Like a Banyan Tree : The Story of an Undeterred Optimist

Born in the early 1900s in a small village in British India, Baij Nath Anand crafted a life that would seem to go completely against the odds he’d been given. In this book, author Eric Severn takes the reader on a journey with him as he learns from Baij’s four grown children about the noteworthy life that Baij lived.

From the unimaginable horrors of Partition through refugee camp after refugee camp, Eric’s grounding and literary voice immerses the reader in a tale of loyalty, love, determination, and hope. Baij’s children described their father’s magnetic and motivating energy as Undeterred Optimism. And through Eric’s dialogue with Baij, getting to know this man who has already passed from this world, we all begin to understand just why this story was worth being told.

As unlikely as it may seem, Baij Nath Anand’s undeterred optimism paid off. He crafted a life where he was a success in his community, doing good and supporting his family, pursuing and achieving high levels of education and ensuring his children did too.

Baij was a family man, and his family is proud to share his story, to get to know their father again, through the words of Eric Severn, to find fresh meaning from their memories and to share the wise words that their father passed on to them.

Over the course of two years, this book was written, refined, and designed. The aim is to be a gift to the family, something that celebrates and preserves their history. Yet it is also more than that, it is a way to honor and learn from a great man, a man who can inspire us all.

Filled with photographs from Baij and his family’s life, this book holds Baij’s life story with the journey of the book being made, as Eric weaves in his own experience into the conversation with Baij that through this book, he is having.

Copyright 2023 Rajesh Anand and Brijesh Anand.

Contributions from Southern States, LLC made this book possible. It is being published in celebration of the new building at Southern States that is named in dedication to Baij Nath Anand.