Meet The Trustees

Dr. Debal Sen is one of the most prolific photographers of the natural world currently working out of India. Sen who is a doctor by profession (an interventional cardiologist and insentivist) lives in the city of Kolkata. His career in photography started in the year 1964 when his father lent him a Voigtlander 120mm camera. He was then 10 years old and has been a photographer since then, a career longer than his career in medicine. Sen's abiding passion has always been the natural world and its denizens, and to him, the pursuit of this reality was in actuality a search for the miraculous. He feels fortunate to be in India as it offered him an incredible variety of topographies as well as flora and fauna. 

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The Himalayas, the Sunderbans mangroves, the forests of central India with their apex predator the royal bengal tiger, the idyllic islands of the Andaman sea and the deserts of Rajasthan offered him an infinite variety of photographic opportunities and he has spent the last 50 years photographing them. 

As the years have gone by, he found the many Edens he had once cherished gradually melting away. Deforestation, man animal conflicts and more importantly a people’s disconnection from the natural world have all contributed to the devastation of this national heritage. Sen feels that photographers in their humble efforts at depicting these vanishing Edens are also the greatest conservationists. 

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Sen's work has been widely acclaimed both in India and internationally. He has had numerous exhibitions and presentations within India and his photographs appear regularly in the nature and wildlife magazines of India. He has authored art books and has made videos featuring his photographs and writings.

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Sen's philosophical stance towards his creative work is reflected in all his photographs and writings. For him, the natural world is always magical and miraculous, something that man chooses to forget in his anthropocentricity. In his words, “Images are the keys which open the gates to the Other One.” 

A senior advocate of the Calcutta High Court having more than 30 years of practice.

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After being enrolled as an advocate in November 1992, Sen devilled in the chamber of Mr. Samaraditya Pal, a very senior advocate of the Calcutta High Court and a constitutional expert. Sen is vastly experienced in constitutional and civil matters including arbitration matters. Apart from the Calcutta High Court, he has appeared before the Supreme Court and various other high courts of the country. He has also appeared in arbitration matters both within and outside the country.

 

He has represented the Reserve Bank of India and other public sector banks including UCO Bank and Punjab National Bank. He has also represented reputed companies including Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. Ltd., Indian Aluminium Co. Ltd, Nestlé India Ltd. and its agents, Glaxo SmithKline PLC and Cavin Kare Ltd. He has appeared in several important testamentary matters and has appeared on behalf of the Birlas against the Lodhas. He is also associated with several educational institutions including St. Xavier’s University, St. Xavier’s College & Patha Bhavan School and has represented St. Xavier’s University and St. Xavier’s College in many legal matters.

Graduating from St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, Dr. Panchali Sen went on to complete her M.A. in Political Science from Calcutta University, securing a First Class. She was awarded the Ph.D. degree by Jadavpur University in 2007.

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She joined the faculty at St.Xavier’s College in 1993.A former Head of Political Science Dept. from July 2009 – June 2013, she is currently Dean, International Studies and Programmes of the College. Presently, she is also a member of Board of Studies of the Social Work department at St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata.

Sudipta Sen, currently in India as a senior Fulbright-Nehru fellow affiliated with the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, is a professor of History and Middle East/South Asia Studies at the University of California, Davis.

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He graduated from Presidency College, Calcutta, with BA (Hons) in History, followed by an MA in Modern History from Calcutta University. He earned his second MA in Social Sciences and was awarded a PhD in History, with distinction, from the University of Chicago.

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Trained as a historian of late Mughal and early British India and the British Empire, his recent work focuses on the history of the environment. Sen has taught at Beloit College, University of California, Berkeley, and Syracuse University, NY.

 

A recipient of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Award for his contribution to research and teaching at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, he was recently awarded the Sir William Jones Memorial Medal by the Asiatic Society of India for his lifetime contribution to Indian history and Asian studies. His most recent books include Ganga: The Many Pasts of a River and a co-edited volume, Terra Aqua: The Amphibious Lifeworlds of Coastal and Maritime South Asia.