over all assets and liabilities of the publication house to Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, who preferred to shut down all the publications and industrial unit, Priyadarshini Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., which was manufacturing Washing Soaps, Toilet Soaps, Phenyls, etc., to provide employment to the unemployed youths.