It
has happened only twice that someone else other than the Swains were doing
chronicling. The first case was with Dr. Anindya Biswas while we were touring
the Marble Palace. The second happened recently with the Boses (Mainak Bose Sir
and his better-half) accompanying us to Deulti.
This
is a town hardly 65 kms away from the city but it seemed quiet close because of
the excellent roads. The gang of 5 went by Mainak Sir's car. The planned point
of visit was the residence of the Bengali genius Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.
His famous novels were Palli Samaj (1916), Choritrohin (1917), Devdas (1917),
Nishkriti (1917), Srikanta, Griha Daha (1920), Sesh Prasna (1929) and Sesher
Parichay (which was published posthumously, 1939).
The
village is like a typical Indian village of Eastern India. Though I have not
traversed much in rural Bengal but courtesy my travails in Odisha, I observed
that it is all the same. There is a typical smell of fresh air with a tinge of
stale water and cow-dung coming at times. While reaching the exact place, I
could guess the reason why this bard was heavily skewed towards village,
village related practices and village related plots.
 |
| A notice at the entrance |
The
house is located at a scenic location with the Roopnarayan river on one side
and a medium sized pond in front of it. It is a two-storied building. During
the heydays of the writer, the river was very close by; though now it is quiet
far off from the house. The entrance has a large entrance gate with the notice
of the building being a heritage one. Something was inscribed on the two
pillars of the gate (because it was written in Bengali, I could not decipher
much) whose photographs are there in the end of the article. A beautifully maintained
garden full of different types of crotons, atleast 3 varieties of ixoras and
series of deodhar trees welcomed us as we entered the house.
 |
| The house |
 |
| A statue of the writer |
On
the ground floor, only one room to the left was accessible; it housed the chair
and the table which Sarat Chandra used to pen many of the his novels. The caretaker
mentioned that the writer used to sit and write looking the Roopnarayan flow
by.
 |
| The study of the writer |
The
building is entirely made in Burmese architecture. The writer was heavily
influenced by Burma because of his first job at Rangoon and his marriage too
which happened there. A typical (also visible) design of this school of
architecture is the spacious and airy corridors surrounding the living rooms.
 |
| Spacious corridors |
The
courtyard inside had a granary where probably grains used to be stored when
inhabitants used to stay full-time; again a typical ingredient of rural Eastern
India.
 |
| The granary in the courtyard |
The
rooms above contained the physical belongings and photographs of the family.
Among the belongings, we see a Made in Japan clock, a charka gifted by
Gandhiji, a cupboard, a hookah, a cupboard, some medicine boxes and a writing
table. An idol of Krishnaji still gets Puja.
 |
| Belongings I |
 |
| Belongings II |
 |
| Belonging III |
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| Belonging IV |
Sarat
Chandra's brother, Swami Vedananda, (a follower of Belur Math). His samadhi is
also seen along with his in the backyard.
 |
| The samadhis |
This
building was declared Heritage or Historical Site as per the Clause 2 of the
West Bengal Heritage Commission Act 2001 (Act IX of 2001) in 2009. Seems, the maintenance
has been good because of this.
 |
| The notice declaring the house as a Heritage site |
But honestly speaking, I was expecting much more
filled house, filled with his books, letters which the Bard would have
exchanged and more photographs. But I am happy that whatever is there has been maintained
well. The caretaker told that his father was a friend of Sarat Chandra. I was
expecting more crowd. It being so near, I wish many more parents bring their
wards to make them aware of this important Bengali and besides this the kids
might get a taste of rural India absolutely different from the horn-conking
streets and cramped concrete structures of Kolkata.
As
has been my typicality, the last photographs shall be the that of my
accomplices. Lest I forget, indebted I am for the car trip and the ride offered by Mainak Sir.
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| A four century old Krishna temple at Deulti |
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| My accomplices for that day |
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