Smritir Kheya

The name of the village is Brahmanshasan. This life narrative by Tuhinangshu Shekhar Bhattacharya, a son of a yajman–pandit family of this village in the Sylhet district, brings the reader to the very doorstep of history. Like the flowing current of a river, his journey from childhood to adulthood reveals the socio-economic conditions of Sylhet and the city of Calcutta of that time. The story is of a specially-abled boy who came to Calcutta, became a teacher, and reached the circle of scholars—an account of a man who refused to give up. Adversity gave him the courage to fight. On a vast canvas spanning both sides of Bengal, we find descriptions of rural Bengal and, through his experiences as a student in school, Sylhet’s Murarichand College, Calcutta’s Ripon College and University, and later as a teacher in a government college, we get a montage of the educational system of that period. Memoir literature is always wrapped in the veil of the ‘I,’ and questions about its credibility may arise. Even so, it is through this form that today’s reader seeks to touch the past of their elders. The memoir becomes intertwined with history. The author’s autobiography introduces readers to that unseen past. The list of contemporary market prices, family photographs, and genealogy enrich this book. The author becomes part of society as an individual. Researchers of the history of both Bengals, as well as general readers, will appreciate this book. The entire narrative is written in formal Bengali. It has been edited by his elder son, Amit Bhattacharya, former professor and historian at Jadavpur University.