Life Back Then

Walking in the hills and the plains of the Punjab - in the times of the British Raj

Author: 
Joginder Anand

Category:

Dr. Anand - an unholy person born in 1932 in the holy town of Nankana Sahib, central Punjab. A lawyer father, a doctor mother. Peripatetic childhood - almost gypsy style. Many schools. Many friends, ranging from a cobbler's son (poorly shod as the proverb goes) to a judge's son. MB From Glancy (now Government) Medical College Amritsar, 1958. Comet 4 to Heathrow, 1960.

Long retired. Widower. A son and a daughter, their spouses, five grandchildren, two hens (impartially, one black, one white) keeping an eye on me as I stand still and the world goes by.

My father was fond of walking. Hiking is too formal an activity. He preferred to walk.

And see the surroundings, the topography, the trees and shrubs. Hear the birds sing. At night, there were the silent owls swooping down to pick up a field mouse. Plenty of bats. Listen to the howling of the jackals. (I wonder if there are any jackals left in India?)

And then there were the dogs. Mostly pariahs. Some would attach themselves to a village or a residential locality and charge any strangers.

Those beautiful childhood days

Author: 
Sadhona Debi Chatterji

Category:

Sadhona Debi Chatterji, seen here with Aadhira, one of her great-grandchildren, was born in October 1931 in Calcutta, to Hari Prasad and Subarna Bannerjee. She did her matriculation, and got married to Birendra Kumar Chatterji in June 1948. She has a son and a daughter. Her husband, like her father, was in the Imperial Bank of India, which later became the State Bank of India. Her husband retired as Chairman UCO Bank in 1984, and passed away in 1989.

She has had a tremendous interest in national and world affairs, with her own opinions on many issues. She is an avid reader. She has been a popular and well-loved person among the family and a very large circle of friends. Even at the age of 85 and ailing, she gets phone calls from all over the world.

These days, when I sit alone, all by myself, I often think of my childhood.

What a beautiful childhood I had. So happy, so full of love, fun and so peaceful.

Young Sadhona Bannerjee

Sadhona. Late 1930s.

Memories of the 1940s

Author: 
Sadhona Debi Chatterji

Category:

Sadhona Debi Chatterji, seen here with Aadhira, one of her great-grandchildren, was born in October 1931 in Calcutta, to Hari Prasad and Subarna Bannerjee. She did her matriculation, and got married to Birendra Kumar Chatterji in June 1948. She has a son and a daughter. Her husband, like her father, was in the Imperial Bank of India, which later became the State Bank of India. Her husband retired as Chairman UCO Bank in 1984, and passed away in 1989.

She has had a tremendous interest in national and world affairs, with her own opinions on many issues. She is an avid reader. She has been a popular and well-loved person among the family and a very large circle of friends. Even at the age of 85 and ailing, she gets phone calls from all over the world.

Calcutta (now Kolkata), February 1942.

Bou Dekha (Seeing the bride)

Author: 
Sadhona Debi Chatterji

Category:

Sadhona Debi Chatterji, seen here with Aadhira, one of her great-grandchildren, was born in October 1931 in Calcutta, to Hari Prasad and Subarna Bannerjee. She did her matriculation, and got married to Birendra Kumar Chatterji in June 1948. She has a son and a daughter. Her husband, like her father, was in the Imperial Bank of India, which later became the State Bank of India. Her husband retired as Chairman UCO Bank in 1984, and passed away in 1989.

She has had a tremendous interest in national and world affairs, with her own opinions on many issues. She is an avid reader. She has been a popular and well-loved person among the family and a very large circle of friends. Even at the age of 85 and ailing, she gets phone calls from all over the world.

Editor's note: This story was originally hand written in Bengali in 2010.

This is a story of a Bou Dekha (seeing the new bride) party of a long time ago. I had forgotten about it till one day recently Kalpana di (older "sister") reminded me about it on the phone.

It was July or August of 1948, just after my wedding. My mother-in-law had invited all her friends in Allahabad that evening over tea for seeing the new bride - me. The friends all came, many with their daughters and daughters-in-law.

Conversational language(s) in the pre-1947Punjab

Author: 
Joginder Anand

Category:

Dr. Anand - an unholy person born in 1932 in the holy town of Nankana Sahib, central Punjab. A lawyer father, a doctor mother. Peripatetic childhood - almost gypsy style. Many schools. Many friends, ranging from a cobbler's son (poorly shod as the proverb goes) to a judge's son. MB From Glancy (now Government) Medical College Amritsar, 1958. Comet 4 to Heathrow, 1960.

Long retired. Widower. A son and a daughter, their spouses, five grandchildren, two hens (impartially, one black, one white) keeping an eye on me as I stand still and the world goes by.

In the pre-1947 Punjab, theoretically, we should all have been able to converse in Punjabi. Most of us did, most of the time. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians.

I never met a Buddhist in my childhood though I saw, occasionally, a Tibetan or a Ladakhi, in Lahore before 1947. These gentlemen (there were no ladies, nor children among them) conversed amongst themselves in an unknown tongue. Their apparel marked them as foreigners-to-Punjab. That they were Buddhists, I knew from geography but their religion and their language was of no importance to me. Such was my narrow and limited interest. Despite having read Kipling's Kim when I was around 13 years old, I assumed, no doubt correctly, that they were either traders or Lamas journeying to Bihar.

Letters to my beloved Shadhona

Author: 
Birendra Kumar Chatterji

Category:

Tags:

Birendra (Biru) Kumar Chatterji was born in Allahabad in December 1923 to Professor Khetra Pada Chatterjee and Janhabi Chatterjee. Prof. Chatterjee was Head of the Chemistry Department, Allahabad University, and the Chatterjees were one of Allahabad's leading probasi Bengali families.

Biru graduated from Allahabad University with Honours in Economics, topping his University class. He joined the Imperial Bank of India (later State Bank of India), and went on to become Chairman and Managing Director, State Bank of Saurashtra, and Chairman and Managing Director, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur. His final job was Chairman and Managing Director, UCO Bank, from where he retired in 1984. He passed away in August 1989, leaving behind his wife Shadhona, a son, a daughter and grandchildren.

Editor's note: These letters written by Birendra Kumar Chatterji to Shadhona Bannerjee, in 1947 and 1948, when they were engaged but before they got married in June 1948. He had met Shadhona through her father, Hari Prasad Bannerjee, who was a senior office of the Imperial Bank of India. These letters were provided by the Chatterji family after the death of Shadhona Chatterji in 2015.

________________________________________________________________________

Undated. Probably December 1947.

Chapter 1: My family and my early days

Author: 
Visalam Balasubramanian

Category:

Visalam Balasubramanian was born in Pollachi, on May 17, 1925. She was the second of three children. Having lost her mother at about age 2, she grew up with her siblings, cared for by her father who lived out his life as a widower in Erode. She was married in 1939. Her adult life revolved entirely around her husband and four children. She was a gifted vocalist in the Carnatic tradition, and very well read. Visalam passed away on February 20, 2005.

Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of her memoirs, which has been edited for this website. Kamakshi Balasubramanian, her daughter, has added some parenthetical explanatory notes in italics.

I am setting out to write down, about myself, my memories, my impressions, and perhaps my desires also. All those who have known me intimately also know my nature, inclinations, likes, dislikes, prejudices and habits. As such, leaving a record of this kind is superfluous, but Papu, my second daughter and third child, whose full name is Kamakshi, has insisted on this for some years now. Radha, my last-born and fourth child, has also occasionally told me to either write down or tape them.

I will, of course, record faithfully my views. I shall also try to be as cogent as possible. With all these resolutions and command of language, still my narration would be amateurish.

***

My earliest memories begin with my grandfather. His love enveloped me. I don't have to elaborate. Really, I can't.

Youthful memories of the Punjab of long ago

Author: 
Joginder Anand

Category:

Dr. Anand - an unholy person born in 1932 in the holy town of Nankana Sahib, central Punjab. A lawyer father, a doctor mother. Peripatetic childhood - almost gypsy style. Many schools. Many friends, ranging from a cobbler's son (poorly shod as the proverb goes) to a judge's son. MB From Glancy (now Government) Medical College Amritsar, 1958. Comet 4 to Heathrow, 1960.

Long retired. Widower. A son and a daughter, their spouses, five grandchildren, two hens (impartially, one black, one white) keeping an eye on me as I stand still and the world goes by.

I was a teenager when the Punjab was carved, north to south, by an English lawyer called Sir Cyril Radcliffe. He did not do it of his own volition. The politicians of the then India agreed to the carve-up. Little did they know of the butchery that would follow - the natives would carry the art to heights never witnessed before.

It was then, that many lost their childhood. They were hurled in to adulthood.

The earliest that I can remember, perhaps when I was around three years of age:

Street vendors, wearing a kurta and a dhoti used to carry small earthenware (clay) models of boys, girls, cows and other farm animals. These were very often brightly coloured. I looked at them, sometimes put them in a corner and forget all about them. Sooner or later they would break in to pieces and be discarded. Dust unto dust.

Chapter 2: Memories of Erode

Author: 
Visalam Balasubramanian

Category:

Visalam Balasubramanian was born in Pollachi, on May 17, 1925. She was the second of three children. Having lost her mother at about age 2, she grew up with her siblings, cared for by her father who lived out his life as a widower in Erode. She was married in 1939. Her adult life revolved entirely around her husband and four children. She was a gifted vocalist in the Carnatic tradition, and very well read. Visalam passed away on February 20, 2005.

Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of her memoirs, which have been edited for this website. Part 1 is available here. Kamakshi Balasubramanian, her daughter, has added some parenthetical explanatory notes in italics.

I think I will write about the town Erode and life in general then.

Visalam with Gowri and two others

L to R: Visalam, Friend, Gowri (older sister), Sakku (friend) C. 193x

It was a dusty town with open drains. Until 1932-33, there were only two three motor cars but there were omnibuses.

Chapter3: Our staff members

Author: 
Visalam Balasubramanian

Category:

Visalam Balasubramanian was born in Pollachi, on May 17, 1925. She was the second of three children. Having lost her mother at about age 2, she grew up with her siblings, cared for by her father who lived out his life as a widower in Erode. She was married in 1939. Her adult life revolved entirely around her husband and four children. She was a gifted vocalist in the Carnatic tradition, and very well read. Visalam passed away on February 20, 2005.

Editor's note: This is Part 3 of her memoirs, which have been edited for this website. Part 1 is available here, and Part 2 here. Kamakshi Balasubramanian, her daughter, has added some parenthetical explanatory notes in italics.

I think now I will talk about the staff - I cannot bring myself to call them servants.

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