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!
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