Dakshin Darwaja

In Bengal Dakshin Darja   literally means the south Gate of  Death God "Yama" which no people likes to cross as it will lead you straight to the lap of death ,an unknown area where any living person/creature does not want to go of his/her own.

But my Dakshin Darja is just its opposite or rather I may call it 'Gateway to eternal life’ Dakshin Darja is still there but I can make no claim to have known whether  it still holds the same dream or its the same gateway to the dreamland of my child hood for the younger generations nowadays.

In reality,Dakshin Darja is the South gate of  Kila Nizamat in Lalbagh,Murshidabd,within the periphery of which the big Grand Hazarduary,Imambara,Wasif Manjil,Mosque,Beautiful Garden with fountains and a long stretch of wide gothic  railings along the bank of the river Ganges were there which were the meek spectators of those colorful days of us, the days of our friendship and  infatuation for so many wonderful girls whose mere glance at us caused our heart to run faster.

I did my schooling from  Nawab Bahadur's Institution which was founded by Mani Begum, wife of Mirjafar.  Mirjafar is not well accepted by average Indian as he took the main role in dethroning Nawab Sirajdullah and eventually killed him at the instigation of English. And the English came to power virtually from the defeat of Siraj in the battle of Plassey.

Mani Begum, widow of Mirjafar was a very strong lady and she established the wonderful school,"Nawab Bahadur's Institution".It is a huge building with its own hostel, play ground and quarters etc etc.In our days,sometimes in late sixties ,it was a Govt School(It still is..) and we were supposed to pay only half a rupee and that too for a full month's Tiffin.

We used to go to our School through the South gate of Kila Nizamat.The South gate was a huge gate with permanent structure and a Roshan Chowki over it. There used to be live recital of shehnai every morning and evening. The players of Shehnai were in the regular pay roll of the estate of the Nawab of Murshidabad. And on crossing the Dakshin Darja,there was a big gong and it was made to bell every hour by paid employees of the estate. Along side the gong, there was some quarter like structure and there lived our class friend Jama Nawab. Jama used to call me 'Ashok,the Great'.He was a jolly good fellow but a poor Nawab. Their family used to get a very meager portion of the Privy Purse which was allotted to the Nawab of Murshiabad that time. Jama is the Grand son(from his daughter’s side)  of the last Nawab of Murshidabad,Late Wasif Ali Meerza. So long Wasif Ali Meerza was alive and Privy Purse was not abolished by the Government, Nawabs maintained pretty good life style and so Jama and his family members. But they faced hard times with the abolition of Privy Purse. But Jama wore always a smiling face. After 30 years,I met my school day friend, Jama Nawab who is now known as ‘Chhote Nawab’ of Murshidabad with the same smiling face .He recognized me instantly and gave me a royal reception indeed and made special arrangement for me to witness ‘Bera Festival’ which are held on the last Thursday of Bhadra every year on river Ganges. It is a grand festival from the days of Nawabs and worthy of witnessing, for anybody it must be recognized as a lifetime experience.

As soon as we crossed the Gong, there came Wasif Manjil, with a beautiful garden with fountains and an artificially created hillock like thing. We spent many evenings on it ,chatting endlessly with friends. Our friend Pappu Nawab stayed in a mansion within the kila Nizamat. Once I had the privilege of entering into his house and just by chance encountered with a ravishingly beautiful girl seemed to be some family member of the royal family. It lasted only for a fraction of a second and instantly I fantasized  myself to be the hero of 'Khudidta Pashan' and the lady unknown a near one from my previous birth.

However, those were the days when dreams and reality lived together.

We moved forward and on our way to School there stood the great Hazarduari and Imambara. On those days, there were not much tourist and entire surrounding was somber and free from nonsense.  And by crossing the path, in between the alleys of dream and real life which existed those days in close liaison, we reached at our school gate. And inside the school, there waited a wonderful world for us.

My birthday

I was told that I was born on this day. As per Bengali Calendar, Its 25th day of Baisakh. It is a famous day so far Bengal and Bengali people are concerned. Its a very eventful day. The Schools and Colleges, clubs, offices are all out with this annual ritual to prove their cultural background or heritage. Given the political scenario of Bengal today and the continuous backwardness of this province, it would be hard to make one believe that Bengali People are cultured/intellectual, so on and so forth. And for this reason, we have to take the refuge of a poet who was born 150 years ago and led the Indian Renaissance and was prolific in his creation. Did he succeed in educating Bengali people? The answer is certainly a big No. Barring a few, the average Bengali people are dwarf in all respects. There is nothing to be proud of except the past. So, Bengali is a community who live in past and never ventured to come out in the outer world.

Anyway, my discussion, to be centred around my birthday and myself afterwards. I may share the birthday of Tagore, the cult figure and so did hundreds and thousands of people. I do not think any of them has become famous for being born on 25th Baisakh. Actually, I know, not a single person except me and Rabindranath who was born on that day. However, I do not find any advantage in taking birth on such a famous day. Because all the relatives and near ones will never forget the day, they will congratulate and will expect a treat from you. And this is not at all advantage for me rather disadvantage.

By sharing a birthday with Tagore, I have not achieved anything neither I can write, nor sing a song nor compose or create anything of substance which will be of any value to the present or in future. But one thing I must admit that by changing my birthday officially I have been put into huge financial loss.

Decades ago,I filled up my form for the School Leaving Examination.I only knew that my birthday is on 25th Baisakh but then could not convert it rightly as per English Calender.I put it wrongly as 15th April instead of 8th May.And though my result was marvelous but I felt the pinch of the error some four decades later.

I retired from service in April,2010 and gratuity in Banks got enhanced from 3.50 lacs to 10.00 lacs with effect from May,2010.Can you call it destiny?If not,its a punishment from Tagore.Jai Gurudev.

My School days

It is nearly two years,I retired from State Bank of India.Just at 20,I was enrolled into SBI's service and nearly after a long span of 40 years,the D day came and it was 30th April,2010 when I retired from service.During my stint as a student of Nawab Bahadur's Institution at Lalbagh and also at Krishnath College,Berhampore,I passed through a period of dreams and friendship.I had so much friends at my School/College days.I can still remember them,their faces are still alive in my mind and  I feel an inseparable bond with them.They are now old and they have changed a lot.It is not easy to identify them.But  their child hood faces are so much alive in me that I still enjoy their company.I can remember Jiban and Anil who died young.During the final exam of Higher Secondary exam,Jeevan sat before me.After the exam,I don't know why but he was addicted to drugs.We are not very much aware of his habit but one day we heard that jeevan was no more.And Anil died of Titanus at a very early age most possibly sometimes in 1968.Dhalu ,a school friend of mine is also no more.I remember one day when I visited Dhalu's house before HS exam,I discovered that he was for the third time revising the entire syllabus and me not even attended to my studies.And I was shocked and from that day I started reading and reading and did not come out of my house.And the result was a nice one.I got the first division and also own a gold medal from the Nawab Bahadur of Murshidabad and also awarded Nizamat stipend.It was an eye catching achievement and I remember the afternoon the result came out,the beautiful girls of Lalbagh whom we admired much ,stared at me with unmixed admiration and I read in their eyes so much which was enough to keep me in top gear for months.