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Both my wife and I knew Professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy in different capacities and we both agreed he was a wonderful person. Charismatic, warm, ruggedly handsome, easy to talk with, he was someone we saw almost daily, especially as Anindita occupied the room above the warden flat at Ganga Hostel and I shared Kirorimal college and AISF affiliations with him.

We often noticed him carrying sleepy little Archit in, talking patiently to Ayesha, walking in with groceries or playing with the kids. We ran into Anu (Anuradha Chenoy) and him and their lovely family ever so often, both of us unconsciously absorbing the template and wishing for a family just like this. We were reminded of their example years later as Anindita occupied the warden’s flat at a Delhi University hostel and our children were exactly the same age as Ayesha and Archit. 

Come the summer of 1991, we were looking forward to our high-altitude field trip as part of our training at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development (CSRD), at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Usually this meant a month-long trek to glacial landscapes in Ladakh, but that year, due to trouble in Ladakh our trip was planned to the Pangi valley in Himachal Pradesh instead. The route involved continuous trekking from Dalhousie, to Khajiar, Chamba, Bhramour, Cherry Bungalow along the course of the gushing Chandrabhaga and across the just opened snow clad Saach pass towards Jispa and Keylong in the Pangi valley. 

Many of us had never been to the mountains before, or seen snow, so we were really excited. And Kamal Mitra Chenoy, one of the coolest teachers in JNU, would be accompanying us along with Professor Harjit Singh.

As the field trip commenced and we trekked upwards, pitching our tents in forests or occupying dilapidated govt daak bunglows along the route, Kamal quickly became everybody’s heartthrob and go-to person. He carried his own rucksack, never asserted his seniority, was game for a round of ghost stories, joined us at the bonfire and livened conversations with his infectious humour, rocking his check shirts with elan. He listened patiently and sorted out our logistical squabbles, helped us pitch our tents, directed the cooks and effortlessly became a part of the group.  

As the route got........

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