Travellogue

BARISAL MEMORIES,,,,,,, I was talking to Boudima , my father's elder sister, about the trip and there came out a bag of memories. Boudima is 80+ and has a lot to share about her place.  She spoke about her maternal grandfather Bankim Dasgupta's house. This is in Barisal district in a village called Goila. Her grandfather was a Jotdar in the village... a rich man I suppose. She fondly recalled that the house had a courtyard in the centre and had four individual houses belonging to four cousins  The house on the west side was her Mamabari. She also remembered her stay there ehn she used to go and wash her hands after dinner in the water body Her mama's son Shilpida, as she called him , used to take her  When she would wash her hands he would flash the torch on the water and she could see hundreds of fish come to eat the rice which she had just washed off her hands. Shilpida would use a special device comprising of a stick and a few needle like things to catch a few fish....

Bangladesh .....East Pakistan....... East Bengal.... Bangla..... Fondly recalling her childhood my mom was telling me about how they would come to Kolkata from Barisal. They took the steamer to Khulna and a train to Howrah and finally on a horse cart to their home in kolkata. She added ‘we did not say we are going to India ‘. At that time it was one big state Bengal which was a semi independent state under the Nawabs of Bengal. Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists lives together. I have heard my Amma telling me about how the Muslims and Hindus in a village lives in harmony.  The partition in 1947 turned it into a Muslim dominated country and it was renamed East Pakistan. And then in 1971 , with the Bangladesh war of independence it was renamed as Bangladesh.  But for me it is where my roots are ....

T ravel is gradually becoming my life .... Till now was noting down all the travel diaries on Facebook but now i do feel the need to maintain a blog .  We belong to Bangladesh  My grandparents ( from both side) moved to India during the partition . Having grown up with my Grandmom (Amma) I have heard both happy and not so happy memories of Bangladesh. I always wanted to see the house she spoke of, the school where my mamas studied and the field where my mom played ' Dariyabandha'.  My parents also wanted to revisit their childhood , which will of course not be a possibility for Baba anymore, So taking Ma with me to visit Bangladesh and relive her childhood , Baba you will see yours through my eyes.  Watch out for details of the trip here.