Stepping on to different shores
Ghazi Shahadat Hossain reads of Bengali travelers to Albion
Kalapanir Hatchhani: Bilete Bangalir Itihas
Ghulam Murshid
Abosar Publication
After conducting my regular classes, I go to the chairman's room to say hello or to discuss some important matters concerning classes, examinations or the upcoming seminars. One day while waiting for my chairman and other colleagues to come for a formal meeting, a book having a light blue color, which is my favorite color, drew my attention. The book, titled Kalapanir Hatchhani : Bilete Bangalir Itihas, seemed a very interesting one from the very opening paragraph and after I had read several pages, I felt it would make such compelling reading that I could not put it down until I had finished it, although I was very busy with conducting examinations, checking scripts and preparing results.
Ghulam Murshid's Kalapanir Hatchhani : Bilete Bangalir Itihas contains interesting details of how Bengalis from different parts of undivided Bengal journeyed to London and different parts of England defying social barriers, the reasons behind such migration, the way they settled there and the forces that compelled them to assimilate in London and other parts of England, their attitude toward English people and society and vice versa, how these people contributed to British society and to their own country from the colonial periods to the present time.
The book shows that despite social and religious restrictions, the people of undivided Bengal started going to England from the early seventeenth century. Some of them migrated to England as servants to look after the sons and daughters of their white masters, some of them as wives or concubines, some as teachers and translators of Arabic and Persian and Bangla, some of them just to see the pomp and pleasure of British civilization and many of them as sailors for a better living.
It is interesting to note that the people who crossed the seas to go to England fall into two categories. Many of them were illiterate sailors or servants. However , some aristocratic and highly educated people like Itesham Uddin, Sheikh Din Mohammad, Mirza Abu Taleb, Ghonosham Das, Raja Rammohan Roy and Dwarkanath Tagore went there as teachers or tourists. Unlike the educated people mentioned here, the uneducated ones had to suffer a lot. It was especially after the death of their white masters that they became very helpless. The writer mentions some books where the plight of the poverty stricken Indians has been described. They were seen begging on the streets and sweeping the streets and sometimes they experienced torture at the hands of their masters. Incidents like killing at the hands of their white masters also happened. Being entirely helpless, some of them got married with locals after being converted to Christianity. Some others took to prostitution as their profession. Reasonably enough, the native people had a very poor impression about Bengal, its people and greater India.
On the other hand, some educated people started going to England from the second half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century. As mentioned earlier, these people went there as language teachers or translators. Some went as tourists. For example, Mohammad Ismail and Mohammad Hossain went to England in 1773 and 1776 as teachers of Arabic and Persian, and Golam Haider, Moulavi Mir Abdul Ali, Mirza Khalil and Mir Hasan Ali moved to England at the beginning of the nineteenth century for the same purpose. These people's visits to England were very significant in the sense that they were able to repair and change the poor impression set by their predecessors since they were enlightened, educated and were born and brought up in socially high families of India. They had interaction with the higher classes of people in England, among whom were royalty, officials, intellectuals, writers, et cetera. For instance, Dwarkanath Tagore met Queen Victoria four times and was invited to dinner four times and a complimentary comment from the queen was, 'The Brahmin speaks very good English and he is very intelligent and interesting as well.'
It is interesting to notice that while early uneducated Bengalis migrated to London and other parts of Great Britain for reasons of economics and educated Bengalis to witness the progress of science and western civilization and to relish English social life, many of their successors in the nineteenth century went there to study medicine, law, physics, chemistry, literature, agriculture and also to appear at the Indian Civil Service (ICS) examinations. As most of these students were very talented, their performance impressed not only their English teachers at different British universities; they also changed the image of the subcontinent in England. Another important aspect is that many of these brilliant students like Dhakanath Bashu, Soojo Coomar Goovedeve Chuckerbutty, Promoth Chowdhury, Jogodish Chandra Basu and Profulla Chandro Roy went to England for studies but came back to their country after successfully completing their studies and made valuable contributions in their distinctive fields, and thereby served their beloved country.
The book also exposes another fascinating fact --- that many Bengali women showed enormous eagerness and enthusiasm about western life style, education, politics and culture. The first woman going to England was Komol Moni, wife of Gyanendro Mohan Tagore in 1859 and then many others, like Khetro Mohini, Toru Dutt, Rajkomari Bondaya Paddai, Gayannandini Devi , Shuniti Devi and Sarojini Naidu went to England with their husbands, brothers or other relatives at different times and for diverse purposes. These included studies, educating their children, observing social and political conditions and the state of women in England, acquiring knowledge about science, technology and literature.
In his book, Murshid shows how Bengali culture has been influenced by interaction between the Bengalis and the English. He shows how Ehtesham Uddin and Abu Talib were enamored of English people and their lifestyles and their followers like Ram Mohan Roy, Dwarkanath Tagore and Annada Mohan Basu were more enlightened than their predecessors. They became familiar with the Renaissance, humanism, rationalism, liberalism and individualism thoroughly while staying in England and tried to change the fabric of their own society back in Bengal and greater India and shape it on the basis of these philosophies. In addition to the political and intellectual impact, there has been a considerable influence on lifestyle, dress, and food habits, the position of women in society and even on husband-wife relations. On the other hand, the Bengal diaspora began taking shape in England hundreds of years ago and since then thousands of Bengalis have settled there and the number is on the rise. This big number of people and their culture have left an indelible impression on British culture. The influence could be traced to areas like food, cooking, dress, music and politics.
The author also gives detailed descriptions of the political and social position of present-day Bengalis in England, their education, profession, the gaps between different Bengali generations and communities, the state and nature of interaction among different groups of Bengalis and between the Bengalis and the English. We come to know that there are more than three hundred thousand Bengalis in Great Britain, divided into three groups. The largest group, which is eighty percent to be specific, consists of people from Sylhet, and the second group comprises people known as ' Dhakaiaa" The third group is comprised of people from Calcutta.
Written in very plain and lucid Bangla, the writer takes readers from one chapter to another in a very captivating manner and smoothly, and much unlike a typical history book, it is free from just a recording of facts. The writer states the facts, supported by a lot of reference books, which makes the book very scholarly and what is interesting is the observations made by the writer. He describes the events, the causes behind it and also the impacts of it on other happenings. In addition to these, the pictures of different places and people, the interviews, the statistics of the number of people who migrated to England at different times make it enjoyable, interesting and a useful one.
Ghazi Shahadat Hossain is assistant professor, department of English language and literature, Premier University.
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