THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2011
Mrs. & Mr. Biswas




Mrs. Biswas was born in 1938 in Bajitpur, now Bangladesh.


Education: Primary Girls School in Bajitpur, later she was sent to a school in Baranagar in Kolkatta and in 1948 she joined the Victoria Institute. In 1949 she went back to East Pakistan for a year of home schooling. Later she graduated in Science with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics from Calcutta University.


Family Life and Early Years:

We were 5 brothers and 4 sisters. My father was a lawyer. My mother did not keep well and in 1948 she went to Bhubaneshwar , Orissa as the climate was better for her health, while I stayed in Baranagar with my aunt. She was there for 8 months before she passed away in 1948.

My grandfather had a lot of property and we had close ties with our extended family. Bajitpur was a small town. Life was simple. Some days we even went barefoot to school.  We had no contact with the British as such; except I remember our school inspector was an Englishman who paid an annual visit. We had a canal near the house and used to swim there. There were no cars. I first saw a car in 1947. My mother used to travel by palanquin and we by bullock cart. We had a big house with a courtyard. We had cows, buffaloes and boats too. In the rainy season we used to go to our village by boat as that area would become like an island.

There was no purdah in our family. Married women however would not go to the main road but go from one courtyard of a house to another to visit one another. The Muslim families in our area too did not follow purdah. In our family girls were all educated. We were sent to Calcutta to complete our education as Bajitpur had only a primary school for girls till class 6. The boys were sent after class 8.

My father was liberal in his outlook. His assistant who was not a Brahmin used to carry his own food and eat outside the house. However over the years my father managed to convince my mother to let him eat inside. We were a non-vegetarian home as most Bengalis were. Fish was eaten daily but chicken and eggs were not eaten at all as they were considered “Muslim” food. Mutton, onions and garlic were rarely eaten in the home. Later my father made my mother change this cooking style as he felt that his children would have a problem with the food in Calcutta as he did when he went to study there.

We girls did not have many Muslim friends as they did not send their girls to school but my brothers did. My father of course did have both Muslim friends and clients. He used to keep separate Hookah’s as was the system at that time, for Muslims, Brahmins and scheduled Castes (lower castes)

My father was a supporter of Subash Chandra Bose. There was a big ground near our house where political meetings were held. As children we showed our support by holding small flags. Lot of discussions were held at home too. They used to listen to signals and messages from Bose. Bose was known to be a very good looking man.

Deshbandhu Chittranjan Das was another famous freedom fighter who visited our area. He was a very wealthy barrister with high standard of living. The rumour was that he even sent his clothes to Paris for laundry! Later of course he set an example by burning his own European clothes and wearing only Khadi clothes. I had heard that he had visited my house.


For us Independence meant partition of the country. This did not make us happy.  Borders were fluid; there were no passports and visas.

There was massacre in East Pakistan but not in our area. A place called Bhaoirav had a large Muslim population. Many Hindus were killed here. I remember that the papers said that the river was red with blood. We did not feel the trauma; our area was quiet. It was a Hindu dominated village.  By this time I was in Calcutta.  After the 1950 riots many of the Hindus actually shifted to India. Overnight our whole family moved to Calcutta. My father shifted to Kishorganj in East Pakistan where he lived with his father and brother till 1955 till he finally sold the Bajitpur house.


Hopes for Modern India

We have great opportunities for students and children. They know a lot more than we did. They have independent views. We were always dependent on our parents for guidance. I am happy to see the children of today.

Precious blood was given to achieve Independence. Corruption should not take over.


Mr.N.Biswas
I was born in 1933 in Shusung, (pronounced Shushung), East Pakistan now Bangladesh.


Education: Maharaja K.C.M High School up till  class 10
                    Matriculation from Dhaka in 1950
                    Scottish Church College, Calcutta
                    Vidyasagar Collge, Calcutta
                    M Tech in Applied Chemistry


Family Life and Early  Years:
We were 3 brothers and 5 sisters. I was the second eldest. My father was a lawyer. He practiced in Shusung and later in Calcutta. My father was pro Gandhi. He was a secretary in our school and students came to our house. They would come to teach the Charkha.

In school we did a lot of theatre. I did a play on Shah Jahan. I also taught in school in my breaks due to my high marks. We used to have Saraswati Puja in school. When we stayed overnight in school I remember sneaking out to steal fruit from the orchards.


I loved food particularly the fish. I remember the Raja fish which was only available there.


What 1947 meant to me:
We felt bad. Our main house was in Pakistan and our kitchen was in India! We came in 1950 to India as poor people. My Uncle was working in Hindustan Lever. He helped me, and my high marks helped me in admission.  The rest of the family stayed back in East Pakistan.
In those days when we crossed the border the Custom officials would take away our Hindi music records. They would take things for themselves even our Mirchi Ka Achar! (Chilli pickle). After I finished my MTech, I hunted for a job and got it in the Central Fuel Research Institute. Then I worked in Dhanbad as a scientist.


Bengal did not believe in non-violence initially. Later things changed. There was a lot of bloodshed but our area remained calm. Subash Chandra Bose was the hero of West Bengal.
Bose was put under house arrest in 1941 in Calcutta. One day he vanished. It was very exciting.


After 63 years Mr & Mrs Biswas visited their ancestral homes again with their daughter and American son-in-law.
Mr.Biswas says that earlier there were no roads. Now there are roads but in very poor condition. They went to Mr.Biswas's ancestral village in Atahnagar. His home  still exists and some of his cousins still live there. The Shusung house is intact too.
They reached Mrs. Biswas's Bajitpur house late at night and so could only see it from outside. It looked the same. The Kishoreganj house however did not exist; it had been converted into a shopping complex.