Biju babu never flew a fighter aircraft, he was a transport pilot. But, even as a transport pilot, he possibly saved many more lives than he would have as a fighter pilot.
When a journalist asked Biju babu on his 79th birthday about the sort of death he wished for, he had replied, "I would like to die in an air crash rather than from prolonged illness. I would like to die instantly-just fall down and die". Such was the man a true daredevil who did not want to die idle.
An agreement was signed between India's Intelligence Bureau, America's Central Intelligence Agency and the Chu Shi Gandruk. Biju Patnaik met the Dalai Lama, as Nehru's emissary, and convinced him to give his tacit support.
Biju Babu's first spell as a Chief Minister lasted just 27 months; in spite of his short stint, he left an indelible mark in the history of emergent Odisha.
Biju Patnaik had to pay a bitter price for this venture, just three months later. On 29th July, the Dutch shot down one of his Dakotas bearing Call Number VT-CLA, killing seven crewmen and a senior Indonesian military official. Years later, President Suharto conferred on Biju Patnaik the State honour of Bhumiputra.
Both Chavan and Shastri apprised Biju Patnaik of the threat from Indonesia, and how the battle plans would go awry if the Andamans front was opened. Chavan offered him an IAF aircraft, but Biju Patnaik insisted that he would go on his own.
When he was questioned by the Press on his further role in Defence matters, Biju quipped that he was the Chief Minister of Odisha, but his services for the Nation were always available.
Anil Dhir was born in 1962 in Cuttack, India. After schooling from Stewart School, Bhubaneswar, he graduated in English Literature and enrolled at the Utkal University where for the next eight years he gathered three masters' degrees. He meanwhile also underwent flying training at the Bhubaneswar Flying Club for his Private Pilot's License.
He has over the years travelled extensively all over the country, mostly off the beaten track. He is a Member of the Governing Council of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) and is the Convener of its Bhubaneswar Chapter. He has undertaken many important projects which include the Documentation of the Monuments of the Old Jagannatha Sadaka, The Monuments of the Prachi Valley and the Documentation of the Heritage of the Mahanadi Valley.
Dhir has done extensive research on the Indian National Army and has visited the North East and documented all the battle zones of the INA. Anil has also produced and directed an award winning documentary "The Last Post". He is a Fellow of the Philatelic Congress of India and has written a dozen books.
Anil Dhir's book on the legendary Biju Patnaik is an example of a passionate and charmed admirer delving into the life of his hero with painstaking research and presenting before his readers an invaluable document, the like of which I have not come across on Biju Babu. The book is not a comprehensive biography on Biju Patnaik but it depicts what Nehru called the Indian Buccaneer's life of daredevilry, spirit of adventure and restless quest for achievement for his country India in general and Odisha in particular.
In dealing with certain aspects of Biju Babu's life, one cannot be carried away by sweeping generalisations as armchair writers tend to do. Anil Dhir has done extensive study, deep research and by distinguishing the chaff from the grain has come out with a bewildering array of facts that makes 'The Tall Man', taller still. Every article of this book reflects the integrity and desire of the author to portray his hero in proper perspective. Unlike other books where the theme is Biju-centric, the author has covered a much larger canvass and in the process has not hesitate to mention the mistakes and missteps of Biju Babu which is very much in line with the books written on Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and Subhas Bose. Anil Dhir has taken the lid off the myth of Biju Babu and yet has painted a man unparalleled in many ways in the Indian political panorama.
Writers till date have romanticised Biju babu's aviation skill by describing spectacular events mostly out of enthusiasm which the author has demystified and put in proper perspective and after all that Biju Babu remains Aviator extraordinary. Many other aspects of this dynamic and restless personality are either not known or augment the security infrastructure after the China debacle, his contribution to promotion of science, his role at the national level in the fields of defence, external affairs, interstate relations were to say the least notable which this book depicts with remarkable clarity.
The chapter of Tibetan phantoms is breath taking. Started with a code name E22, a guerrilla setup with recruits from among the Tibetan refugees, it later became the Special Frontier Force (SSF). There were many more like the Aviation Research Centre with a major base in Charbatia. My first deputation to Government of India was to one of these organisations little knowing the role of Biju Patnaik and played in their creation. Years later in his second term as Chief Minister when I was speaking in an IPS Officers Meeting, Biju Babu stopped me with a lighter banter saying 'Tripathy is trying to teach me' and then went down the memory lane with visible nostalgia narrating his days after Kamraj Plan in a room adjoining Nehru's and planning the new look security set up with the then IB Director B.N. Mullik and Union Home Secretary L.P. Singh, both old timers of the Bihar and Orissa cadre.
Each article of this book is a piece de resistance leading the reader to new and newer pastures in the many splendored life of Biju Patnaik. Nehru's Indian Buccaneer got the most fitting tribute in his death from the staunchest political rival J.B. Patnaik, then Chief Minister who said- Biju Patnaik was the eagle of the storm.
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