The Cambridge family is deeply saddened to learn of the demise of Dr. Sahoo. Please accept our heartfelt condolences.

Dr. Sahoo was truly a great visionary and progressive thinker and has made a lasting impact on the Education sector in India. While we have lost one of the great Stalwarts of the Education fraternity, we will always celebrate his life and find inspiration in his vision.

I personally had the honour to meet with Dr. Sahoo at many occasions and have fond memories of visiting him at the Sai School in Bhubaneswar. May his wonderful soul always be blessed!

With a heavy heart, I pray for the eternal repose of Dr Sahoo who was a man of distinguished humanity.

Sir, what moves through us is a silence, a quiet sadness, a longing for one more day, one more word, one more touch. We may not understand why you left this earth so soon, or why you left before we were ready to say good-bye, but little by little, we begin to remember not just that you left, but that you lived. And that your life gave us memories too beautiful to forget.

One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change. Sir was one such person who always cultivated an optimistic mind, used imagination, considered alternatives before reaching to the conclusion, and dared to believe that you can make possible what others think is impossible. In the end you are a winner! Sir was one of those great persons who did not wait for opportunities to come and knock on his door but stepped out to look for them. Sir was a true social reformer.

At times, our own light went out and was rekindled by a spark from another benevolent person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of Sir who had ignited the flame within us. Sir had a firm belief that knowledge is borrowed; imagination is original. It is the power of imagination that makes us different. His motto was more creative, every Day, every Hour, every Minute, every Second and if possible, every MOMENT. I salute his passion and wisdom.

Sir enjoyed universal respect and admiration for his humility and simplicity. Sir had absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status. Sir was blessed with qualities of a great person: vision, integrity, courage, understanding, the power of articulation and profundity of character.

Sir was true Karmyogi free from any desire for name and fame, approbation, appreciation, thirst for applause, admiration, and gratitude. Sir was humble and free from hatred, jealousy, harshness, etc. Sir always spoke sweet words and kept smiling. Sir was one in all!

My deepest condolences to the entire SAI family. My prayers and thoughts are with you all. May God keep you strong and united through this tough time and carry forward the legacy of Dr Sahoo in your future endeavors.

Dear Mrs. Sahoo,

I am deeply saddened and devastated to hear the untimely demise of your husband, one of the great educationists and a renowned entrepreneur Late Dr. Bijaya Kumar Sahoo.
He will be remembered not only for his remarkable contribution in the field of education but also for contributing his precious time and expertise through various interactions with his colleagues and students.

It would be difficult and beyond my capacity to measure the impact he had on the life of people he touched, both personally and professionally. We are highly grateful for the many contributions that he made to the world of education.

Other than meeting and interacting a number of times at the professional level, I had an opportunity to meet Late Dr Sahu a few months back when he visited my school in Gr Noida.

We had a long interaction about the New Education Policy. I must share, he had a visionary plan for the coming years.

We also talked about the daughter of HH Gajapati Maharaj, whose daughter Debika was my student at Mayo College Girls’ School , Ajmer where I worked as senior Teacher HOD English for more than 23years.He told me Debika played Tennis with your Son.

It only seems like yesterday!

Again, I extend my deepest sympathies and pray to the Almighty to grant you and your family to bear with this irreparable loss.

May His Soul Rest In Peace.

OM SHANTI!

With Warm Regards,
Mrs. Shuchi Sinha
Principal Gaurs International School
(Greater Noida West)

Out of the blue one day, Bijaya Bhai called me up and said that we should have an association for IT companies in Odisha and it should be called Confederation of IT Enterprises (CITE). I was reluctant because I had no faith that an association like that could even stand. He immediately reached my office, got hold of me and almost dragged me to the ADM Office at Secretariat for registering CITE as an association under Societies Act.

He always had time to represent matters concerning IT companies with the authorities…bee it BMC, BDA, IDCO or Industries Dept. Despite being away from IT as he shifted his venture to school and other, he would always spare time when needed to present a united front to make corrections, w.r.t Govt. on account of ease of doing business.

He was the glue that held this community together, till he got busy with SAI International School and later, proposed stepped down from his position. Such was his charisma, that we all went back to him after a year to continue remain as Chairman of CITE. Like many other children, my daughter is a massive fan of her Chairman Sir. Last year, Bijoy Bhai had taken great care of SAI alumni. Particularly in the last few months, he had been counselling the budding entrepreneurs from his school. In March and April, we had chats where he would share few of them and entrusted many to me for mentoring them.

What a man! I have witnessed his meteoric rise since 2007.

I always admired the speed at which he built SAI school and then scaled it up. He would always tell me that doing business in Odisha is difficult for you and will have a lot of detractors. But he was also determined to transform the entrepreneurial society and, I think he will keep inspiring people to come and do business in Odisha. I knew him from his JSS days when he had the largest back-office operations of CITI Bank Credit Card at IDCO Towers. A smart and aggressive businessman who pushed the envelope and thought out of the box. he would have been 47- 48 when he thought of starting a school…and when you look what he accomplished from that age, is also encouraging.

He lived his life the majestic way. Never compromised on his pet peeves, was very fond of food, cars, vacations and clothes...but at the same time he had a great purpose and he himself created the platform to fulfil his purpose, giving back immense benefits to our society.

He was genuinely in love with his new assignment for the State Government, and sincerely worked towards building model schools across the state, learning from his experience of building SAI. He had so much to give to the society, students and the entrepreneurs.

Dr Bijaya Kumar Sahoo’s untimely demise has created a vacuum. He was a great Teacher, a great Speaker, a great Implementer, a great Entrepreneur, a great Director, a great Son, a great Dad, a great Husband, a great Student, a great Architect, and a quick Learner. His loss will cost a lot to entire teaching and learning fraternity of India.

He was instrumental in bringing about many changes in the educational set up of Odisha. He made sure that the services provided by the school are as per the needs and desires of the parents and of great quality.

He made sure that he would connect with students of all grades and touch their heart in some way or the other. He would promise students small benefits like watching a movie if they achieved beyond a certain percentage and then made sure that it was executed. He formulated a whole process for small student benefits. Excellence was what he always sought.

He would many a times prepare and practice for the presentation that he wanted to give out to people or students. He would plan and not leave anything to chance. Perfection was so important for him that he would only seek it from others but also from himself.

If we were to implement anything he would always plan it first, check the blueprints and once he was satisfied that all was up to the mark, then he would go full throttle to implement the work in hand. He was a man in great hurry. His deadlines were tough, realistic but always achievable. That happened because he would divide his day always in a meticulous fashion. He would always carry a small note of jobs to be done for the day. I look back and see how much SAI international had achieved in a short period of time and I see only one reason- Dr Bijaya Sahoo -Man with a Mission.

Many amazing projects like Comprehensive report cards, Language Labs, Science Parks, Club Programme, Mentorship Programme, Sports programme and implementation, Career Counselling Programme, Sai Netritva, Radio Jockey & SAI TV and Making SAI International School as a SAT center were done because of his clarity of thought and perseverance. I remember that when we were not able to get our school as a SAT center, he made it a point to visit their office in US when he went to meet his daughter there. It shows the determination that he had.

Dr Sahoo had wanted all students to learn about finances and financial literacy. One of his goal was to make many entrepreneurs in Odisha who would be the job creators in due course. He had also started tracking some of his students whom he felt would achieve this goal for the state. He made sure that anything that was presented to parents on annual day was grand and meticulous. There was no compromise with the budget, Quality was the key. He would personally take care of grand finale of the function and always end it up with a class that would bear his signature.

His bond with kids was amazing Vijisha, Vishal and Vikram were his heart and soul. Sometimes his pace of work would be so high that he had to be told to calm down and take it easy. Mostly it was Dr Silpi Sahoo, his wife who could bring him to terms of taking things slow. As I said earlier, He was a Man with Mission. At times he would joke that “if I die put a statute of mine behind the three flags.” just under his office at SAI International School.

It is quite amazing to know that many of the institutions that he built were primarily thought through by him before the architect made a design. His faith in Sri SAI Baba, Guruji (Dr CB Satpathy) and his attachment with his mother speak a lot about him as one of the most balanced persons in my eyes. I will remember him as my teacher always.

Friday afternoon. June 4, 2021.

I arrived at the Indraprasta Auditorium of Sai International School. A small crowd of students, teachers and parents has gathered. There is an awkward silence. I closed my eyes. The show man would soon arrive and take the stage. He would begin with the 'Clap of Happiness' and just like the Pied-Piper, make the audience sway to his tune.....

The wailing siren of the police escort vehicle brought me out of the trance. He arrived. Took the stage silently. This time I joined my hands for a different purpose – To pay my Respect to my dearest Bijay Bhai.

Dr. Bijay Kumar Sahoo, a Chartered Accountant by profession and an Educationist by passion, was an elder brother to me. He was an Intense man. He did everything with a Purpose and Passion. I had the privilege of knowing him closely as my CA in initial days and my professional neighbor later (SPARC shares common boundaries with JSS).

He always dreamt big about Education. Sai International School is a manifestation of the great passion and Vision that Bijay Bhai had. When social entrepreneurs started establishing Engineering Colleges In the late 90s and early 2000, he nurtured the idea of establishing a top-rank school to shape young minds.

He would often say that his idea of giving back to the society is to create thousands of happy, enthusiastic and compassionate children, who would then in-turn contribute to the World in various ways. He exactly did that - with several years of well-founded research on school education, he established and made Sai International School the No 1 School in India in just a matter of 12 years (2008-2020).

As a parent representative in the School Management Committee I had witnessed his eagerness to do better and better for the kids every time. He passionately connected with every child in the school - from LKG to Std XII. I am personally grateful to him to have mentored my son Arnav.

His next goal was to apply his learnings in shaping the school education across the State of Odisha. Lately, on this front, he contributed immensely as the Advisor of Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya Sangathan.

I had the opportunity to spend many leisurely moments with him. In one of the recent leisure trips with him, I was pleasantly surprised to watch his eagerness for fun activities such as Parasailing and ATV rides. Behind the big man, was a child’s energy and enthusiasm. Perhaps, that is the reason why he connected so well with all the children!

His untimely demise is a big loss for the State of Odisha. May God bless his soul.

My deepest condolences are with Silpi Bhauja, Vijisha, Vishal, Vikram and staffs of SAI International School & JSSPL.

I shall miss you Bijay Bhai.

Yours affectionately.

Subhadarshi Mishra (Pana)

Managing Director, SPARC

Dr Bijay Sahu was an eminent personality, an educationalist, a visionary business tycoon, and a resplendent start to improve the then education standards of Odisha. He always had a desire to do something good to improve his mother land Odisha. His remarkable contribution to the state of Odisha will be ever remembered and his footprints will be followed by many aspiring entrepreneurs of this country. He founded SAI International School to provide holistic education to the children of the state. His demise was a great loss for all of us. I do express my deepest sense of condolences to his bereaved family.

I personally have known him since a decade when the CITE association was founded. We used to have frequent meetings and exchange our thoughts to watch, protect and promote the interest of the IT and ITes sector in Odisha. There I came to know about his cravings to found an International school in Odisha. Many times, he has shared his thoughts and plannings about the school. I was quite impressed with his ideas and decided to put my kids into his school. This started another thread of our association and we knew each other in a better way.
Once he along with his IT team had visited our AuroIN office to seek suggestions to improve the digital infrastructure of his school and he didn’t forget to express his gratitudes even being a busiest man. What attracted me most was his simplicity. Many times I have visited his school and noticed him interacting with students in a very friendly manner. Upon my invite he had once visited our home and my kids were excited to see their Chairman at our home. Every time he used to see my daughter at school, he used to ask, Is your father in India or the USA? These small but beautiful gestures has made him known face in our family and my kids are deeply saddened to know about his demise.
Once we had a picnic and had a great time together. He was always looking for opportunities to be with his friends. Many times he insisted that I arrange another picnic but because of my busy schedule, I couldn’t make it happen. It is still pending and will remain pending forever. If I would have taken a timely initiative it could have been materialized. Sometimes we overlook things and sadly every passing minute never comes back.
There are many such incidents to write about Bijay Bhai but I want to keep something for my own as his memories with me. But definitely, his untimely demise is an irreparable loss for all of us. We miss you from our CITE family and from my family as well.
OM SHANTI!!


Annada Prasad Padhy (CMD)

AuroIN (India) Ltd

I will always remember Bijoy Babu as a friend, an inspiration and a rare personality with immense energy, knowledge and humane capabilities to handle extremely large and multifarious responsibilities with ease.

He seemed easy but has always moved with a lightning speed. I believe he is 'today' far ahead from where our eyes can meet. It has taken a while to realise this point. That, he is just not here, he is somewhere there and that he can never be gone...

This picture is a remembrance and a tribute to the two most loved personalities ( Bijoy Babu and Manoranjan) of the IT fraternity, both of whom we have lost in the fight against COVID.

Under his leadership, with few friends from IT Fraternity, we set up the Confederation of IT Enterprises (CITE) in Odisha. We made remarkable progress and CITE quickly catapulted into the most respected and recognised IT association in the state of Odisha. We have many beautiful memories of the time. However, this is a special memory as its an act of “giving” when many IT companies from Odisha came together (under CITE) to make a contribution to the CM Relief fund, when Odisha was devastated by the cyclonic storm “Phailin”

True to his abilities and qualities; over the last 15 years, I have witnessed him sore like a shooting star, literally bringing light and life to so many people from all walks of life and to each of his mission. He has been unstoppable, and has moved out of sight in a flash, leaving behind some special gifts for human progress;

Where,

- Children will continue to get groomed and nurtured through his educational institutions,

- Entrepreneurs and business will continue to find a air-strip to take off from his STPI centres,

- Odiya medium schools in Odisha will continue to set higher bench marks of performance and recognition

- An inspirational story that will echo through generations to come in the history of our state.

He has not just achieved what one takes many life times to achieve; but also left behind many life-times of hope and aspirations around.

May SRI SHIRDI SAI RAM bless his noble soul and give strength to his family 🙏