By Anjan Kr Chatterjee

Former Addl. Director General Geological Survey of India

E-mail: anjanc2009@gmail.com

Dr. A. G. Bhusari hailed from Shendurjuna Bazar village, near Tiwsa on N.H. 6, of Amravati district. His father was a popular medical practitioner there. Completing his B.Sc. with a Rai Bahadur J.P. Trivedi Gold Medal for the highest score in Geology, he did his M.Sc. with a first class standing first in merit, and joined as Lecturer in the University Department of Geology, Nagpur in 1959. By 1965, he did his Ph.D. in Petroleum Geology at the Institute of Petroleum and Chemistry, Baku, then in U.S.S.R. He learnt Russian during his stay and attained perfection and proficiency to speak and write in the language. The Chairman, USSR (then undivided) Academy of Sciences, paid a visit to our Geology Department at Nagpur University, in the late 1970’s. As an alumnus has recalled, Dr. Bhusari also stood on the dais and translated his speech instantly into English, also earning praises from the visiting dignitary.

He was my teacher right from my B.Sc. (Intermediate) till my M.Sc. (Tech.) Applied Geology Final and taught sedimentary geology and sedimentary petrology, mineralogy, crystallography, coal geology and coal petrology to my batch during our college years. Apart from his grasp of the subject, his memory was razor sharp. He always updated his scholarly traits with the latest findings and research papers at the national and international levels for teaching. Bhusari Sir as he was fondly known as was revered liked and endeared by his students who all still cherish his fond memories, especially during field study excursions. During our post graduation years, we would go to either North or South India for our field excursions. Dr. Bhusari would be at his wittiest best and would crack jokes, with all the students encircling him. Dr. Bhusari’s face would be expressionless while cracking jokes, but these triggered uncontrollable laughter from students.

His signature black Jawa, MHN 7448 was bought by him brand new, in 1967 that he used till the 1990’s. He was very regular in attending the Gondwana Geological Society (GGS) council meetings. In 2018, he was conferred with the status of permanent invitee to the GGS executive council. Dr. Bhusari was a Treasurer of the GGS for many, many successive terms although many Council members changed. He treated all students alike irrespective of their caste, creed, and religion. His greatest quality was that he never disliked anyone, be it the faculty member, non-teaching staff or students. The flooding of Whats App groups with condolence messages from near and far was unending, since his passing away on 27th January 2024 at the age of 88, after a brief illness. Concluding, I must say that they don’t make anyone like that anymore! His wife had recently predeceased him. Our prayers are with his bereaved daughter, two sons (all doctors) and his grandchildren.