Flashback: Objects, Memories, and the Art of Storytelling EDITED BY

TAPTI ROY Pastconnect.net

2022

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Copyright @2021 Tapti Roy All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author and publisher except for the use of brief quotation in a book review.

First edition 2022

ISBN: 979-8-4657-8041-4

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Contents Preface

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The Portrait Which Started a Family History Search Anita Cameron

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My Father’s Passport Indira Chowdhury

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My Encounter with the Monkey God Sumita Sen

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Qalamdan Pragati Tipnis

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Picking up the Broken Pieces Jhuma Sanyal

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Gazing at the Past: A Not So Unusual Family Story Joyshree Roy 75 White Pills of (un)Sweet Memories Urmi Ray

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My Jewish Legacy Pauline Clarke

104

Gandhi’s Children Madhumita Mazumdar

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A Chittagong Childhood Tapati Guha-Thakurta

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The Couple Who Built Sreenibas Smita Chowdhury

148

The Tale of a Book and a Lost World Baijayanti Roy

163

The Memoirs of an Extraordinary Woman Prajna Sen

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A Quintessential Bengali Bhadralok Anita Kar

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Snapshots of My Life Judy Opitz

222

A Family History: Recollections of an Octogenarian Mahasweta Chaudhury

233

Romance of the Family Car Animesh Basu

245

Glossary

257

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Preface “…books always speak to other books, and every story tells a story that has been already told.” Umberto Eco This anthology of 17 stories based on personal memories celebrates 5 years of www.pastconnect.net, a Blog that publishes writings on family and familiarity. The theme which includes objects, memories, and storytelling frames different accounts of matching and contrasting colours, and shades. Reminiscing is a human inclination which is why telling of stories has been timeless. Every family inherits a repository of stories that are repeated, circulated, and percolated through different modes of transmission – orally, in writing and also through things. Memory and recall are critical in this act of handing down and recording of episodes, anecdotes, situations in the lives of people. In spinning them around things or “objects,” the writings become components of the personal and the familial that can and often do relate to “the bigger picture,” and larger historical events. While objects allow the unpacking of memories, the manner of recollecting through them differs widely. Memories are mediated variously and for various moments and intents. Every story demonstrates how each author captures it differently, fills it up and frames it. The outcome has been a singular exhibit of family memoirs, each displaying different examples of craftsmanship. One set of writings revolve around objects, such as a passport, an icon, pictures and a family car, another around texts and writings. Each follows a different trajectory for telling a different tale. The authors live in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cambourne, Frankfurt, Kolkata, Moscow, New Delhi, and Oxford and their stories are set in other places and other times. Some of the political and social contexts may seem similar though the experiences of individuals and families are divergent; they resonate, and they differ inflecting 4

memories and their recording. Having been uprooted from the ancestral village and home was deeply unsettling for some who expressed the trauma through nostalgia; for some others, rural life was anything but idyllic. Childhood in most cases is remembered as being perfectly happy except in one where she was relieved when it ended. However, it isn’t about reality. It is what people select and regard worth recalling, describing, and sharing that is significant. Memories, we know, can be flawed and often have gaps. They are touched upon to hide or blur “secrets,” “oddities,” and “embarrassments,” remembered but silenced. What remains central, therefore, to these accounts is the art of storytelling, both by the original raconteurs and the recent writers who are participants and subjects in the narration. None of them claim to be objective and that is what makes each story charming, incomparable, and also unique. I am grateful to all the authors who made it possible for www.pastconnect.net to start, survive and prosper over the last five years, by sharing their personal stories and family histories. While I have used only two stories earlier published on the Blog, 15 authors have written specifically for this anthology for which I am extremely thankful. Their faith in our project will keep us going and I hope there will be a second volume for those who could not meet the deadline. Indira Chaudhury was the first to endorse and support it, for which I thank her. I wish to make a special mention of Joyshree Roy who has been the co-editor of this volume having gone through every story with care and contributed one of her own but is too modest to claim credit. With her sharp critical eye, Sudeshna Guha intervened where it mattered. Thank you both. I wish to thank Alison Light and Julia Laite for letting me attend the Family History Workshop organised by Raphael Samuel History 5

Centre, “Telling Small Stories, Telling Big Stories” in June 2021 and thereby inducting me into this field of research and writing I was not familiar with. Indraneel Chakrabarty assured me that it was possible to publish the book on my own, guided and advised me. Tikli Basu made some crucial corrections. Sriparna and Anwita supported me with clever words, and it was Animesh who made it all happen. Completing the project to the best of my ability was the only way to tell them all Thank You! I grew up on the staple of my Ma’s memories of her childhood in Rangoon, her village, Shimla, Allahabad and Calcutta. Now cloistered in the fog of amnesia, she recalls little, but she remains the reason why I do what I do and therefore this volume is dedicated to Ma. When I married and came to know my mother-in-law Hashi Basu, she regaled me with her reminiscences of Patna, Jamshedpur, Santiniketan, and of her travels in Europe. Moving to the UK rather late in my life, Joan Duncan extended her hand of friendship with a bag full of extraordinary stories of her childhood and her travels that she undertook alone. She inspired me to start the Blog. Their memories are imprinted in this volume. Finally, a brief word of explanation. Since most of the stories are set in times when some cities, especially in India had different names, I have retained the older names. A brief glossary explains a few words used in several accounts. Each story, however, carries its own notes. Tapti Roy Cambourne, UK 2021

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I

The Portrait Which Started a Family History Search Anita Cameron My mother married my father in 1934, and as a wedding gift, they were given a portrait of my mother Edmée Durell neé Gruchy. The portrait was done by Amy Durell, an accomplished and well-known artist. We called her “Aunt Amy” as she was my father’s aunt.

The painting was eventually left to me, and I have it in my home currently. I was curious about Amy, and researched as much as I could about her. First, I went to the archives of the Société Jersiaise 7

which is the historical society for the island of Jersey, Channel Isles where my parents’ families come from. I discovered that a Church of England Minister in the 1800s had produced a magnum opus during his lifetime – a book of all the families in Jersey who had Coats of Arms, called “An Armorial of Jersey.” The island was one of William the Conqueror’s possessions and became part of the English crown lands – which it still is today. A number of Williams’s supporters were granted land in England and other possessions of his once he had become the King of England. The two families are listed in the Armorial of Jersey and both families can be dated back to Circa 1400 (Gruchy and Durell). I located Amy, my father’s aunt.

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Art and the artist Amy was born in June 1865, in Jersey, the only girl amongst 4 brothers (1 older and 3 younger) and the daughter of Alfred Durell BA Trinity College, Cambridge and Clara Maria Abbott. From an early age, it became apparent that she had an artistic gift. She did sketches of her family and brothers when she was very young, and I have been given them by my aunt (my father’s sister). The sketches are given below:

Sydney Leonard was my grandfather (father’s parent). The youngest, with the puppy on his lap. 9

Amy studied at the Lambeth School of Art for two years, during which time she was awarded a medal and several prizes. Her subsequent training was in the Royal Academy School of Art, where she continued her studies for 5 years. Amy married Edwin Ashdown Eustace at St Judes Parish church, Brixton, London on 22 April 1902, when she was 35, which was at that time considered very old to be married for the first time. Edwin is listed as “Journalist” on the marriage certificate, and is 45 years old. Her occupation is not described, although she was a well-known artist at that time. Eustace was also an artist and drew cartoons for Punch magazine. They had no children. Amy lived in Brixton, London. One of Amy’s friends at the Royal Academy was Gertrude Demaine Hammond (1862-1952). Gertrude was even more successful than Amy. Her illustrations for children’s books were widely known. She obtained several prizes at the School of the Royal Academy of Art in 1886, 1887, and in 1889 the prize for decorative design bronze medal at Paris Exposition in 1900. She was a member of the Institute of Painters in Water Colours. One of Gertrude’s paintings was commissioned for a public building. This was the third time that such a commission was given to a prizewinning student, and the first time it was accorded to a woman. Her sister signed the paintings “Chris Hammond” to disguise the fact that she was a woman – because paintings by women were considered “inferior” and women artists were not paid as much as men. Gertrude herself was subject to discrimination in this field and signed her work “G Demain Hammond” thereby occasionally receiving equal payment as a man. Although in New Zealand women had been voting for a decade, British women would not have full voting rights for another 25 years (The Equal Franchise Act of 1928).

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I was given a portrait of Amy which was painted by Gertrude Hammond when they were both at the Royal Academy.

I give below some examples of Amy’s paintings:

Edwin passed away before Amy, who spent her last years living with Richard Durell’s parents (Sydney and “May” Durell) in Lewes, Sussex and passed away on 18 December 1950.

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Unlocking family history So, from investigating the artist who did the painting of my mother, I discovered a lot of family history, stretching far back than I knew of. Fascinating stuff! I discovered that the area in America called “New Jersey” was named by an ancestor of my father, Sir George Carteret. He supported Charles II financially when he was in exile after Charles I was executed, and was imprisoned when Cromwell attacked the island, as the population supported the monarchy. As a reward for his support to Charles, he was given the land in America after Charles II was installed on the throne of England. I discovered a lot about the history of Jersey island, which has been inhabited since Neolithic times. There are still Neolithic remains all over the island, some which I visited when I went in 2011. I also discovered some social history (attitudes to women) that I was not aware of. How quickly life has changed since 1900 – not always for the better! Further research into my family history made me decide to put down my parents’ life so that my children and their children could have and keep it. My father Richard Durell married Edmée Gruchy in Jersey, Channel Islands, on 21 December in 1934. They met in Jersey when both were 16 in the 1920s and Richard was on holiday in Jersey, staying with his relatives. My sister and I called our parents “Ma”and “Pa” Pa was born in London, and Edmée in Jersey. The Gruchy family is also in the Armorial, together with the family Coat of Arms. The Gruchy homestead (“Champs Clair”) where my grandfather was born is still in Trinity, and still (at the moment) occupied by a Gruchy member of the family. Sadly, the family name will die out soon, due to a lack of male children being born.

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Pa’s father and family were all born in Jersey and had been for many generations. However, there were limited opportunities for work in a small island, and most male children were sent to England for university (if they were from the families of landowners) and also work opportunities. His father Sydney was an electrical engineer, with a degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. Richard’s given names were Cyril Ernest Leonard Durell but he and his brother Lesley Sydney hated their names, and used alternatives. My father chose “Richard, “and his brother chose “Mike.” Both Richard and Mike went to a private school – King Edward VII which has since closed. This was paid for by Ernest, one of their father Sydney’s brothers, (the oldest boy in the sketches by Amy). He also paid for Mike’s university degree. This was a Jersey tradition of support for the most intelligent and likely to succeed male child in a family – whether he was the oldest or not. The family farm was usually inherited by the son with the best education in this way. Richard had a mentor (a teacher) at school, who kept in touch with Pa until he died. I remember Pa receiving a letter from him when we lived in Sabie, Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga). In the letter he said he could spot the area where we lived as it was near some action during the Boer War! His brother Lesley (“Mike”) left school, did an electrical engineering degree at Trinity College in Cambridge, and became an officer in the British army (a Major I think). He acted as go-between for Churchill and “Monty” during WWII.

Richard & Emee, wedding 21 December 1934, Trinity, Jersey 13

Journey to Africa Soon after marriage, Richard accepted a job in the Bank of British West Africa as he had previously been in banking in London. He was able to take advantage of the opportunities available at that time as the British Empire was still intact, and there were opportunities in countries in Africa and elsewhere to investigate for anyone with a pioneering spirit and sense of adventure.1 My parents were separated for two and a half years shortly after their marriage – Edmée remained in England, teaching at a girls’ school. As a wedding present from Richard’s Aunt Amy Durell and her husband Edwin, they were given a portrait of Edmée by Amy, as previously stated, which started my family history search and record. The painting was packed in a specially made wooden box and Richard carried it wherever he went in Nigeria. During Richard’s time there he became a bank manager in Warri, West Africa after moving around the country’s (now Nigeria) various branches. The country was called “The White Man’s Grave” because of the many diseases for which there were no cures or inoculations. Richard was a particularly robust individual and survived with only a lifelong recurrence of malaria. He always said he had been promoted to a manager “because everyone else was dead!” On arrival in Freetown, Sierra Leone West Africa on the way to Nigeria, he was taken off the ship early and told he was the bank branch accountant there, as the incumbent accountant had died. After that, he spent time in the Gold Coast, Lagos and Kano in the north of Nigeria as a bank employee.

British possessions in Africa in 1937 were: In West Africa – Gambia, Port Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Nigeria. In North & central Africa – Egypt, British Somaliland, Kenya, Uganda, N & S Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). In Southern Africa – Bechuanaland (Lesotho), Swaziland (Eswatini) and the Union of South Africa. 1

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The northern part of Nigeria was, and still is mostly Arab, and the people further south Black. Pa told me that drums sending the news across the country when Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901 had transmitted the message quicker than the telegraph of the time. There were very few Europeans in the country then, and they were considered the elite amongst the population, whatever their station in life. He also said whenever a European walked past an indigenous person, they bowed down in the dust as the European went by. I always had a suspicion that he considered people should still do that when he passed! Richard and his fellow bank employees enjoyed a style of life which they could not have had in Britain, which had suffered from the world depression in the 1930s. There was a general shortage of jobs, and he was offered the job in West Africa because of his previous bank experience. In Nigeria he had a team of polo horses and played polo regularly, joined a boxing club where he was billed as “Dicky Durell from Dulwich.” He had servants to see to his every need and made lifelong friends who shared the experience. At one time he had rescued two orphaned cheetahs who became house pets and could not be returned to the wild. On one long leave to the UK, he took them to Edinburgh Zoo which had wildlife preservation facilities. He went to check on them before leaving and discovered that one of them was very thin and refusing to eat. Richard told the zookeeper to try putting his food on a plate, which solved the problem! My mother followed him to West Africa in 1937. She had trained as a teacher before her marriage and taught at a variety of schools in the UK, teaching French, English, and domestic science in London and Exeter. After arriving in West Africa, Edmée was employed as the manager of the “Government Rest House” in Sekondi, West Africa, which was a place where government employees stayed – a club with sporting and hotel facilities and one for recuperation. Her culinary skills were superb, and she had a French attitude to cooking – to her it was an art form. 15