He is called legend by his peers and thanks to @nitingokhale for bringing out
R.N. Kao: Gentleman Spymaster, a biography of Rameshwar Nath Kao, the founding chief of Bharat's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) with a foreword from Ajit Dobal himself.

'Here was a man who played a major part in helping the Bengalis of East Pakistan create a new nation, secured the merger of Sikkim into Bharat and built R&AW into a formidable outfit, comparable to the best in the world.'

Rameshwar Nath Kao shunned the limelight, hated to be photographed and preferred to work behind the scenes.
'He was a noble man!' This was how Malini Kao, married for 60 years & now frail 99-year-old widow of Rameshwar Nath Kao, described her husband.

RNK, was a devout Hindu

He was deeply spiritual and practiced meditation and puja every day. A devoted family man, RNK and Malini Kao had stayed with RNK's younger brother and his wife as a joint family under one roof all their life.

Their bungalow in Delhi is, in fact, aptly named Saketa (Ayodhya)

Despite being active till the end, for 18 years after giving up his formal positions in the government, RNK did not speak at any public function, refrained from interacting with the media or write his autobiography.

In the archives of the Nehru Memorial Museum lies set of papers

that researchers and historians would love to get their hands on. Alas, those documents-transcripts of tape-recorded conversations with RN Kao, are not going to be available until 2025, according to instructions left by him, months before he passed away.

Rameshwar Nath Kao (10 May 1918 – 20 January 2002) was born at Varanasi for a Kashmiri Pandit family.
RNKao finished his schooling at Baroda & earned Masters from Lucknow University.
According to reports, the Bangladesh operation took place in two phases: covert subversion and

military intervention. "Phase one was coordinated by Kao and phase two by Manekshaw, both reporting directly to Indira Gandhi,".

Even after retirement, R N Kao was a private man, he was rarely seen in public. He knew too much to make a public statement or write a book.

From 1989, Kao dedicated his time largely to the task of restoring the dignity and honour of the Kashmiri Pandits. He interacted with various political leaders and the government to see that the Kashmir problem was not forgotten.
Kao reached his Ram in 2002 at age 84.

There were none of the trappings of a VIP funeral that the capital accorded to much lesser men. On this one of his admirers said, ‘He lived inconspicuously and left this world inconspicuously.’

@Vikram_Sood

#VandeMataram