As the subtitle of this book (February, 2007) indicates it's a compilation of personal history narrated by a section of the surviving victims of 1947 Bengal Partition. Many of these early migrants came to Kolkata and initially lived on railway platforms or on pavements outside stations. There were farmers, petty traders and teachers among them. They had left behind their ancestral homes, land and their community life. With family and children they were now in an alien city where they had no place to stay and no means to earn a livelihood. The trauma of this experience is documented in Ritwik Ghatak and Nimai Ghosh's films, but not much literature on this exists in Bengali, points out Sukanta Choudhury (an issue further explored in 'Bhanga Bangla o Bango Sahityo' by Asrukumar Sikdar) in his brief introduction to this volume, a joint publication of Jadavpur University School of Cultural Texts and Records and Seriban. Like Urbashi Butalia's 'The Other Side of Silence', this too is a moving, personal chronicle of Partition that places people, instead of grand politics, at the centre.
The Partition was, however, more than just a political divide, or a division of properties, of assets and liabilities, It was also a 'division of hearts'. It brought untold suffering, tragedy, trauma, pain, violence and sexual savagery to communities who had hitherto lived together in some kind of social contract. It separated families across an arbitrarily drawn border, and made it practically impossible for people to know if their parents, sisters, brothers or children were alive or dead. The violent transition of Partition left their lives in shreds. Confronted by mercilessness of the politics of religious identities they failed to understand how they would ever find their way back to an ordinary place called 'home'. The events of 1947 not only violently uprooted them, but also suddenly estranged them from those simple words like 'friendship', 'neighbourhood', 'hope' and 'love' which they had used to craft their life-world. Hannah Arendt in 'The Origins of Totalitarianism : Imperialism' says, 'The first loss which the rightless suffered was the loss of their homes, and this meant the loss of the entire social texture into which they were born and in which they established for themselves a distinct place in the world'.
This book, however, is less about the trauma of forced migration and more about the building of a new community life in an alien and apathetic, often hostile, environment. It records the migrants' struggle : their sufferings, frustrations and excitements while rebuilding their homes in the colonies on the outskirts of Kolkata. It is an important addition to Partition literature that chronicles the past as well as chaperons the future. These aspects of Partition - how families were divided, how friendships endured across borders, how people coped with the trauma, how they rebuilt their lives, what resources, both physical and mental, they drew upon, how their experience of dislocation and trauma shaped their lives find little reflection in written history.
A large part of this material relates specifically to Bijoygarh Colony, while the rest covers a spectrum of settlements and experiences, as well as reminiscences of the refugees' pre-partition life in East Bengal. Bijoygarh, located south of Jadavpur, was one of the earliest refugee settlements in Kolkata. This settlement began in November, 1947. There was an army wireless house, abandoned by American soldiers in the area, where temporary structures were built to provide shelter. Initially twelve families came from Sealdah station platforms. Most of them walked the distance with whatever belongings they had in push carts. Gradually more people arrived, the settlement grew in size and soon the settlers began to forcibly occupy adjoining vacant land. They were helped by workers of the Socialist Party unit in Jadavpur. A committee, 'Jadavpur Bastuhara Samity', was formed to mobilise people and collectively seek help and support from the local people and the government. Well known freedom fighters from outside the area were invited to be Presidents of this Samity, the first President being Basanti Devi, widow of Chittaranjan Das. Teachers and students of Jadavpur Engineering College (Jadavpur University now) actively helped them. Soon other political parties, like the Congress and the Communist Party, came. A club, 'Jagarani Club', was formed with the youth of the community who not only organised cultural programmes but also helped to resolve disputes among settlers. A small library was also started by the members of the club. Playgrounds were developed where regular sporting events were held.
The Partition was, however, more than just a political divide, or a division of properties, of assets and liabilities, It was also a 'division of hearts'. It brought untold suffering, tragedy, trauma, pain, violence and sexual savagery to communities who had hitherto lived together in some kind of social contract. It separated families across an arbitrarily drawn border, and made it practically impossible for people to know if their parents, sisters, brothers or children were alive or dead. The violent transition of Partition left their lives in shreds. Confronted by mercilessness of the politics of religious identities they failed to understand how they would ever find their way back to an ordinary place called 'home'. The events of 1947 not only violently uprooted them, but also suddenly estranged them from those simple words like 'friendship', 'neighbourhood', 'hope' and 'love' which they had used to craft their life-world. Hannah Arendt in 'The Origins of Totalitarianism : Imperialism' says, 'The first loss which the rightless suffered was the loss of their homes, and this meant the loss of the entire social texture into which they were born and in which they established for themselves a distinct place in the world'.
This book, however, is less about the trauma of forced migration and more about the building of a new community life in an alien and apathetic, often hostile, environment. It records the migrants' struggle : their sufferings, frustrations and excitements while rebuilding their homes in the colonies on the outskirts of Kolkata. It is an important addition to Partition literature that chronicles the past as well as chaperons the future. These aspects of Partition - how families were divided, how friendships endured across borders, how people coped with the trauma, how they rebuilt their lives, what resources, both physical and mental, they drew upon, how their experience of dislocation and trauma shaped their lives find little reflection in written history.
A large part of this material relates specifically to Bijoygarh Colony, while the rest covers a spectrum of settlements and experiences, as well as reminiscences of the refugees' pre-partition life in East Bengal. Bijoygarh, located south of Jadavpur, was one of the earliest refugee settlements in Kolkata. This settlement began in November, 1947. There was an army wireless house, abandoned by American soldiers in the area, where temporary structures were built to provide shelter. Initially twelve families came from Sealdah station platforms. Most of them walked the distance with whatever belongings they had in push carts. Gradually more people arrived, the settlement grew in size and soon the settlers began to forcibly occupy adjoining vacant land. They were helped by workers of the Socialist Party unit in Jadavpur. A committee, 'Jadavpur Bastuhara Samity', was formed to mobilise people and collectively seek help and support from the local people and the government. Well known freedom fighters from outside the area were invited to be Presidents of this Samity, the first President being Basanti Devi, widow of Chittaranjan Das. Teachers and students of Jadavpur Engineering College (Jadavpur University now) actively helped them. Soon other political parties, like the Congress and the Communist Party, came. A club, 'Jagarani Club', was formed with the youth of the community who not only organised cultural programmes but also helped to resolve disputes among settlers. A small library was also started by the members of the club. Playgrounds were developed where regular sporting events were held.
One of the first institutions built here was a primary school - 'Banipith' in 1948. Former teachers among the settlers were its first instructors. On January 6, 1949, a secondary school, 'Jadavpur Bastuhara Bidyapith' was established. Soon after it was split into two - 'Bijoygarh Bidyapith' for boys and 'Bijoygarh Balika Bidyapith' for girls. On November 2, 1950, was founded 'Bijoygarh Jyotish Roy College'. The founder Rector of Jadavpur University, Triguna Sen, was an active inspiration behind this project. Meanwhile, in 1948, 'Jadavpur Refugee Market' came into being. It was later named 'Bijoygarh Bajaar'. Those who could afford to invest their small savings opened shops in this market. In 1949 a Post Office was opened in an existing wooden structure. Makeshift medical camps were organised and a maternity centre was opened. Temples and places of worship were founded. A host of newer refugee colonies like Shaktigarh, Bikramgarh, Poddar Nagar, Ananda Palli, Sri Colony, Netaji Nagar and Pallishri grew around Bijoygarh trying to replicate its model.
This was an impressive achievement. There were, however, many disappointments, frustrations and bitterness in the process. The settlers often had to face resistance from the local people, there were incidents of violence, the interest of political parties involved were often related merely to their respective spheres of influence and future elections. Negotiating with the government for financial grants and other forms of assistance was time consuming and often fruitless. Vested interests developed. Among the settlers there was, however, a group of dedicated people like Shombhu Guha, Shanti Sen, Moni Pal, Kalu Sen, Santosh Datta who led from the front and were the main force behind this project. Others who helped the settlers included former bureaucrat Saibal Gupta and political leaders like Haridas Mitra and Jyotish Joardar. Bijoygarh, however, has changed over the years. Many of the original settlers have left, selling their land and house to building-promoters. Multi-storied apartment blocks have now come up replacing the original modest structures. The class composition of the inhabitants is no longer the same. Bijoygarh is no more a settlers' colony on the outskirts of Kolkata, it is today a part of the expanding metropolis. The story of Bijoygarh and its adjoining colonies is a part of the history of urbanisation of modern Kolkata.
The appendix to this volume includes three accounts by Jyotibhushan Chaki, the writer and Ganesh Halui, the artist and Manas Roy, the social scientist. The first two came to Kolkata as victims of Partition and spent the initial years in refugee camps, while Manas Roy was born and grew up in one of the refugee colonies.
Representation of the past is always problematic. The 'facts' of history are surely important, but equally important is how people remember those facts and how they represent them. Oral history, especially, is a deeply contested area in historical discourse. There has been considerable research to show that memory is never 'unmediated'. Much depends on who remembers, when, with whom, indeed to whom, and how. What people remember is important, while what they choose not to remember is no less important since memory can be selective, it not only preserves, it can also reconstruct and invent. One's background often affects one perception since most people engage with the past in deeply personal ways, drawing upon it as a resource for enhancing identity and explaining experience. Yet at the same time they seem uninterested in understanding anything other than their own personal experience. It is not surprising, therefore, that these narrations sometimes offer conflicting versions. However, this volume contains a fairly large number of interviews from which emerges certain points of agreement among many different sources, and this diversity is again a testimony to the complexity of the issues.
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