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Coming
to Dhaka
The Early Days Recollections
M.
Azizul Jalil
On August
10, 1947 (four days before the Independence of India and
Pakistan), we reached Goalondo Ghat by train and then took
the steamer to Narayanganj. In spite of the disruptions
of the partition and ongoing civil conflicts, everything
functioned in an orderly manner. The trains, steamers were
on time and there were no surprises.
In Dhaka,
we first stayed for a few days in one of the two original
circuit houses in Ramna until we moved to a requisitioned
house in Purana Paltan. Because of the paucity of accommodation
in Dhaka (then a small but beautiful town) for the large
number of officials coming to serve the new provincial government,
the District magistrate would issue requisition orders on
selected house owners ordering them to vacate in seven days.
Most of them were Hindus who moved to Calcutta and other
towns of West Bengal. It was cruel as some of them were
living in the houses for decades and many were retired professionals
or officials. Some of our relations and friends found houses
in Wari and Segunbagicha which were fine residential areas
previously almost entirely occupied by the hindu middle
and professional classes. Before the partition, most muslims
lived in the old Dhaka city on the other side of the railway
line where the roads were narrow and the houses old and
small.
The
communal incidents in Calcutta in the winter of 1948 had
its repercussions in Dhaka. Many of the middle class and
professional Hindus then left for West Bengal. During that
time with the encouragement of our parents, my brother and
I used to keep watch against attacks on Hindu families in
our immediate neighbourhood. For this, our families were
threatened both by anonymous letters and in person. Some
of those who asked us to desist from saving the Hindus were
Bihari Muslims whose entire familes had been killed in the
riots in Bihar at the time of partition. In spite of all
that, in the evenings we would go with family guns in hand
to escort the women and children to our house about twenty
in one or two rooms for safety and returning them in daylight
hours. They were tearful as their menfolk would not agree
to leave home due to fear of looting by Muslims.
At our
request, the Sub Divisional Officer Dhaka (Sadar) came,
advised caution and sent two armed Ansars to guard our house
for a few days. These families soon left by transport and
guards arranged by our parents and uncles to Tejgaon Airport
and then by air to Calcutta. On reaching West Bengal, some
of them sent letters to us expressing their heartfelt admiration
and gratitude. It was a moving and satisfying experience.
East
Pakistan was part of a new country where opportunities opened
up for many of the East Pakistanis. It was an exciting time
for us with family members regularly going abroad for studies,
training or assignment, or to West Pakistan to join the
Army, Navy or the Air Force. Dhaka was a beautiful historic
city and there was friendliness and pleasantness about life
in this town. Despite many of us missing Calcutta life with
its movies, theatres and trams and many other civic facilities,
Dhaka (Ramna in particular) was a breath of fresh air in
every sense of the term. Bicycle was a favourite mode of
transport and we soon bought one. Dhaka, both new and old,
was a small city with only a few cars and buses (I remember
our car's registration number was EBD 1458). It was possible
for me to move safely around in various parts of the city
on my cycle. I have to this day preserved in my mind's eye
the large Krisnachuras (flowering trees), the Ramna Park
with its Serpentine Lake, the Lalbagh Fort and the Sath
Gambuj Masjid etc. The Dhaka University Campus, the Student
Halls and their gardens and yards were pleasing to the eye
and mind. We used to go on family picnics, outings and bird
shooting to Tejgaon and up to the Tongi Bridge (earthen
bridge built by the Mughals about five hundred years ago).
Soon
public-spirited government officials started to set up institutions
like the Rotary Club, the Flying Club and the Engineers'
Institute. We were fortunate in having the Avyagra Granthagar
in Purana Paltan corner. It was a fine community library
in a wooden bungalow with a large veranda; it was also a
good place to meet friends. After about a year, the US Information
Service took it over. The foreign books and magazines available
there were of great interest to us. We soon formed a Young
People's Association in Segunbagicha for various activities
and games and brought out a magazine called "Dyuti".
The first Governor of East Pakistan was a British ICS officer-
Sir Frederick Burroughs; on a few occasions he visited us
on his evening horseback- ride from the Manuk House (Dhaka
Nawab's bungalow then temporarily serving as the Government
House). A fine building for the Governor (later named Banga
Bhaban) was constructed in this area.
Typical
Dhaka jokes of the local residents for which they were quite
famous enlivened our lives and made the physical and cultural
changes of the partition bearable. We found that fresh food,
vegetable and fish were plentifully available and at a cheaper
price than Calcutta. Seeing the Calcatians in the market,
the Kutti shopkeepers (old Dhaka residents who spoke in
an interesting dialect with a mixture of Urdu and Bengali)
used to alert each other by saying "arey, demchi
babu aiche!" This was because the Calcatians would
go to local markets, marvel at the low prices of Dhaka and
say "Damn Cheap". Other jokes I heard was about
the complaint by a tenant regarding a leaking roof. The
reaction he got from the landlord was- "ja bhara
den, pani porbo naki sorbot porbo?"
The
new government was set up in right earnest and the administrative
infrastructure was quickly established. It started to function
slowly but steadily. Within five or six days of our arrival,
ration cards were issued to us for essential food supplies
under the prevailing rationing system. Despite individual
and collective physical and financial limitations, people
in every sphere of life worked hard and with great devotion,
enthusiastic about the new and independent nationhood. It
was a halting beginning for a unique nation, with East and
West Pakistan geographically separated by a thousand miles
of an unfriendly country, diverse in language, culture and
ethnic origin and united only by a common religious faith.
However, some of the initial enthusiasm soon started to
fade away and from 1948 i.e. within only one year, Bengalis
in East Pakistan started agitations against the perceived
neglects and economic and cultural injustices by both the
provincial and central (Muslim League) governments. The
first of these was the language movement, which emphasized
the differences in language, culture and ethnicity in the
two parts of Pakistan.
In Calcutta,
we were studying under the Calcutta University syllabus.
By late 1947, from its pre-partition office in a small building
in Bakshi Bazar, the Dhaka Board (which was responsible
for education up to the secondary level for Dhaka city only)
had quickly organised our continuing education under the
Calcutta University syllabus. In November 1947, we went
to school in the morning shift in the St.Gregory's school
and some of our Ballygunj School teachers, along with some
new ones, took our classes. Dr.Enamul Huq, a well- known
Bengali linguist, was our Head Master. We were then moved
for about three months to Bakshi Bazar, using on a part-time
basis the building used by the Qamrunnessa Girls' High School
.The Dhaka Board smoothly organised the matriculation examinations
in June 1948 for about thirty-thousand students in all the
schools in East Pakistan (other than Dhaka city). We took
the examination, there was no leakage of question papers
and the results came out on time. It was then September
1948 and time for me to go to the Dhaka College.
M. Azizul
Jalil is a former civil servant and a retired member of
the World Bank staff.
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