New Delhi, Nov. 11 -- Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy, who passed away on November 10 at 81, was an exceptional fusion of raging self-assurance and affecting humility. He was as much at ease with world leaders and royalties as he was with an unschooled rural grandmother in Rajasthan, India.

For someone who could have risen to the top of India's coveted administrative service, Bunker instead chose the path which he once told me, "Gandhiji laid down for lesser mortals like me."

Over the years, particularly in the decade of the 1990s, I engaged with Bunker frequently over a variety of issues, but none animated him as much as empowering rural Indians and rural people across the world. His educational grounding could have set a very different trajectory...