He doubled up as mother after wife died

VADODARA: She had lost her mother when she was just eight years old. But Kasturi Banerjee has remained a top ranker throughout her life.
The Vadodara girl had left her mark at the national level in company secretaries (CS) exam by securing the all-India 11th rank. She gives credit for all her achievements to her father, Biswarup Banerjee.
“After we lost our mother, my father faced immense pressure from our extended family to get re-married,” said Kasturi, who last year had registered a hat-trick of sorts by maintaining her position as the city topper in the CS exams of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.“But he preferred to raise his two daughters as a single parent. He doubled up as mother,” she said.
“Thanks to my father I know how to cook and can live independently in a metro like Mumbai to finish my articleship,” said Kasturi, adding that it was her father who helped them excel in academics as well as in culinary arts.
While Kasturi is finishing her articleship, her elder sister Kuheli, who worked at Homi Bhabha Cancer Institute in New Delhi after earning a master’s in biochemistry from MS University, is pursuing a PhD programme in Germany. Their mother died of jaundice at the age of 38. Kuheli was 13 years old then.
“My only aim was to make my daughters self-sufficient. I did not know how to cook, I learnt that and now I can claim to be a good cook,” said Banerjee, 60. “From the beginning, I wanted my daughters to be independent so that whether they get married or not, they don’t have to be dependent on anyone,” he said. He moved to Vadodara from Surat for his daughters who were studying at MSU.
Banerjee is happy he has two daughters. “If I had a son, it would have been difficult to keep a watch on him and his movements, especially when you are a single parent,” he said.