Chacha's Journeys

Where should I begin my story as told to me by my Chacha before his last trip abroad to see his sons and daughters in Dubai, Sweden and USA? It is the real life story of a man who, over nearly sixty years, had to change his nationality three times, through no fault of his.

Chacha's recollections begin at Shahranpur, a small town in Uttar Pradesh, which was the ancestral home of his grandparents. In early 1900 they moved to Darbhaga in Bihar and finally settled down in Calcutta by 1905 for better education of their children. Calcutta was then the capital of India, and the second largest city in the empire after London.

Chacha was born in 1922 at 14 Waliullah Lane, Calcutta where the family had taken roots. Chacha's mother (my dadi) was widowed at the age of thirty in 1936 when Chacha was only 14; with four children, two boys and two girls of whom the eldest was my Chacha! His uncle Abu Sayeed Ayub became the guardian of his brother's family, and with rare foresight changed Chacha's vernacular education from Urdu to Bangla since he thought Bangla would be more useful for him. Abu Sayed Ayub, himself an MA in Persian and Urdu, and subsequently in Bangla literature with a doctorate in Philosophy, was an authority on Rabindranath Tagore. He taught at Melbourne University, Australia and afterwards in Shantinikaten in West Bengal. He died in Calcutta well after 1971 and was a recognized intellectual in West Bengal society.

In 1942, during World War II, Chacha sat for preliminary examination for army officers in Fort William, Calcutta. He wished to join the army and see the world. He was the eldest child of the family, and thought it to be the best option for him at that time. He passed the examination and the medical test that followed, and was called for final ISSB interview in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Bidding everyone goodbye, Chacha confidently started the first leg of his life's journey in the British Indian Army, which led to his meeting my Chachi.

After his final interview in Lucknow Chacha was sent to Lahore, Punjab for pre-cadet training. Here he met his father's (my grandfather's) first cousin Ft. Lt. Murad, who was then an Instructor in Royal Indian Air Force. Murad dada later sold his house and bought an aircraft. He was the proud owner of an aircraft and also the first Muslim fighter pilot in the armed forces from Bengal! From Lahore my Chacha was sent to Dehra Dun, the first military academy of British India. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the British Indian Army on 12th September 1943. He was immediately posted to Bannu in NWFP, which even today is a remote outpost in Pakistan, where the gun is more common than the pen.

By this time World War II had come to the doorsteps of British India via Burma. After Bannu, Chacha was posted to Rajmak, the westernmost military cantonment of British India. Chacha felt frustrated at not getting a front-line posting. He did not realize till much later that as the only breadwinner of the family, it was Army policy that kept him in India, a comparatively safe posting. He had his share of excitement given the fluid situation of tribal uprisings in the NWFP and their anti-British stand. Social life was however dull at Rajmak. Coming from Calcutta he felt utterly bored staring at the mountains of Afghanistan! Then he fell ill with an undiagnosed high fever. Army doctors were worried, and they decided to send for my dadi. At this point fate intervened: My chachi was then working as a Nursing Lieutenant in the Indian Army Auxiliary Corps. A South Indian by birth, she too, like Chacha, was very adventurous, and after matriculation joined the Army Nursing Corps to see the rest of India. Posted in Rajmak Military Hospital she was assigned to look after Chacha. Learning that the message to dadi was to be sent in English, she volunteered to translate it into Urdu, which she considered would be easier for dadi to understand, not being aware that Chacha came from a very educated family, which included, apart from Abu Sayeed Ayub, my Chacha's eldest paternal uncle Dr. A.M.O. Ghani, a physician and later a popular member of West Bengal Assembly for over twentyfive years. When he died in the eighties the road where he lived in Park Circus, Calcutta was renamed Dr. AMO Ghani Road.

That is how my future Chachi first communicated with my grandmother! Dadi became very worried, and wanted to go, but was dissuaded by other family members from traveling to an area so remote and often raided by tribal outlaws. By this time Chacha was also gradually recovering and had also become very close to my future Chachi. Both of them applied for voluntary discharge, which was accepted. During their period of notice, Chachi was posted to Agra and Chacha to Dehra Dun. On 15th November 1945 my Chacha and Chachi were married in Dehra Dun at the District Commissioner's Office, who afterwards said, 'Young man, you cannot leave the office like that. I must offer you tea or coffee and cakes to celebrate the occasion.' The newlyweds accepted the offer with thanks. From there they went to Mussourie and then Agra for their honeymoon. Thus began Chacha's next journey of married life.

On 12th June 1946, after being released from the Army, Chacha and Chachi returned to Calcutta. By then a lot of changes had taken place, which Chacha had not directly witnessed, having lived in Army cantonments since 1943. First and foremost was the burning communal tension, of which Calcutta was the focal point. The drums of Partition were also booming backstage, and the cry for Pakistan echoing louder day by day. Against such a backdrop, with the help of his maternal uncle Late Syed Hashain Ali (then Asst. Secretary of Civil Supplies in Writers Building, Calcutta) he met Col. MacDougal (Rtd.) the Controller of Civil Supplies and got a job as Officer-in-Charge, Civil Supply Depot. Chacha felt at that time that moving from Calcutta and leaving his paternal home would be difficult for him. However he opted for Pakistan and on 2nd August 1947 came to Dhaka with an advance party to set up the Civil Supplies Department in the then East Pakistan.

Towards the end of 1947 he was posted to Chittagong as Assistant Director, Movement & Storage, where he was joined by dadi, along with my father and my youngest aunt from Calcutta. My married elder aunt had gone with her family to Barisal after the partition of India. My Dadi initially had been determined about staying back in Calcutta, but subsequently moved to Pakistan after the communal riots started in September 1947. She died in December 1948 and is buried in Chittagong.

When the Civil Supplies Department was abolished, Chacha was sent to Savar Training Camp prior to joining the East Pakistan Civil Service. He was posted to various sub-divisions around Barisal during his civil service days. In 1957 Mr. Madani, then Commissioner of Dhaka, visited Barisal. There he met Chacha and asked him to join Dhaka Improvement Trust as Secretary, of which Mr. Madani was going to be the Chairman. It was a good move as Chacha's children were growing up, and for their better education he decided to move to Dhaka. He built a small house in Gulshan and lived there with his family.

However Chacha's final journey started in 1971, after Bangladesh became independent. An interested local leader along with hoodlums branded him a non-Bengali, with a South Indian wife too! This time however, Chacha put his foot down and fought back, deciding that enough was enough. However the price had to be paid; he lost his home to the local leader, who forced my Chacha to sell it for a ridiculous price. Later this same 'leader' jailed for involvement in Bangabandhu's murder. Chacha moved and settled in Monipuripara, Tejgaon, where finally he built his home on land bought earlier along with some civil service colleagues from his Barisal days. But somehow his family could never take root. His children are now spread all over; working in USA, UAE, Sweden and Canada. Both my Chacha and Chachi are now dead and lie buried in Dhaka; Chachi having died a few years before Chacha.

This is the true life story of a person who at the prime of his life had to move from place to place with his young and growing family, changing his nationality three times, a pawn in the political game of forces beyond his control. My final meeting with Chacha, then living a lonely widower's life, was at his home in Monipuripara on the eve of his journey to Dubai along with his old cat, an only companion, and thence onward to Sweden, USA and Canada. It turned out to be his last journey abroad to meet his children. I asked him then, "Chacha, who are you?" He immediately replied "I am a Bangladeshi."

Ms. Samiha Zaman is head of Sea Breeze Intl. School, Dhaka.