Notes on the book...

In the early 1960's this small book was written by A. K. Sanyal (Pranab) about Baba's life. The language Pranab uses may seem somewhat odd, but to me, on my first visit to West Bengal, it was filled with mystery and amazement. First of all Pranab writes in the first person as if it were Baba speaking. Secondly, English was a second or third language to him and clearly had to make heavy use of the Bengali-English dictionaries which, even today are often vague and confused. A given English word will have many meanings listed. But even though it takes a while to get used to the strange style, the book gives us a peek into the unusual story of Baba's life. Even today it remains the only book ever published about Baba. Now, thirty-five years after it was written, we are happy that it can be offered to everyone, as it was meant to be.

Pranab's autograph on an old copy of Thakur