Women’s Day Special: Inspired by Surya Sen, the 21-year-old led the raid on the Pahartali European Club in Chittagong.
In a re-reading of historical accounts on Waddedar’s life and contributions, it is easy to forget how young she was when she threw herself fully into the cause of liberation of her motherland. (Photos: Wikimedia Commons; Designed by Gargi Singh)
Born in Chittagong, now in Bangladesh, Waddedar was a promising student, having spent her school years in her hometown. While a student at Eden College in Dhaka, Wadderdar’s anti-British sentiments began to take a more form as she slowly developed connections with other women who were spearheading semi-revolutionary groups. One such was with Leela Nag, a student at Dhaka University and an associate of Subhash Chandra Bose, who established the Deepali Sangha, a revolutionary group that provided combat training to women.
Waddedar came to Calcutta for higher education and enrolled as a student of Philosophy at Bethune College under the University of Calcutta. In the city, Waddedar was introduced to revolutionary leader Surya Sen, affectionately called ‘Master da’ by associates. Inspired by Sen, Waddedar soon joined his underground group. According to various accounts from the 1930s, members of Sen’s group initially objected to her membership, but appear to have eventually relented when they discovered her devotion to the cause for the motherland’s freedom, as well as her abilities to carry out assignments undetected by the police.
During the Chittagong Armory Raid of April 1930, 20-year-old Waddedar, along with Surya Sen, Ganesh Ghosh, Lokenath Bal, Ambika Chakrabarty, Anand Prasad Gupta, Tripura Sen, Bidhubhusan Bhattacharya, Kalpana Dutta, Himangshu Sen, Binod Bihari Chowdhury, Subodh Roy, Monoranjan Bhattacharya among a others in a group of at least 65 people, devised plans to raid the armoury of the British forces and destroy telegraph and telephone lines. Although the group did not manage to locate the armory, they succeeded in ruining the telegraph and telephone lines. Many members in the group were very young at that time, Subodh Roy being the youngest at just 14.
The tall statue depicts Waddedar, clad in a khadi sari, beset with sharp folds, with one arm outstretched and another balled up in a fist, perhaps signalling her determination for the cause of freedom. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)
While some members of the group were captured and arrested, Waddedar and a few others managed to escape and regroup over the next few months. In 1932, the group, following Surya Sen’s original plans to attack the Pahartali European Club in Chittagong, assigned Waddedar as the leader for this assignment. The social club for Europeans had been specifically targeted because of its racist and discriminatory practises towards Indians, especially its use of the signboard that read “Dogs and Indians not allowed”.
Under Waddedar’s leadership, a group of 10 was trained in the use of arms and taught how to consume potassium cyanide if the need arose. They attacked the club on the night of September 23, 1932. Several members of the club were injured, while the group was shot at by the police guarding the club. Waddedar sustained a bullet wound that prevented her from escaping with her group. In those circumstances, she consumed potassium cyanide to evade arrest and ended her life. Waddedar was only 21.
Like her contemporary, Bina Das, Waddedar too had been denied her graduation degree by the British authorities of Bethune College under Calcutta University. In March 2012, almost eight decades after her death, the University of Calcutta posthumously awarded Waddedar her pending Bachelor of Arts degree with Distinction for the year 1932. On her graduation certificate, Waddedar’s name is mentioned with a misspelling, ‘Pritilata Waddar’, perhaps an indication of how her name was recorded in university records.
In March 2012, Calcutta University posthumously awarded Pritilata Waddedar her pending Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction for the year 1932, that the British administrative authorities had withheld from her. (Express Photo by Neha Banka)
Dr Soumitra Sarkar, Librarian of Calcutta University, who oversees university archives told indianexpress.com that he did not have much information concerning why this may have occurred. A copy of Waddedar’s graduation certificate and marksheets were provided to the Birkanya Pritilata Trust in May 2018, based in Waddedar’s native village, Dhalghat, Patiya, Chittagong, established in her memory.
Calcutta University provided indianexpress.com a copy of Pritilata Waddedar’s marksheets for the year 1932, a detailed document that indicates that Waddedar was a student at Bethune College, reproduced by university authorities in 2018 for archival purposes. (Express Photo by Neha Banka)
The large expanse of the Maidan area in the heart of Kolkata, is dotted with statues of individuals associated with the freedom struggle. Between 1947 and 1983, the West Bengal government replaced statues of British officials and East India Company employees with those of revolutionaries, men and women who had devoted their lives to the freedom of the nation.
One such statue is that of Pritilata Waddedar, the only commemorative structure dedicated to her in the country. The monument does not have an address; to find it, one would have to walk down the long stretch of Indira Gandhi Sarani in the Maidan. The tall statue depicts Waddedar, clad in a khadi sari, beset with sharp folds, with one arm outstretched and another balled up in a fist, perhaps signalling her determination for the cause of freedom.
In a re-reading of historical accounts on Waddedar’s life and contributions, it is easy to forget how young she was when she threw herself fully into the cause of liberation of her motherland.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / Indian Express / Home> Lifestyle> Arts & Culture / by Neha Banka / Kolkata – March 08th, 2020
The Second World War, the Korean War, the Indo-Pakistan wars… Major General Premangsu Chowdry has seen them all. A salute to the Indian Army veteran, forever young at 100
Major General Premangsu Chowdry of the Indian Army is an extraordinary man, with a military and corporate career par excellence. He took active part in the Second World War operations in North Africa, Middle East and Italy; did post-war General Staff assignments in Japan with the British Commonwealth Occupational Forces (BCOF) and in the Headquarter of Supreme Commander Allied Forces (SCAP) commanded by General Douglas McArthur; with the British Commonwealth Division during the Korean War 1950-53; and fought in all the three India-Pakistan wars of 1948, 1965, 1971.
I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend quality time with the 99 years young ‘fighting fit’ General and relate to his extensive war experience. He with his contemporaries shaped the Indian Army since Indian Independence in 1947, notably, General (later Field Marshal) KM Cariappa, OBE, the first Commander-in Chief of Independent India; General KS Thimayya, DSO, Chief of Army Staff (1957-1961); and General (later Field Marshal) Sam Bahadur Manekshaw, MC, Chief of Army Staff (1969-1973), legend of the India-Pakistan war in 1971.
The General is to be applauded for his amazing and sharp memory to recall dates/years, names and places from his military career since 1941. The General celebrated being 100 years young on 1 May.
General Chowdry hails from Barisal town on the banks of Kirtan Kola river, then in East Bengal, now in Bangladesh. The family was well known as the ‘Chowdrys from Loha Ghar’ in Comilla District having zamindar credentials in that era. The General’s grandfather was the Superintendent of Prisons in Dacca, Bengal, the first Indian to have held that post in the 19th century. His father was the treasurer to the District Commissioner of Barisal in the early 1900s.
After completing his schooling at Barisal, where he received the gold medal for standing first in his matriculation exam, young Prem did his Bachelors and Masters at St Xaviers College, Calcutta University. Prem studied Arts with English Honours and was placed in the order of merit in the Bachelors programme.
A soldier is born
While he had plans of joining the Indian Civil Services (ICS), recruitment to the ICS had ceased due to the emerging World War in 1939. Prem instead opted for and joined the 1st batch of the Bangalore Cadet College, structured as a British Public School and which became the Officer Training Academy (OTA) for commissioning into the British Indian Army.
On 21 December 1941, Prem was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant into the ‘Royal Garhwal Rifles’ and joined at the Garhwal Regimental Centre at Lansdowne, which is present Uttarakhand. He was one of the first commissioned Indian officer into the ‘Royal’ Regiment.
After the initial training at the Regimental Centre, in 1942 Prem was posted to the 3rd Battalion Garhwal Rifles and served with them in the Western Sahara desert, Egypt, Cyprus, Iraq, Syria, Palestine and finally in the Italian campaign. In North Africa, the battalion was part of the 5th Indian Division and took part in the ‘Battle of Tobruk’. The fierce battle cost the battalion dearly, and they lost 12 officers and over 500 soldiers. The battalion was withdrawn and moved to Cyprus to rest, recuperate and await reinforcements from the Garhwal Regimental Centre.
Prem was sent for a Weapons Course at the Military School at the Allies military base in Gaza, where he excelled and then was ordered to be transferred to the Gaza Military School as an Instructor, a rare accomplishment because he was one of the first officers of Indian origin to be posted as an Instructor to the School. However the posting order was withdrawn at Prem’s request since he wished to remain with his troops involved in operations. After six months ‘Rest, Relief and Reinforcement’ in Cyprus, which included ‘Raid Operations’ in the Greek Islands, Prem and his battalion were deployed for training under the 9th British Army in the Middle East. From 1943 the battalion, as part of the 10th Indian Division, was actively involved in the ‘Italian Campaign’, where the Division was part of the 8th British Army commanded by General Bernard Montgomery, later Field Marshal, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein.
Prem’s outstanding performance in the Italian Campaign earned him a recommendation for the ‘Military Cross’
Onward to Italy
Prem and his battalion were involved in the Italian Campaign for almost two years until May 1945. The battalion was deployed for operations in the Taranto Sector and in the Eastern and Central Sectors along the Apennine Mountains; they fought battles in ‘River Crossing’ operations at Sangro, Garigliano and Senio.
Prem’s outstanding performance in the Italian Campaign earned him a recommendation for the ‘Military Cross’—but the vagaries in the fog of war instead earned him the gallantry award ‘Mentioned in Dispatches’—his first of the three, two of which follow in the 1948 and the 1965 India-Pakistan wars. Thereafter, in 1944 Prem was promoted out of turn to the rank of a Major when he was just 24 years of age, the youngest officer to achieve the rank at that age.
Prem was the first Indian origin Major in the ‘Royal Battalion’, superseding fellow British Officers in the battalion, thereby exemplifying his high officer leadership quotient.
At the end of World War II, Prem was selected as one of the three officers, with 10 Battalion Commissioned Officers (BCO) and 25 Other Ranks to represent and lead the 10 Indian Division in the Allies Victory March in London in 1945.
Return to India
In October 1945, Prem and his Battalion 3 Garhwal Rifles returned to Lansdowne. The Battalionwas thereafter deployed in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP—currently in Pakistan) at Campbellpore forming part of an experimental Infantry Brigade responsible for testing new weapons and tactics in Waziristan and the Swat Valley. The core task of the Battalion and the Brigade was to suppress the Hazara tribal uprising in NWFP region. At the end of the tenure, Prem was posted as the Training Commander at the Garhwal Regimental Centre at Lansdowne.
After the India-Pakistan Partition, in 1948, Prem was posted back to his battalion 3 Garhwal Rifles deployed in the Kashmir region for the 1948 India-Pakistan war. The Battalion as part of the 160 Infantry Brigade was responsible to clear the Baramullah-Uri axis which they accomplished under heavy odds. Prem earned his second gallantry award ‘Mention-in-Dispatches’ in the Kashmir operations.
Prem as a 28-year-old Lieutenant Colonel was given the prestigious offer to command the 3rd Battalion the 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force). The Battalion provided support to the Hyderabad State police in their action against the Nizam-ruled princely Hyderabad State to ensure that the State remained in the Indian Union.
Prem thereafter undertook the entrance exam for admission into the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) at Wellington, Tamil Nadu. In 1949-50 Prem underwent the 3rd DSSC Course where he attained the second position in merit and was subsequently posted as the General Staff Officer Grade 1 to Headquarter East Punjab Area in Jullundur commanded then by Major General SPP Thorat.
In December 1950, Prem was chosen by the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, General KM Cariappa to take up the post of General Staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO 1) at the Headquarter British Commonwealth Occupation Forces (BCOF) in Japan. The appointment was another feather in the cap for Prem and his military career, and he was the first and only Indian origin officer to have been part of the BCOF.
Prem’s position as the Liaison Officer at the Headquarter UN Forces enabled him regular professional interaction with General Douglas McArthur, an honour and privilege which Prem recalls with clarity and great pride. In 1951 Prem was posted as GSO 1 to the 1st British Commonwealth Division in Korea. The Division was actively engaged in the ‘Korean War’ in the peninsula. Prem spent a year in the Division and excelled.
Return to India, and finding love
In October 1952 Prem returned to India and was given his second command of an Infantry Battalion, the 2nd Battalion the 5th Gorkha Rifles at Ferozepur as part of the 43 Infantry Brigade. In 1953, Prem got married to Sheila Devichand in New Delhi. The General won the heart and mind of Sheila, in fact he was a dashing and suave gentleman able to leave a lasting impression on anyone who met with him. At 100 years Prem still carries that aura and gentry to win over people. The love of his life for 57 years, Sheila passed away in 2013.
Ethiopia and the emperor
At the end 1960, Prem was appointed by General KS Thimayya, DSO, the Chief of Army Staff to be Commandant of the Ethiopian Military Academy in Harar, reporting directly to Emperor Haille Selassie of Ethiopia. Prem was also an unofficial military advisor to the Emperor. This tenure over the next three years built a lasting association between the Emperor and Prem.
Back to India
After the Ethiopian tenure Prem was posted for the second time to command a brigade, the 120 Infantry Brigade at Rajouri, as part of 25 Infantry Division. In 1965 Prem was posted as Brigadier General Staff (BGS) and acting Chief of Staff of 1 Corps at Mathura which took part in the second India-Pakistan war in the same year. Prem earned his third gallantry award ‘Mention-in-Dispatches’ in this war for his exemplary contribution to the war effort.
In 1967, at the age of 47, Prem was posted as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) Madhya Pradesh Area. The following year Prem took command of the 3 Infantry Division at Leh which he commanded until 1970. Prem earned his Param Vishisht Seva Medal from VV Giri, the President of India during this command for his overall meritorious service and the specific job of organising and personally directing the relief programme for the local civilian population after an earthquake struck the Ladakh region. Prem’s efforts saved many lives.
In December 1970, Prem took over as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) Bengal Area. This was a vital responsibility since the Area was required to deal with the violent Naxalite problem in Bengal State. In order to do so, Prem was given significant responsibility and authority, and had under direct and indirect command, the three Army divisions then based in Bengal, the Railway, State Police, CRPF, BSF and the Home Guards. During the 1971 India-Pakistan war which led to the creation of Bangladesh, Bengal Area under Prem’s leadership provided vital support to Eastern Command. Leading into the war, the Bengal Area had the crucial responsibility of managing and attending to thousands of refugees pouring into India from East Pakistan.
From the battlefield to the boardroom
On 30 April 1974, after 33 years of meritorious service, Prem retired from the Army and pursued a successful career in the corporate world. In civil life, initially in Calcutta, Prem held senior executive positions in the corporate and public sector including, Director of Shaw Wallace; Managing Director of Durgapore project, a public sector undertaking to which he was appointed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the Chief Minister of West Bengal Siddhartha Shankar Ray; and Managing Director of Sankey Wheels. Prem’s contribution to the undertakings enabled them to turn around their losses and be profitable enterprises.
In 1979 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi directly appointed Prem as the Chairman and Managing Director of Incheck Tyres & National Rubber. The position held equivalence to a Minister of Industries and was part of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet at the federal level.
In 1983, at 63 years Prem took permanent retirement. The General and his wife spent time with their three sons Rahoul, Drone and Kunal who lived in Sydney and Dubai. The General currently resides in Sydney with his eldest son Rahoul. An avid golfer into his mid-80s, Prem never missed a chance to swing his golf clubs at the Delhi Golf Club and the Manly Golf Club in Sydney. The Manly Club honoured the General over an evening sit-down dinner with all the members in 2010.
Prem is associated with many charitable organisations and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society United Kingdom. The General was also an active member of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies in Sydney.
A salute to the centenarian.
The writer is an Indian Army Veteran
source: http://www.theindiansun.com.au / The Indian Sun / Home> India / by Colonel Joseph Malhews / August 14th, 2020
To greater depths: India’s deepest ventilation shaft for East West Metro in Kolkata.
The Metro project connects Kolkata and Howrah through underground tunnels below river Hooghly
Kolkata’s East West Metro Project, a mega infrastructure venture connecting the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah through underground tunnels below the river Hooghly, will have achieved another engineering feat on Monday when it completes India’s deepest Metro ventilation shaft. The shaft goes 43.5 metres below the ground level, equivalent to a 15-storey building. The shaft will not only provide ventilation to the tunnels, but also an exit for evacuation during an emergency.
The evacuation shaft is located at Strand Road near river Hooghly and is situated between the two tunnels.
“This is a marvellous achievement, to successfully complete the 43.5-metre deep Metro ventilation shaft on the bank of river Hooghly. This is India’s deepest Metro ventilation shaft ever constructed by adopting a unique methodology… ,” said Satya Narayan Kunwar, Project Manager, Afcons.
Afcons had been commissioned by the Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Ltd ( KMRCL) to execute the underground stretch of the East West Metro Project from Howrah Maidan to New Mahakaran station, which includes the tunnels below the river bed. The projects have already achieved a number of significant milestones which are considered engineering marvels. Two tunnels running parallel to each other about 37 metres below the river bed were completed by mid 2017 followed by the Howrah Metro Station, which, at 30 metres below the earth surface, is the deepest metro station in the country.
Afcons officials said the ventilation shaft was another such milestone. The shaft has a 10.3 metre inner diameter circular lining wall of minimum 500 mm thickness, and of concrete grade minimum M40 (a special construction material) circumscribed by 1 metre thick diaphragm walls all around.
‘Innovative techniques’
“The Metro shaft has been constructed adopting innovative engineering techniques and methodology to navigate geological challenges and overcome any impact on Kolkata’s circular railway track along river Hooghly,” Mr. Kunwar said.
The 16.6 km East West Metro Project will connect Howrah on one side of the river Hooghly to New Town Rajarhat in the north eastern fringes of the city on the other side. About 10.8 km of the metro line is underground and the remaining 9.8 km of the project will be through an elevated corridor.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kolkata / by Shiv Sahay Singh / Kolkata – August 10th, 2020
Duo rescue people abandoned on roads, clean maggots and nurse them back to health
Priyanka Mitra (right) with Priyam Dutta (second from left), a friend (left) and a woman (third from left) they had rescued from a road in north Calcutta where she had been lying injured for three weeks / Telegraph picture
Two women have been rescuing people abandoned on the roads of Calcutta, many of whom government agencies had hesitated to touch because of the pandemic.
The two have been able to rescue seven people found abandoned near Nagerbazar, Amherst Street and Maniktala in the past 15 days. One of them who had been lying on the road for 14 days and had severe infection could not be saved.
Priyanka Mitra, 33, and Priyam Dutta, 33, have been helping abandoned and injured people and animals for the past five years, from cleaning their infected limbs to nursing them. The Covid crisis has left them busier.
The two with a dog they rescued / Telegraph picture
Mitra works in a telecom company and lives with her mother in Baguiati. She is posted in Odisha but returns to Calcutta every weekend when she teams up with Dutta to serve the needy on the roads.
She has been working from home during the lockdown and the number of “cases” they have handled has gone up.
Dutta is a single mother. She lives with her 13-year-old son and father. She has been supporting Mitra outside her professional job as a physiotherapist.
On June 4, officers of Baguiati police station called them to “remove” a man who had been lying on the road for two days. Mitra and Dutta took the man to RG Kar hospital where he was diagnosed with “severe malnutrition”. They kept visiting him till he was back on his feet in four days and discharged.
The two have rescued hundreds of men and women lying incapacitated on roads in the past few years.
In the initial days, people around them would mostly react with shock, Mitra said. “Many years ago I found a woman inside the Indian Botanic Garden lying motionless… only her eyes kept flickering. When I started to remove the maggots moving on her, one of my friends said ‘Pagal hai kya? (are you mad?)’.”
She said she ignored such jibes and continued to do what she thought was right.
Priyanka with a woman they had found unconscious on the street with both her legs fractured. This picture is when she was back on her feet after surgery at RG Kar hospital. / Telegraph picture
Both Mitra and Dutta have always used gloves as their work involves touching strangers often covered in dirt and at times cleaning maggots at the risk of getting infected themselves.
These days, they have started wearing masks in addition to the gloves.
“I regret one incident… a woman was lying motionless in the Amherst Street area a few weeks ago. We cleaned
her face with a wet cloth and tried to make her drink some water… she gasped for a moment and passed away,” Mitra said. “I later found out she had been there on the road for five-six days without food and water. I wish someone had spotted her earlier. She could have been saved.”
Are they not afraid of a Covid infection?
“Of course we are! At times we keep a count of 14 days after helping a person on the road,” Mitra said. “At the end of the day, we tell each other, ‘amader barir lok holeo toh etai kortam (we would have done the same thing had it been someone from our family)’.”
Her father who was an insurance agent inspired her to do such a work. “He would always say we should feel lucky if we can support anyone who needs us. In his endeavour to help others, he left us nothing. I started from scratch.”
Around a decade ago, when she was in college, Mitra gave tuitions and sold Oxford dictionaries and recipe books for a commission of Rs 30 a book in Howrah and Salt Lake to pay her college fees. Once a dog was unleashed on her in Salt lake as the family did not want any salesperson in their apartment, she said.
Dutta, too, had her own set of struggles in her married life. She found a way to support her family by learning physiotherapy.
“I used to be afraid of cockroaches. But seeing her pluck out each and every maggot… so sincerely to prevent the spread of infection, I have been able to overcome that fear, too,” Dutta who is more into feeding and curing stray dogs said.
Every night, the two would step out with home-made “mangsho-jhol bhaat and biscuits” to feed strays across the city.
The two have been taking uncared and unclaimed men and women to government hospitals where treatment is mostly free. The two bear any extra expenses. They said they were lucky to have the support of their families and police.
In March 2016, Mitra had spotted a woman lying on the road near Baguiati Joramandir. One of her legs was bandaged but her clothes and the condition of the bandage made it clear she had been abandoned, Mitra said.
“I contacted the police and got her admitted to RG Kar. She underwent multiple surgeries. We later learnt she hailed from Rajasthan and that her husband had thrashed and broken her leg before dumping her on the road,” Mitra said. “We managed to contact her home with the help of cops and various NGOs… her mother came and took her home. I will never forget her smile when she stood on her feet again.”
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Online Edition / Home> West Bengal> Calcutta / by Monalisa Chaudhuri / Calcutta / August 06th, 2020
To duck the coronavirus or dodge Amphan’s fury was never top of their agenda
SERVE ALL: Food being prepared in the Khalsa Aid kitchen for those hit by Amphan / Courtesy, Raghbir Singh
During the first few days of the lockdown, Raghbir Singh and some others served 500 meals in and around south Calcutta. Thereafter, they lost count and it was never the point in any case.
The 30-year-old, who works part-time as a real estate dealer and also helps out with the family car rental business, is not new to relief work; he has helped during the Kerala floods of 2018 and the Assam floods of 2019. He says, “When the lockdown was announced, we knew our relief work would have to be ramped up. Since Day 2 we started cooking dal-chawal daily at the Garcha gurdwara and distributed it to people living on pavements and makeshift houses by the roadside.” Volunteers also went around city hospitals such as Chittaranjan Hospital in Park Circus, R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Shyambazar and Calcutta Medical College on College Street with food packets for patients’ kin.
After the first few days, volunteers of Khalsa Aid, a UK-based humanitarian relief organisation, with the help of south Calcutta’s Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara, started distributing rations — flour, rice, pulses, sugar, salt — to those in need. They had those as well as cooked food home-delivered too. Raghbir has also been on National Highway 6 a couple of times since the lockdown to hand out bottles of drinking water, biscuits, puffed rice and juice to migrants walking home.
It is difficult to get phone time with Raghbir. Their garage has been shut, and he has been immersed in seva round-the-clock. It entails serving cooked food all day and then driving around the city in the evening delivering household staples.
Raghbir says amidst all this frenetic activity, every successive day he has seen a different side to humanity. “I saw first-hand how difficult it was for the daily-wage earners to survive. They wanted to earn money and some refused to accept the food we distributed.” He talks about others, middle-class folks who first fought shy of seeking assistance, but approached him when he was by himself. “I met so many people who feel that because they are poor, they do not exist for the government,” says Raghbir in muted tones.
On the night of Cyclone Amphan, Raghbir and others from Khalsa Aid got their cars out and drove around the city looking for the stranded and those in need of help of any sort. “We came upon more than one ambulance — carrying patients and kin — stuck on the road. There were uprooted trees all around, impeding movement,” he says.
The morning after brought to light the scale of devastation. Keeping in mind the disrupted power supply and lack of running water across the city, the sevaks went about collecting more groceries. On the first day, they distributed food and water among 400 people, the next day that number doubled and the day after that, it tripled.
Funds to continue this outpouring of support continue to come from private organisations and individuals, most of who prefer to remain nameless.
The night of the cyclone, Raghbir and other volunteers had received instructions
to be on Ground Zero and report the situation so they could start relief work immediately. He says, “We were unable to reach places such as Namkhana and Kakdwip in South 24-Parganas as the roads were completely blocked; so we focused on Calcutta until the roads were cleared.”
On May 25, the group set up their base camp in Diamond Harbour, also in the South 24-Parganas. Raghbir says, “Most of the people had kutcha houses and the cyclone had blown them away. We had carried along plastic sheets; we made canopies for temporary shelter.” The kitchen in Diamond Harbour fed the locals and also many in the Sunderbans and Sagar Island.
Did Raghbir ever fear that he would contract the coronavirus? Does it play on his mind even now in the face of continuing relief work? By way of reply, a photograph lands in the chat window. A close-up of a Khalsa Aid T-shirt with a message emblazoned on it. It reads — Recognise the whole human race as one. Raghbir says, “There is magic in the uniform.”
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> Culture / by Manasi Shah / June 06th, 2020
Academics specialising in Indo-Bangladesh relations consider the close ties between the border towns quite natural given their shared ethnic identity and Durga Puja’s importance in the Bengali community. SHREYA DUTTA
Taki in West Bengal is a town of green paddies and greener ponds on the banks of the Ichamati river separating India and Bangladesh. Like the rest of the state, it sees enthusiastic Durga Puja celebrations every year. The streets are lit up in canopies of fairy lights, Bengali songs and Bollywood hits blare from loudspeakers, and pandals, or marquees, compete for who carries the tallest, glossiest pratimas—idols—of the goddess Durga.
But what distinguishes Taki from other border towns is a particular tradition on the final day of the Puja. As its residents gear up for the immersion of idols, so do its counterparts in Satkhira, a district across the border in Bangladesh. The inhabitants of both towns place the pratimas in their respective boats and sail up to border security boats floating in middle of the river, along the international boundary. With a dozen metres between them, the two groups of neighbours wave at each other, exchange greetings and—with deafening shouts of “Aschche bochor abar hobe!”–Until next year!–immerse the idols together. For a day, citizens of the two countries, divided by geopolitics, come together to celebrate a shared heritage.
The practice of joint celebrations goes back several decades, Sridip Roy Choudhary, a local Communist Party of India (Marxist) worker, told me over tea and rasgullas when we met in late September 2017. Until the early 2000s, residents of both countries would cross the riverine boundary and dock in the neighbouring country to shop and socialise on the eve of visarjan—the day of immersion. “There would be a little mela on both sides,” Choudhary said. “We’d buy coconuts and sugarcane from there, they’d buy oil, soap and Boroline (antiseptic cream) from here.” Some people would even find a wedding match for their sons or daughters. His friend Subhas Pal, a 48-year-old LIC agent, recalled it as a time of fluid movement across the border. “I made a lot of friends in these visits across the border. Hindus or Muslims, they always treated me with the best of hospitality,” he said. “We’d fish in the ponds and have a feast after.” While those from Bangladesh made use of the medical facilities available in India, Indian visitors were keen on the cheap, “king-size” cigarettes of Bangladesh. And Pal added, these would not be bought, only bartered.
At 6 pm, the border guards would announce the end of the meeting-time. The residents would get into their respective boats and trawlers and return to their countries across the river. There were no passport-checks or entry pass for visitors. At its heart lay an implicit trust, according to Taki residents. The practice of an open-border tradition seems extraordinary now, with security concerns about cross-border terrorism, illegal immigration and cattle trade dominating the mainstream discourse. But academics specialising in Indo-Bangladesh relations consider the close ties between the border towns quite natural given their shared ethnic identity, the mutual practice of soft diplomacy and Durga Puja’s importance in the Bengali community.
“The Puja festivities have always been more social than religious affairs,” Somdatta Chakraborty, a research associate at Calcutta Research Group, told me over the phone. “Not only do Muslims participate in large numbers in the celebrations, most pandal-makers belong to the community.” Many villages along the border lie within shouting distance of each other, sometimes separated by a narrow mud path or shallow streams. Given their shared linguistic identity, it was not easy for many residents living in the border-towns to come to terms with the creation of East Pakistan in 1947 and, later, Bangladesh in 1971. Many had friends and relatives across the border—at times, in their backyards—and restrictions on free movement were often too much to bear.
According to Chakraborty, the Ray Chaudharys, an influential zamindar family, first began communal Durga Puja celebrations in Taki in the 1970s. As it grew in scale, visitors came from across the border for visarjan. “After the economic liberalisation of 1991 in India, people started coming in from Bangladesh for work,” she said. “Then in 1992, the Babri masjid demolition happened. In Kolkata, it prompted communal disturbances for the first time after 1947. This began to dilute the homogeneous Bengali identity.”
Beginning in 1989, the Indian side decided to fence its 4,098-kilometre border with Bangladesh. Thirty years later, the work remains half-finished. A 10-foot fence with concertina wires, and two-foot rock stumps for border-pillars, are visible along the border. The Border Security Forces, or BSF, did not fence the perimeter of the Ichamati river, since local livelihoods depended on it, but ramped up security and surveillance. They also erected watchtowers along the riverfront and floating outposts in the river. By the early 2000s, a day-long free pass across the border on visarjan had all but stopped.
In May 2011, the All India Trinamool Congress, led by the now-chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, swept the state assembly elections. The party, known for promoting better relations with Bangladesh, reportedly organised a Milan Mela—a festival to celebrate the immersion—in Taki, and it allowed for the relaxation of border norms on the day of visarjan. According to eyewitnesses and media reports, thousands allegedly trooped into India under the garb of festivities and boarded buses and trains to bigger cities in search of employment. There was a near-complete shutdown of immersion festivities for the next three years.
The BSF South Bengal Frontier, in charge of the security at the Taki border, refused to either confirm or deny that there had been any security lapses in 2011. Instead, a representative speaking for the BSF chief PSR Anjaneyulu told me, “Such an incident hasn’t happened in the past three to four years. Now it is very organised.” His reluctance to speak about the incident had a familiar ring to it: in a report published on Rediff.com in 2014, a security personnel in Taki told a journalist, “It’s an unpleasant memory that is buried. Let’s talk about today and tomorrow.”
When I attended the Taki visarjan in 2017, the diplomatic relations between the countries were at their least combative. Over the previous four years, India had resolved the administrative anomalies of its border enclaves and started a public border-retreat ceremony at the Petrapole-Benapole checkpoint, the highlight of which was the security personnel shaking hands before calling it a day, every day.
At Taki, the border forces of India and Bangladesh were alert but not intrusive, as they patrolled on steamers with guns, cameras and life-jackets. Thousands had turned up to witness the unique Puja celebrations along the leafy riverfront. Nearly a hundred boats chugged along the length of the Ichamati promenade, carrying revellers from both countries who clicked photos, soaked in the September drizzle and waved at their neighbours across the border. At 6 pm, the security forces announced that the celebrations should wind up. Over the next hour, their loudspeakers and flashlights led the boats back to the coast.
Pal was also among the revellers that day. “My only regret is that the next generation will never know of the joy we had experienced,” he said. “For us, visarjan was not about taking the pratima and throwing it into river. It was about making the journey to the other end, of interacting with people. The charm has now diminished. It now seems like a formality.”
I asked him what he missed the most about the border-crossing tradition. With a laugh, he said, “The free cigarettes, of course.”
The print version of this article mistakenly stated that India and Bangladesh had signed a pact for sharing the waters of the Teesta River. The Caravan regrets the error.
OMKAR KHANDEKAR is a journalist from Mumbai, and an alumnus of Cardiff University. His reporting from India, the Maldives and the United Kingdom has appeared in numerous publications, including The Caravan, Open and Scroll.
source: http://www.caravanmagazine.com / The Caravan / Home> The Lede – Community / by OmKar Khandekar / March 01st, 2018
After three silent films, Bengali filmmaker Aneek Chaudhuri has helmed a Malayalam film — a first for someone from Bengal. The film is now part of Cannes 2020 and will be screened later this month.
Aneek Choudhuri’s Malayalam film Katti Nrittam is part of the Cannes Film Festival 2020 lineup.
Art transcends barriers. So, it should come as no surprise when a Bengali decides to make a film in Malayalam. However, for Kolkata-based filmmaker Aneek Chaudhuri — whose Malayalam film Katti Nrittam is part of the Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival 2020 — it’s the one question he gets asked all the time.
“Films speak a universal language,” said Chaudhuri, 28. It’s a fitting answer from someone who first forayed into cinema with silent films. A film in Malayalam then — a language he doesn’t speak himself — is a natural progression. “I believe that cinema should not have any kind of language barrier,” he said.
Katti Nrittam — a thriller about a failed Kathakali dancer who turns into a psychopathic killer — made a mark earlier too, when its script was included in OSCARS’ Margaret Herrick Library in California— regarded as one of the finest film-related libraries in the world.
In its 73rd edition, the Cannes Film Festival, which is scrapping its physical event for a series of virtual screenings on account of the COVID-19pandemic, will launch the Marché du Film or the festival’s Film Market online to support industry professionals around the globe. Katti Nrittam is one among the many being screened during the five-day virtual event between June 22 and 26.
Chaudhuri’s previous films — The Wife’s Letter (2016), White (2018), and Cactus (2018) — were also screened at Cannes. However, it is for the first time he won’t be there in Paris to present his film.
First Malayalam film from Bengal
While Katti Nrittam, meaning the Knife Dance, is a modern-day adaptation of ‘The Mahabharata’, the film also draws inspiration from O. Henry’s short story ‘The Cactus’ (1902).
Starring Rahul Sreenivasan, Rukmini Sircar, Sabuj Bardhhan, Anuska Chakraborty and Aritra Sengupta in major roles — it’s the first Malayalam film by someone from Bengal.
“Malayalam Cinema is indeed the best form of Indian Cinema these days,” said Chaudhuri, explaining his choice of language in an email interview. “They have found a way to integrate mainstream and parallel cinema.” However, it was his trip to Kerala’s Kalamandalam in 2018 that further sparked his interest in Malayalam arts and culture.
The film, which took almost a year to finish as Chaudhuri started to work on the script in early 2019, was primarily shot in Kolkata. The only difficulty was finding locations that resemble Kerala closely. So would it not have been easier to shoot in Kerala itself then? “Yes I could have but that would mean I need to drop out a lot of technicians from Calcutta without whom I cannot work. They wait for me to make a film so that they can work in terms of creative liberty I provide them,” he said.
A modern day Mahabharata
In Katti Nrittam, Chaudhuri uses the graceful Kathakali dance of Kerala to articulate a story of violence. “When I had decided to adapt Mahabharata on-screen, I had to make the killings classy and beautiful and I thought of nothing but this dance form,” he said.
In the film, Arjuna is portrayed through a Kathakali dancer. “After studying the patterns of murderers like Ted Bundy, I believe that for them, killing was a form of art,” said Chaudhuri, “We had to beautify the process of killing.”
In his modern-day interpretation of the epic, Chaudhuri tries to do what otherwise is a taboo: highlight the darker sides of the divine. Answering if the epic — which he dubbed one-dimensional — is still relevant, he said, “Sometimes the interpretation of an epic is directly proportional to the times we are living in.”
‘People expect a change’
Katti Nrittam is expected to have a commercial release in 2020.
Winning many accolades and awards in the last couple of years, Chaudhuri’s films often put women at the centre. His last directorial work Cactus portrayed Jesus Christ as a woman and White was a poignant silent film about rape.
Katti Nrittam is no different: while the film narrates a complex tale of a quadrilateral love based on Henry’s novel, the gender roles have been reversed.
Talking about his women-centric films, the filmmaker, admitted that he is inspired “a lot” by women. “I would try to look out for feminist dimensions in every character I read or create, because women are so damn interesting,” he said, “They can do everything and that too, successfully. And I strongly believe that the world was created from a woman’s point of view that’s why we are still safe; they are the most able and organised people, I must say.”
Chaudhuri’s film has been received positively in Kerala — “But back home, people think that I am in too much of a hurry,” he said.
“In Bengal, you don’t get the space to film alternative stuff. People might be in the legacy of auteur, but most of them in the current scenario are not original and inclined toward earning rather than creating. Now, that is alarming, isn’t it?” said Chaudhuri.
However, it is in his audiences that he has hope. While Katti Nrittam is expected to have a commercial release in 2020, Chaudhuri has spent the lockdown working on a feature-length film titled The Symphony of Pansies with a Lebanese artist Stephanie Bou Chedid. “And if all goes well, something big in 2021,” he said, without divulging further details. “People expect a change.”
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Malayalam / by Shreya Das / June 03rd, 2020
Set up in the early 2000s, the association has nearly 100 member families that helped raise the funds
A member of the Korean Association of Kolkata hands over a bag of pulses to a resident of the slums around Ultadanga / Sourced by the Telegraph
Our Korean neighbours have been lending a helping hand in these times of crisis. The Korean Association of Kolkata, with its head quarters in CJ Block, has raised Rs 3 lakh that they used to buy food and distribute in seven areas in and around the city.
Set up in the early 2000s, the association has nearly 100 member families that helped raise the funds. “But due to social distancing protocols, very few of us went over to distribute the rice, pulses, biscuits etc,” said president of the body, Daehun Moon. They held the relief camps at Ultadanga, Sealdah, Dhapa, Bashirhat, Jodthbhim in Rajarhat, Paschim Chowbaga near Science City and a centre for the homeless in Beliaghata.
The final leg was on Monday, at Dhapa, where they handed over 2,500kg of grains to 500 migrant workers. “We identified the seven spots based on reports from the news, friends and our own members who have business there,” said Moon. “In each place, we contacted local leaders who helped us with the distribution.”
For group secretary Seong Kuk Jeong, this was the first time he visited these areas but he received positive vibes from the residents. “We spoke to them a little, in a mixture of Bangla, Hindi and English. I asked them “Bhalo achho?” and they replied “Bhalo achhi,” smiles Jeong, who runs a taekwondo training centre in CJ Block.
When Covid-19 broke out, some member families returned to their motherland. “Korea is handling the crisis well but still, as residents of Calcutta, we wanted to help out here. Our association mostly works on cultural exchange but even when the Vivekananda Road flyover collapsed we had helped out financially,” says Moon.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> Calcutta / by Brinda Sarkar / May 01st, 2020
‘You’ve all got to remember that we will get through it in the end’
Captain Tom Moore at his home in Marston Moretaine, England, on Thursday after he completed 100 laps of his garden and raised £15 million for the NHS.(AP)
Captain Tom Moore, a former British army officer who served in Calcutta during World War II, had intended to raise £1,000 for the NHS by marking his 100th birthday on April 30 by doing 100 laps of the 25-metre loop in the garden of his home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, in 10-lap segments.
But by the time Moore, aided by his walking frame, had completed his mission on Thursday morning, donations from 620,000 people in 53 countries had taken the total on his fundraising page to over £15m — a record for a single campaign on “JustGiving”.
It is all a long time since his days in India. Moore was conscripted into the British Army in June 1940 when he was 20, and began his military career in Otley, West Yorkshire, where he joined the 8th Battalion, the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment under Lieutenant Lord George Saville.
This might explain why, when donations hit £10 million late on Wednesday night, Moore tweeted “Virtutis Fortuna Comes” — the Latin motto of the Duke of Wellington which means “fortune is the companion of virtue”.
In October 1941, his unit was posted to Bombay, with the sea voyage, via Cape Town, taking six weeks. He took a train to Poona and joined the 50th Indian Tank Brigade, where he was asked by his commander to start a motorcycling course for the Brigade because of his expertise in the sport.
He was next ordered to move to his base in Calcutta — the journey during the monsoons took three weeks — and later took part in two exercises in the Arakan before moving to Rangoon.
After all in his background, he probably thought his walk in England, even at 99, was a bit of a doddle.
Still, among those who applauded his fundraising achievement was Ben Stokes, Wisden’s cricketer of the year, who said: “The funds you have raised for the real heroes (in the NHS) are just sensational.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said Moore’s “extraordinary” efforts “goes to show the British spirit is as strong as it’s ever been”, while the health secretary Matt Hancock remarked, “This is an awful crisis, but there are some little shafts of light…. He’s served his country in the past and he’s serving his country now, both raising that money for the NHS, but also cheering us all up.”
From his home, Michael Ball, a well-known singer, offered a rousing rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone.
As the sprightly dressed 99-year-old, with his medals gleaming in the spring sunshine, finished his mission, there were TV cameras and journalists to record the occasion plus four soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment to give him a ceremonial salute.
An emotional Captain Moore, then revealed that he had postponed his 100th birthday party and that after a short rest he would resume his walk.
He added an uplifting message to people in Britain and beyond: “You’ve all got to remember that we will get through it in the end, it will all be right but it might take time. All the people are finding it difficult at the moment, but the sun will shine again and the clouds will go away.”
He said that NHS workers on the frontline “deserve everything we can give them”, and that “I’ve always been one for having a future, I always think things will be good. We’ve fought so many battles and we’ve always won and we’re going to win again.”
www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> World / by Amit Roy in London / April 17th, 2020
A 36-year old schoolmaster and his disciples, challenged the tyranny of the British Raj, and for a few glorious days, threw off the yoke of imperial servitude.
Suresh Chandra Dey
Chennai :
A 36-year old schoolmaster and his disciples, challenged the tyranny of the British Raj, and for a few glorious days, threw off the yoke of imperial servitude. They paid a heavy price. But a tinder had been struck, and a group of young Bengali men and women had briefly managed to attack and capture British strongholds. I am referring to the little-known saga of the Chittagong Armoury Raid and the ensuing Battle of Jalalabad Hills, led by ‘Masterda’ Surya Kumar Sen, former president of the Indian National Congress’ Chittagong branch.
My grandfather Suresh Chandra Dey was one of the 65 members of the Chittangong branch of the Indian Republic Army, who raided the local armoury and cut off the communication systems to isolate the important port city. A few days later, a regiment of more than 20,000 British troops struck back. During this fierce battle, my grandfather was shot. He managed to survive the injury and was helped by his comrade Shanti Nag, who carried him down the hill to safety.
Dey was eventually arrested and jailed without a trial, incarcerated as a political prisoner. When his tormentors could not extract information from him through coercion and torture, they tried bribing him, offering to send him to England and fund his higher studies as a barrister.
He did not give in and was eventually released and placed under house arrest. So much so, when my grandfather wed my grandmother Kironmoyee Dey, it was in the presence of British soldiers. He then made his way westward, and eventually founded a the first Sreeleathers store in Jamshedpur in 1952.
My grandfather had chosen to dedicate his life to the idea of an independent India. But the pocket of earth on which he and his comrades bled into was cleaved away at partition, first as East Pakistan and then as Bangladesh.
It falls upon all of us to remember our forebears, and cherish the country that was founded on the blood sacrifice of so many forgotten heroes.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Rijuta Dey Bera / Express News Service / April 23rd, 2020
