The little bottle of water clasped in his hand, had over the years become an intrinsic part of the great speaker’s oration, the imposing image of a smiling Dr. K.P.Misra holding the little resource in hand after quenching his thirst was hence a very familiar sight for the audience gathered at the Sri V.D.Swami Auditorium on 5th September 2014, for the 7th Dr.K.P.Misra Endowment Oration. It took them a few minutes to come to terms with the stark reality that it was not real but a framed photograph of the great teacher, a sad reminder that the acclaimed speaker would not speak anymore in the oration named in his honour. The annual event conducted to honour the world acclaimed teacher, discover and propagate the ancient glory of Utkal (Orissa) and the Bhubhaneswar temple started with the lighting of the lamp by the Chief Guest and speaker of the day eminent columnist, crusader of social causes and political analyst Shri S.Gurumurthy, Dr SS.Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya, Dr Arathi Priti Misra, wife of late Dr. Misra, eminent Nephrologist Dr. MK.Mani, a long time associate of Dr. Misra, Smt Vani Jayaram and members of the Jagannath Spiritual Educational Cultural Trust and Utkal Association of Madras. The proceedings got off with a soul stirring invocation by Srimathi Vani Jayaram followed by a warm welcome address by Shri Ravi Malhotra, Trustee, SJCET; he described Dr. S.S.Badrinath as a pillar of strength and the moving force behind the endowment oration. Introducing the award and the man in whose honour it was named Dr. S.S.Badrinath gave an interesting note on the genesis and purpose of the oration, he expressed his thanks to Dr. Arathi Priti Misra and and Shri Vivek Misra wife and son of late Dr.K.P.Misra for taking the trouble of travelling a long distance to participate in the function. He also introduced the guest of honour Dr. M.K.Mani, Chief Nephrologist, Apollo Hospitals, highlighting his towering achievements in the field of nephrology.
Speaking on his long association with Late Dr. Misra, Dr M.K Mani recalled his first meeting with the great orator in the 80’s at Junagadh, he highlighted that it was a combination of knowledge, clarity of expression and superb sense of humour that made Dr. KPM an outstanding orator, he also dwelt on his other qualities, describing him as a concerned, caring and most approachable doctor which made him immensely popular with his patients. Dr Mani described his old friend as a humanist, philosopher, ardent devotee and a duty conscious son and ended his talk with the Shakespearian quote ’The elements were so mixed in him that one day the world would get up and say ‘This was a man’.
Chief guest Shri S.Gurumurthy started his oration with a strong note that present day education in the country did not shape the youth of the nation to be good citizens or realize the greatness of their land. He made an emphatic appeal to the youth of the nation to shake off their colonial hangover and servile attitude which made them look to the west for everything. He described Dr. S.S.Badrinath as a spiritualist and role model for today’s youth. Giving the acceptance speech Dr Arati Priti Misra, wife of Dr K.P.Misra described her late husband as a Karmayogi, dedicated to the guru-sishya parampara, she gave a most touching note of Dr. K.P.Misra’s last address where he described the last part of ‘prayer’ as silence where the man and the maker are in holy union and how he never came out of this silence, the man who had believed that the best way to go for a teacher is while he was teaching, had departed silently during an address. Speaking on the occasion a highly emotional Vivek Misra, son of Dr K.P.Misra declared that the best way to pay homage to the great man’s memory would be inspiring future generations to imbibe our old values and by realizing the greatness of our nation.
This was followed by fond recollections and homage to Dr. K.P.Misra by the members of the Jagannath Spiritual Educational Cultural Trust and Utkal Association of Madras.