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.

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.

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.

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.

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. .