Bond With the Bygone Days

8/3/2019 Bond With the Bygone Days

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Brush with bygone days

I'm home and this time my Mom promised me to take me to her maternal grand mother's

house somewhere in the remote village of Howrah.

My elder sister tried to revoke some of the old memories which we shared 35 years agowhile attending someone's marriage there but I find that except the 'atchala' or the front

open sitting space I cannot remember anything.

Therefore, I get myself prepared for brushing with the old memories this time when

Mom agreed to take us there. My eldest sister agreed to accompany us so a few other

maternal aunts join our cavalcade of 7. A distant cousin of mine who lives nearby and

has a business network around the place offered to become our guide as my Mom was

not confident enough to recognize the place. On one Sunday morning we were off for

the place. The long journey through the interior of Howrah took us another 3 hours to

reach the place. The narrow road deep inside of the village could not make way for thecar so we had to walk down the last kilometer.

The remains of the Mondal family: The front edifice of the big sprawling two story

cluster of buildings spread all over a few acres area is half broken & partially ruined at

edges. My memory races back to the old days and all I can remember is this ante open

space where all the people used to sit around and do most of the talking. It's a big open

space with a tin roof shack and no side walls.

When I last came here there happened to be some kind of religious festival and most ofwhich happened here under this tin roof. The place is now permanently developed into a

temple of 'Radha-Krishna'. Behind the temple Mom's maternal grand father's house is

standing. Though big and spacious outer look but the sign of deterioration is visible

everywhere except some portions where redevelopment has taken place. As per mom the

entire area was developed by her great grand Father almost 120 years ago.

The house has three doors on the entrance and all were leading to one long alley each.

Some small kids are playing near the door completely ignoring our presence. My elder

sister confidently vouches that the alley to the right leads to the place we are looking for.

But since the alley leads to another deserted like closed door Mom pulls us up to the leftside and she finds an elderly looking woman there. Our cavalcade entered the left side

building uninvited. The friendly looking woman although did not stop us but obviously

stood there for an explanation for the intrusion. Our entire procession stood behind

Mom.


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The introduction my Mom gave could not help her to recognize us. So Mom now asked

the lady for her introduction. Puzzled lady told her husband's name no help. She told

her Father-in-laws name and mom recognizes her as one of Mom's maternal uncle's

grand daughter-in-law. The lady still looked puzzled. Meanwhile her husband appearedand my cousin could recognize him instantly thru' his business network. We were greatly

relieved as we could sit and relax our ailing feet now.

The family showed us some old B&W pictures in which Mom could recognize her mom

& grand mom .The lady then escorted us to some exclusive spots of the family which

my Mom could recognize. We came round to the right portion of the building now. The

deserted looking alley has now some sign of movements. One frail looking widow found

to be sitting inside a big room. The old design of the building does not permit much sun

light to enter even at noon. On her introduction she immediately recognizes mom the

89 year old frail widow turned out to be my moms youngest aunt. She is the only livinglegend present now. However, her memory could not help recognize rest of our team .

She called someone who came and offered us water to drink.

In her younger days she was one of the

most beautiful looking woman. Despite

her being in a lower cast family Mom's

uncle married her for her beautiful look.

Next we started out grand tour of theancient villa. The great grand mom had a

24 hours retinue whom we meet on the

way. She is turned out to be little older

than my mom.

The old villa has two stair cases, one is completely ruined however, the other one is still

usable but nobody seemed to have climbed it for the last five years. Carefully we came

onto the roof and we were completely enthralled by the vast expanse of the big family.


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The family had three big ponds. One pond was exclusively used for the women of the

family, the other one was for the male members and yet the other one was for public use.

All these ponds are completely ruined , partially filled up & encroached. The first floor

& the roof was made of big tiles supported on big wooden horizontal beams. Most of

the wooden beams are highly corroded or broken today making most of the first floor

room inhabitable.

Majority of the rooms are kept under lock & key by the rightful owners most of whomhave been migrated to the cities only the grand old lady is still leaving because she does

not want to leave this place.

On the way to the eastern side we found

the almost ruined grain store cum

kitchen of the family. In the hay day

everyday foods for 50 people have been

prepared in this kitchen room.

The great great grand father (of Mom)

had a Muslim friend - Seikh Babujan ,

who once came here and then fall in

love of this place , with patronage from

the family he continued staying here.

On the way we found his cemetery & the head stone and remnants of Babujan Seikh's

villa.


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Head stone of Seikh Babujan & his villa

After making the grand journey for

three hours we all felt very tired &

hungry. My cousin pushed me frombehind as we were already running late

for the lunch scheduled in his house

some 20 km from here. Standing one

last time on the ante room we said

goodbye to all around us including the

grand lady. With tearful eyes her retinue

left us till the temple area.

In less than two generations such a bustling habitation has turned into a remnant. Thisonly corroborates one simple truth of humankind which says Nothing is permanent

here except change.

Where this ruins can be found: The place is called 'Bele' which is 5 km North off

'Fingegachi'. And Fingegachi is some 22 km from 'Dhulagori' of Howrah district.

S. Bera

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Bond With the Bygone Days