Jan 25th, 1954. 66 years ago to the day, M N Roy passed away in Dehradun. He had one of the most fascinating life stories of any Indian in the 20th century....

In a span of 30 odd years he, inspired by Vivekananda, joined the revolutionary Anushilan Samity, hatched a plan to use German ships to annex the Andaman islands, wooed Sun Yat-sen for funds, evaded British spies and escaped to Mexico, was a close associate of Lenin......

....established the first Communist Party outside the USSR, fell foul of Stalin and had to escape Russia, came to support Netaji in India, was arrested and jailed by the British, addressed the Congress session at Faizpur in 1936...

.... and finally decided to formulate his own philosophy of Radical Humanism. He also found the time to marry twice and do his engineering from Jadavpur University, though not in that order. There is a nightclub in Mexico named after him in a place he stayed during his travels

Also, apparently, a very skilled chess player who held the World Champion Alexander Alekhine to a draw.

67 years. This will happen to me all of January, while I get used to being in 2021. Sigh!