A tender look back into the past

The generation of ‘midnights’ children’ may love to associate their birth hour as a matter of pride since they could breathe in the free air upon a free soil. But prejudice soon followed in the form of partition, the pangs of which were felt at large. It permanently derailed families and uncountable lives. The victims got detached from their roots of Motherland and were propelled to migrate into an unfamiliar territory.

Embracing the new order and atmosphere wasn’t easy at all but there were scores and scores of such faceless identities who became a part of a sudden mass exodus by dint of their fate and political decisions enforced upon them by authorities in a newly divided map of post-independent India.

Either side of the country — especially the provinces of Punjab and Bengal — badly bore the brunt of this humongous ordeal with life, property, honour, prestige, bloodshed, sacrifice, tears, scars and much more. Innocent, ordinary folks suffered some unforeseen torture and witnessed riotous violence and destruction like never before.

A line can be effortlessly drawn across a piece of earth’s surface but not on the heartlands of a man’s soul. It is difficult to erase those sweet, fond memories tied to one’s place of origin like an umbilical cord. But the sad irony is that clusters of families were packed off to a new land for a fresh beginning. They walked miles to cross borders with their pets and belongings carted alongside. Hordes of people like a large band of army left behind a considerable part of their lives to march ahead for an unknown address and unheard destiny.

One such family unit was the Sircars of Rangpur (now in Bangladesh) from erstwhile East Pakistan.

The former senior judge at Calcutta High Court, late Haricharan Sircar, had a premonition of partition as after the Second World War, the Britishers were already showing uncomforting signs of mismanaging their affairs of ruling the Indian nation. So he, alongwith other likeminded people, started transporting their possessions part by part on this side of the border, including family members. Encapsulating these ups and downs of life and mapping the migration of 1947, the fate of refugees and their ensuing struggles upon a new ground, writer Kaushik Sircar has authored a tender tale of love, nostalgia, poignancy, bitter-sweet memories of the past, politics of the country, patriotism, et al with the title Snakes and Ladders — In a Bullock cart to India.

The story begins with a flashback mode where the family patriarch narrates the turbulent times of partition which is indelibly etched on many a mind who still recollects it with horror at present. “My grandfather (Haricharan) had a gut feeling that something tremendous and life-altering could happen,” says the writer who is a retired colonel. “Sensing its urgency and understanding the gravity of its situation, he dispatched his eldest son, my paternal uncle late Nipen Sircar to the then Calcutta. The latter who was an M.A. LLB, had purchased a land in Behala, Manton. All my uncles were well-settled in their chosen spheres. My third uncle late Amiya Sircar was already an accomplished engineer and was staying in Midnapore. Soon after a plot was bought on this side of the fence, he constructed a one-storey house upon it. And that signaled a new chapter for us in West Bengal. But losing my second uncle in the war-front was a major setback for my granddad. Late Anil Sircar was with Air Force and was deployed at the frontline in Lohegaon, Pune during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War where maximum sorties were launched,” he further elaborates.

According to eye-witnesses, chronicled accounts and pages from old diaries, there were several exchanges of properties between Hindu and Muslim communities on both sides of the Subcontinental soil. “My grandfather’s story wasn’t different either. Yes, there were also several hearsays about encroachment issues floating in the air. But in some cases, a proper agreement was struck by word of mouth between the two consenting parties,” reveals Sircar, whose story moves on from early childhood memories of the Sircar grandkids who were then growing up to be admitted in schools only to join the army later on in life.

The main motive behind the story is to instill nationalistic sentiments among today’s Gen-Y, says the writer who will shortly unveil the fiction laced with autobiographical elements in public. Having opened up a bookstore with an adjacent café called Racks and Snacks in Kolkata, the entrepreneur aims to expand its base with more outlets in different corners of the city. But he feels that there is already much competition in the market with other premium bookstore chains in operation. Besides illustrating and scribbling his ideas and thoughts of expression on bits of paper and tissue rolls, Sircar has recently revived his other most favourite hobby of painting. “I used to keenly pursue it at my army school in Dehradun. But then I lost touch. Two years ago, I got back my passion of drawing and doodling. I usually practise with oil on canvas, crayons on canvas and pencil sketches on paper,” he says, pointing at two of his framed works mounted up at the well-furnished store.

His future plan is to write a book on how mobile phone technology has affected our lives both in a positive as well as a negative way. “That is currently on my radar and am in the process of compiling its first draft. See scientific evolutions have often descended as a boon and a bane at the same time. I want to explore this angle,” he says.

“Earlier in 70s-80s I remember, when we would book railway tickets directly from the station counter, the respective officer had to flip through a thick register to get us tickets and that too over a couple of days, only if it was available. And now, we can instantly acquire one through our cell-phones. How lucky this generation is and how comfortable our lives have become and still we never tire out of cribbing over negligible issues,” he says.

“Do today’s kids write letters That art is gradually fading away I guess, courtesy sms-es, online chats and Whatsapp language. Even relaxed conversations are on the wane. Who has time to indulge in these good habits nowadays ” he rues.

Grown up with an affinity for books, literature and libraries around him, Sircar’s refined taste for a rich culture always kept him glued to his desk for reading and writing.