I Lost My Father —
But He Lives in Every Leaf

A son’s gratitude. A family’s tribute. A tree for eternity.

He was the banyan tree’s shade – described perfectly, long before we understood how much we would need that shade.

The Man Who Was
Our Entire Foundation

On the 30th of March, 2026, we lost the man who held our sky up. Papa — Shri Anjani Kumar (S/o Late Shri Pratap Narayan), Retired Deputy Superintendent of Police — left us quietly, the way strong men often do: without making a scene, without asking for anyone’s pity, as if his work here was simply done. He was 73. He was a giant.

There is a Hindi word – आधार – that means foundation, support, the ground beneath your feet. That is what he was. Not just to his family, but to every person who had the fortune of knowing him. His door was never closed. His advice was never withheld. He gave of himself the way rivers give water – without accounting for it, without expecting return.

He was a man of law for decades, yes — but the deeper law he lived by was simpler: be useful, be honest, be present. In a world that constantly asks us to take, he was one of the rare ones who only knew how to give.

“He never told us to score more marks, to earn more, to become more. He simply showed us how to be human — balanced, grounded, kind. Everything else followed.”

Growing up under his roof was an education that no school could have given. He carried himself with a quiet authority — not of a man who commanded rooms, but of a man who never needed to. People listened to him because he listened first. He watched before he spoke. He understood before he judged.

A decade ago, Amit wrote a poem for Papa’s birthday — “बरगद की वो छांव हो तुम” — you are the shade of the banyan tree. None of us knew then how prophetic those childhood words were. Because that is exactly what he was. The banyan that grows so large its own branches become new roots. A tree that shelters whole generations without moving an inch.

And now the shade is gone. And we are standing in the open sun, learning – slowly, painfully – how to become the shade ourselves.

We Planted Two Trees
Where One Cannot Be Replaced

There is only one way to honour a man who was a tree — you plant trees in his name.

At the sacred confluence of Satsangnagar, Chatra Ghat, we have planted a Bargad (Banyan) and a Peepal — the two most venerated trees in our tradition — in the living memory of Papa, Shri Anjani Kumar. Both are trees he already resembled in spirit: the banyan that never stops growing roots, and the peepal under which wisdom is born.

These are not symbolic gestures. These are commitments. These trees will stand for a hundred years, giving shade to strangers, sheltering birds, cooling the earth — exactly as Papa did for those around him. He gave shade. He gave oxygen. He gave life. And now his memory will literally do the same.

Bargad and Peepal planted at Satsangnagar, Chatra Ghat — a living tribute to Shri Anjani Kumar.

Bargad and Peepal planted at Satsangnagar, Chatra Ghat — a living tribute to Shri Anjani Kumar.

पापा, आप हमेशा रहेंगे

पापा स्व. श्री अंजनी कुमार के स्मृति शेष स्वरूप
बड़ एवं पीपल वृक्षारोपण —
सत्संगनगर चतरा घाट के मुहाने पर संपन्न।

आप हमारे मार्गदर्शक थे, हमारी नींव थे, हमारी छाया थे।
आपके जाने से वो खालीपन नहीं भरेगा —
पर आपकी दी हुई सीख, आपके संस्कार, आपका प्रेम
हमारी हर साँस में जीवित है।

— शत-शत नमन —

“Papa, you were the guiding force. You still are. Every decision we make, we first ask: What would Papa think? That question is enough to set us right.”

We are deeply grateful to Sanju Bhaiya (Shri Sanjay Kumar) for so lovingly gifting these sacred saplings. In planting them for Papa, you gave us a place to come and feel close to him again. That gift has no measure.