Category: Historical

Category: Historical

Bakshi Barir Pujo: An Old Custom and its Storied History

Bakshi Barir Pujo: An Old Custom and its Storied History

The penchant for witnessing a traditional ’bonedi-bari’An aristocratic home, associated with traditionally refined landowning familiesDurga pujaThe autumnal festival dedicated to ...
An Iconoclast, a trailblazer, my mother Padma

An Iconoclast, a trailblazer, my mother Padma

She is an iconoclast, a trailblazer and a lot of things put together. She is also my mother. Fifty years ...
Love, Loss and Objects from the Past

Love, Loss and Objects from the Past

Smile - and the world smiles with you. Grieve - and you grieve alone. These had been the words I had ...
My life with Baba

My life with Baba

I have always been proud to be my Baba’s daughter. I do not have his  outstanding intellect or his ability ...
The Tragedy of the Roy Choudhurys

The Tragedy of the Roy Choudhurys

In 1946, a year before the Partition and Independence of India, I was a young seven year old girl living ...
Bijoya: Sadness and Longing

Bijoya: Sadness and Longing

“I will return here once more, by the bank of Dhansiri, to this Bengal”  Jibananda Das          ...
A Sweet Little Dolly

A Sweet Little Dolly

She was born in Calcutta Medical College on November 15 1933, past midnight, the sixth child of Hemlata Basu. Her ...
Looking for my Ancient Religion in Uzbekistan

Looking for my Ancient Religion in Uzbekistan

Still, I was in search of something more, something concrete, something material. Last October, I walked on the trail of ...
The Couple Who Built Sreenibas

The Couple Who Built Sreenibas

Sreenibas, the house on Morabadi Hills in Ranchi,  was built by my parents-in law, Dr. Woopendra Chowdhry and Sreemati Asoka ...
The Assamese Connection:  Bishnupriya, Gunabhiram and Swarnalata

The Assamese Connection: Bishnupriya, Gunabhiram and Swarnalata

 I was around 9 or 10 when I first learnt that my mother’s thakurma (paternal grandmother) hailed from Assam, not ...