Sundergaon, the beautiful village

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/17/in-the-sundarbans-folk-homes-for-modern-living/?smid=pl-share

Kolkata Taxis

Kolkata, 04^th August, 2012. Santosh Paul was devastated by the Teesta floods of 1968, his ware houses were all gone, so were his trucks and the wooden house 1^st floor was miraculously floating, but the ground floor with all valuable storage was fully underwater. All he could manage is to shift to Calcutta with his wife, 03 sons and an unmarried daughter, find out a rented house and start everything afresh. It was not easy, from a roaring 03 generations business at Jalpaiguri, shifting to Calcutta with almost nothing but some values. As he was always with business, he wanted to start as an entrepreneur. He tried his hands-on on everything which was honest and respectable, but in vain. With 03 sons and a daughter still studying he and his wife smilingly faced the crisis with full surrender to Mother Goddess Kali at Kalighat temple.

The day came when there was a good person who wanted to marry their daughter, but then he wanted that Santosh should speak to his relatives. Happy Santosh and one of his neighbours in confidence went for finally fixing the dated with the ‘to be grooms’ relations and they hired a taxi as they had to buy sweets and carry them all the way from the south to the north of Calcutta. After reaching the relations, there were some hot talks as there was economic difference between the families and the relatives wanted the marriage should be in the traditional way with all celebrations and formalities. The taxi had already waited long and the Punjabi (Sardarji) driver was not very happy. On their way back, when the neighbour and Santosh was discussing the issue in details, the driver overheard. After they reached home, the Sardarji driver refused to take the rent and offered to give Santosh a few thousand Rupees for his daughter’s marriage. He also came for the marriage.

Like the London cabs, the yellow cabs of Calcutta (now Kolkata) also are a legend to the great city. Every cab and the driver have a story. Day before yesterday, I had to travel from North to South at Calcutta and I was talking to the elderly driver of the taxi, Bhupen Singh. For more than 20 years, he had driven a private car of a corporate head, who after his retirement went back to Bombay (now Mumbai) and offered Bhupen to go with him. Bhupen was attached with this city and wanted to stay back. The retired corporate man gave him some money and organized a bank loan for Bhupen to buy a taxi. Now, Bhupen is a proud owner cum driver of his taxi and is probably one of the most reliable and decent persons I have met. He along with three of his friends after months at Hazaribagh jail (for being a part of Jayaprakash Narayan’s movement in Bihar), were released with a payment of Rs.60/- each for the labour which they had given during their time in captivity. This was the month of September or October, but time for Durga Puja. The 04 young men sometimes in 1972, decided to go to Calcutta with the Rs.60/- and see the Durga Puja celebrations. The 03 friends returned to their village in Bihar, but Bhupen had already fallen in love with Kolkata and decided to stay back. Today, he has bought an apartment for near South City Mall for his family and his 26 years old son works for an IT company. Bhupen is proud that his children are more fluent in Bengali language than Hindi. Bhupen can be contacted at 9331374031.

Calcutta, like many of the cities of the world is a destination of opportunities and many youths come here to live their dreams. Till the time they do it sincerely and honestly, the city will remain a better place to live in and visit. Unfortunately, the picture is not as rosy; there are people who want to be rich overnight by cheating others or by irresponsible actions. Recently, as I had reached the Sealdah station early around 6am by Darjeeling Mail, there were several yellow taxis, but hardly any to serve the passengers in the queue. A policeman was running around the place to force the taxis to serve the passenger queue, the taxi union members were sitting idle at the pre-paid taxi booth and a bunch of drivers were trying to woo the passengers in the queue asking for double fares. The issue did not end here.

I am not always comfortable in big city ambiances and I had to deliver a ‘Rakhi’ at a place, of which I had a written address, before I could reach my place of stay. The yellow taxi driver seemed to be a sober and friendly man and when I requested him to take me to the said address as I was not well acquainted with that particular part of the city. Immediately, he did something with his meter which jumped units. After I reached the said place and asked for the printed receipt, he said that his paper was finished. I asked for the rate card, he said as the rates have changed, I have to pay him 50% extra after doubling the Rupee numbers shown in the metre. As this was a remote area, there was hardly anyone in this morning hours to enquire. I paid him. As I reached the contact person, who lived a little inside from the motorable road, I understood I was wickedly cheated. I remember a part of the taxi number WB ? E 7379. I was not unhappy being cheated, but I was worried to where this great ‘city of joy’ was leading to, a city which boasts of being one of the most friendly cities in the world today. 

Jim Corbett, May his dreams return on this Day

Ranajit Mitra, popularly known to North Bengal as Khokada, has long been taking the responsibility of implanting nature interest among the more younger generation for almost 04 decades now.

He has always referred to Colonel Edward James "Jim" Corbett as his metor and considers him as one of India's greatest conservators, who could not be understood during his time, but all his words have been proved to be true with time.

He insisted to see his 'Guru' as a part of this blog and hence this article may be considered as the "Tribute to the Guru" and an appeal to the world to save the last bit of nature left by him 'Rudraprayag'.

Siliguri, 25^th July, 2012: Queen Elizabeth II recently celebrated her 60 years of Queenhood. But when was declared the Queen of United Kingdom, at that moment she was on a tree top in Africa with none other than the Great JIM CORBETT, who mentions in his diary...’a princess came and a queen departed...’.

25^th July is the birth anniversary of this Great Naturalist, whom many people remember as a hunter, but he was not one of those trigger happy men, but to us, the people of India, he will always be remembers as the one of world’s greatest naturalists, for whom India’s forests were his first love and life forever.

Corbett, so many years ago realised that the Forests of India and her treasured wildlife will be in a critical condition. The politicians, naturalists and scientists of that time failed to understand Jim Corbett and his philosophy. He had then made his forecast about the loss of tigers and other invaluable species of this land, about drought and floods...

We still have time to pay our respects to this Great soul from the core of our heart through the right actions of protecting our last natural habitat which we still have in this country. We do not want any further denudation of our forest cover in the name of development like hydel projects, urbanization etc, after effects of which is unknown to us and our future generations. 

Of Monsoons and Floods

Thursday, July 19^th, 2012. Siliguri. Many of you who read this blog may not have access to some of the news from this part of the world, the Northeast India with North of West Bengal, a region with 98% international borders and 2% with the own country, India. As soon I was reaching Siliguri by train today morning, I caught hold of some of the local dailies. The news about the devastating rains dominated the newspapers like every monsoon season, this year specially could have been one of those heavy ones, but I also read very interesting news, which I would like to share with all of you.

There is a small locality market or small town surrounded by tea estates in the foothills of Bhutan Himalaya called Nagrakata in western Dooars. Closeby, is the almost unknown village of Khayerkata on the banks of Kuchi Diana River. This river is easily crossed on foot, cycle or car in any season except monsoon. The recent rains have also broken the only culvert on this tiny river. A local village lady, who was pregnant had labour pain, and inspite of the ambulance reporting from the nearby health centre, it could not cross the river to bring the lady. The local villagers tried their best but could not cross the river. Finally, she was taken back to her house, where with the help of the village ladies she gave birth to a baby girl. The condition of the mother was serious, and she with her baby were finally carried across the Kuchi Diana River by 02 Kunki Elephants, Surya and Fulmoti to the ambulance and then to the Sulkapara primary health centre, where they have been reported to be safe. The 02 trained elephants from Garumara National Park are the only hope now for that area to carry relief, cross school children across the Kuchi Diana, who would have otherwise missed their school this whole monsoon. 

We are still happy with the rains, if we do not have the magic monsoons in the Indian subcontinent, life and food in most parts of the world would be lost. Most scientists refer to the reducing monsoons to be responsible for the end of the great Indus Valley Civilization. The drying of rivers, which are mostly rain fed and partly glacier fed, live with the monsoons. These rivers create the habitat to sustain life and finally civilizations.

Our rivers in the foothills of the Himalaya in Northeast and North Bengal are often flooded every monsoon season. At certain intervals of a few years, the Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall (ISMR), as it is technically called is more than the others inbetween. This year the end part of June was furious, the last it can be compared with 1998 monsoons. All small rivers and rivulets meeting each other and flowing into each other, creating a mega flood condition in the Brahmaputra valley. For people who live in urban areas are frustrated with the rains, making their lives difficult. There is hardly any connectivity of their lives with the rains directly. For the inhabitants of the villages and the forests, the rains are the other names for life. The biodiversity and agriculture of this region is dependent on the rains.

Asit and I made it a point to cover the Mighty River Brahmaputra for the last 10 days, mainly the protected Areas connected to the Brahmaputra valley. Help Tourism and friends have built a school for children at 8^th mile near M’pen at Namdapha Tiger Reserve, mainly because the temporary school beside Noa Dihing river was taken into the river every monsoon, hence a concrete base building on stilts was needed (please see http://www.helptourism.com/blog/namdapha-nalanda-nature-school-an-act-initiative/). 

We had bought a few mangoes for the 120+ school children; they would hardly get any in this remote area. As all of them are Buddhists by belief, the local legend that they believe in the community, that when you go to heaven after all your good deeds, you will be received with a mango, and also that the favourite fruit of Lord Buddha was the mango. It was raining like mirror that day and inspite of having a 4 wheel drive Sumo from Miao, we could not cross the M’pen nala. There was no way, we could walk across as the local people feared that the flash flood would take us away. There was not enough time to contact the forest Department elephants. We waited the whole day, knowing that the children will be waiting for us at the school, neither could the teachers reach us, nor we could reach the school. It was only 02 days later that the young teacher Sanjay managed to contact us and we told him that we had left the mangoes with Phupla at Miao. Another senior teacher, Suryamoni had picked it up.

The next continuity was to Dibru-Soikhowa National Park and adjoining areas, including Padumoni Sanctuary. We were sad to hear the news that only a few days before some youths ventured into the DSNP and brought out some dead deer and the same was not reported to the Forest Department. It is every monsoon, when the rains are extremely heavy, the animals assemble at the high areas of the National Park (which is common to a few Pas in Assam) and this is a good opportunity for the poachers, who wait for this time of the year to take on them. The cattle from the islands are shifted to the mainland before every monsoon, but their wild counterparts have their own surviving spirits. Because of the heavy rains we stayed at a very interesting place known as Padmini Resorts, which has easy access to the Protected Areas and also Tea Garden based activities. It is from Vicky, the local tea garden owner, we learnt that the low monsoons in early June has given low crop, but the heavy monsoons now will give good quality tea this year.  

We went on further downstream and tried to reach the Dihing River Camp, but for the Dihing River floods, we could not reach the camp. The men of the camp came to see us at the Ranga-lau Bazaar near the Gammon Bridge on the National Highway, all of them, Prashanta, Dulal, Bittu and others who were happy because they felt that this flood will give them better crop as this will leave their lands more fertile. The Dihing river here falls in the Brahmaputra not far away from the camp and a new bridge, Bogibill which is being built here on Brahmaputra, only the tips of the pillars are visible. As we talk to the elders at Sepiakhati village, they tell us how they took their vegetables and paddy up the Dihing River to the Buddhist villages upstream. They also often heard from their grandparents about the tantric monks with magical powers, who came from the Brahmaputra in boats and traveled upstream on the Dihing River.

We then advanced toward Majuli through Nimatighat to find out about the situation of our friends at Majuli Island, the administration had ordered only 02 to 03 ferries a day and we did not want to take up the space, which were local rations and relief, and hence we moved on to Kaziranga National Park. We went on the roads which were flooded, mainly on dates between 26^th to 29^th of June, we found a young Rhino foraging close to the road. We have to understand the fact that if the Kaziranga does not flood periodically, the wetlands, which dominates the landscape of Kaziranga will not be replenished, and the habitat will no more be suitable for life. The nature had accordingly provided with highlands which continued to the Karbi Hills, and we as humans have closed all passages with Tea Gardens, villages, oil and electricity establishments, security camps and ofcourse the numerous hotels and lodges. It is mainly the road, the National Highway which has become a barrier for the animals to move to the highlands during floods. Still things carry on; the villagers along with the forest Department make every effort for safe retreat of the animals in danger. The lodge manager was describing that during his return from Guwahati during the high floods, a row of cars and vehicles were stuck up after the Shiva Mandir. He got down from his car and walked ahead and to his wonder found a middle aged village couple rescuing a drowning deer from their fishing boat. All the car passengers who witnessed this act were so moved that the couple was rewarded with a few thousand rupees instantly.

We drove a long distance along the North Bank to Manas Biosphere Reserve, where we have been long involved in channelizing the post political insurgency youths to local conservation and tourism, a process to establishment of peace and bringing the World Heritage Site out of the danger tag. We were worried because the animal sighting in the past 02 have increased, including that of Bengal Tigers, Black Panthers, the reintroduced Rhinos and more. Our members of MEWS were doing good work, the tourism initiative there has enhanced the conservation process. Though it was heavily raining, Manas seemed to be under control and animals moved around quite safely. Manas is a part of Eastern Dooars or Assam Dooars. There are several PAs all along Western, Central and Eastern Dooars in continuation with Bhutan, all formed mostly on the flood plains of the Himalayan riverine system. The unique diversity of habitat from grasslands to high forests has become the home for many endangered and important animal species. These areas become susceptible to massive felling during the monsoons. The monsoon method of ferrying the illegal timber is through the flooded rivers, locally a practice called ‘chali’. Along with several volumes of drift wood, illegally felled trees are also collected at villages where roads and rivers meet and finally sawed illegally in mills or temporary set up manual sawing systems.

Forests or wildlife have always been the sacred resources for the communities of the present Indian subcontinent before the influence of the industrial revolution. The commercialization of the natural resources is hardly a 200 years history which has marginalized the great culture of ‘Biodivinity’ in this subcontinent. This region of Dooars was so rich in timber resource that the British Government in India established railway lines to bring out the timber. We decided to visit Jogikhopa, once a forest area with caves which were the practicing homes for the Tantric Yogis on the Brahmaputra. Often when traders passed on these routes saw the Yogis crossing the Brahmaputra on foot with a tiger or elephant following them. All these places have been touched with so called modern development, centres for transhipment of natural resources, but still carry the memories of our eternally developed past.    

Atreyi River, Journeys from past to present

Once upon a time there were 03 major rivers in the present area of North of West Bengal; Karotoya, Mahananda and Atreyi or Mahananda often alternated with Punarbhava. Waterways were then the way to civilization and the connection to the world. The rivers here were time and again related to the legendary river Teesta of this region. Teesta has always portrayed herself as an young and dynamic even in her short span and never wants to grow old by flowing in the same course. According to documentation in the several Gazettears and other historical documents of the last two and a half centuries, Teesta (Tista) has been shown parallel to River Ganga in the map and finally meeting Ganga through the 03 channels Karotoya, Punarbhava and Atreyi through Mahananda at Hoorsagar near Gwalandar till 1787, when the great flood changed the complete river map, where it falls in the Brahmaputra (Jamuna In Bangladesh) now. Teesta has created havoc with her floods in 1922-23, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1968, the last that I very well remember of and deal with later. Atreyi today flows in and out of India and Bangladesh in a very interesting manner along with several rivers of the area Nagor, Sudhani, Kulik, Bina, Tangon etc which were all navigable rivers of the then undivided Dinajpur Kingdom/Estate.

Basanti Paul, my grandmother (mother’s mother) was born in Thakurgaon (the place from where Punarbhava originates now from the Brahmabill or Brahman pukur). The first journey she took was for her marriage on this Punarbhava River from her father’s house at the age of 11 and went through Gangarampur, on the River Atreyi, then she followed to her in-law’s place in Jalpaiguri town. Travelling through the Teesta River, she finally entered Jalpaiguri through the River Karala. At Jalpaiguri I spent most of my childhood listening to her river journeys and also the stories of the river journeys that she heard from her Father about the traders. These rivers stories created something inside me which always attracted me to visit the lands she talked about.

I recently had an opportunity to visit the Indian side of Dinajpur with my friend Samarjit, who was born here in his maternal grandfather’s place sometimes in 1950. He had fresh memories from atleast 50 years ago. His grandfather, Dr.Jagadish Chandra Sengupta was the Doctor of the Dinajpur State Dispensary at Raiganj. He enthusiastically showed me his childhood place and all other places which he very fondly remembers. Raiganj then had a port on Kulik River which brought in traders from different parts of the subcontinent. He showed me the Bandar (port) Kali Temple and remembers the priest of that time. He asked for his sons and also asked the neighbours of the temple if the sons still continue to be priests in the same temple as their father.

He then took me to his best friend of his childhood days, Babloo Deshmukhaya, who runs the same grocery shop which his father ran. They talked for hours about the good old days, their love life, their small adventures and so much more. He gifted us with the local variety of rice, Tulaipanji, several kinds of pickle (some of which Samarjit loved in his childhood days) and lot of memories from the past. Here they discussed about the Bhopalpur Rajbari (Palace) and knowing my interest in heritage told me about them.

I knew I had some family connectivity with them, caught hold of the number of the present Prince, Partha Roychowdhury and managed a breakfast with the family at the palace for next day. The whole family greeted Samarjit and me as special guests. Though the present democratic status of India does not recognize the royalty, yet the existing palace building, the interiors, the estate and the hospitality reflected the heritage, the royalty. The exact date I have not noted, but it was Partha’s Great Grandmother Rani Durgamoi, who with her son, Partha’s grandfather, the then very young Bhopal Chandra, then shifted from the family at Churamoni Estate to this place under Birghoi Gram Panchayat. Bhopal Chandra, as he grew up, his capability to keep up with the then British Raj, his services to his subjects (praja), his connections with the Congress party and his intelligence gradually made him the people’s king. The palace became the Bhopalpur Rajbari, presently 11kms from the town of Raiganj. Partha’s father, King Shibaprashad, who is now a simple man, tells stories about the Royalty.

Almost around the years after Independence, when the Royalty was already gone, the King of Dinajpur had visited Raiganj, he called on young Shibaprashad as Bhopal Chandra had already left this world and told him that he wants Shibaprashad to buy his car at 1 Rupee 25 paisa, as he would not give it free to a Royal family and he also would not sell it beyond the royal families at any price because it will down show the royalty of the car. Inspite of inheriting his father’s 04 cars he was forced to take ownership of the 5^th car. He told about how he killed the huge leopard in front of the palace gate. He also told about how he helped the District Collector in his hunting trips.

The forests of South and North Dinajpur Districts in the state of West Bengal in India are almost gone. Hardly there is 8% of weak forest cover, which is very less compared to other North Bengal Districts like Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri. Still some activists like Tuhin Subhra Mondal, a school teacher at Balurghat continue to help conserve these last patches. Samarjit and I were staying at the Government Tourist Lodge beside the Kulik Bird Sanctuary in Raiganj. The open bill storks had already started with their courtship. The birds were carrying fresh twigs to build nests. Next few months will be really busy here for the birds, their children, their care and the noise. When Tuhin heard that I was here, he made it a point to show me his favourite places. We visited the Sarengbari Eco-Park, Dogachi Reserve Forest, Danga Reserve Forest (Raghunathpur), Bangarh Ruins and some rivers.

The sight of the Bangarh ruins immediately took me to my days following the Karotoya River in Bangladesh and finding the most interesting Mahasthangarh, the ruins of the great kingdom. Not very far away was the World Heritage Site, Paharpur (Sompur Mahavihara), one of the most important Buddhist Universities which was directly linked to Tibet. I almost forced Tuhin to take me to the border town of Hili (about 25kms from the learned people’s town of Balurghat), the Paharpur site being hardly half an hour driving distance from here. It is unfortunate that I could not cross across without a visa and make a short visit to Paharpur. The border had divided families, people from 02 countries were standing across the fence, asking about the friends and relatives, sometimes just clicking each others’ photograph on their mobile phones to take back to their families. Only if there was a visa at border.  

The Teesta Herders

In the Indian subcontinent cattle herding (mainly cow/ buffalo/ sheep/ goat/ yak) has been popular and rivers have been the life line for the herders. Herding is such an important livelihood and culture that Lord Krishna has been depicted as a herder, who spent a major part of his youth beside River Jamuna. Agriculture comparatively has been attached with less glamour and was put on to his brother Balaram (often referred to as Haladhar, the bearer of the plough). As we culture the life and legends of Lord Krishna, we will come across thousands of stories through religious talks, songs and descriptions of the herding life of the Great God, who is the reincarnation of Lord Vishnu in Hinduism.

Teesta has been no exception. The lower stretches of Teesta (in the plains) and also the areas of River Brahmaputra were known for their ‘BATHANS’. The herders had to camp in the river islands, often far away from their home. In isolation, a small group of herders reared their cattle and made all possible products from their milk. They came back home to their families for a small period in the monsoons, when there was enough fodder for the cattle in the village and also that the river island would have drowned. Some of them were days away and some just a day out. It was always the more daring, exploring and bohemian youths of the village who would take to herding and the entire village or landlord or king would leave their cattle to them. There were all kinds of stories which built up with the herders during their journeys; adventurous, legendary, sad, romantic and happy. They had their own stories from the grazing/pasture lands. They were talented with their song and music, many of them which they composed and many more which they collected from faraway lands. Even the village had their own songs and music for them on their arrivals and mainly departures. A whole school of song and music grew up around them, often referred to as Goalparia and Bhawaiya in the Teesta and Brahmaputra plains, the songs of the ‘Mahishal’ and many more.

The present situation is fast changing, the pastures are becoming permanent human habitat, some develop into forests being designated as state or central Government Protected Areas which are often out of bounds for adjoining villagers, the present situation do not allow the herders to venture faraway, they prefer to day herding from their villages. During my visit beyond Mekhliganj, the last border post of the BSF towards Neelphamari-Bangladesh, there are a few villages and in the river is the ‘Charland’ (river island), where again there is a BSF post now (a well established security system which has stopped crossing over across the borders). The herders from Bangladesh used to frequent this area in the recent past for the good quality fodder grass for their cattle. Now this is exclusively daily used by the herders from Raipara. Every morning the herding lot of the village get their cattle counted by the BSF men and return with the same before sunset. Most of the residents of this village have lost their fertile agriculture lands in the River Teesta, some of them still continue to be herders, swimming to the grasslands in the river islands everyday with their cattle. 52 years Dinesh Rai, one of the most elderly herders, who has about 07 cows of his own, but herds the cows of his neighbours on a verbal contract basis along with 35 years old Shibkumar Rai and a handful of still younger herders herds about a hundred animals every day, simply by swimming across the river. They cross miles in the river with these animals. This is an unbelievable sight for anyone to witness.

They all have a hard life. Other youths whose families have lost their agriculture lands in the River and many who cannot take the challenge of herding have migrated to nearby urban areas, mostly to Siliguri as rickshaw pullers, carpenter helpers etc, and are seen to be economically doing better than their adventurous and enterprising counterparts in the village. The livelihood and romance of herders still continue, the songs are still sung and Teesta is still prayed and respected as the Teesta Buri (The eternal mother) of the Teesta communities. 

The story of the Teesta herders are not only in the lower stretches, but also in the high Himalaya, the areas which form the headwaters also witness the culture of the herders, here they are known as ‘GOTH’ and the herders as ‘GOTHALA’, very respected in the Himalayan society. In these highlands it is mostly the yak and sheep. Again the borders and the imperialistic forest and wildlife management institutions are bringing about a slow death to this culture. Most of the trade routes of the past were based on these herding trails, many of which are today trek routes of tourism importance. At Mangan, the headquarters of North Sikkim the legend of the 16 year old Lakpa Lepcha warms the place.

Gurung Daju, the famous herder from Naga village has adopted the 02 years old Lakpa and carried him along the ‘Gothala Route’, a route which is followed in the high Himalaya depending on the season, snow and available fodder with few camps along the route. The Gothala Route from Mangan starts from the nearest camp at Gurung Daju’s village, Naga Gumpha, Naga Tar, Kukhre Orale, Borsardam, Toshar Lake. Lakpa Lepcha, who has inherited this route, at 16 years he sometimes is all alone with the animals. He has this magical power of getting together his yaks with his songs. Lakpa tells the stories of the flowering valleys of July-August, the snow fairies of November and the water Goddess of April. All herders along the Teesta River have their experiences with Nature God, the emotion of born traveller and the spirit of the true adventurer.      

Teesta, the Grandmother's Story

Kamalika, an energetic and young journalist from Kolkata, India set out to find the story of Teesta. There are few people who are biased about Teesta and she is one of them, grieved with the loss of her beauty due to ecological disturbances.When she reached home, she found out that there were more stories at home from her 86 years old grandmother. 

Kamalika's email: kamalikasengupta90@gmail.com

Thakumar Jhuli Part I

86 years old Bina Sengupta sitting in her dingy south Kolkata residence still remembers her childhood days in Rangpur, Bangladesh. She still believes that Rangpur is the best place on this earth. From Elephant and horse rally in Tajhat, a palace in Rangpur which was then British administrative office, everything became alive as this Octogenarian narrated her story. Bina was fondly called Binu and she had two sisters and two brothers. She was the youngest and that is why she was notorious and the most loved in the family. Binu’s father was Station Master in Kokrajhar Railway Station in Assam. Binu says “It was only three hour journey from Rangpur and we use to enjoy our weekends sometimes in Rangpur and sometimes in Kokrajhar. But partition broke everything; my father left his job and came to Kolkata”. Her eyes filled with tears and the pain of the partition changed her mood. She said “nobody asked my father and mother or us that, were we interested to go to Kolkata? but we were forced. Sitting here in 2012 you will not understand, how in one day it was ordered that the place where we were staying for ages, it was told that place is not ours rather that is now a different country”, everything seem standstill. It seems that agony of partition was still there in her. 

Picture of Binu at her young age when she had to leave her favourite River Teesta...

She again started again after holding for few minutes, Rangpur, is known for many Swadeshi Movement, she boosted that she was somehow related to famous freedom fighter Fhani majumder. Her Brother who is also her best friend, Bulu was a revolutionary. She laughed and told me that she was very much afraid when she came to know that Bulu is involved in revolutionary activities. All the secrets meetings of the revolutionaries, they use to hold in Newsenpara of Rangpur. But as Binu’s father made her understand that Bulu was not doing anything wrong, she was convinced. That is why when Bulu was arrested by British police, she was not afraid...rather she was happy…

How Binu use to celebrate Tajhut Elephant rally…what happened in Rangpur during her marriage….continued in next series…