Today, Sri Sitanand Jha, known as Community Architect of the village Sijoul where he was born to Mr and Mrs Shobha Kant Jha on 4 January, 1934, the year Bihar-Nepal witnessed a high intensity of an earthquake, is no more in flesh and blood but his works and good deeds are there to live by.
Villagers sing his praises, holding his deeds in high esteem. In a true sense, he was more than a human being I have ever come across.
Sowing the seeds of education in the village, he wanted to ensure that every child should go to school, that is, he meant, a ladder to social change and individual growth. In his endeavour in this regard, throughout his life, he struggled to work to make an ideal village where the interest of every individual was fairly safeguarded, prosperity was ensured. Remarkably, he always goaded youth to follow the righteous path and self-economic independence.
When it came to inculcating moral values into children’s minds, he was very strict, though he was soft at heart. He worked towards individual economic freedom. His name in the annals of the making of modern Sijoul falling in the district of Madhubani of Bihar will be well recorded in golden letters and he will also be a source of inspiration to all, even the generation to come.
He was a man of ideals, moral ethos and the epitome of courage. One of the chief qualities that he embodied included arranging weddings as a social responsibility.
Being a devotee of Lord Ram, he enchanted couplets from the Ramayana very religiously. He played a very instrumental role in installing Lord Rama idol and making a temple for the same in the village where devotees throng. Creating the best possible village community life and living a life of togetherness and bonding were always his efforts.
Alas! He would have been all immunised to keep the Covid-19 at bay.
Leaving behind a vast family to mourn his death, on 22 April, 2021, he breathed his last on the bank of the Yamuna, New Delhi, where he had been staying with his sons on his last leg of life. He is survived by his wife Bachi Devi, eldest Son Shiv Chandra Jha; middle one Umesh Chandra and the youngest one Binay Chandra Jha and three daughters Indu, Poonam and Sanju Jha.
This indebted author expresses deepest sorrows and pays tribute to the great departed soul.