My introduction to Calcutta /NGOs / War Victims
My sister passed her ICSE Examination at the age of 15 years with flying colors. It was decided to put her in a "good college" in Calcutta. She applied for admission in Lady Brabourne College and as expected, got it. English Honours. Thus, started my journeys to Calcutta. The city was totally unknown to my sister as well as to me. The purpose of my going to Calcutta was to reach my sister to the private hostel "Nazareth Villa" and to bring her back home during her holidays. Air Conditioned travel was unheard of in those days in the late sixties and more so, in the Giridih Calcutta route via Main line! There used to be a "Howrah Bogie" attached to a night train with only one ordinary compartment - IIIrd Class - as it used to be called in those days! There was no provision for reservation. Whoever could run into the compartment and grab a seat as the train rolled on to the platform would be lucky! A class friend Kishalay had taught me how to run along with the compartment when the train would enter the station, grab the door handle and suddenly throw oneself into the particular bogie. (Unfortunately, Kishalay is no more). Of course, I never told my parents of the antics that I adhered to. The train fare from Giridih to Howrah those days was ten rupees and ten paise. The bus fare from Howrah Station to Park Circus Maidan was ten paise. So we used to spend approximately twenty five rupees one way reaching her to her hostel! Of course, there were other day trains as well - the early morning train was good enough to enable us to catch the Varanasi Express (now Amritsar Express) at 8.20 a.m. in Madhupur which would take us to Howrah by 1.30 p.m. if at all one could spare the "day".
Those were the turbulent days of Naxalite movement. One of my sister's hostel mates was a girl from Kerala. Her brother, living in another hostel was studying in Presidency College. One day the boy was standing on the verandah of the College when there was some commotion. As he bent down to see what was happening, a CRPF Jawan standing below, thinking that the boy was about to hurl a bomb, fired into his head, killing him on the spot! Many innocent lives were lost. Much did I want to know the thoughts of Mao-Tse-Tung, I never ventured to buy any booklet from the footpaths lest plainclothesmen picked me up. Many-a-time I have been stranded due to sudden bandhs - have walked through alleys from Park Circus to Howrah Station. Once walking along the USIS Library I suddenly found bombs being thrown at the library - I ran across the road into a moving tram. On another occasion, I found myself in a dark alley when a police van moved in - along the wire meshed windows there were glowing cigarette (or bidi) buts and slogans were being raised in hushed voices about setting on fire and killing the bourgeois leaders! There was hardly any space left for me to move out and I must say that the situation was most unpleasant!
Nevertheless, Calcutta had its own charms. The theatres in "Nandan" - the vivacious debates in the British Library with Utpal Dutt taking part on themes such as 'Jesus Christ as a Communist'!
It was during 1971 that the Bangladesh liberation war started. Brother Slack, a Jesuit priest who had taught us in St. Xavier's Hazaribagh, started working for Catholic Relief Service [CRS]. They had their office on Camac Street. Many of old Xaverians from Hazaribagh had joined for working amongst the war victims and the refugees. My sister Subha started volunteering with them during her vacations. My cousin Fabian had already joined on full time basis. They would start early in the morning, drive into Bangladesh - to the camps with food, medicines, Intra Venous sets and water. Prior to this I had gone to a centre for rehabilitation for lepers in Chingleput near Madras to volunteer. There I had seen the most poignant face of human suffering -here was another heartrending site of human suffering!
War brings untold suffering for mankind and therefore, must be avoided. Unwarranted discussions on TV Channels, as is happening today, should be stopped.
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