Renouncing the comforts of a secure government job and the promise of a prosperous life in the bustling city of Calcutta (Kolkata) in a newly Independent India, a young doctor travelled to a remote village in the harsh and unforgiving terrain of the mangrove-covered deltaic islands of the Sunderbans. A childhood spent in extreme hardships had instilled in him the burning desire to dedicate his life to the service of the poor of this backward and neglected...