Grandson remembers Mahasweta Devi

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and other dignitaries pay their last respects to noted writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi during her funeral ceremony at Rabindra Sadan in Kolkata. (Photo: Abhijit Mukherjee)

Mahasweta Devi’s grandson Tathagata Bhattacharjee shares memories of his grandmother. Excerpt: I used to call her Bui. I met her for the last time at Belle Vue Hospital ICU on Monday. I would never forget my days of childhood. We used to live in Golfgreen, while grandmother lived at Ballygunge Station Road. I would often go and spend time with her. My interaction with her has played a role in enriching my vocabulary. Her cat, named Kutti, was my playmate. I would play scrabble with Bui. She used to tell me stories and taught me songs. She had always fought for the oppressed and backward people. I had seen so many people coming to her house to meet her. She was open-hearted and always tried to solve their problems. My mother, Pranati Bhattacharjee, and Bui were very good friends. Both of them had gone for an interview at Bijoygarh College together. They joined as teachers in the college the same day. In fact, it was my grandmother who had introduced my mother to father.

When I was studying at JNU in Delhi, she had gone there to meet me. She had taken me to Paris in 2002. Biu had written on my wedding card too in the year 2004. In 2006, she fell ill. My father was also ill at the time. He sent a person associated with our publication Bhasabandhan to take care of her. The “misunderstanding” started from that juncture. Bui even went to court against that person. The misunderstanding was sorted out a few months after my father’s death in 2014. I still regret the misunderstanding. It should have been sorted out before my father’s death.