Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Memoires of another day - XVI- by Arun Roy Mukherjee

XVI : One evening, there was a religious function in that house. Gurudev came and a congregation was held in the Baithakkhana of the house. It was a very big room and could easily accommodate about forty/fifty people. Gurudev sat on a low dias on one side and the audience sat on carpets on the floor. Gurudev started his discourse. He was an accomplished lectuerer and almost charmed the audience by his dramatic skill in presenting the stories from the life of Sri Krishna. I now do not remember the subject matter of his lecture of that evening. But he was describing a scene where some important person gathered and were discussing something important among them when that important person felt that someone was standing outside the door and wanted to meet and talk to him. He then called out to the person to come in. Gurudev was describing this scene in a very dramatic manner. He was almost acting the roles of the various persons in the story. While describing this scene, Gurudev suddenly brought a smile on his face and looked askance at the door which was on the left from where he was sitting and said "Ke re ? Ke okhane ? Aye, bhetore aye." ( Who is it ? Who is there ? Come in, please."). The moment he uttered the words, a farm-labourer, who worked in the farm belonging to the master of the house and came there on the occasion of the religious function and standing just outside the room near the door, appeared with a big smile on his face "Enge, Ami Karta". (It is me, My Lord."). A loud laughter broke out in the hall.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Memoires of another day - XV - by Arun Roy Mukherjee

XV : My father was transferred to the District Headquarter office at Suri. Suri was not very far from Dubrajpur. Our residence at Suri was in a lane and was very near to the Girls’ school. Our acquaintance developed with a muslim family from our Dubrajpur days. The gentleman was also a government servant and the son-in-law of Fazlul Haque, a famous political person of that time. The gentleman had two wives and two beautiful daughters Lily and Dolly. Both of them were older to me. That gentleman was also transferred to Suri at about the same time and found a house very near to our residence. At Suri, I was not admitted to any school and my mother used to take care of my studies. Opposite our residence was a very big brick-built three storied building which had a temple, a brick-built courtyard and an impressive gate belonging to a well-to-do family The eldest lady of the house took a fancy for us and used to visit our house and call my mother to theirs on all occasions and religious functions held at that house. They were vaishnavites. Had a Vaishnava Guru who was a very good narrator of religious stories (a kathak thakur) particularly about the life and incidents relating to Sri Krishna.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Memoires of another day - XIV - by Arun Roy Mukherjee

XIV : Our visit to Bakreswar was another great occasion.. A bullock cart was hired and we started very early in the morning. From the main road a path went towards the main shrine. There were no houses, shops or anything near about. We saw only human bones lying on both side of the dirt path. We reached the temple complex. Inside the complex there was a pond, which was marked into three different parts. We were told that the temperature of the water in those three parts were different, though the water was of the same pond. On one such part there was a device constructed under the water (but visible from above) and it was said that only the very pious ones could pass through that device from one side to the other. We bathed in that pond. My father, who was a very good swimmer, passed through that under-water device many a times. We also found that the temperature of the water was different in different parts of the pond. (Much later, when I visited the place again in 1969/70 and in 1976, I found that getting into the pond inside the main temple complex and bathing in it was prohibited. Instead, two separate ponds were constructed outside the main temple complex for bathing). We enjoyed our visit very much and came back before sunset. A few days thereafter my father took me to witness a football match played at a nearby playground in which the two Calcutta giants of those days Calcutta F.C and Dalhousie A.C participated.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Memoires of another day - XIII - Arun Roy Mukherjee

XIII : My sister Bulu was born at Dubrajpur. My Pishima (paternal aunt) came and stayed with us during that period. I was sitting on a wooden cot kept on the ground floor varanda. My father was lazily moving about. It was late in the afternoon and evening was approaching. Then Pishima called out my father’s name and asked him to note down the time. In later years my mother told me that Bulu was born on the same day England declared war against Germany. Some time thereafter, my paternal grand mother (my father’s step mother) expired at our native village at Shibnibas in Nadia District. At that time I learnt that our family is closely related to Maharaja of Krishna Nagar. My father went to Shibnibas to attend the last rites of grandmother. My mother could not go because Bulu was a tiny creature then. I was left to take care of both my mother and my little sister. When my father returned, he brought a shot-gun for me with a box containing hundreds of pellets. A few months thereafter Mejomama and Finchumama also came. Mejomama left after a few days but Finchmama stayed back. My uncle (father’s younger brother) also came and stayed with us for a few days.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Memoires of another day - XII - by Arun Roy Mukherjee

XII : During this period, we visited Jalpaiguri and Bachchulala was born at that time. A separate structure was made in a place in between the kitchen and the outer rooms where there was also a Lichi tree. The place is somewhere between Bachchulala’s and Rana’s present separate buildings. Our house was completely different at that time. As you enter the compound of our house from the street, there were gardens on both the sides of a narrow path which took us to a long varanda covering the two outer rooms. The rooms were facing the street and the east. There were two jackfruit trees on each of these gardens. There was a big courtyard in the middle and rooms were constructed on all sides of this courtyard. In the east were the outer rooms. Two more rooms were on the west. This was known as "Natun Ghar". On the north was our favourite room which was made of wooden planks like a bugalow and the kitchen was on the south. The original kitchen at that time was a single big room with mud flooring with bamboo planks for the sides and tin on the roof. Later, this kitchen was demolished and another structure came in its place with two separate kitchens, one for the vegetarians only and two more rooms, one of which was quite big. A wide varanda covered the entire structure. The water supply of the household was from a well situated just beside the kitchen. There were a few more fruit trees of different varieties surrounding the rooms and haphazardly here and there. One day my Dadu brought an elephant to take me for a ride on the elephant’s back. Finchumama helped by the mahut immediately rode on its back, but I started crying and refused to ride on the back of the elephant. Finchumama all along encouraged me to take the ride, but I did not relent. So, after getting tired and failing to persuade me to take the ride, the elephant was sent back.