Brush with bygone days I'm home and this time my Mom promised me to take me to her maternal grand

mother's house somewhere in the remote village of Howrah. My elder sister tried to revoke some of the old memories which we shared 35 years ago while attending someone's marriage there but I find that except the 'atchala' or the front open sitting space I cannot remember anything. Therefore, I get myself prepared for brushing with the old memories this time when Mom agreed to take us there. My eldest sister agreed to accompany us so a few other maternal aunts join our cavalcade of 7. A distant cousin of mine who lives nearby and has a business network around the place offered to become our guide as my Mom was not confident enough to recognize the place. On one Sunday morning we were off for the place. The long journey through the interior of Howrah took us another 3 hours to reach the place. The narrow road deep inside of the village could not make way for the car so we had to walk down the last kilometer. The remains of the Mondal family: The front edifice of the big sprawling two story cluster of buildings spread all over a few acres area is half broken & partially ruined at edges. My memory races back to the old days and all I can remember is this ante open space where all the people used to sit around and do most of the talking. It's a big open space with a tin roof shack and no side walls. When I last came here there happened to be some kind of religious festival and most of which happened here under this tin roof. The place is now permanently developed into a temple of 'Radha-Krishna'. Behind the temple Mom's maternal grand father's house is standing. Though big and spacious outer look but the sign of deterioration is visible everywhere except some portions where redevelopment has taken place. As per mom the entire area was developed by her great grand Father almost 120 years ago. The house has three doors on the entrance and all were leading to one long alley each. Some small kids are playing near the door completely ignoring our presence. My elder sister confidently vouches that the alley to the right leads to the place we are looking for. But since the alley leads to another deserted like closed door Mom pulls us up to the left side and she finds an elderly looking woman there. Our cavalcade entered the left side building uninvited. The friendly looking woman although did not stop us but obviously stood there for an explanation for the intrusion. Our entire procession stood behind Mom.

The introduction my Mom gave could not help her to recognize us. So Mom now asked the lady for her introduction. Puzzled lady told her husband's name no help. She told her Father-in-laws name and mom recognizes her as one of Mom's maternal uncle's grand daughter-in-law. The lady still looked puzzled. Meanwhile her husband appeared and my cousin could recognize him instantly thru' his business network. We were greatly relieved as we could sit and relax our ailing feet now. The family showed us some old B&W pictures in which Mom could recognize her mom & grand mom .The lady then escorted us to some exclusive spots of the family which my Mom could recognize. We came round to the right portion of the building now. The deserted looking alley has now some sign of movements. One frail looking widow found to be sitting inside a big room. The old design of the building does not permit much sun light to enter even at noon. On her introduction she immediately recognizes mom the 89 year old frail widow turned out to be my moms youngest aunt. She is the only living legend present now. However, her memory could not help recognize rest of our team . She called someone who came and offered us water to drink. In her younger days she was one of the most beautiful looking woman. Despite her being in a lower cast family Mom's uncle married her for her beautiful look. Next we started out grand tour of the ancient villa. The great grand mom had a 24 hours retinue whom we meet on the way. She is turned out to be little older than my mom. The old villa has two stair cases, one is completely ruined however, the other one is still usable but nobody seemed to have climbed it for the last five years. Carefully we came onto the roof and we were completely enthralled by the vast expanse of the big family.

The family had three big ponds. One pond was exclusively used for the women of the family, the other one was for the male members and yet the other one was for public use. All these ponds are completely ruined , partially filled up & encroached. The first floor & the roof was made of big tiles supported on big wooden horizontal beams. Most of the wooden beams are highly corroded or broken today making most of the first floor room inhabitable. Majority of the rooms are kept under lock & key by the rightful owners most of whom have been migrated to the cities only the grand old lady is still leaving because she does not want to leave this place. On the way to the eastern side we found the almost ruined grain store cum kitchen of the family. In the hay day everyday foods for 50 people have been prepared in this kitchen room. The great great grand father (of Mom) had a Muslim friend - Seikh Babujan , who once came here and then fall in love of this place , with patronage from the family he continued staying here. On the way we found his cemetery & the head stone and remnants of Babujan Seikh's villa.

Head stone of Seikh Babujan & his villa

After making the grand journey for three hours we all felt very tired & hungry. My cousin pushed me from behind as we were already running late for the lunch scheduled in his house some 20 km from here. Standing one last time on the ante room we said goodbye to all around us including the grand lady. With tearful eyes her retinue left us till the temple area. In less than two generations such a bustling habitation has turned into a remnant. This only corroborates one simple truth of humankind which says Nothing is permanent here except change. Where this ruins can be found: The place is called 'Bele' which is 5 km North off 'Fingegachi'. And Fingegachi is some 22 km from 'Dhulagori' of Howrah district. S. Bera