Antaryami is from Sainik School in Bubhaneshwar. He hailed from a village in Odisha. His amazing physical abilities and handsome face were fit to be sculpted. Juliet squadron mates fondly called him 'Junglee', He was literally effortless in his hand-springs. He could kick a football from the goal post to almost the other end of the field, a gifted poet and an artist, and did the NDA Art Club proud with his original and stunning abstract paintings and sketches - a sample of which is attached herewith.

He was widely read who introduced Rajaram to reading Rabindranath Tagore and the famous Greek author - Nikos Kazantzakis in the NDA. He could perceive the beauty of nature as only an artist could and frequently used to point out the beautiful silhouettes of trees and such in the twilight. He used to share with Rajaram the fascinating stories of his village in Odisha. He also seemed to be living in a different world altogether where only poets and dreamers lived and used to spend his full term's allowance in one liberty buying books and eating a good meal. He was generous in giving a big chunk of the money to anyone whom he felt was needy- he didn't care much for money. After the term break, Rajaram once saw his badly calloused palms and asked him about it; he told Rajaram that his palms were injured due to catfish stings, which he used to catch with his bare hands in the slushy bottoms of the ponds in his village; you either catch them, or you don't eat for the day- stings or no stings.

Antaryami was an enigma in NDA, to say the least - one that no one could really fathom, much less understand. True to his name, he was mesmerising in many ways. While in NDA, during the zenith of our physical abilities, the only competition LM ever felt was Antaryami Pradhan, who would nonchalantly walk out of his Sqn rear door and do a couple of backflips in the 3rd Bn quadrangle, while others struggled with the PT ustad to master that flip. In IMA, they were in same Bn, AP in Naushera & LM in Meiktila, but on the same stretch of road. Sundays would bring out AP sitting & sketching or just sitting idle, thinking - like the famous sculpture - Rodin's Dante The Thinker, while other GCs would be rushing to Doon town on liberty.

AP was commissioned into 2/11 GR. Later LM was also posted to 2/11 GR, as the 2nd In Command when in Bimbar Gali (J&K). During dinners, while they took their seats, there was a set of dark, sturdy dining table and black dining chairs. This LM felt that this was unusually different from standard designs of a dining furniture set. Then it struck him that the PMC's chair where he sat, would've been Antaryami's, if destiny was different; and that the dining furniture ought to be his design, or idea at some point, while in the unit. Artistic creativity was also a field where LM always felt AP's concepts to be far beyond and always envied, him even now.

He was truly an Antaryami, in thought and deeds. He is somewhere still, mesmerising us all. He passed away due to an Illness in 2007 and is survived by his lady wife Saibala in Bhubhaneshwar.

Penned with inputs from Rajaram and Manongba Lourembam (LM).

🙏May his soul rest in peace🙏