Suchandra Banerjee was born in 1939 to Tapogopal and Usha Mukherjee. After she got married to an Army officer in 1958, she made her husband's family and the Indian Armed Forces' family her own. She moved with her husband from city to city, ending in Lutyen's Delhi when her husband, late Lt. General Ashish Banerjee PVSM, served as the Director-General of the National Cadet Corps. Known as a person of great spirit and generosity, she has helped several people, outside her family, whose start in life was disadvantaged. She nurtures a large extended family and contributes to endeavours and institutions serving to uplift communities and the arts. She lives in Noida in the home she retired to with her late husband.
Editor's note: Leena Brown, Suchandra Banerjee's daughter, submitted this story.
Sadhon Gopal, the second son of Surobala and Rai Bahadur Pran Gopal Mukherjee (click here for a story about his life) was my father's younger brother. He lived with his grandmother and brothers in the family ancestral home in Krishnanagar for stability of schooling as their father had a transferable government job.
He was inspired to join the Army in World War I. Sadhon Gopal went to a recruiting camp to volunteer for the war without telling the family, as he did not want to be stopped in what he considered to be his path of duty. In those days since births were not routinely registered, he put down a fictitious number to meet the required minimum age.
He was rejected due to his poor physique.
