Transcript in English

Question: When your family came to Kolkata did you have a family house in the city?

Answer: No we didn’t exactly have a family home. However, we did have a house on rent in Barabazar. There was also a shop in the market that was owned by one of my paternal uncles. One of my paternal grandfathers, i.e., my grandfather’s middle brother had inkling beforehand that there may be trouble brewing. He had political connections but he wasn’t an active participant in political affairs.

Question: No, but he had an awareness about the political climate?

Answer: He had a hunch that the partition of India was inevitable. All of these things I’m telling you are things I’ve heard and this next part is my analysis of the situation. I think once he understood the political climate, he came to barabazar in Kolkata, rented a very small house and bought a small shop and kept the shop running for three four years before our family shifted to Kolkata.

Question: Three-four years before 1948?

Answer: Yes absolutely. That is why when my family shifted to Kolkata we never had to experience some of the extreme hardships that other people went through even though they had to leave everything else behind.

Question: Has your family always had a clothing and textile business?

Answer: Yes they did.

Question: As in, even before this?

Answer: Yes even before this.

Question: When your family moved to India and had to start their life in a new way here, did they face hostility from people in any way? I mean we’ve all heard of differences between the Bangals (from Eastern Bengal) and the Ghotis (from Western Bengal).

Answer: Yes the differences were definitely there. In the years following my family’s move to Kolkata, they were forced to move to a bigger house as our family was growing too large for the rented house in Barabazar. So they shifted to Kannaghar. Kannaghar is a neighbourhood in the Hooghly district. That is a den for ‘Eideshis’ (people from here) isn’t it?

Question: You mean Ghotis (people from West Bengal)?

Answer: Yes, a den for Ghotis.  I’m not trying to make anybody look small here. It is natural, if tomorrow somebody comes and tries to settle on my land, starts to call it their own. I wouldn’t be happy about it either.

Question: Yes, of course.

Answer: Like I said, I would not be happy about it either. So nobody is at fault here. Thus, the welcome was not a warm one. It is not possible. Even now if people migrate from that side (Bangladesh) to this side, we do not accept them easily. The government also does not accept it. Isn’t it? In our country we often cannot feed our own citizens, how can they feed outsiders! There is also the question of where they will stay. So these issues always existed. It has nothing to do with finding fault with any side, it is expected.

Question: This question that I’m about to ask is a bit controversial. Whether you want to answer it or not is completely up to you. What is your opinion about the CAA-NRC? Additionally, how do you think it would turn out if this kind of a law was introduced at a time like 1971 or 1947?

Answer: Then I wouldn’t be here to share my opinions! Then I wouldn’t be here to answer your questions because I wouldn’t be alive. I wouldn’t exist because the generation before me wouldn’t have survived, where would I come from?!

Question: When I say 1947 partition, what do you think of immediately?

Answer: I think this will be a much more controversial answer. What could I think? I think it was done for the benefit of a few people, there was no real need for it. There was no real reason for the decision. It was done to give a certain section an advantage. Now which section was benefiting…that you people, the new generation, should read your history and the answers will be clear to you.

Question: Thank you. What about some of the things that you family owned, utensils, jewellery and the other things you mentioned, like the deed of the house, the land they owned or the shop in Bangladesh. Are those deeds or any other such documents still with your family?

Answer: I don’t have anything because my father was the fourth brother among his siblings. The first brother, i.e, my eldest paternal uncle must have some things they brought back. I saw them when I was young so they must be kept somewhere for now.

Question: Do you consider them to have some form of sentimental value or is it an asset…

Answer: Seeing such old objects brings up both positive and negative emotions. Liking something, an object that once was mine that I have no right over now is not something that can bring happy thoughts. That can never be a very positive experience. Then again, sometimes I think, what happened is over and done with?

Question: Would you want the different things that your family brought with them, i.e., the utensils, jewellery be passed to the next generation and that it stays with them as a memory or token of the past?

Answer: The more durable objects will still be there unless someone destroys them.