Like a Musk Deer କସ୍ତୁରି ମୃଗ ସମ - [Translation of selected chapters from ManmohanChoudhuri’sautobiography . ]

Translation by:Dr.R. Kalpana

Research Assistant, GandhigramCreche and Children’s Project

Department of Lifelong learning and Extension, Gandhigram

Tamil Nadu.

Email: [email protected]

MEMORIES OF INFANCY

How far can my memories take me back to my childhood days? All the faint memories that are floating in my mind are of which year? Ma, Gopiama, and Nuama were rocking me on their arms in turns. I was crying for something and Kuna apa was trying to console me saying see, see how the birds are flying. I can remember seeing through the window the red sky of the evening. While sleeping with my mother at night I was wetting the bed. Kantha aja was narrating us stories like “Bala Jhamphuri” I was listening to the stories with a mixed feeling of fear and interest. Grandmother was playing cards with Nalia ma and other ladies in the inner veranda. I was sitting on her lap. Perhaps I was 1 to 2 years old that time.

I was told that I cried a lot when my aunt Benga Apa was getting married and I was continuously shouting - go away, go away.

The fact that I was disturbed and angry because Benga Apa was going away made everyone very alert. But I do not remember that ...I remember when Benga Apa used to return from her mother-in-law’s place from Chaudakulat and when she was going by the horse cart to Mahanadi’s Jobraghat. Those days the steamer service from Kendrapada to Cuttack was the only fast transportation system. While returning home I sat on Benga Apa’s lap.

In the eastern side of the front yard of our double storied building there was a tall and thin Gangasiuli tree. Sometimes flowers scattered under the tree and it seemed as if somebody had made “alpana”. Gula Apa and others used to call this flower Singadahara. After plucking the flowers we used to enter them on the broom sticks and make flower sticks. The arrangement of white flowers and orange stick looked beautiful and we liked the fragrance of the flower also .There was also a Kamini tree. Its flower tasted sweet. Marigold and small red and yellow kusum flowers also blossomed in the garden. Flower garlands were woven for grandmother’s puja room. In the southern corner was found the (Gangetic) Berry tree. During the winter the fruits were raw and very few were ripe.

Many mango trees were seen adjacent to the compound wall. Among the trees there were two grafted trees. I do not remember mangoes getting ripe. The well, situated in the middle of the campus was surrounded by a round raised platform and a water tank. There were red fish inside the tank during my grandfather’s days. I had not seen those fish. For our entertainment my mother had kept variety of fish inside the tank. The inner courtyard and the outer garden were our first grazing ground. Just attached to the garden was the front yard of Annapurna Didi’s two storied building. In the south eastern direction was a “Boula tree. The ripened boula fruit looked very attractive. Many children ate those fruits. Our grandmother had advised us not to eat those fruits because it causes constipation. Without listening to her we ate those fruits. Within the campus some grasses grew in small space. Annapurana Didi’s children used to collect insects for their myna bird. The grass was full of white, red, and purple flowers.

Opposite the double storied building there were four rooms in one line. One was the milk room, where milk was boiled and snacks items were prepared. Other two store rooms were filled with utensils, pickles, snacks and vegetables. Back of those rooms was the kitchen and in another corner was a room for the husking pedal. The cowshed was situated at the eastern side of the kitchen. Grandmother’s room was situated at the middle of the ground floor. The large room belonged to my mother.

There was another room that was always closed. It was a secret place. Father’s room was situated at the first floor. All the beds were made of timber wood. The mattresses were made out of coconut coir. Whatever I had seen in my childhood has been engraved in my mind. The book shelves were very full. The middle room seemed to be big. Now all the rooms are small. All the children kept their play things on the stairs. There was a competition among the children on who will jump how many stairs. For some days guinea pigs were kept on the space under the stairs. In grandmother’s puja room there were some religious books and photos of Gods and goddesses. Grandmother spent a lot of time there in the mornings and evenings. From our colony a priest known as Gangadhara Nana came home to perform puja everyday. One of his hands was burnt. One bell rang during the evening arati. Our grandmother called us to get the fragrance of the incense sticks. She offered us “Prasad” consisting of banana, cucumbers and cottage cheese. When I was 4-5 years old, after observing grandmother’s puja room I arranged some deities on the cot and performed some puja. I remember that there was a small brass bell. I performed puja by offering flowers on the diety and ringing the bell. When I think of my early childhood, I remember more about my grandmother but I do not remember much about mother. I spent more time with my grandmother. She carried me on her arms, fed me and made me sleep beside her. I have not seen my grandfather.

He passed away before I was born. Balakrishna grandfather visited our house occasionally. He was working in the Dept. of Education at Dhenkanal. Dhenkanal is situated in central Orissa. Sometimes he stayed in our house upstairs when he wanted to do break journey while travelling to his village. Every morning he spent a lot of time in doing puja . He had a big moustache like my grandfather. I imagined as if he was my own grandfather. My grandmother taught us the names of our forefathers by changing the first letters of their names because in our community ladies were not allowed to utter the names of husbands and other elderly persons. When I think about my father during my early childhood, I remember that he sat on the cot upstairs and taught us prayer, to draw and write alphabets. I had a toy car and my father played with me. During the summer afternoons we played with father in the large room upstairs. All the doors and windows used to be closed.

The light that passed from the narrow passage brought an upside down reflection of the scenery outside. It was fun to see the upside down picture of people and vehicles travelling on the road. Father tried to explain to us the reason for the reflection being upside down. During the summer night I spent with father on the open roof. He tried to make me familiar with the stars and constellations in the sky. See, the three big stars in the sky that one in a row that is the belt of the constellation “Orion” The stars which looks like a triangle is known as “Mrigasira” Mrigasira – The 5 th constellation of the Zodiac. Similarly I remember some names of the constellations. I was able to identify only a few stars. In our neighbourhood everyone was familiar of the peculiar sound of my father’s loud sneezing. When he sneezed everyone in the neighbourhood heard the sound and all the doors and windows seemed to shiver. My mother’s sneezing was just the opposite; she sneezed very silently like a cat.

I remember my mother’s face of those days. For some days she wore a nose ring, a very thin gold necklace, and bracelets on her wrist. Mother narrated stories to us during our bed-time. She taught us riddles and showed us how to write alphabets on the slate. My sister “Chuni” slept with my mother. Sometimes when I was stubborn to sleep by my mother, she allowed me to sleep beside her.

A glimpse of the freedom movement

I am thinking of the years 1921-22. My father left his job. There was meeting on the bank of kathjodi river.Foreign clothes were being burnt near the road. During 1921-22, for the first time my paternal uncle (Nabakrishna Choudhury) unfurled the national tri-colour flag on the roof of our house. Those days the upper portion of the flag was white, middle was green colour and the lower portion was red colour with charkha in the middle. Some of us stood on the roof. Below Umakantha Babu’s family members were also observing. I heard from people that unfurling our flag is considered as sedition, and a person may have to undergo six years imprisonment. Those days I did not understand the meaning of sedition but I understood the meaning of jail. I had a sense of pride to think that people in our family were courageous to act in such a manner. I also clearly felt that Umakanta Babu was ahead of the entire incident.

In 1921 Gandhiji came to Cuttack. A meeting was held on the back of the river. I think I did not go to attend the meeting but my uncle accompanied by many youth (students) left early in the morning to clean the roads and the river bank. I felt that the atmosphere was filled with tension and excitement. That time I heard many strange stories about Gandhiji. Gandhiji was locked inside the jail by the government, and how has he come outside now?

Education during my childhood

We were not admitted in school during the Non-Co-operation Movement. Arrangements were made at home for our education but whenever, I saw Annapurna Didi’s children going with their bags to school, I also felt like joining them. When I was very stubborn to attend school, I was made to sit in the lower class of middle school attached to the Kathajodi training centre. However, my name was not enrolled in school.

Arrangements were made to teach us at home. In the beginning there was an old man who taught us. Later on a young teacher joined from Bani Didi’s village. He taught us wrong things like “Hare means a bird”. Therefore, this teacher was told to leave within a few days. However, we had learnt reading and writing before teachers were recruited at home for teaching. We had learnt to read Odiya from our mother. We had also learned to read Bengali with the help of mother and other members in the family. No one taught us according to rules and regulations.

There were a very few books for children in the Odiya language. I did not remember exactly whether it was our uncle or somebody else who made arrangements to get Bengali books. We learnt to read Bengali by reading Jogendranath Sarkar’s “Hari Khusi, Hari Rasi and Khuku Manir Chada. We also learnt Bengali conversation by talking with our friends, Khokan and others. I think in 1922 my uncle had subscribed for us for one year the monthly Bengali magazine. “Mouchak” those days we did not understand the importance of those magazines. After seeing the list of Bengali books, I gradually learnt to order books through VPP. Those days I also tried to learn Assamese. I also ordered children’s book “Hahi Dhemali” written by Jogen Sarkar. Assamese script is like Bengali. Only”Ra” is different and there is one extra alphabet ‘va”. There are also differences in pronunciations.

For learning English we had to get help from others. In the beginning Kantha Aja helped us. My paternal uncle read many voluminous books in English. Another uncle read many books that had pictures of skeletons. Someone had said that those were books of Medicine. When I saw those books I had a feeling of curiosity and anxiety whether I will ever have the intelligence to read such books. I had an impression that the authors of those books were extraordinary persons. Once I was reading the Oriya translation of Aesop’s fables. The translator was Bankanidihi Patnaik. Later on my paternal uncle wrote the book “Chidiakhana” (Zoo) and received Rs.25/- from Utkal Sahitya Press.

Raghu master was a strange and amusing person. He had taught many students. His appearance was like a baby Hippopotamus or like Sukumar Ray’s character ‘Kumdo –Patash. He was an expert in making others laugh by remaining serious himself. He taught Balu dada and Bhaba dada (uncles). Later on he stayed in Tunku Uncle’s house and taught his children. Every day he passed by our house to take bath in the river. Whenever he saw my paternal uncle and aunt on the veranda he either sang or danced and made them laugh.

During 1922 Poet Bira- Kishore Das was our teacher for some days. Those days he started writing patriotic songs. One volume of his songs published as “Mohan Bansi” (Flute), was my favourite book. Bira Babu encouraged us to write essays. Instead of writing I drew pictures on a slate on a particular topic. We were never afraid of our teacher. We were not scolded or beaten by the teachers who taught us. All our teachers had distinguished background. We were very much benefitted by their presence.

Prahaland Salu was our teacher after Bira Babu. He belonged to Kusupur of Cuttuck district. He was my paternal uncle’s schoolmate. He was an innocent and nobleman. He narrated many kinds of stories to us. I do not remember all the stories. However, I clearly remember that from one of his stories we learnt about the unity of all religions. He also narrated his experience of praying in the church. We mixed with him very freely. We used to tie him on the chair with the help of a rope. He never objected to that. For a few days Bansidhar Mishra of Khanda Sahi also taught us. He was perhaps the office secretary of the congress committee. One day all of a sudden he went to Burma and from there he travelled a lot and reached Manchester (England) where he became a worker of a Labour Union. There he was known as Ali.

Our last teacher was Chandrasekhar Mishra. He had a bright appearance and very sharp intellect. He lived in the mess at Badhi Babu’s Bungalow for some time. He was the Assistant of Pandit Nilakantha when he was the Member of Parliament in Delhi. Though Chandrasekhar Babu was an angry man he never showered his anger on us. On the contrary he tolerated my anger. I had a small globe that he borrowed one day. When he returned that it was not in a good shape. I was very furious and refused to take it back. He was very disturbed. He might have felt angry within himself. But he did not reveal his anger towards me.

The target of Chandrasekhar Babu anger was Ashok Das the son of Nilakantha Babu. For a few days Nilakantha Babu left his son under the responsibility of Chandrasekhar Babu. Ashok was often beaten by Chandrasekhar Babu. One day I discovered that Ashok wrote a letter to his father “Father you have thrown me near a lion’s mouth. I was partially responsible in showing that letter to Chandrasekhar Babu, who after reading this letter had beaten Ashok. I felt sometimes that the anger that he controlled while teaching us was showered on Ashok.

Experience of Examination

My father considered that though I did not have formal education in schools I should appear in the matriculation Examination. Thereforeone day he had taken me to Chandrasekhar Master, the Head Master of Pyarimohan Academy. After asking many questions the Head Master came to the conclusion that I had the ability to write the examination. I prepared myself for the examination as a private candidate. I appeared for the pre-test and test at Collegiate School. Those days it was checked through the pre-test exams whether the student had the ability to write the test. I do not know whether such rules exist at present. Earlier I did not have the practice of writing exams. The fact that I appeared in the pre-test examinations had provided me the experience of writing exams. I secured the highest marks in English that caused a lot of commotion among the students. I was supposed to secure high marks in maths but unfortunately I secured very low marks. Later on I understood that I had solved problems in my mind and had written the answers instead of writing the entire process. As my answers were devoid of the process I was unable to fetch better marks.

My father often alerted me not to give too much importance to examinations. He made fun and jokes regarding examinations. He narrated how just one month before the exams he kept away all the books and played chess and carom board. Bhaba Bhai (a friend) also appeared for the matriculation examination that year. He was coming to me often those days. That time he had eye problem and started wearing glasses. My father jokingly used to say “what will you do while studying after spoiling your eyes?”

At last I completed the examination without any hindrance. After that all of us went to Alakashram and during my stay there I received the news that I have passed in the second division. We neither demanded for the marks sheets nor for the certificates. Those days my mind was diverted to another direction. I discovered through these exams that instead of actual age of a person there is also an academic age. One day the teacher had called all the students of Collegiate School and was writing their roll numbers and age in the register in order to fill up the application form. That time I was also present there and realised that those who were three to four years older than me had written a lower age. When I enquired I understood that this was their “Academic age. New Spirituality

There was a time when all members in my family relished fish. My father was the first person to become vegetarian. I liked to take shrimp. I was given a special kind of fish (known as Kau in Odia language) whenever there was deterioration in my health. As far as I remember no one cooked meat in our house. During the Non-Cooperation Movement all elders in our family stopped taking fish. However the elders in the family did not insist the children to avoid fish. I was motivated by many relatives to take meat. I tasted a little but I never liked the taste of meat. After that I had never taken meat.

I do not remember how I left fish but I remember vividly an incident that is related to giving up non-vegetarian food. It was during 1927-28. One afternoon, Mushu Mamu and Benga Mamu (my maternal uncles) were sitting at the backyard of my uncle’s house. I was also there along with some children and we were chatting happily. My uncle found a gun and they were tempted to use that. Everyone came up with different ideas. Eventually they saw a crow sitting on the branch of a Drum-Stick Tree. Someone aimed the gun towards the crow and the crow fell down. When a worker picked up the crow he saw that one of the wings was broken. They applied turmeric powder on the wound and left the crow as it was. This irrational and cruel incident made me deeply hurt. On returning home I sat alone for a long time and thought seriously about this incident. I felt it would be cowardice on my part if I do not express my view on this incident. I also felt that it was unfair to act violently against any living being.

During 1928-30 I read The Autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi and the Satyagraha in South Africa. Gandhiji’s autobiography was already translated into Odia language. I remember the second book because my father read it aloud to us. Those days two books had created a lot of commotion. One was the book “Mother India“ by Ms. Meyer in which she had presented a negative picture about India and Gandhiji had termed it as the Report of a Gutter. The other book was Rev. Sunderland’s India on Bondage in which he had strongly supported the cause of India’s independence. Another popular book was Lala Lajpat Rai’s Unhappy India. This was a voluminous Book and I did not have the patience to read the entire book. When I was glancing through the pages I could understand that Lalaji had written this book in order to react to the contents of the book Mother India. This book was seized by the government but I had the chance to read the entire book. I recall an incident during the year 1928. On a rainy afternoon my father received a telegram and suddenly went outside. I understood from the telegram that Utkalmani Gopabandhu passed away in Sakhigopal. Later on there was a condolence meeting, condolence procession, and the last rituals were performed at the Kathjodi river. It was written on the placards,” Gopabandhu is dead ““Long-Live Gopabandhu “. My father’s name is also Gopabandhu so I felt that the slogans were meant for him.

After a few days Lalaji also passed away. While he was opposing the Simon Commision he was lathi-charged by the police. He passed away after a few days and later I understood that “Lathi charging” was the cause of Lalaji’s death. The Condolence meeting at Cuttack had pulled a large crowd .During those days I participated in the meetings of the political parties. In the meeting my father had glorified Lalaji as Punjab of Lion instead of Lion of Punjab. We teased our father for committing such errors.

Alakashram- A New Chapter

This chapter unfolds his childhood experiences in the Alakashram in which he has narrated some interesting anecdotes.

My parents, sister and I went to live in Alakashram sometimes during 1919. We travelled by bus and reached in the evening. The first experience I remember was that my mother had warned us not to touch the thatched roof when it was dark in the evenings fearing that there would be some animals or insects. Those days the National School had discontinued. My father and others had started a centre known as Cuttack Khadi Association. The Production Centre was functioning there. The houses belonging to the school were also there.

Towards the southern part of Machagram canal and a little away from the canal’s precipice was the Somanath hat (village market). Towards the eastern part of the market was a big mango orchard. The ashram where we lived was situated within the mango orchard. Between the market and the orchard a road could be seen leading towards Jagatsinghpur to Niali Madhab. The Alaka river could be seen flowing towards south of the orchard. The river had little water and more of aquatic grass and moss. Water passed from the river to the canal. Towards the eastern part of the ashram there was a long cultivable space near the canal. This space was utilised for growing vegetables and greens. Towards the eastern side of the orchard there were four rows of thatched houses. Towards the north were the office and the khadi centre. We were living towards the western side. Other workers lived towards the southern part and the eastern part consisted of kitchen, cow-shed, etc.

I can recall that Biswada was responsible for the khadi work. Akrura was also there. Pandit Parihari’s house was a little far away from the ashram. His co-ordinating centre was the ashram to campaign for Congress in the villages and to do some constructive work. Nilamani Pradhan and Bramhananda Choudhury also worked there for some days. Giridhari Panda who later became Parihari Babu’s son-in-law was also living in the ashram for some days. He helped in teaching and spreading khadi spinning in the villages. Some women staff members were also there, among whom I can remember Biswanath Hota’s wife, Prafulla Apa. During the Salt Satyagraha Biswanath Babu passed away by suffering from cholera.

Pandit Padhihari, Nilamani Babu, Biswada and Akrura were involved with the activities of the ashram since the National School was established. Pandit Mahasaya Bangara was a tough person. He had very little hair on his head. He chewed Beetle leaf continuously and had the habit of talking very frankly without keeping any secrets. He had the strange habit of repeatedly uttering the word (Yaha) while speaking. This repeatation of Yaha increased whenever he felt more excited. His ways of talking made everyone laugh. Pandit Mahasaya was an extremely hardworking person. While travelling in the villages he was able to cross all the rocky and difficult paths. He never had the patience of travelling on the usual long roads. His life was also similar. Those days he walked six to seven miles from Ranhata to Alakashram village to spread the importance of spinning.

There was a person living there named Mahata. He was an expert in Yoga and Meditation. While sleeping at night he maintained the posture of “Padmasana”. This person also had the habit of secretly eating dry fish (a delicacy in Odisha and West Bengal.). One evening during the evening prayer some of us could get the smell of dry fish. My father was burning with anger so Mahata the poor man had to leave the ashram.

In the small garden of the ashram there lived an old woman named Sukuri. She was a widow and lived with her children and chickens. Biswada and others visited her home to eat chicken curry for a change. The main work of Alakashram was production and sales of khadi cloth, and visiting the nearby villages for maintaining rapport with the people and campaigning for the old Congress Party. My sister, Annapurna and I had the good education and experience of living in the village. We did not have any responsibility of reading prescribed text books. We read some journals, Gandhiji’s writings and a few story books. Every day early in the morning my father sat with other workers to read and discuss the writings of Gandhiji. My sister and I were perhaps too young to participate in those discussions. Annapurna helped my mother in the kitchen and rest of the time we played together. Mornings and evenings were also spent in climbing the trees in the orchards. I investigated on how high I could jump from the tree to the ground. I discovered that I could jump from a height of 9ft. or so. There were some tamarind trees there. There were unusually sweet tamarinds in one or two trees. I had never seen such sweet tamarinds earlier or later in my life. We climbed those trees and ate as many tamarinds we liked. There was a big banyan tree with long branches but short in height. We enjoyed swinging on the branches. Sometimes we accompanied the workers when they were on their way to sell khadi clothes in the villages.

Those days Dhadia uncle also lived with us in the village. Our own village Kherasa was one and a half miles away from the ashram. Dhadia uncle taught me many exercises by bicycle as they were doing in the circus, like getting down from the moving cycle and again trying to catch that, riding the cycle facing towards the back, etc. We also practised long jump and high jump. We bathed twice a day in the canal, and sometimes we bathed in the Alaka ashram also. The canal from one level to another level was like a waterfall. It was fun to bathe under the waterfalls. I also practised to swim in the canal. Once Annapurna and I were about to attain Samadhi in the water. Annapurna, after bathing was drying her hair on the stairs facing towards the back of the canal. Suddenly she lost her balance and fell into the canal. I was nearby so I held her hair and simultaneously fell into the canal. Annapurna held on to me. Both of us were drowning and drifting towards the opposite current of the water. Nilamani babu was bathing there. Quickly, he jumped into the water and pulled out both of us. My mother and others were there and they picked us up.

Adjacent to the canal was the Chatara village. Bhagu babu’s home was there. His father, Durga Charan Das and mother, Kheta Apa were alive. Among his brothers, I remember Charu Bhai. They were all pure Vaishnavites. Bhagu Bhai, Dukhi Apa, Charu Bhai, etc, visited our ashram often. Others also visited once in a while. Inside Chatara village there was a sandalwood pond. There was a small temple within the pond. Many times I practised swimming inside this pond and dived into the pond from the top of the temple. That day happened to be the observation of the national week, (April 6 to 13), therefore, there was a procession. Those days the concept of prabhat pheri (early morning procession by singing inspirational and devotional songs) was not introduced in Odisha. Starting from Chatra village Chain Bhai and other friends holding drums and cymbals joined the choir group.

Processions were also held during Gandhi Jayanti and other occasions. One odia song was sung repeatedly that meant “Friends the time has approached today to discard the foreign clothes “. Another Bengali song meant “All Hindu and Muslim friends, please join together, the flag is flying high and the drums are being beaten loudly to proclaim for our unity.

A little far away from the place of the procession at Kantapada village was Sauti Babu’s house. His brother Gurucharan Mohanty had gone to England for his higher studies. There he involved himself with the labour Union after joining the progressive party and became a socialist. I think he was the first socialist in Odisha . He was a close friend of my uncle, Nabakrishna Choudhury. Gurucharan Mohanty was living and working in the villages for some days. He passed away early after suffering from Tuberculosis.

One day we left for Kandapada to sell khadi. We were told that the village was nearby. We walked for a long distance but could not see any village. Our head started burning under the hot sun. Whenever we enquired the people how far away is the village, they replied, just nearby. At last, as a mark of ridicule we built up a proverb, “Here is the village, and let us enter a house”.

The Indications of the Freedom Movement

This chapter narrates his childhood memories of the early freedom struggle.

The political atmosphere had become very tense. The Government of England did not make any announcement regarding the proposal of Calcutta Congress. The movement was gathering its momentum. Bhagat Singh and others had thrown bomb during the Lt. Governor’s meeting at Delhi and this had created a lot of repercussions. The Swaraj Party had passed a resolution over the budget of the Indian Government and they were successful. Jatin Das fasted continuously for sixty three days in the jail at Rangoon and passed away there. After a few days Bhikhu Uttama also fasted in the jail and passed away . These events had created a lot of disturbance in our country. The proposal for Total Swaraj was passed at the Lahore Congress during the midnight of 31 st . December. We heard that after the passing of the resolution, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru had danced with others in happiness.

My father had also joined the Lahore congress. It was very cold there, so all the members were provided with a fireplace. Babaji Ramdas placed the fireplace under his bed and slept there. During the middle of the night Babaji screamed very loudly and jumped from the bed. There was a lot of hue and cry and Babaji’s heavy weight had almost broken the cot. He suddenly woke up when his bed and clothes caught fire from below.

We returned to Cuttack during the end of 1929. Alakashram continued with its regular activities. Later on we again returned there and lived for some days. When the Salt Satyagraha was in full swing we came to live in Cuttack.

On 26 th January Lahore Congress decided to announce Independence Day and resolved to make our country independent. My father, with the help of Umakant Babu had translated the resolution of the Lahore Congress from English to Odia. Before 26 th January no one was permitted to organize meetings and processions in public places. Gandhiji had advised that nobody should break the laws that day. Therefore, on that day at Cuttack, the national flag was hoisted at Kathagada Sahi on the ground opposite the Loksevak Press at 8.am. A very few people were present there. In the evening we organized a public meeting opposite our house. The area was full of people sitting on the wall of the Sunshine Field and also on the top of our wall. There were also a lot of people near the River bank opposite our house. In the meeting my father read every sentence of the resolution and others repeated after him. After the conclusion of the meeting my uncle, aunt and I went to Ravenshaw College by riding our cycle. There, we listened to a lecture delivered by Kalidas Naga on the topic “Glorious Bharat”.

After that they were planning to non-cooperate with the laws of the British. We children were imagining that breaking the laws means riding the bicycle in the darkness, breaking the five rules, etc. When we discussed with father he explained to us the relevance of breaking rules. Gandhiji began writing about breaking the Salt Laws and other relevant topics. After that he sent a letter to the Viceroy requesting him for Freedom and if the Viceroy was not ready to free India from the British Rule, they would break the Salt- Law and begin the Satyagraha. He sent this letter through the English journalist Rejidalan Renald. A very rude reply was received from the Viceroy. Gandhiji said I requested for rotis and I received stones. After that seventy nine Ashram inmates joined Gandhiji in the Dandi Salt March. In the entire nation there was a lot of commotion. In Cuttack, on the sands of the Kathajodi River frequent meetings were organized. Thousands of people gathered in the meetings. Earlier, when, we, children were playing on the sands we witnessed the meetings many times but only ten or fifteen people were present. Those days, Dr. Atal Bihari Acharya, was the President of the District Congress. Once he unfurled the flag on the sand to start a meeting and his wife happened to be the only member in the audience.

In the meetings most prominent speakers were Rajuda and Jadumani Mangaraj. We enjoyed all these lectures. Later on I felt that in Mangaraj’s speech instead of light, there was more of commotion. Sometimes commotion was also necessary. My father’s speech was not so agitating. Another speaker was my friend, Khokan’s father, Joardar Mahasaya. He was a student of History. Therefore, in his speeches there were many stories and examples from World History. He liked to deliver long speeches. He said, I will conclude with one sentence and then continued for fifteen to twenty minutes. Afterevery five minutes he provided a new life to his speeches. Those days, Poet Birakishore and Poet Banchanidhi Mohanty wrote patriotic songs. The singers in the Cuttack meetings were Girish Ghosh and Advaita Vallabh Rai. My aunt’s relative, Mani Sen, lived in Cuttack those days and inspired everyone by singing the songs of Nazrul Islam.

Memories of Alakashramand Anakhia Farm

These chapters narrate his childhood memories of Alakashram and his experience of Anakhia Farm where his paternal uncle and aunt experienced a new life by blending Gandhiji’s constructive programme and Tagore’s Aesthetics.

Memories of Alakashram

I can remember that among our associates Satish Chandra Dasgupta came to Alakashram. Our family maintained friendship with him since 1923. He was a colleague of Shri. Rajkishore Bose and Prafulla Chandra Rai who was the Secretary of Bengal Chemicals. He resigned from a very responsible post and participated in the Non- Co-operation Movement and utilised his scientific skills in developing the Khadi and Village Industries. Therefore he travelled to Odisha several times. He visited Alakashram and asked my father “ I see that the District Board is very strong here, they have maintained the road from Cuttack to this place very clean. My father cleared his illusion and said that this is not the work of the District Board; instead the poor people had the practise of collecting dry leaves for their fuel.

In Alakashram a temporary toilet was built by digging a deep hole. We observed that the rural people felt more comfortable to use the fields.

During those days they had organised a Settlement Camp. Akhodi, a person from Bihar and his wife lived inside the tent within the Settlement Camp. We experienced the example of strict purdah system. The lady (The Bihari man’s wife practised strict Purdah . No one was even able to see the nails of her feet. She was confined within the tent. My parents were introduced to the couple. Once the Purdah covered lady visited the ashram. All the men including me were ordered to lock ourselves inside a room as long as the lady was present in the ashram. However, Bramhananda Babu peeped through the door and tried to have a glance of her. After the lady had left he announced jokingly in front of others that he was able to see the lady covered with purdah.

Anakhia Farm

My paternal uncle (Nabakrishna Choudhury) and his associates lived at Anakhia. This place was far away from Anakhia post office. The name of the adjacent village was Dhanipur which was twenty two miles away from Cuttack and seven miles from Alakashram. Anakhia was situated at the southern side of Malagan canal. There we owned five to six acres of land. My uncle started cultivating on this land. He was among those who cultivated sugar cane by an innovative method. The land was irrigated by the water from the canal. Alaka River flowed towards the southern part of the farm.

Kendal village was situated across the river. Towards the western side, canal water passed through a channel to the Alaka River. There was a large Muslim colony near the canal at Dhanipur. My uncle had built a different kind of house in the middle of the land. The wall and floor of the house was built with bricks and cement, whereas the roof was thatched. It appeared like a bungalow. There were two living rooms, one store room, and a tiny kitchen. There were verandahs on two sides and the windows were broad known as Persian windows.

This place was deserted before my uncle constructed the house. On one side was the graveyard for Muslims and on the opposite side was the cremation ground for the Hindus. People believed that ghosts and spirits dwelled within all the trees and bushes that were surrounded by the graveyard. My uncle (Nabakrushna Choudhury) lived there alone before my aunt (Malati Choudhury) joined him. Many times by riding his bicycle he reached this place at the middle of the night. Sometimes dogs scattered human skulls and bones near the house. Jackals, wolves and tigers roared at night. People in the neighbouring villages thought that Naba Babu would have attained sainthood otherwise it is not so easy to live amidst ghosts and spirits.

Those days I lived with my parents at Alaka Ashram and my uncle and aunt lived at Anakhia farm. We visited them regularly. Sometimes I went alone by cycle. There was a difference between the two experiences of rural lives. At Alakashram we followed the Gandhian pattern of life like waking up in the morning, working in the community kitchen, taking vegetarian food, and conducting prayers in the mornings and evenings. At Anakhia farm we could get the reflection of the life at Shantiniketan. My aunt played the Veena early in the morning. She was always sensitive regarding the plants, trees, flowers and the beauty of nature. She sang Rabindrasangeet (songs composed by Tagore) that was appropriate to whatever she observed in nature; like the paddy fields swaying in the wind as the waves in the ocean, and the new plants along the bank of the river.

When I returned from my aunt’s place I always thought of the taste of the pudding that my aunt fed me. During the winter they cultivated sugarcane. Country sugar was stored in the mud pots. We chewed lots of sugar-cane.

Baliada lived with my aunt and uncle. Govinda supervised the farming. There was a worker known as Dama and his mother. Amidst work philosophical discussions took place like, why do people commit sin? Does man have the instinct of committing sin? What is the proof of this instinct? The proof is the fact that man commits sin.

Besides farming my uncle and others also maintained rapport with the neighbouring villages. Bhagalpur was close to where they lived. Gouranga Bhai , Shashi and others were ready to work for the nation. Later on many people joined in the freedom struggle. Gouranga babu negotiated the injustice done by the higher caste towards the harijans (children of God , as named by Gandhiji to the people of the lower caste .)

There was an open ground near the Anakhia farm where they organised sports and fair during the Vishubha Sankranti that coincides with Tamil New Year.

Salt Satyagraha

This chapter is about the Salt –Satyagraha in Odisha that the writer had observed during his young days. Gandhiji was leading and in different places of our country people were getting arrested. Gandhiji had appealed to the women to do picketing in Ganja (cannabis), Opium and Liquor Shops.

That time my mother (Ramadevi Choudhury), and aunt (Malati Choudhury) were ready to participate in the non-violent struggle. When people were collecting the list of satyagrahis my sister (Annapurna) and I also gave our signatures. Our father informed us that they won’t accept children as satyagrahis. But, later on hundreds of children like us participated in the satyagraha.

It was decided that the first satyagrahi group with the leadership of my father would start from Cuttack and walk to Balasore to break the Salt-law in the beach. My father,Gopabandhu Choudhury and his friend Acharya Mahasaya were the leaders. There were altogether twenty-one people in the group. As far as I remember the following people were the satyagrahis in Odisha.

1. Gunanidhi Mohant y( Cuttack) 2.Raghunath Mishra (Puri) 3.Raghunath Das(Cuttack)4.Gouranga Charan Das ( Cuttack) 5.Biswanath Hota (Balasore) 6.Golak Chandra De( Balasore) 7.Gokulananda Mohanty ( Balasore) 8.Binod Choudhury( Cuttack) 9.Banamali Pusthi (Cuttack) 10. Dr, Krupasindhu Bhokta ( Angul) 11.Sudarshana Praharaj (Cuttack) 12.Chakrapan i Raut( Ganjam) 13.Krupasindhu Khuntia, (, Cuttack) 14.Ghanashyam Patnaik,( Ganjam) 15.Murari Tripathi,( Puri) 16.Durga Prasad Guru,( Sambalpur) 17.Sudhansu Prasad Gupta and 18.Rama Prasad Sahu.

On 5 th April there was a meeting in the evening at the bank of the Kathajoti River to bid farewell to the first group of Satyagrahis. In the meeting the Satyagrahis were honoured by flowers and sandalwood paste. The Satyagrahi’s camp was organised in our residence for the night stay. Next day early in the morning at 5.oo am all the Satyagrahis started their foot march by holding the National Flag. All of them were garlanded with flowers before starting their march.

The Satyagrahi group crossed the Mahanadi River by boat from Jobra to Kendrapada. From that side they entered Balasore district through Kannika and Chandbali. At Cuttack 244 was announced. My father broke the law after delivering a speech, so he was arrested at Chandol. He was in the jail for a week. Simultaneously, Jibramji Kalyanji Kothari and Sardar Surendranath Das were also arrested after preparing salt. The satyagrahi group decided to travel by train to Balasore soon because they thought that walking the entire distance would delay the Satyagraha process. They arrived at the bank of Inchudi on 13 th April and broke the Salt-Law.

This time I delivered my first Public Speech. After the padyatris (foot-marchers) left we all went to Alakashram. One day at Palasole village a campaign by congress workers was organised in the evening. There was a huge crowd. I also felt like delivering a speech and I stood up immediately. I recited a verse from the Bhagavad Gita that is usually read in the prayer. The English translation is as follows: “Anger produces delusion. Delusion confuses the memory and understanding of things; from this confusion of understanding follows the disintegration of power of discrimination; with the discrimination gone, theman perishes “. I concluded by stating that at present the government‘s anger has reached to the point of destruction of the intellect. After this there is a possibility of devastation.

My father had to pay a fine of fifty rupees. In order to get the money the police came to claim two cows. We decided to take the cows to the Police Station. The workers explained to the people not to support auction. The common people were not in favour of auction. Ultimately, the government officials conducted the auction.

Those days , in Jagatsinghpur Police Station there was a fat old Sub-Inspector known as Sadhasiv Mishra. He always attended the meeting organised by the Congress. That day on 1 st April it was decided to make him April Fool. We cyclostyled 2-3 papers on which we had printed that a meeting will be organised at Alakashram Ground and Smt. Laxmidevi Saraswati is going to speak. Laxmi was an orphan girl and she lived with us in the Ashram. Somebody delivered this paper near the Police Station. Sharply at 4.pm the Sub-- Inspector, very neatly dressed was present there. When my father heard about this incident, he wrote to us that it was not proper to behave like that.

When the Salt-Law was broken there was a lot of commotion. My father was released from the jail for seven days, and left for Balasore. He was again arrested there for one year. Acharya Mahasaya, Nilakantha Babu, Mahatab Babu, Mangaraj and hundreds of other workers were arrested. We were all present in the court at Cuttack during Raju Dada’s judgement. He was arrested for two years. He appealed to the youth to continue with their Satyagraha.

The police all of a sudden, instead of arresting the Satyagrahis , tried to seize the salt bag that they were carrying. Five to seven Satyagrahis , in order to stop the police from seizing the salt bags, they lied dowh on top of the bags. When the police tried to pull the hands of Satyagrahis, they never gave up. Many of the Satyagrahis hands were sprained and injured. Nabakishore Patnaik of Kuhudi, Puri dist left his studies, became the member of the Congress party and helped in taking lot of photographs. These photographs were published in the “Samaj” newspaper.

Those days Samaj was introduced as a new newspaper. After a few days the publication of “ samaj “ was discontinued because the government demanded for temporary deposit and if there was any unwanted news the publication was discontinued. After the discontinuation of “Samaj “Radhanath Babu prepared a cyclostyled journal known as “‘Sambad”.

Sambad was sold by the hawkers of “Samaj”. Among them Uchaba Pradhan was most enthusiastic. Those days almost every day we had meeting and speeches on the River sand. There were hot and sensational news.

Women’s Power and Banar – Sena (Monkey - Brigade)

This chapter is about the hardships the children had faced during the Salt Satyagraha.

There were many problems near Inchudi when the Salt- law was being broken. People fled from the village due to police atrocities. Police were trying to create an atmosphere of terrorism. My mother, (Rama Devi) paternal aunt, (Malati Choudhury ) and Mangala Mashi’s mother, Kiran bala Sen, left for Balasore. I was also with them. Mukunda Bhai’s wife, Janhavi Devi also joined them at Balasore. Everyone left together and my mother, aunt, etc. broke the Salt –law and appealed to the village people to break the law. Police did not interfere in this matter. During those days at Balasore the main meeting place for Satyagraha was at a large ancient house known as Permit Kothi. This house was used earlier by the East India Company as an office or Godown.

The second Satyagrahi group, under the leadership of Madanmohan Patnaik , had gone to Balasore. As far as I could recall a third satyagrahi group had also joined them. Bhabagrahi Pati also led a group from Kolkata. Bhabhagrahi Pati was actually from Sankhatras village, at Cuttack district, (Odisha.)At Cuttack people started picketing ganja (cannabis) and liquor shops. Opium, ganja and liquor shops were located at Buxi bazaar, Cuttack, just opposite to the Prabhat Cinema.

My mother and aunt were organizing the picketing work. Many children between the age of 13 and 16 had also joined the satyagraha movement. The children’s group was known as Banar Sena (Monkey Brigade) . Women and children were mainly involved in picketing. The Banar Sena , (Monkey Brigade) constituted of Sanatan Das, Baikuntha Mohanty, The Chubby Baikuntha, Bichitrananda Mohanty,Radheshyam, Bankim Singh, Sudhansu Maitra, Deben Banerjee, Sankarsan Patnaik, Purusottam Singh ,Kalindi Sahu, Jadumani Mishra, Shankar, Nilamani Swain, Murali Mohanty, Loknath Pradhan, Pyarishankar Rai, Akuli Behera, Sriharsha Mishra, Kinu Hati, etc. Among them Jadumani Mishra was the youngest monkey (child).Later on all the leaflets and pamphlets were published by his name so he was known as the publisher.

The first call of Satyagraha inspired Surendra Patnaik, Surendra Dwivedi, Binode Kanungo, Bipin Mohanty, Gajendra Prasad Das, Balaram Pati, etc, to discontinue their school education. Niranjan Ghosh and Brajamohan Singh, ( Chatu babu) discontinued their college education. Binod’s maternal uncle, Arta Babu was a strict man. He used to beat Binode frequently by umbrellas and ultimately broke many umbrellas. After Binode joined the Movement his maternal uncle’s family picked him up from some place and locked him inside a room. He refused to take food for three days and later on his guardians were helpless and released him from his room. He walked eighteen miles from his village to the Ashram without eating anything. Many parents and guardians tried to take them home forcefully. Some children returned again to join the Movement.

Krushna Chandra Pradhan and Gobinda Chandra Pradhan who were two brothers joined the Movement and stayed at our home. Krushna Babu helped in supervising the Satyagraha camp. I had developed a good friendship with Gobinda Pradhan. Bira Bhai (Balikuda Bira) and Birakishore Das also joined the Movement and were expert in organizing satyagrahis from other villages. After becoming a Satyagrahi Birakishore Das’ personality had completely changed. Seven years back he wore a long shirt , had long hair, wore a silk kurta with golden button, wore palm shoes with socks , and used powder on his face regularly . There was a change in his personality after the death of his first wife. His hair was almost bald, wore a coarse khadi cloth above his knees, and covered his body with a khadi cloth. Some people joined the satyagraha movement with the expectation that they will get government job after our country attained independence. When my father was familiar with the freedom fighters in the prison, he discovered that some people belonging to the scheduled caste became freedom fighters with the expectations that they will be promoted as watch-man or police official.

Those who were picketing were imprisoned in the beginning. Later for desisting the children they came up with another plan. They made arrangements to beat the children by cane over their palms. I do not know whether the law of cane-beating ever existed. No one could file a case those days .In the British court no one could fight for justice. No one bothered to find out whether cane beating was permitted in the laws. Those days Wahid Saheb was the Second Officer at Cuttack. In his jurisdiction the banar-sena children were getting ten to fifteen beatings per day. One police was holding the palm of a child and another watchman was beating on their palms.

The hands of the children were swollen after such beatings. Children continued picketing and were beaten again and again. Their hands were badly bruised. It was neither possible for the children to eat, bathe or wear clothes by their bruised hands. My mother, aunt and others helped the children to eat and bathe. The spirit of the children was never low. When their hands began healing they would again begin their Satyagraha and get beaten. Bira babu had written a song in odia. The English translation may be read as follows:

“You may beat as much as you want, our life flows like water, and can you manage us? We are not afraid of death. We have surrendered ourselves under the feet of the Lord. Yours and our matters would be taken care of one day.

When the Banar-Sena children were arrested they sang this song while going to the Court. Every day the Court was crowded by people and this created a deep commotion in the community. Girish Ghosh, Advaita Rai, and others played the harmonium and collected funds from the markets and houses. Both of them held four corners of a cloth and on top of that they received rice or money. These contributions served as nectars for the satyagrahis. Some government servants and Police officials also contributed without the knowledge of the British people. Another song written in odia by Bira Babu also describes the existing picture of the situation those days. “Brothers let us go to the land of battle by playing the instrument of Victory. No one has the right to keep us dependent on others “.

Crossing the Iron Bars

This chapter is about the participation of women during the Salt Satyagraha in Odisha.

The satyagrahis who were engaged in picketing, after some days, were left in the jungle by the police. They were taken by bus and left at Banki Dampada. They managed to take food at different homes and returned to the ashram after two days. Those days there was continuous picketing in order to close the schools and colleges. During such picketing, one day the police walked on the stomach of Bharat Singh who had to be admitted in the hospital after being heavily injured. Rajnikant Ghosh and his wife were very helpful to us those days.

On hearing about the arrests of Akhil Bharatiya leaders there would be announcements for strikes. In the beginning the strikes would be successful but the tempo became low when there were repeated announcements. My aunt ( Malati Choudhury) was totally involved in picketing , silent processions, etc, and worked like a firebrand. People called her “ Cuttack Chandi”. My mother and aunt had also organized Salt Satyagraha at Kujang. Men Satyagrahis were active there earlier, but my mother and aunt reached the village and appealed to the women to break the Salt-law. Thousands of women walked in a procession with baskets full of salt.

People were not supportive in all the areas. Pandit Padhiari and my mother had gone once for the salt satyagraha to Badchana village. There, no one permitted them to sit even on the front yard of their home. At night they slept outside under a tree without taking any food. My mother and aunt tried their best to organize the women for the Salt Satyagraha. From Cuttack the women satyagrahis who joined were Bina Devi, Kiranbala Sen, Janjali Devi, etc. At Bakhrabad, Duti, a widow earned her living by selling milk and simultaneously helped in the satyagraha with all her might. The women who joined from Bari were Priambada Devi, Haripria Devi, Sarat Kumari Devi, and Adharmani Devi. From Kalyanpur Godavari and many others emerged to join the satyagraha. They were placed in different places at Cuttack , including Radhamohan Mahapatra’s home at Telenga Bazar. Dukhi sister was an elderly and experienced leader and was exposed to public life since 1922. She also helped in the Congress campaign. She was arrested for a year for delivering a talk and was later transferred to the Vellore jail. I don’t remember why my aunt was arrested. My mother was arrested and was imprisoned for eight months.Tunkhu mamu was also arrested that time. My uncle, Nabakrishna Choudhury , was arrested at Balasore. There was a false case against him so he had to fight against that case. Those days I did not like the idea of fighting against that case.

My mother and aunt were in the beginning at Cuttack jail and were later transferred to Bhagalpur jail. The class division of Political Prisoners was put into practice after the self- immolation of Jatin Das. That time Bubu (My aunt, Malati Choudhury’s eldest daughter, Uttara) was only two years old and she stayed in the Bhagalpur jail with my aunt. Once, my sister Chuni, (Annapurna) and I went to the Cuttack Jail to see my aunt. She was in the 12 number ward. Instead of the usual practice of meeting inside the office we were taken within the jail premises. That was my first experience of entering the jail. My impression of the jail, being very dark, and unattractive, had completely changed after observing the jail for the first time. As soon as we entered we were greeted by loud voices of the satyagrahi children. The sun was shining and it was a bright day. There was a green field in the front and a few flowers were in bloom .Everything was shinning under the sun. The reality is that the human beings create their own atmosphere. The Banar Sena (Monkey Brigade) children had driven away all the darkness and sorrows that were existing in the jail’s atmosphere.

My Thoughts and Activities

This chapter is about the author’s thoughts and activities during the Satyagraha Movement in Odisha.

Some days after the Satyagraha Movement, Congress was declared as illegal and the Police captured the Swaraj Ashram. Our home, therefore, became the centre for Satyagraha. Volunteers assembled at our home from different parts of Odisha. They also travelled to many places from there. The volunteers who came from the village did all strange things. They being unable to differentiate between a toilet and a cattle’s food bowl, used the bowl as a toilet. Nilamani Babu, very silently without complaining, cleaned the dirt on his own. Sometimes cunning people entered our home and stole things.

We organized meetings during the evenings on the veranda of the first floor. Two police with plain clothes always loitered near our home. One man’s name was Salim and the other man’s name was Hathi. Both of them respected us a lot. The Satyagraha Centre was shifted from our home after the arrest of all the adult members. The Jain Temple at Choudhury Bazaar became the Centre for all the Satyagrahis. Mohanlalji and Sohanlalji very bravely provided shelter to the Satyagrahis within the Temple premises and also assisted in other matters. Mohanlalji’s son who participated in the Satyagraha Movement was beaten by cane and suffered in the jail.

The people who participated in the Satyagraha Movement among the Marwaris and Gujaratis were Bajranglal Choukhani, Shibchand Rai, and Harikishan Bhai. Shibaprasad Bhagat was originally from Bihar. People started discouraging me and my sister, Chuni, ( Annapurna Maharana ) regarding our involvement in the Movement . We helped in printing and distributing secret papers. Earlier we were free to publish “Sambad“. Later on they tried to prevent printing the cyclostyled papers. After this, instead of samaj publishing the papers, these were published elsewhere. Printing machine was available in our home for many days. This machine was hidden so carefully that Police were not able to find it. I used to hide all the printed papers.

All the satyagrahi workers sold the papers and handed over the money to me. The cyclostyled journals were also sold those days. People were ready to spend money for buying those papers. Sometimes the satyagrahis were involved in activities that were unethical. Once near the godown people started picketing the Bullock –cart that was full of foreign clothes. One satyagrhi lied down under the bullock cart and another person poured a bottle of acid over the clothes. The acid accidentally dropped on the person who was lying down and a portion of his body was burnt. A similar incident occurred when my mother was moving from Cuttack jail to Bhagalpur jail. Bankim and other friends disconnected the telephone wire near the Kathajodi bridge. As a result many trains were running late and Bou and others waited at the station for many hours. I was doing two other works besides distributing the pamphlets, photography and sending news to the newspapers. I had taken some photographs when the first and second satyagrahis began their Salt March and when my mother picked up salt at Inchudi and did picketing at Cuttack.

The volunteers, who were involved in picketing, when arrested, denied to go with the police and lied down on the floor. The police forcefully pulled them and pushed them into the horse cart. I had captured all the incidents through my camera. I often sent telegrams to the Press Bureau at Kolkata. Congress Office took care of the expenses. The Treasurer of Congress Office was the’ Cloth Shoulder bag’ of Sahadev Das. Sahadev Babu was the Secretary of the Congress Office and travelled everywhere with papers in his shoulder bag. Free Press was unofficial. The Press that supported the British government was the Associated Press. Amidst all these work I was also involved with some work that was of interest to me. I was a good friend of Naba Patnaik and we had common interests. Both of us made many scientific experiments together and photography was our common hobby.

Once a young man known as Rajkishore Gadnaik came to investigate our home. He developed some sort of sympathy towards me and invited me to his home. After visiting his home twice or thrice we became quite intimate. He had a book for learning Persian language. He offered me that book and I learned Persian with much interest. I made lot of progress in learning Persian. I read somewhere that Mahadev Desai was learning Persian and Gandhiji did not permit him to continue. Gandhiji explained to Mahadev Desai that one should focus on one’s own occupation. Those days with my due respect for Gandhiji , I thought it was not necessary to learn Persian so I discontinued to learn the Persian language. At present I understand that it was not right on my part to stop learning Persian. I feel that if we lose our diverse interest towards the world and start becoming more focused towards our work, then we may develop a narrow view towards life.

In my uncle,Benga Mamu’s home there was a motor garage because they were having a bus business. Since I had a lot of interest towards mechanical gadgets my uncle advised me to learn a mechanic’s work in the factory. I had a good knowledge about the different parts of a vehicle, but I was unable to progress with the work in the garage. Therefore I observed the work of all the mechanics. They were under the impression that I came from an aristocratic family and hesitated to call me to work with them. I too hesitated to offer myself to work with them. Later on I repented for not being able to learn the work of a mechanic. I only had some knowledge about that subject. It was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday on 14 th November (1930) . It was announced on that day to organise an opposition campaign. This announcement was made by Pandit Motilal Nehru after he was released from the jail. At Cuttack it was organised on the bank of Kathjodi river. Those days the Section 144 was enforced. It was decided to break the law and organise the meeting in the leadership of Shri. Gunanidhi Mohanty. A big crowd had assembled there. I also attended the meeting. There were many police to control the crowd. It was announced that the meeting was organised against the law so people were being chased. The District Superintendent of Police of Cuttack, Mr. Damodar Ratha held a cane and started dispersing the crowd. I also ran with the crowd. I felt the cane being beaten on my back. There was a big scar on my back. At the first attack of the police, the Satyagrahis also left with the people. Later on they felt that they had not done the right thing and called each other. Almost hundred people reassembled there.

The police announced that the meeting was illegal. Forty five people were arrested and I was one of them. Around 11pm twenty two of us were released from the Police Station. Benga Uncle came to the Police Station to take me back. On hearing about the cane beating Bhubanananda Das came to see me the next morning. He made all enquiries from me and noted down everything. I felt ashamed to reveal the fact that I was running away because that would have shown that I am a coward. During those days Bhubanananda Babu expressed the desire to take me to Delhi and I agreed to him. My father (Shri . Gopabandhu Choudhuri) wrote a letter from the jail expressing that I should not go to Delhi. Therefore, as per my father’s wish, I could not go to Delhi.

Invitation to a New Life

The last chapter was about the author’s thoughts and activities during the Satyagraha Movement in Odisha. This chapter is a continuation of what happened afterwards.

After experiencing the Movement during 1930, I had a taste of a new and exciting world. The old world started fading away. I did not have any contact with my old friends except Khokan. I had also stopped playing games at the Sunshine Field. Those days I developed an interest for writing poetry. Let me narrate an interesting incident. One day I was walking over Mahanadi bandh near Mata math. I saw one Bengali boy walking very fast towards Jobra. Another person was following him, who, perhaps happened to be his helper at home. The boy was asking him in the Bengali language, oh, Sambhu , how far is Mangala Bag ? It is already getting dark. When he saw me he asked the same question to me. I talked to him for some time. Again he asked fearfully, the place looks like a forest, are there no tigers? Why there is no electricity on the road? On hearing his words I felt like laughing. I told him that this is Katak town so how can tiger come here. Then he said that his home is at Khulana and there is electricity connection at every lane. His name was Kamlakhya Ketan Rai. He had a relative who was doing opium business at the railway station. He described about himself as being a brilliant scholar and very proudly stated that in matriculation and intermediate examinations he had passed in first class holding first position. Prior to one exam he suffered from typhoid and could not study but twice he had broken records at Kolkata University. During his conversation he was asking Sambhu, how far we have to walk, it is getting dark. This person inspired me to write the first poetry in the Bengali language.

Sudhir Babu ( Sudhir Ghosh) had wide experiences and joined the Satyagraha Movement at Katak. He was the son of a lawyer,Hemababu of Banki bazaar, Katak. Sudhir Ghosh was very naughty during his childhood. He was beaten many times. One day he escaped from home and after travelling for many days he reached Abhay Ashram at Komilla ,( now in Bangladesh). Abhaya Ashram was established by Doctor Suresh Banerjee, Prafulla Chandra Ghosh, Ananda Prasad Choudhury etc. Like other ashrams, here they organised constructive programmes and educational activities in the villages. Many new experiments were carried out at Komilla. Sudhir Babu had described about these experiments. One of them was that if anyone broke any rules a particular punishment was given to them. If anyone did not take any food they were punished by being insisted to eat the same food.

Sudhir Babu went to Burma from Komilla and did lot of work at Rangoon and Mandale and after many days returned to India. He was a very talented and courageous person and if he was assigned any responsibility he completed the task through all his efforts. He was always very active. Gradually Sudhir Ghosh and I became very good friends. He was eight years older to me but that was not a barrier to our friendship. Sudhir Babu and Satish Da were very prompt at printing the congress campaign papers. Satish Da came from East Bengal and had joined the freedom movement.

During the Salt Satyagraha if I do not describe the role of Madhav Mishra the story would be incomplete. The S.D.O Madhav Chandra Mishra was very politically conscious. He was opposing our movement. He organized many meetings in the villages and explained to the people about abiding by the rules and the laws and those who did not follow the rules and laws were considered as sinners. For many days Surendra Patnaik and Binode Kanungo teased and irritated Madhav Chandra Mishra in many meetings. Madhav Mishra had written a book for the campaign. I remember the first four lines of the book that reads as follows. “To break the laws is a crime. If anyone commits that crime he would be vanquished. He will certainly suffer and suffer in the hell. “

How to attain Swaraj? People had strange opinions on this subject. Dharmanand Patnaik, father-in-law of the poet Birakishore usually sat in the khadi bhandar at Choudhury bazaar. He said that nothing can happen through satyagraha. There are many black magicians in our country who are capable of driving away the British people. Why should you run around so much? During 1930 there was a terrorist movement at Bengal. The armoury at Chattagram was plundered.At Medinipur three district collectors were murdered one after another. Binay, Badal and Dinesh entered the Writers Building and shot the Police I.G. Bina Das shot the Governor of Bengal.( I heard from my father that Bina Das ‘ father was the Headmaster of Collegiate school at Katak. Many news like this shocked everyone. After listening to all this I felt excited. The courage and sacrifice of the people who loved their country filled my mind with joy. During this time I came across some literature on violent movements for which I had no interest. Perhaps there was a little fear that kept me away from violent movements. I was not mentally prepared with the sacrifice that was involved in the violent movements .But on the other side Gandhiji’s demonstration of non-violent movement also involved a lot of self-sacrifice. Here we need more of moral courage. People have an illusion that we can achieve something easily through non-violence. The meaning of peaceful movement usually means where we do not have to move much our hands and legs. We are suffering the outcomes. Due to this illusion the leaders of the Congress party had combined cheap politics with Gandhiji’s non-violence.

That time there was no clear idea. Only the path of violence seemed to be dark. The feeling of extreme hatred that was attached to violence did not match with my mentality. I experienced something from a practical point of view. This idea might have occurred after 3 to 4 years. I felt that though terrorists demonstrated their courage and fearlessness their path never helped in overcoming the fear within the ordinary people but contrary to that it increased their fear. Terrorism does not teach the common people to strengthen their back- bone. Gandhiji’s path has taught the common people to raise their head and to oppose the oppressive machinery.

Those days the idea of Socialism and class-struggle was rampant. In view of Marxism people were crirticising Gandhism. Those days I could not find time to study Marx systematically. I only came across some articles on Marxism in newspapers and magazines. I was unable to tolerate the strong criticisms on Gandhiji. Therefore I did not have any attraction towards Marxist ideology. I noted in my dairy whatever I understood from debates and discussions. The gist of what I had written was that class interest was like an obstacle towards man’s interest for truth but it is wrong to think that class interest only gives birth to man’s thoughts and ideals. At present also I feel that I have the same idea.

In our home someone had kept a Prison Code. While turning the pages I came across a chapter on Capital Punishment. I read a critical scientific description on how a human being should be killed and this seemed to be horrifying. How has man accepted this extreme beastly act in the law? Then the thought occurred that Terrorists are also facing the similar problem with pride. Therefore human beings cannot present themselves normally. Later on I thought and realized that the way frogs get attracted towards the eyes of the snake and invite themselves to the jaws of death, similarly human beings also get attracted towards the jaws of death that in practical point of view may seem to be irrelevant and meaningless.

Gandhi –Irwin Pact

This chapter is an interesting narration about the author’s experiences after the Gandhi-Irwin Pact.

Gandhi-Irwin pact was signed during March, 1931. Accordingly the Civil- Disobedience Movement was terminated and it was decided to release all the non-violent political prisoners. People got back the right to prepare salt in the sea beach and were free to use and sell salt.

It was accepted to continue the picketing of foreign shops in a peaceful manner. People decided to organize the Congress Round Table Meeting for framing the constitution of India. The demands to be fulfilled immediately and other rights seemed to have less priority. Nevertheless people protested to get back their rights. This experience was special and to see the representative of the people, naked fakir, talking in equal terms with the representatives of the British Empire was something very memorable. All over the country there was an atmosphere of enthusiasm and excitement. The day after the announcement of the Gandhi-Irwin Pacte, the satyagrahis very proudly stood for picketing the shops. The political prisoners were relieved one after another. It was an unforgettable incident at Katak on the day my father, Shri Gopabandhu Choudhury, Rajuda, Mangaraj, Shibchand Rai, Ramprasad Singh arrived after their release from the Hazaribagh jail. They had reached Katak station by train.

Katak station was very much crowded. The released political prisoners led a procession to Swaraj Ashram through College Square, Mangalabag, Ranihat, Buxibazar, and Choudhury bazar roads. The entire Katak city was excited. The terraces of all the buildings were overcrowded. The women started uttering the holy sounds. People were showering flowers from the roof-tops. On the way there were volunteers who served cool-drinks and water. Rose water and perfume were being sprayed over everyone. The flower garlands had covered the faces of the leaders. This excitement and happiness had spread all over the country. The same evening the General meeting held at the bank of Kathjodi River was also equally wonderful and memorable.

My aunt (Smt. Malati Choudhury) and mother (Ramadevi) were supposed to be released from Bhagalpur prison. I travelled to Bhagalpur to receive them. This was perhaps my first experience of travelling alone a long distance by train. My aunt’s elder brother, Pramod Kumar Sengupta was the Income-Tax Officer at Bhagalpur. My aunt’s mother also lived with him. I stayed in their house after reaching Bhagalpur. The release order had come late to Bhagalpur jail. Uttara, my aunt’s daughter was also with them. The women prisoners of Bihar were also released along with them. There was a long procession by women. The happiness and excitement was less there compared to Katak.

There was a Congress Meeting at Karach after a few daysi. All of us, including my father, mother, Annapurna, uncle, aunt, mother and I, proceeded to Karachi. Pandit Padihari and other workers also accompanied us. We travelled by Toofan Express from Howrah to Delhi. This was the first experience of travelling a long distance through big cities and junctions. We could not sleep due to the super-fast speed of Toofan Express and the excitement of travelling through the big cities and junctions. Bhubanananda Babu was our host in Delhi. On reaching Delhi the same night we travelled by Rawalpindi Express and then by Karachi Mail. That time the death sentence was declared on Bhagat Singh, Shukdev and Rajguru. In order to withdraw the death-sentence Gandhiji’s efforts remained futile. Their dead bodies instead of being handed over to their relatives were burnt secretly on the bank of Rabi River. Due to this reason a feeling of intense sorrow and agitation had spread all over our country, especially in Punjab. There was a demand to cancel the Gandhi –Irwin pact. The morning we boarded the Karachi Mail, Subhas Chandra Bose was also travelling by the same train. There was a lot of crowd to welcome him in all the stations and people were raising slogans against the Gandhi-Irwin pact. In the same train people belonging to Khudai Khidmatgar and Red- Kurta group were travelling in a large number. Their outstanding courage had fascinated the entire country. They were getting down at every station and creating a stir by beating their bands. The train was extremely crowded and somehow we had managed to enter the Inter- Class.

As per Gandhiji’s suggestions the Congress meeting was held on the open ground like the previous years and there was a big crowd. The meeting began at 4 pm and continued until night -9 pm to 10 pm. I had participated in this as a press representative the of “Prajatantra” news paper. Gandhi-Irwin Pact was accepted here and the future economic plan of our country as drafted by Pt.Nehru was ratified. In this Congress there was lot of enthusiasm within the participants. Every day early in the morning the representatives from different states participated in the Prabhat Pheri (early morning walk cum singing). Many women joined as volunteers. It was nice to see them dressed in Salwar Kameez with their independent and dignified personality.

We traveled and saw the entire Karachi city. One day because of us our grandmother was disturbed. Gaur Das, I, and some others went to see the Karachi Port. My grandmother had accompanied us. The cement road was very hot between 12 to 1 pm. My grandmother had bare feet so she became restless. My uncle and aunt also returned with us from Karachi. The train was not so crowded compared to the earlier journey. Our co-passengers and participants from all over the country joined in singing many patriotic songs. People from other states liked to hear the Odia songs sung by my aunt. In Delhi we stayed for two three days at Dr.Kuntala Kumari Sabat’s home and saw all the important places like Red Fort etc. After seeing the places of the Moghul Emperors a thought entered my mind whether they actually lived in comport. From Delhi we proceeded to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. There were many stations in Agra like Agra city, Agra Fort, Agra cantonment, Jamuna Bridge, Rajaka Mandi, etc. At one of the stations my uncle and aunt got out of the train to buy a mud water pot. The train left before they could enter and my father was very much irritated. The other co-passengers were worried. My uncle and aunt were able to reach our destination by a horse cart simultaneously and we could find them.

Keeping in view my previous imagination of Taj Mahal I was disappointed after viewing the Taj Mahal shining through the sun light. We had lunch in a Brahmin gentleman’s place that was known as pure Hindu hotel. Very neat and clean and systematic dining arrangements were made inside the kitchen. We were not able to expect so much cleanliness in the hotel at our place. Panditji sat near the stove, prepared hot phulkas and threw them one after another on every body’s leaf. We were very much satisfied after having the food there.

After that we alighted at Allahabad to see Prayag and Ananda Bhavan. Those days Ananda Bhavan was a place of pilgrimage. Out of the two buildings Pt. Motilal Nehru had donated one building to the Congress. The room where Pt. Motilal Nehru passed away was beautifully arranged with flowers.

Our representatives from Odisha tried their best to bathe every day while travelling in the train. Early in the morning Pt.Mahasaya entered the toilet within the third class compartment and finished all the water there. People got down at all the big stations and bathed where ever they saw water taps. When we were travelling from Allahabad to Kolkata my aunt,Sunamani mausi and others saw tap at Madhupur station in the opposite platform and went all the way to bathe there. The train departed as they were running to enter. We were very much enthusiastic because we had the first experience of pulling the chain to stop the train. The guard commented in Hindi “why so much bathing during the journey?”

In Kolkata we stayed as the guest of Sathish Babu. As far as I remember we stayed in his son-in-laws house. We went to Modpur to see the main centre of the Khadi institutions. The Khadi pratisthan was quite a large( almost 5 acres campus. There were two ponds. The residential quarter was surrounded by a garden. The place was very pleasing. All the clothes that are woven in the different rural centres are brought there for being washed and dyed. Therefore lots of machineries are attached there. Sathis Babu also had a chemical laboratory. I was very much attracted to this place. But we did not like the dull atmosphere there. It seemed as if no one was able to laugh or talk openly; as if the lantern’s flame was made dim and the light burning within everyone was very dim. After returning from there, there was an idea of sending me and Annapurna to the Khadi Pratisthan. Both of us did not agree to this proposal. Nevertheless later on I stayed with Sathis Babu for many days. During that time I did not stay at Khadi Pratisthan but stayed at Sunda area In the middle of Kolkata. Initially the atmosphere was like a burden there but not to that extend as it was at Sodhpur. Moreover, we also had contributed in building the favourble atmosphere there.

Translated by

Dr.R. Kalpana Research Assistant, Gandhigram Creche and Children’s Project Department of Lifelong learning and Extension, Gandhigram Tamil Nadu. Email: [email protected]