Bimal Singha (born 16 Oct. 1948) was more or less a “midnight’s child’. Rupashpur, his birthplace is a tiny village stuck between the Indo-Bangladesh (formerly Indo- Pak) border and Kamalpur. India had gained independence amidst communal riots and partition. Kamalpur, a frontier town had witnessed the worst of partition and was struggling to survive the trauma of the great shake. His father was a struggling government contractor. Thanks to his father’s whimsical nature, Bimal Singha saw penury and destitution at close quarters and an early encounter with privation and helpless suffering shaped up the course of his life. A little more light on his father may be shed for a more detailed understanding of the elements that joined together to make Bimal Singha. His father Laxmi Singha was virtually called Pagala Laxmi for his unpredictable nature and daredevilry. He was in the pre-independence British Royal Air Force. Somehow, he left that job, took a forest department job in Tripura, left that too and began working as a government contractor. His peers remember him as the best long jumper, best kabaddi player and the most energetic man who was a natural leader in the peer group. Some remember Pagala Laxmi after leaving the Air force job vexing people with a motorcycle, a rare thing in those days. He, they say, would ride the two-wheeler across perched rice fields during the dry days and would sometimes knock down bamboo fences that came in his way. One incident would illustrate Laxmi Singha best. Once when he was working as a government contractor, he had to do some logging job in the forest. One day, his labourers reported that forest officials had stopped their work saying there was no permission for felling those trees. The labourers had a close shave. He went to the spot, found the forest official there asked for a permission to be made for which he would pay the necessary fine. The official made the papers and handed them to Laxmi. Laxmi put the papers in his pocket and then simply mounted his bicycle and rode away without paying the fine. Never once did he turn his head to pay heed to the yelling official. The official howled and wailed after him, but to no avail. The petty official hadn’t the guts to take any action against the devilish man.