Memoires of another day - XI by A. Roy Mukherjee

XI : It was a stormy night. My father along with Bhola Da was out of station. After dinner we went to bed in our first floor bedroom. On that side, there was a paddy godown beside our house. It was probably past midnight when my mother woke me up. It was still raining and wind was also blowing at some speed. The room was dark except for the dim light coming from the dimmed kerosin lamp kept in a corner. Mother asked me by sign to keep quiet. Then she told me that a gang of dacoits had broken open the paddy godown and are plundering. Mother took me in tiptoe to a window and slightly opened it to have me a glimpse. I saw that the only guard and the manager at the godown were lying on the veranda tied in ropes. I also could see the dacoits taking the paddy packed in gunny bags and were putting those in carts. Then my mother closed the window carefully and we came back to our bed. I still remember that I did not feel afraid or scared but could not sleep for a long time.

Memoires of another day - X - by A. Roy Mukherjee

X : Bhola Da was my father’s orderly at that time and he stayed with us. One day he told us that a "Jatra" would be held at a nearby place. In those days Jatras used to start at : around nine or ten at night and used to continue till the early hours of next morning. I became very enthusiastic and begged my mother to allow me to go along with Bhola Da to the show. Bhola Da also ensured my mother that he would take proper care. So, that night, I accompanied by Bhola Da went for the show. The play was something about Ramayana. I do not now remember what I saw or listened there, but what is still etched in my memory is that particular scene when Ravana appeared on the scene. One glance, I squeezed my eyes shut and started crying in fear. "Take me home, Bhola Da. Take me home." were the only words on my lips. But Bhola Da was, by then, totally engrossed in the show and was just asking me to keep quiet. But the moment when Ravana drew out his sword and jumped on the stage, a loud wail came out from me. Bhola Da had no alternative but to take me home because other spectators also urged him to take me away.

Memoires of another day - IX - by Arun Roy Mukherjee

IX :: It was a dull evening when the train left us at the Dubrajpur Railway station. Excepting a dim kerosin light in the station master’s room there was not even a flicker of light anywhere around us. Three horse-drawn carriages waiting for us at the station brought us through that ocean of darkness to our local residence. It was another surprise waiting for us. The building was a mud-built, thatch roofed two storied structure. There were two big rooms and a very wide varanda covering both the rooms on the ground floor. A flight of stairs, also mud-build, in between the two ground floor rooms, took us to the two similar rooms on the first floor. The kitchen with a wide space was a separate structure and the bathroom and lavatory was at the far end of the courtyard. But the most amazing thing was that two huge stones occupied the rest of the inner courtyard. There was an open space lying in front of the house. But more surprises were waiting us the next morning. In the morning I woke up at the sound of voices of young children and boys coming from somewhere nearby. To my astonishment I found that many boys and children assembled and sat on small mats and gunny bags on the ground in a huge structure covered by a thatched roof with books and slate-pencil and were uttering the multiplication tables in unison led by a senior boy. An elderly person was sitting in a pedestal made of bamboo and enjoying his hukka. I learnt from my mother that it was a "pathshala". A few days there after I was also admitted to that pathshala and started my learning under the guidance of the "Guru Mahasaya". But more surprises were waiting for us in Dubrajpur. The famous "Mama-Bhagne" was just a little distance from our house. We could reach it through a narrow path. Initially I went there with my parents but as I got accustomed to the environs of the place, I visited the place with one or two friends and also alone on many occasions. Mama-Bhagne was situated up at a place which was neither a hill nor a man-made structure. We climed upto it through a flight of stairs curved into the natural stone. The top was almost plain. There was a temple at the top, the Mama-Bhagne and some open space. On many a days, when I visited that place I found sadhus (or so they seemed) sitting there or preparing or cooking something. Later I learnt that those sadhus were known as Tantrik sadhus. .