Sunday, January 24, 2010

My sickness

I am still very much sick and am unable to write anything for the present.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

My sickness

As I am sick, I may not be able to post anything for quite some time. Please excuse me.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Memoirs of another day - XXI - Arun Roy Mukherjee.

XXI : Community Durga Puja of Raikutpata, in those days, were used to be celebrated on the open field belonging to Jiban Gati Ray which was adjacent to his ancestral house. Wrestling competition and such kind of games were organised on the Mahastami morning at the Puja venue. I was accompanying Didima to the Puja pandal on the Mahastami morning when we saw that the wife of Heramba Mama (Heramba Bose, father of Nirmal Kunar Bose, who in later years became a forward Bloc leader and a minister in the Left Front Government in West Bengal) was returning from the puja venue and tears were rolling down her eyes. Didima asked her for the reasons of weeping on such an auspicious day. She replied that she had made a great mistake that morning at the puja pandal. She stated that she being a kayastha ( a non-brahmin) went inside the puja enclave and touched some puja materials and at that the brahmin ladies who were helping the priests chastised her. Didima became furious to learn that she had been virtually driven out of the puja enclave for this so called mistake. Didima told the lady not to weep and come to the puja pandal with us. Didima virtually dragged her to the puja pandal and after arriving at the site demanded to know who had driven the lady out from the puja enclave. She emphatically stated that this being a community puja, every person of the locality, irrespective of caste, creed or any other consideration had an equal right to participate in every aspect of the puja. She then dragged the lady along with her inside and asked her to join her in helping the priest. All the people present there were dumb-struck and did not either utter an word of objection or shown any resentment openly. Instead, the youngmen present appreciated her move.