Tuesday 21 May 2013

When you're on a mission to spot your own house

Let me rededicate this website  to my ancestors , particularly to the six  brothers of  14 th generation :  please watch the movie



25 Dec,2012 : Chattogram city Bus  Station(saudia): thanked stars to reach there in time, as our bus from Cox’s Bazar broke down   at Midway Inn. Quarrel/refund at Counter, no vacant chair..overcrowded, people on upper floor sat  braving foul  smell of toilet. Our Volvo Bus (with multiple injuries on glass panes tamed by cellotapes) to Sylhet started around midnight..took almost  two hours to travel 10 km within the city..highest traffic density & jam..the well dressed smart Bus Courier  was told more than 5 times to unload us at Shayestaganj  railway station. Volvo seats are good, but no sleep. Thick fog & no street light..close your eyes & pray.

          26 Dec,2012 :     Bus stopped at Chouddagram (Kumilla)  inn..a huge modern  building ..toilet and tea, dark due to fog at 6  am...Then Kumilla –Brahmanbaria-Madhavpur- shayestaganj bypass, We jumped out of the bus. Asked a person on road whether it is Shayestaganj and whether Hobiganj is near. After confirmation,   pulled out our bags from the belly of the bus.                  3-wheeler… 18 km to Habiganj at Rs. 230. Still semi-dark at 8 am. Braved chllled wind to look at the route through  which my parents with 4 children,youngest one being 8 months old,  escaped on horse drawn Tomtom from Hobiganj house to Shatestaganj railway  station 65 years ago. Driver called out “ Murubbi(senior citizen)..don’t lift the plastic sheet, otherwise you’ll  catch cold.” Tears rolled down my cheeks   remembering the exodus from Hobiganj and  suffering of my parents.. ..referendum , partition of Bengal and  threat to life from  the other community as communal feeling  was fanned by politicians.

                     I did not know where to check in; after a brief search we checked in a motel “Sonar Tori” around 10 am. Leaving Dipali in the toilet I asked a pan shop (Satyen Ghosh).. where is Puratan Munshefi ? He said..this is the place. I looked around to fit the landscape in the framework of  my 65 year old memory…yes.. this’s the tank with cemented embankment! And that's the road towards my house and river! I  almost ran ..hardly 300 steps  and my house  at the corner on my right  with high walls in place of   bamboo fencing connecting  dozens of  tall & smart supari  trees   encircling the house. Another 300 steps in the same direction  and you will find the river Khowai…..BUT THERE WAS NO RIVER.

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Dejected and tired I went to Kalbari facing my hotel. The place seemed familiar, I could spot  where a  sacrificial buffalo was kept days before DurgaPuja. Asked  an old man to help me. He stopped somebody on the road who took me to one Bidyut Roy living near the tank. Two Roy brothers with  their children and grandchildren are a happy joint family . The senior brother recognized my late  father Promode Chandra  and his elder brother late  Purna Shastri. Even he could copy their style of walking. He could also remember Chandreshwar Chowdhury ,our next door neighbor, his servant Chorai who used to run and jumped into  the river along with his cow. He also talked about Anath Kar(next to Chowdhuri’s house)  Tea, breakfast followed. His son  Bijon took me to my house..called out..”.Budhha.. achho ni ?”and entered  a living room. Now I learn that the river was reclaimed and  the colony is so dense that hardly any open space exists today.
Portion of my house occupied by Buddha Mahajan(today’s house no.4186)  and the portions(4185) occupied  by two other muslim  families  comprise two –third of the then house  while one third is still vacant  ( surrounded by wall)

I remember every space of house. Sketch “A” shows the  location  and “B” shows the  plan of the then house : 110  ftX180 ft, E1(entry/portico),E2..  gates , 1..Father’s(advocate) Chamber, 2,,5..bedrooms,3..puja room4..living. K..Kitchen,T..toilets, HP..handpump and bath. G1 &G2: lemon bush & fruit trees..A shiuli tree  and a  Dalim tree at the puja room. Entry E2 used to open to the river ..hardly  300 steps. . Firm lines conform to the then house, dotted lines show today’s position.



 The  Video  shows the route to my house from Kalibari Road. The corner where Dipali and Bijon take right turn  housed my father’s chamber. Buddha’s portion today housed our bedroom1 and  long verandah ‘V’. The open space shown in Video was our inner uthone. The sheds( cow and outhouse) at the end of the open space  remain almost same during last 65 years. The last portion of video shows the then river front ; Mintu Choudhuri (stage actor & singer) who is singing with his back at our cow shed  and E2, lives in the third house. He asked  for my identity when I was videoing.I said.. ‘I am a bhut with a human body who was born here , left the place  at 5 and revisits it after 65 years,’ He became emotional,  respectfully requested me come to his rehearsal room..songs, tea, snacks.. introduction to others.. talks on cultural trends   followed..



               




Tuesday 14 May 2013

My 1974 visit to Bangladesh




...Memories ... photograph of 1972 at  Teen  Murti  Lawns
 (14 November, Chacha Nehru's birthday & National 
Science Exhibition for Children).. the then Prime Minister
Smt. Indira Gandhi asks  me to take this Mobile Science
  laboratory personally to Dhaka to donate  this to newly
 born Bangladesh  as her gift  for taking Science to villages.
 This Mobile Science  lab  was designed  and fabricated by 
me at the NCERT workshop, New Delhi.
       With  mutual arrangement between the two countries,
 I drove it all the way from Delhi to Dhaka in October ,1974
 and handed  over this to the then  Education Minister,
Bangladesh in  a huge International gathering  at the 
Education Extension Centre, Dhaka
     
   






About Me

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Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering( Jadavpur Univ),PhD(IIT-Delhi)