Thamma's "Mayer didima" - My Great Great Great Grandmother

When I used to hear Thamma talking about her "Mayer didima", I used to think initially as a child, then as an adolescent, and then as a grown-up that this name was kind of Fictitious. It must have been just an affectionate way of addressing somebody. The fact that somebody's Mayer didima (Mother's Maternal Grandmother) could literally exist in flesh and blood was beyond my imagination. I could understand that Thamma's growing up years had her Mayer didima as an integral part. She would narrate things that she had learned from her Mayer didima, or things her Mayer didima did for her and her sisters. And all along, I thought that Mayer didima must have been some elderly lady in the family who looked after everybody, and for some interesting reason, Thamma and her sisters and maybe others too referred to her and called her "Mayer didima".

It was only a few days back, thanks to Anjoli's visit and research did I get to know that Thamma used to talk about her mother's real grandmother! That was the era of child marriages and early motherhood, and hence Mayer didima did exist. And that existence was not of a frail lady in the last years of her life. It was an active, useful, and strong existence.

My Thamma was the youngest child of Sarajubala and Shashikumar Sengupta. Sarajubala died from a rat bite when Thamma was just a few months old. The oldest of Thamma's sisters, namely, Kamala Sengupta and Bijoya Sengupta might have been adults by that time. But, the younger children like Beena, Bani, Rani, Arun, Amiya, and my Thamma (Lalita) needed motherly care, just as the household needed a woman to take control. We can guess and imagine that that role had been dutifully and affectionately played by Sarajubala's grandmother, i.e. the children's Mayer didima for years. It was learnt from my Pisi Banlu (Rani's daughter) that the children called their Mayer didima "Mammusona". It seems even the children's children like BaRo-Jethu, Jethu, Banlupisi, Chhunmun Jethu (Rani or Fu-Thamma's son) etc called her "Mammusona". Just imagine the length of her life, and what she had seen! She had seen her great-granddaughters' children! And that too quite a few of them for a quite a few years!

My Thamma had a foster mother residing at Shambhunath Pandit Street where she had spent a large part of her growing up years and later parts of her life. But, all her siblings did not have a foster mother. They had Mammusona - to look after them, to look after Shashikumar, his household, his family, guests, visitors, and all that a homemaker looks after. And it was in that Bholanath Dham, Beadon Street house where Mammusona had spent this huge part of her life looking after her grandaughter's children and getting to see few of their children too.

After Shashikumar passed away in 1946, Bani (Mago) and dadu SN Roy had continued to stay at 33/2 Beadon Street with their children Prabir  (9 years in '46) and Subir (4 yrs in '46). Mammusona was there, too. We do not know who else of the Senguptas or Roy/ays was there at Beadon Street at that time. In 1950, when S N Roy moved to the US with his family, Mammusona was taken by Kamala Sengupta (Thamma's eldest sister) to Delhi (where Kamala was the principal of Lady Irwin School). It is understandable that in 1950, the Beadon Street house was finally vacated by the Sengupta-family (and its relations and extensions) after decades of living in that house creating intriguing stories and anecdotes at every corner of it - Which is why Kamala needed to take their great-grandmother Mammusona (aged by then) with her. Before that, Mammusona had already seen and lived with her great-granddaughters' children like Prabir (who, born in 1937, was 13 years of age in 1950), Jethu (who, born in 1942, was 8 years of age in 1950) for quite some years! She had also seen a few other of her great-granddaughters' children (including my father born in 1944) who were quite grown up by the time she had left for Delhi in 1950. We don't yet know the year of her death and whether she passed away in Delhi. I think Anjoli's notes said she died at the age of 86 (?) (Anjoli, do correct). If this age that I caught at a glance from Anjoli's notes is right, it means that she was quite young when Sarajubala, her granddaughter (Thamma's mother) passed away!

This was the story of Thamma's "Mayer didima". I think, in those days of very early marriages and early childbirths, many such grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and great-great-grandmothers existed and served the families all over Bengal and India.

A silent tribute to all of them.

~From Mammusona's great-great-great granddaughter

July 28, 2014 - Learnt so much from you, my dearest sis! We are all so proud of you! Heavy Heart..

" I am so proud of that girl!" Jethu uttered as we started from the airport. Few minutes back we have seen Anjoli enter the airport for her flight to Mumbai from where she goes to Seoul from where she goes back to Hawaii. 

We are all proud of you, girl! You had almost plunged into a sea of unknown with a lifeboat full of courage, determination, energy, faith, and persistence. To come to a country that you had lasted visited in 1994 at the age of 11 with your dad and eldest sister, to go to the most unknown and ruthless parts of that country, to reach the right places at the right times, to obtain permits from organizations run by "the Indian Government", to go to every corner that beckoned you with the history fragments, to do whatever was needed, to win everybody's hearts with your attitude and intentions, to earn assistance with the pure belief that there is no reason that people would not help you, to even conceive the idea that you could do your thesis on Kalinath Ray, needed HEART and GUTS! And you have plenty!

It is hard to satisfy a father. It is hard to make him feel proud of you. You have made him proud, like you have on many previous occasions. You have made everybody so proud! I am sure Kalinath, your Thakurda, Mago, Tapankaku, BaRo-JeThu, Thamma, my Thakurda are all so proud of you! They have been and are blessing you from up above.

As your profile became smaller and hazier behind the glass, there was a heaviness in the heart that cannot be explained. You were not looking towards us, but we were moving parallel to you, outside. We could not be there for long as it was not allowed, and my heart sank. You are on the flight to Mumbai, right now, and my soul is with you.

Earlier, when Jethu tried to tuck money into your hands, I realized this is what Dads do! Suddenly missed you know what!

Your figure receding behind the glass is etched in me, right now.

I know you will keep on making your Dad and all of us prouder and prouder!

I am so thankful that I could spend some time with you this afternoon.. It will stay with me.. the corrections, the narrations, the stories, the fun.. the whole of it.

For me, South City Garden would not be the same without you, and your smile, and your eyes. Will be missing you terribly.. already am..

Heavy heart, right now..Love you, dear Sis.. Anjoli Roy

July 27 .. corrections and additions and inputs from Moni-kaka

Inputs and corrections from Monikaka this evening: 

Tarulata was born in 1908. (When Monikaka mentioned her as "Tarudi" today, I felt a warm ripple flowing in my heart. The PisiThamma about whom we did not know till a few days back became so "real" with the address "Tarudi"). This birth-year means Tarulata was 16 when she was married and 18 when she passed away. Math says Monikaka was 4 when Tarulata died in 1926. Tarulata was the middle child of Kalinath Ray. She was born two years after the birth of S N Roy, Kalinath's eldest child. My Grandfather A N Roy was born in 1910 or 1911 (Monikaka couldnt be specific).

Monikaka's father i.e. Kalinath's elder brother Taraknath had a son Narendranath from his first marriage. In 1926, Narendranath died of small pox, the death taking place just 6 months before Tarulata's passing. Thus, the Ray family lost two of their children to two diseases in the year 1926.

The passing away year of Narendranath tells us that Taraknath had remarried before the death of his son from his first marriage, as Monikaka, his eldest child from his second marriage was born in 1922!

Bani (Mago) and S N Roy got married in 1936 and not in 1937 as Jethu thought. Baro-Jethu (Prabir Roy) was born in 1937 and not in 1938 as Jethu always knew.

[There are millions and trillions of other anecdotes that could be gathered throughout the day today, courtesy the hours Anjoli spent with Banlu Pisi (Mago's twin Fu-Thamma's daughter) in the morning-afternoon and the hours that we were fortunate to spend with Monikaka this evening when he visited south City Garden.]

Thank you, ANjoli! This trip of yours meant a lot for me!!

July 27, 2014

Well, this can be called the last evening with Anjoli Roy on this trip of hers, if I dont count seeing her off tomorrow evening! Since the last 5-6 days, I have tried to make a daily visit to South City Garden, only because Anjoli is leaving tomorrow! If I think of it, I have met her everyday since last Tuesday. On Wednesday, we spent a beautiful day together full of family-history-hunt, memories, excitement and thrill, engulfed in a cozy embrace of togetherness. We have created memories, we have found out history, we have connected dots (Joyadidi's language), we have rejoiced, we have erased mistakes, written new truth!

Now, it seems that this trip of Anjoli's went like a breeze. But, she had toiled hard in Delhi and Chandigarh! What she achieved is not child's play! She was resolute and determined and she continues to be so! She is hungry for information and relentless in her search.

This visit of Anjoli's has given me a lot. Firstly, it has given me a sister - A sister with whom not only two of my bloodlines are connected, but a sister with whom I could share things that I have not shared with many over the last two years or so. Actually, I have never shared things with many, but then, there had been few, who were also not there lately. In more ways than one she became the sister that I had always missed, always searched for in cousins and sister-in-laws. In Anjoli I found a warm and understanding heart with a very thoughtful and sensitive mind. I will never forget the hug that you gave today evening, when I needed it the most, just minutes after being asked some awkward questions. Just love you for being sensitive. Not many are these days. Secondly this visit of Anjoli's has gotten me interested, involved, engrossed, and engaged in the family histories. Especially, since the Beadon Street visit, I have become fiercely eager to know every bit of history of both my Thakurda's and Thakurma's bloodline, history that was written in Lahore, Khulna, Beadon Street, TalaBaRi. I, for the first time, got the dates memorized (not for the sake of memorizing, but by reading Anjoli's blogs with utmost attention). Kalinath's death- December 9, 1945, Shashikumar's Death- 1946.. so forth and so on. At one point, I even started correcting Anjoli's typos regarding dates! Due to the intrigue that I feel towards the Beadon Street house and Tarulata, I have tried to find as much information as I could about them, which had gotten me more intrigued, more interested, and more involved. I have started feeling that I want to do more and more research on the Beadon Street house. That house attracts me. I want to go there again and again. Thirdly, Anjoli's visit has brought me back to blogging and writing things other than dry articles that I write for earning money. I have been turning my FB posts into blogs where I found myself logging in for the first time in 4-5 years! Last, but not the least, Anjoli's visit has brought me a strange kind of belief and confidence. I dont know whether her smile does that to you!

When I left home today afternoon, it seemed that I had quite a long time to spend with Anjoli this evening. But, time with Anjoli and Jethu always evaporates. Thus, this evening of July 27 also went away, but not before creating some moments and memories to be cherished forever.

So, few hours of tomorrow is what I will get of ANjoli on this trip of hers. Few hours of my bright and talented sister has to suffice for now. I would end by apologizing for not spending enough time with you and for any inadvertent thing I might have done or said to hurt you, dear Sis. Do forgive. Love you. ~

Baba remembers the name Bholanath Dham was there

So, Baba, Kudos to your Memory! You were right when you said that the name had been "Bholanath Dham" back then too! Yes, it was named "Bholanath Dham" in 1925-26 after the Dutts purchased it and started living here.

33/2 Beadon Street or Bholanath Dham was and is owned by the Dutt-Paribar.. Bholanath Dutt's family, descendants of Balaram Dutt, and Dhanapati Dutt .. it is the Balaram Dutt family Durga Puja! The Kamala-Kamini connection! The "BhOlanath" Connection!

Last year, when I was writing my article for Sokal Sokal on Durga Pujas held by Old Ancestral Houses in Kolkata, I covered the Puja performed by the Dutt-BaRi, i.e Balaram Dutt and his descendant Bholanath Dutt, thoroughly. I remember the Puja finally shifted to an ancestral house at North Calcutta's Beadon Street. I never knew that the house that I was referring to was 33/2 Beadon Street (I did not know anything about that address till 5-6 days back!)! The name of the house "Bholanath Dham" has over the years become much more famous than the address "33/2" as it is the Dutt-BaRi and the famous "Bonedi Puja", i.e. Ancestral Home Durga Puja of Dutt Family is being held in that house for decades!

As the house was bought by the Dutts after 1925, we can infer that it was bought with Dr Shashikumar Sengupta (Thamma's father) as a tenant as he had lived there for years with his daughters, from much before 1925. So, the tenancy must have got transferred from the previous owners to the Dutts as Shashikumar continued his stay.

Had Jethu remembered the Durga Puja part, we would have found the house that day by just asking people about a big family puja, or had we known the name of the house we would have had the same easiness (but would have missed the fun and excitement) as it is very famous as "Bholanath Dham". But, Jethu might not have had Puja holidays at Dow Hill, which means he might have missed the Pujas from his age of 4 to 8 and the Pujas that he witnessed till the very young age of 4 might have gotten erased from his memory! Will have to ask Jethu.

Bholanath Dutt was a descendant of Balaram Dutt. Bholanath had started this puja in 1905 at Bholanath Ashram (one of his residential houses) in Varanasi. After the death of Bholanath Dutt, his sons (Janaki Nath, Raghunath, Bireswar and Bibhuti) continued the puja at Varanasi. Then the puja shifted in 1914 to their Kolkata home that was at Shovabazar (not to be confused with the Debs). It continued there till 1925. The family had living space shortage at Shovabazar house and they bought the house at 33/2 Beadon Street and shifted there in or just after 1925. The family and the Durga Puja has stayed in that house ever since. The house "Bholanath Dham" is named after "Bholanath Dutt". Bholanath Dutt had meager beginnings. "with the early death of his father he had to start his livelihood from 13 years of age, he used to work in the shop of Babu Thakur Das Nag, but he had ambition and wanted to come up in life. On attaining adulthood he sold the property received from his maternal uncle for Rs.800/- and started business of paper at China Bazar, Calcutta. In a few years time his hard work paid off and he became famous as Paper tycoon." Jethu remembers that the landlords of the house had a "Plantation or something" as one day they had made arrangements of taking the little Jethu there in their car. It must have been their paper factory or warehouse where they were about to take him. (Or as Anjoli said it might have been their lands where they were having some plantations). But, due to a prank played by BaRo-Jethu, Jethu could not make it that day.

"While on business trip to Ceylone (Srilanka) Dhanapati Saudagar and Srimanta Saudagar got the dream of Devi Kamala Kamini (Maha Lakshmi) and received her blessings." Dhanapati Saudagar or Dhanapati Dutt was an ancestor of Balaram Dutt and Bholanath Dutt. From the time of Dhanapati, the family has worshiped Kamala Kamini, whose engraving they had made on the top of the 33/2 Beadon Street house after having bought the house. (Jethu pointed towards it and said, "It was there", I said "Mahadev?", the lady from the top of the house corrected "Its not Mahadev! Its not Kamala Kamini.. Have you not heard of Chand Saudagar?")

History, so intriguing, so exciting, always so near!!! Anjoli Roy, Joya Roy,Ranabir Ray

"Kamala Kamini??!" - Where have I heard this name just a few days back! The Dutt family that owns and resides at 33/2 Beadon Street now were the owners during Jethu's Childhood too! Who are these Dutts?

Yes! Now, I am confirmed that the Dutts owning and residing now at 33/2 Beadon Street are the family that owned the house when Jethu was there as a child! 

There is a Kamala Kamini (i heard the name for the first time from the lady who talked to us that day) engraving on the top of the house to which Jethu pointed and said "It was there!".. I said, "Oh, the Mahadev engraving?".. the lady from the topmost verandah corrected me , "It is not Mahadev, It is Kamala Kamini".. Now, I get to know that the Durga Puja or the Shiv Durga Puja that is still elaborately held at this house is held following a mythological story involving Devi Kamala Kamini!!! That means it is the same family that lived back then! Devotees of Kamala Kamini!

Those interested can check out :
http://www.astrainfotech.org/kolkatainformation/bholanathdham/index.html

Bholanath Dham i.e. 33/2 Beadon Street are owned by an old traditional family who perform Durga Puja (as was mentioned by the lady from top floor) and fly paper balloons in Diwali!

I think a bit of FB sleuthing and research has brought me close to the owners of 33/2, Beadon Street, Bholanath Dham, -- they might have been owners back in the time of Dr. Shashikumar Sengupta (my Thamma's childhood) and back in the time of Kalinath's passing !!!! keeping fingers crossed! Since the family seems to perform a Shiv-Durga Puja (which justifies the name of the house "Bholanath" which my father says had always been the name), and all other old rituals like paper balloons etc, it seems to be a family with deep roots in that house!

More about Tarulata

Tarulata's husband's name was Gagan who used to visit TalabaRi .. Children (including my Baba and Pisi-s) used to call him "Gagan Pisemoshai" not knowing which Pisi's husband he was.. They had no idea that he was the husband of their own Pisi, as they had no idea that they ever had a Pisi who had passed away (as Tarulata had never been mentioned or discussed!)!!

He remarried and had had a daughter.

My PisiThamma "Tarulata" Existed _/\_ M K Gandhi was at 33/2 Beadon Street ! Thamma at Kalinath's Feet when Kalinath passes Away .. and, the Disease Connections

Yesterday evening, Jethu, Anjoli, and BuRo had plans of visiting Moni-Kaka (My Father' Uncle / Kalinath's eldest brother Tarak Nath's son). The agenda included questions regarding the family-history .. questions to which Anjoli or any of us still didnt have any answer. For me, the most intriguing question was who was Kalinath's third child other than A N Roy and S N Roy? Kalinath, in his mercy plea to the British Government, had written  (in 1919) that his wife had passed away the previous year and he had "THREE" young children who were being taken care by his widowed mother. We have always known that our grandfathers were two brothers, i.e. they were the two children (two sons) Kalinath had had. Neither Baba, nor Jethu, nor Niapisi ever knew about their fathers having another sibling. Never had Dadu mentioned a third sibling to Baba, Nia Pisi or BunuPisi! Never had Thamma mentioned to her children or to anybody ever that A N Roy and S N Roy had another sibling! So we can infer that the existence of the third child of Kalinath was not known to Thamma or Mago. Thus, we were only left with Moni-Kaka who might know an answer to this question. Anjoli had few other questions lined up in her Red Notebook. 

We started together from South City Garden. Suppressing my new-interest-in family -history, I decided that I would go home as they get off at Moni-Kaka's place. What I am going to write now includes the few things that I asked Anjoli over chat last night after she got back from Moni-kaka's. I have later added quite a few of the details that I got to know after reading the blog post Anjoli wrote today morning on all the family history and anecdotes that Moni-kaka offered so very generously (he is blessed with an amazing memory and remembers everything from his 5 or 6 years of age!)

1. Kalinath Ray's third child was Tarulata who had died young (of tuberculosis) in 1926 (almost 8 years after Kalinath's wife passed away in Lahore and the children were sent to Khulna to stay with their grandmother). Tarulata had been married for 2 years before she died.

It is really strange how Baba or Jethu or my Pisi-s never knew that they had once had a Pisi. That means that neither my Thakurda nor Anjoli Roy's Thakurda had ever mentioned this sister to their kids or even to their wives. Had my Thamma known, she must have told my Baba or my Pisi-s (if not to us, although it is from her that we have heard about most of the family history)! Had Mago known, she must have told Jethu or Pisimoni! Does that mean that A N Roy and S N Roy (our Thakurdas) chose to suppress this sad memory of an untimely loss in their hearts? This also means that Kalinath also had never mentioned his daughter to his daughter-in-laws i.e. my Thamma and Mago! Was this a promise that the father had made with his two sons that they would never ever mention the deceased Tarulata to anyone?

We should be immensely thankful to the archives from where Anjoli got the mercy plea that Kalinath had made to the British Government stating that he had three young children. That is where the questions started as all of us had always known that our grandfathers were two sons of Kalinath Roy. Neither Jethu nor Baba knew about this third child of Kalinath! They had grown up knowing that their fathers were the two children Kalinath had!

We are immensely thankful for the impeccable memory my father's 92-year old uncle possesses that makes him remember the name of this girl "Tarulata", the disease that took her life, the year of her death, and that she got married 2 years prior to her passing away. Thank you Moni-dadu for remembering her!

I feel a strange affectionate sadness towards her! Not only did death take her away, she was also erased off by oblivion (or unwillingness to be spoken about)! The mere knowledge that she ever existed was deleted from the pages of family-history for whatever reasons. Is that not more unfortunate than an untimely death? Had she been alive, she would have been my "PisiThamma"! Today, I feel like apologizing to her. Sorry, Pisi Thamma! Our fathers never knew about you. Our Grandmothers never knew about you. We are so thankful that we got to know about you. (I can only imagine the pain as I put myself in her place and think that nobody ever mentioned to anybody that I existed!) If this has pained your soul for so long, PisiThamma, you can rest in peace from today!

I thank God that the 1919 mercy plea remained, (bearing testimony to the fact that Kalinath had three children) even after the third child passed away and Kalinath as well as his two sons chose to never mention that departed girl. It is again proved that history can never be erased. Truth is never hidden forever. It remains, waiting for us to uncover it.

Thank you Anjoli, for uncovering it for the first time. I find it unfair and painful that an existence was almost erased. But, it was you and Moni-dadu who did not let that happen! Just the knowledge that she had been there makes her existent and alive. We will keep her alive in our hearts and minds.

 You will be with us, PisiThamma.

2. M. K. Gandhi had visited 33/2 Beadon Street! 

Yes, the house we visited day before yesterday had been visited by M. K. Gandhi in 1945, when he came to pay his condolences to Samarendranath Roy on our great-grandfather Kalinath's death! That huge iron gate had been entered by M K Gandhi too!

Moni-dadu who provided this piece of information was 23 at that time and that was the first instance when he, at the Beadon Street house, had met M K Gandhi.

It is strange that the lady whose mother had told her about Shashikumar and his daughters had not told her about Gandhiji's visit to that house! Is it not unfortunate that maybe none of the present residents of 33/2 Beadon Street knows that that house had had M K Gandhi as a visitor?

Day before yesterday, I had dropped the name of Gandhi when I was talking to the ladies hoping that even if the name of Kalinath Ray does not ring a bell, the name of Gandhiji definitely will. At that time, I only knew about the condolence letter and that was what I mentioned. But, that failed to evoke a response from them. The talking lady knew about Thamma's father Shashikumar and his daughters and had even met one of them! I guess their mother was not much aware or interested about what The Tribune was or who the Kalinath staying with Shashikumar was! But, it is strange that she, who had talked to her daughters about her neighbor Dr. Shashikumar and his daughters, had never mentioned Gandhiji's visit to that very family to her daughters! And no other elder member living in their family or in that large shared and rented house had ever told them about Gandhiji's visit to that 33/2 Beadon Street address!

Anyway, so much of pondering and wondering for today.. Thank you once again, Moni-dadu for this invaluable piece of information.

[Inference from my brother Ranabir Ray:

Gandhiji's condolence note had the sender's address as Sodepur. That means Gandhi was at Sodepur when Kalinath passed away which explains how Gandhi could visit the Beadon Street house to express his condolences to S N Roy just in time.]

3. When Kalinath passed away, neither his elder son (Anjoli's Thakurda) nor his younger son (my Thakurda) were with him at 33/2, Beadon Street. My Thakurda A N Roy was in Mumbai and Moni-dadu didnt know where S N Roy was. But, Moni-dadu himself was present when the legendary editor breathed his last. Moni-dadu remembers that Kalinath was having breathing troubles since 10 pm of Dec 8, 1945 and passed away at 1-30 am of Dec 9, 1945.



4. Goosebumps, once again! My Grandmother sat at her father-in-law Kalinath Ray's feet when he breathed his last!

I was imagining the Beadon Street (33/2) house that I have luckily visited the day before yesterday (where the rooms are as Jethu remembers them, at least from the outside). In one of those rooms, Kalinath passed away, with Moni-kaka (dadu) on one of his sides, Sintu-kaka (Satyen Ray) (dadu) on another, and my Thamma at his feet!

Maybe Thamma had shared this piece of information with us at a time when we did not even understand who Kalinath was! I can never believe that this piece of information never got discussed in our house, especially during Mago's stay! It must have buzzed around our years, but we were oblivious of everything at that time!

Disease connections?!

I had congested chest problems repeatedly in my childhood, and a miraculous doctor Dr Bapna cured it forever.. after the age of 10, iv never had chest congestion.

My chest congestion tendency started from when I was a 2-yr-old and almost lost my life to broncho-pneumonia.. the same broncho-pneumonia that took Kalinath's life in 1945 December!

When Baba answered doctors treating me, he never knew that unfortunately he himself would also suffer from pneumonia-related problems later in his life.

So many disease connections! First colitis (which both Anjoli and me have in common with Kalinath :)), second asthmatic tendencies, third broncho-pneumonia!

I really wish I was blessed with all the brilliant and extraordinary traits that my Great-Grandfather had, rather than sharing diseases with him, though!

The Day Does not Matter When the Time-Gaps are such Huge and when the Universe Decides to MARk it!

Jethu thinks that S. N. Roy passed away on July 24, 1964 and not on July 23, which I think and we all think is inconsequential if we keep in mind that Jethu, after 64 years of migrating from India (Calcutta), had gone to  his father S. N. Roy's workplace and residence of 13 long years for the first time yesterday, despite his many visits to Kolkata after the migration!  Yesterday or today whatever it is, 23rd or 24th whatever it is,  the 50th Death Anniversary of Baba's Jethamoshai, i.e. Jethu's Baba was marked by the Universe as Jethu and Anjoli and me had paid a totally accidental tribute by visiting ISI and Beadon Street on July 23, 2014!. 

Kalinath Roy Passed Away at 33/2 Beadon Street, THAT VERY house that we visited Yesterday-- Reports from "The Tribune" Published on the day after his death confirms!

Kalinath Roy had passed away at the house we visited yesterday! Yes, at that Beadon Street house.. this was discovered by Anjoli as she was carefully studying (which we should all have done earlier) the newspaper reports  published in The Tribune the day after Kalinath's death! This explains why the condolence note written by Gandhiji was addressed to 33/2 Beadon Street, as that is where Kalinath breathed his last ! (so my earlier post that Kalinath "may have spent last years of his life in the house" stand corrected.. we do not know whether he always used to visit and stay in that house, but when he left from Lahore in the beginning of December 1945, he was already sick.. which might have been the reason why he did not go all the way to Khulna, stopping at the house where his elder son lived and his daughter-in-laws' father lived and his grandsons lived)

As I was narrating yesterday's incidents to Baba this afternoon, he confirmed that the name that we found on the stone plate at 33/2 Beadon Street i.e. Bholanath Dhaam was what the house was named back then as well.. As I said, it could have been named later, Baba shook is head and confirmed (at all my later questions) that the name has always been Bholanath Dhaam!

I dont know how my Facebok posts (my English is POOR compared to Anjoli's) found their places in Anjoli's beautiful blog post! Happy, humbled.. sending out a big thank you hug to Anjoli Roy ! Never did once the 7-page-long post look long.. I read it in one breath as I was re-living every moment of yesterday and every thing that we learned! And to think that that huge iron gate that we opened last afternoon was the last gate Kalinath Ray had opened as he entered that house on December 3rd, 1945 just 6 days before he passed away suffering from broncho-pneumonia in that house only.. that house that we visited yesterday WAS the house where he breathed his last!

Legacies and Histories.. Jethu and Anjoli.. Beadon Street and ISI.. and Goosebumps! How the Universe plans an accidental Tribute on a 50th Death Anniversary!!

A Day full of learning, enlightenment, excitement, thrill - a day that makes me proud of my bloodline..a visit to the prestigious ISI (http://www.isical.ac.in/).. a tour of their museum.. a day that again made me aware of who Samarendra Nath Roy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samarendra_Nath_Roy), my grandfather's elder brother, was.. a day that makes me think how a and why a stalwart statistician who was acting as a pillar in the formation of the Indian Statistical Institute suddenly left this country in 1950.. a day that filled me with lot of knowledge and anecdotes (courtesy the long chat with my cousin Chhotoburo) about my grandfather A. N. Roy, my great-grandfather Kalinath Roy, and of course, S. N. Roy (stories I previously never knew).. a day that took me for the first time to my research-scholar cousin and his wife (another scholar)'s work-place at ISI.. a warm, cozy and hungry lunch with Jethu (my first-ever eating out with him), Anjoli (first with her too), Chhotoburo, and Mouli.. a day that let me know that my dear cousin Chhotoburo was the writer of the wiki page on S. N. Roy..

A day that makes me jubilant that with some sleuthing and belief we could find Jethu's childhood home! 33/2, Beadon Street! The house where my Thamma's father stayed.. a house where my Thamma grew up! a house where all her sisters had spent large parts of their lives! a house where Mago had stayed with the li'l Jethu and Baro-Jethu .. the joy and thrill on Jethu's face was worth entering that huge iron gate unexpected.. when we found that house, Jethu was transported back in time.. he became that child who had left that house at the age of 8 years! I can do anything to see Jethu that happy! The Hooghly (?) or Foogly(?) Bank in the compound of the house that Jethu used to visit with his Dadubhai (i.e. my Thamma's father who passed away when Jethu was 4) is a piece of history, today, but the remnant remains.. as Jethu was showing it to us, I could feel that Jethu was seeing his Dadubhai there.. The stairs down which Jethu loved running down are still there, and Jethu didnt even try to hide the joy of standing on those stairs with me and Anjoli Roy. he even imitated a running pose of which Anjoli has taken a picture... the entire portion where Dr. Shashikumar Sengupta (my Thamma's father) stayed remains the same (at least from the outside it seems so).. the ground floor where he had his chamber stands stoutly as does that upper floor where he had his bedroom adjacent to the room in which S. N. Roy (his son-in-law, my Thakurda's elder brother) and Mago (Bani, i.e. Shashikumar's daughter, my Thamma's elder sister) stayed with their sons.. those rooms also seemed to stand there so that Jethu could visit after 64 years of leaving that house and see them (from the outside, at least) .. "Is anybody there??"..I asked as I entered the courtyard. some ladies looked down from the verandahs, not answering.. two elderly ladies from the topmost floor asked whom we wanted to see.. I dint know what to say.. we didnt want to see anyone.. I said that my Grandma's father used to stay in that house! and he had passed away in 1946! they didnt reply.. as i looked down, I heard, "Was he a doctor? An eye doctor?", one of those two ladies were asking! I had goosebumps.. "Yes, He was!".. "We have not seen him, we were not even born.. but, we have heard about him from our mother!" "He used to stay in that part", she showed us the left portion of the house. I asked Anjoli to call Jethu who was still not inside the house. By the time Jethu came, I had told that lady who was doing the talking that Mahatma Gandhi had written a letter to that address, i.e. 33/2, Beadon Street, to express his condolences to S. N. Roy (Kalinath's eldest son) when Kalinath Roy, the Chief Editor of The Tribune, had passed away in 1945. That lady didnt seem to know that part i.e. my father's and Jethu's parental side of the story..

Then, in came Jethu..looking upwards.. with a Namoshkar... the lady suddenly said "I have seen Bijoya Sengupta, his second daughter! She used to come here for years, for the Durgapuja, and I have seen her in my childhood".. I was thrilled at this sudden mention of my father's and Jethu's Mejomasi, my Thamma's Mejdi.. Jethu asked expectantly, "Have you never heard the name of Bani? Rani-Bani! Shononi?".. that lady started mumbling, "Yes, I have heard those names.. the one who went off to America?".. Jethu pounced his fists, "Yes! Bani's son I am.. I was taken off to America!"
That lady said, "everybody who knew people of that era has passed away.. the few who remain will come during Puja.. do come during that time..".. I mumbled, "Okay, I will come" knowing that Jethu and Anjoli wont be here till the festivities..

Jethu recounted so many anecdotes about his childhood and Baro-Jethu's as we came out of that courtyard and stood in the compound! History, as it always fascinates me, took me in its grip. I could imagine the young Thamma in that house, and the little Jethu too! After photo-sessions and visiting and re-visiting Jethu's favorite steps and the Foogly Bank, we came out of that large iron gate. The left pillar had two stone plates with the address "33/2, Beadon Street".. a house where my Thamma and Mago spent a large part of their lives, a house where jethu had spent his young childhood, an abode for dadu S. N. Roy for 7 years and for Kalinath Roy in his last years, an address where M. K. Gandhi had written a condolence note to on the death of the Chief-Editor of The Tribune!

A visit to the wiki-page on Samarendranath Roy (my grandfather's elder brother) leaves me stunned! The date of S. N. Roy's passing away! 23rd July, 1964! Today, exactly after 50 years of his passing away, i.e. on his 50th Death Anniversary, Jethu (his son) visits the ISI, the place that has had his footprints as a brilliant statistician, and 33/2, Beadon Street, the house that had been his residence for 7 years from 1943 to 1950 when he migrated to the US with his wife and kids! Jethu has been to Kolkata so many times .. but never has he been to the ISI!.. Jethu has been to Kolkata so many times! but, never has he been to the Beadon Street house! What funny games life play! Jethu didnt remember the date. ANjoli and Me didnt know the date by heart. Even when the wiki-page was opened in the afternoon at Chhotoburo's office, none of us noticed it! Jethu, accompanied by his youngest daughter Anjoli Roy and niece (me), inadvertently pays homage to his father S. N. Roy on his father's 50th Death Anniversary by visiting his father's workplace and residence (of sorts) on the very day of his father's passing away! What game-planning this Universe does (Joya Roydidi)! Feeling so humbled and happy that I could pay my minutest accidental tribute (obviously planned by the Universe) and was present at ISI and at Beadon Street, too, on the 50th passing-away anniversary of dadu S. N. Roy with S. N. Roy's son and grand-daughter! Kudos, life! Kudos, Coincidences!