My Encounter with the Genius...

The 96th birth anniversary of Satyajit Ray, the God of Cinema passed by on 2nd May 2017. He was born on 2 May 1921 and died on 23 Apr 1992. I lived in 1c Lake Temple Road, Ballygunge, Calcutta between 1967-69 as a child, since my father was working at FCI which had an office in Calcutta. Incidentally, the God of Cinema lived in 1E Lake Temple Road, Ballygunge during my stay in Calcutta.
My introduction to this greatest director of Indian Cinema was through my mother who saw some of his creations viz. Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne and Pratidwandi...my mother narrated the entire story of his films...and I can still recall verbatim what my mother narrated in 1969.
My accidental encounter with the God of Films took place on one Saturday when I was eating Puchkas at the Padha junction along with my sister. Every Saturday evenings, my mother used to give me rupees two for my dinner which used to be my favourite puchkas and aaloo chaat and those evenings, my mother used to take break from her everyday cooking at home. The God of films saw me enjoying my dinner ( Golgappa- puchkas ) and he came near me and presented me a bar of cadbury's chocolate which later became a habit for me...because, I used to wait for him at the same time and same place on every Saturdays when Satyajit Ray used to return from his studios and never failed to give me a chocolate. I could recognize his tall frame from a long distance..he was 6 feet 4 inches tall.
But, I could finally watch all his movies and his plays only after his demise in 1992 when I saw his movies and plays on a daily basis which used to be telecast at 11 pm on Doordarshan. I saw all his movies and his plays along with a commanding officer Col AK Pal, who was commanding 325 Field Ambulance at Naushera, J&k those days. We both loved him and didn't miss a single movie and play of his, which were aired on Doordarshan. And yes, we both were interested in analysis and review of all his creations which were shown, courtesy Doordarshan.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded him an Honorary Academy Award. Satyajit Ray is the first and the only Indian, yet, to receive the honor. Twenty-four days before his death, Ray accepted the award in a gravely ill condition, calling it the "Best achievement of his movie-making career."..Col Pendyala Pradeep