Visit to my Homeland Sylhet

Accordingly, I, accompanied by my wife, flew to Guwahati on 1st Dec, halting there for the night. The next day we moved to Shillong by a hired car. Spending the night in a hotel in Shillong we started for Tamabil Indo-Bangladesh border the next day (Dec 3, 2019) at around 10 am by another hired car. We reached the Indian immigration office at Tamabil at around 12:30 pm. But we had to wait there for about an hour as the staff had all gone for lunch together. We were cleared for onward movement at around 1:45 pm. My nephew from my maternal cousin received us on the Bangladesh side of the border in Tamabil. After completing the immigration formalities there, we started for Sylhet in my nephew’s car.  Our journey in the land of Sri Chaitanya and Hazrat Shah Jalal began.

This was a visit to my place of birth, Sylhet some 70 years after I had left it with my parents in early childhood, subsequent to the referendum and integration of Sylhet to a new country that came into existence by the partition of India. My visit had lasted from Dec 3 to Dec 9, 2019. I propose to describe here my experiences of the visit both as a person returning to his roots after decades as also as a traveller.

 Sylhet was some 35-40 Kms from Tamabil border. We reached my maternal house in Sylhet at around 4 PM. There we received a hearty and warm welcome from all my relations. Amongst the cousins were the second and fifth sons of my eldest maternal uncle. The second son Chandan had turned a sadhu and had been living as such. I had not seen him since I had left him as a toddler in my early childhood.  The fifth Shankar alias Swapan was born after we had migrated to India. I had first met him in Silchar after partition and later a number of times in Kolkata. Both these cousins who were in Sylhet then were present when we had arrived. Besides my nephew Sujak, who had brought us from Tamabil, were present his wife and son and the sons, the daughter and the grandchildren of my cousin Shankar and others. We had met most of them for the first time. I had found all of them very simple, cordial, warm, and welcoming. My grandchildren there, were very happy to have us amongst them. 

We stayed in the house of my nephew Sujok. This was the house, where my maternal uncles had lived and where I used to come with my mother during my early childhood, though, as expected, it had undergone several changes over the years. It brought alive some memories that remained dormant in my mind since childhood.  This was the place where I had played with my cousin Manik, who had been about a year younger than me but had no longer been in this world. It struck my emotional cord; I felt gloomy and remorseful for having defaulted to visit during his lifetime.  With a heavy heart, I moved around to see places where there had been the living room of my maternal grandfather Late Ramesh Chandra Das, and his cow sheds. The cowsheds and the cows were no longer there, though the room where my grandfather had lived stood more or less the way it had. I also saw the constructions that had come up in the place where my other maternal uncles had lived.

Brother Shankar lived with his wife Alpana, son Saikat, daughter Tumpa, daughter-in-law Ahona and grandchildren in a newly constructed 3-storeyed building by the side of the main house. Hena, the widow of my deceased cousin Pradip alias Pada lived with her sons and a daughter-in-law in a cottage adjacent to the main house.

Sujok’s wife Poli alias Piyali took care of us. She was a wonderful girl, jovial and full of warmth. With a smile always on her face, she would do all her work relentlessly. A very hardworking girl: I had never found her grumpy during my stay there. She was soft-hearted too. I saw water in the corner of her eyes at the time of our departure. Her son Srihan was being well brought up. He too was warm-hearted and a lovable child. My grandchildren from my other nephew Saikat and niece Tumpa also gave us a warm welcome and were loving company.        

On the 4th Day of our stay in Sylhet (6th Dec 2019), I moved around in the city and its outskirts and visited some age-old places and places of interest. In the morning in course of my daily walk, I moved along Old Medical College road, which was close to our place and reached Chowhatta, a four-point road junction and an important market centre. It was around 7:30 am by Bangladesh time and all shops except one or two restaurants were closed. I had a cup of tea in a restaurant named Alpine Restaurant. To give an idea of the cost I may say a 2/3rd filled standard cup cost Rs. 10 BDT (Bangladesh Taka). On the way, I came across Sylhet Govt Alia Madrassa on Medical College Road. Alia Madrassa had a sprawling campus. By its side, there was a big open field known as Alia Madrasa Field where meetings, festivals etc., were held. During our stay in Sylhet, the tri-annual conference of the Sylhet District and City Awami League was held in this field on December 5, 2019. This Madrassa was established in 1913 and has a student strength of 650. During my walk, I also came across some well-designed buildings, some flower and plant nurseries. 

At around 10 am, my nephew took me along to visit important places in the city. These are described  below with their background:

1.   Keane Bridge: It is the bridge over the river Surma in Sylhet and is a notable landmark of the city. It is called the Gateway of Sylhet City. The bridge was built in 1936 and was named after Sir Michael Keane, who had been the English Governor of Assam from 1932 to 1937.

2.  River Surma: It is the main river in Sylhet which passes through the city. From its source in Manipur hills near Mao Songsang the river is known as the Barak River. At the border with Bangladesh, the river divides with the northern branch being called the Surma River and the Southern the Kushiyara River. This is where the river enters the Sylhet Depression which forms the Surma basin. The Surma is fed by tributaries from the Meghalaya Hills to the north and is also known as the Baulai River after it is joined by the south-flowing Someshwari River. The Kushiyara receives tributaries from the Sylhet Hills and Tripura Hills to the south, the principal one from the Tripura Hills being the Manu. The Kushiyara is also known as the Kalni River after it is joined by a major offshoot (distributary) from the Surma. The Surma and the Kushiyara finally re-join in Kishoreganj District above Bhairab Bazar, to form the Meghna River. It finally flows into the Bay of Bengal. The average depth of the river is 282 feet (86 m) and the maximum depth is 550 feet (170 m). The Surma passes through many haors (wetland ecosystem). 

 3.   Commemorative life-size portrait of Rabindranath Tagore sketched on stone: This was installed by the Municipal Corporation of Sylhet at a prominent place under the bridge over the river Surma near Chandni Ghat where  Rabindranath Tagore had entered the city of Sylhet in 1919. Below the portrait was engraved the poem "Mamatahin Kaloshrote"  written by the poet at the time of his visit. A visit to the place by a Bengalee will make him feel the pulse of the culture of Sylhetis and keenness with them. 

Celebration: Tagore had visited Sylhet on the 5th of November 1919, six years after he had received Nobel Prize in literature.  To celebrate the 100 years of Tagore’s visit to Sylhet the citizens of Sylhet organised several grand programmes in the city. A formal Committee was formed to organise the Rabindra Shatabarsha Smaran Utsab with former Finance Minister, Abdul Maal Abdul Muhith as its President and Sylhet City Mayor Ariful Haque Chaudhury as its General Secretary. The main events of the programme were held on November 7 and 8, 2019. The Srihatta Brahma Samaj had organised programmes at the Brahma Temple and at the Kabi Nazrul Auditorium.

About the visit: Tagore’s trip to Sylhet has been recorded by several historians and biographers over the years. It went on to become one of the most important chapters of Tagore’s life and the history of Sylhet.

     In 1941, after Tagore’s death, Kabi Pranam, a commemorative book, was published in Sylhet. Nalinikumar Bhadra, Amiyangshu Endo, Mrinalkanti Das and Sudhirendranarayan Singha edited the book. Details of Tagore’s trip to Sylhet was also published in Sudhirendranarayan’s article, Srihatte Rabindranath Tagore in Kabi Pranam. In addition, Tagore biographer Prashanta Kumar Paul wrote about the trip in his book, Rabijiboni.

         In October of 1919, months after the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, Tagore came to Shillong, a place close to Sylhet, for a vacation. Gobindanarayan Singha, who was the Secretary of Brahma Samaj in Sylhet at the time, wrote a letter, inviting the poet to the city, but Tagore declined the invitation, stating that the journey would be too long and tedious. After much persuasion from Mahila Samity, Anjuman-E-Islam and other organisations, Tagore agreed to come to Sylhet.

        He started his journey to Sylhet after the Assam-Bengal Railway was planned. His son Rathindranath Tagore and daughter-in-law Pratima Devi had accompanied him. On his way to Sylhet, Tagore stayed at Guwahati for a day. He passed by Lumding, Badarpur and Karimganj (present-day Assam) and Kulaura (present-day Moulavibazar), before stopping at Maijgaon, Baramchal and Fenchuganj (present-day Sylhet).

    Former Sylhet Municipality Chairman Ray Bahadur Shukhomoi Choudhury, Abdul Karim, Khan Bahadur Syed Abdul Majid (Kaptan Miah), Ray Bahadur Pramod Chandra Dutta, Nalinibala Choudhury, Gobindanarayan Singha and others welcomed the poet to Sylhet. Crowds of people had arrived to get a glance of Tagore at the Chandni Ghat of the Surma River, as the poet entered the town. He stayed at the house of Mrs. Roberts, near the Bungalow of Reverend Thomas.

         He attended a special evening prayer session organised by the Brahma Samaj at the Brahma Temple of the town, where he sang, Beena Bajao Hey Momo Antore, recited from Upanishad. A civic reception was also arranged in his honour, where Khan Bahadur Syed Abdul Majid, President of the reception committee, gave a welcome speech. Tagore also delivered a long speech on ‘Bangaleer Sadhona’.

          Moreover, during his stay in Sylhet, Tagore attended programmes arranged by Murari Chand College and Mahila Samity. He also met poet Ray Bahadur Nagendra Choudhury, the Principal of Murari Chand College, Apurba Chandra Dutta, and the Singha family.  At the Machimpur area, Tagore was introduced to Manipuri dance, art and culture. He later introduced Manipuri dance in Shantiniketan.  Tagore was so inspired by his trip to Sylhet that he named the city ‘Sree Bhumi’ and wrote the poem, Mamatahin Kalsrote, about it. Unfortunately, the poem was never incorporated in his literary works as historians believed that it was written while he was writing an autograph for someone. The poet left Sylhet for Agartala on November 8, 1919.

4.   The Ali Amzad’s Clock: Situated opposite Chandni Ghat of river Surma, it is the oldest clock tower of Bangladesh in Sylhet. It is locally known as GHORI GAR and a popular tourist attraction adjacent to Keane Bridge over the river Surma.  The clock was repaired several times and is working now. The clock rings a loud alarm every hour. The tower has two clocks on two sides (north and south). It was designed by Nawab Moulvi Ali Ahmed Khan. It was opened in 1874. Its width is 16.7 ft and height 24.3 ft.

    There is a local proverb about the famous things of the district which goes as follows:

                                     চাঁদনি ঘাটের সিঁড়ি, আলি আমজাদের ঘড়ি ।

                                    জিতু মিয়ার বাড়ী, বঙ্কু বাবুর দাড়ি ।।

5.   Judges’ Court: A Metropolitan Sessions’  Judges’ Court was established in the Sylhet District Sessions’ Judges’ Court Building in 2013. There were magnificent buildings besides advocates’ places within the premises. My closest Cousin Manik (since deceased) used to practise here, as an advocate. I had an emotional urge to visit the place where he had sat. My nephew took me to Hall no. 1 of Sylhet District advocates’ Samity where my cousin had his chamber. As it appeared, this Hall was established in 1874. Incidentally, this was the year Sylhet went under the British administration as a part of Bengal Diwani.

6.    DC Office: There was a model of the City of Sylhet within the premises of DC’s Office. Another point to mention was that all notification boards and signboards were written only in Bengali. 

7.    Hasan Market: This was the oldest market of Sylhet. Originally it was known as Bondor Bazar Market.

8.    Sylhet City Corporation: The Corporation area extended over 27.36 sq. km. It was bounded by Sylhet Sadar Upazila on the north, Dakshin Surma Upazila on the south, Sylhet Sadar Upazila on the east and Dakshin Surma and Sylhet Sadar Upazila on the west. It catered to 270606 people (Ref: Bangladesh Population 2001 Census, Field Reports of City Corporation etc.)  in the city. The Corporation office was located by the side of Hasan market.

Sylhet Municipality had been formed in 1867 and turned into City Corporation on April 9, 2001. It had 27 wards with 29381 holdings and 29998 Kms of city roads.

9.  Sri Chaitanya Temple: In the evening, we went to Dhaka Dakshin, where Sri Chaitanya had his ancestral home. It was almost dark when we reached there, and we could not move around to places outside the temple area. Our visit remained confined to the new temple complex. Due to darkness, we couldn’t visit the original ancestral house of Chaitanya in a nearby hillock; there was no electricity outside the new temple area.

The famous temple of Sri Chaitanya Dev, about 500 years old, was located in Dhaka Dakshin, about 45 kilometres southeast of Sylhet. This place was held in high esteem as the ancestral home of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. An annual fair was held here on the full moon day in the Bengali month of Falgun, attracting hundreds and thousands of devotees from far and wide.

10. Ramakrishna Mission, Sylhet: On the way back from Dhaka Dakshin, we had a short visit to the Ramakrishna Mission of Sylhet. Solemn evening prayer was being held in a serene atmosphere when we had visited the Mission. This mission had been founded in 1926 by the untiring efforts of a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna, named Indradayal Bhattacharjee, who had been an inspiring teacher of a local school. Indradayal had been the 4th son of a well-known Tantric Saint Mritunjoy Bhattacharjee of Sylhet.

Pictures of the important places we had visited on the 4th day are on the left panel

Our 4th Day in Sylhet ended with this visit. 

On the 9th of December 2019, I, accompanied by my wife, started on our return journey from Sylhet at 10 am BDT (Bangladesh time) in my nephew’s car. All my relations there assembled at the gate and bade us goodbye. Departure, as always, is a sad event. I noticed wet eyes in some of my relations. I, too, was sad to leave the place of my origin after enjoying the warm hospitality of my near and dear ones. But when one comes for a visit, one has to leave after some time, how much heart-breaking that could be. So, we had to leave. My nephew Sujok and brother-in-law Rajat (younger sister Gayotri’s husband) accompanied us to the border to bid goodbye.

On reaching Tamabil border, we crossed Indo-Bangladesh Friendship Gate after completing the immigration formalities on the Bangladesh side, reached Indian Immigration Office, did similar formalities. and was ready to leave for Shillong. I had earlier contracted a car at Shillong before leaving Bangladesh to take us from Dawki to Shillong. The car was in place when we arrived. We started by that car at around 1:30 pm. On the way, while chatting with the driver, I asked him to take us around Shillong the next day (for the benefit of my wife, who had seen little of Shillong). It was then that the driver informed me that North-East Students’ Organisation (NESO) had called a bandh all over the northeast the next day (10th of Dec 2019) in protest against the CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill). In the event of the bandh materializing it won’t be possible for him to take us around Shillong that day. With that information, we moved on to our journey to Shillong.

On the way we visited two tourist spots. One was a Balancing Stone, called MAWRYNGKEW SHARATIA BALANCING ROCK in Village MAWLYNNONG in East Khasi Hills. It is actually a huge boulder that stands at a peculiar angle on a tiny rock. How the gigantic stone balanced itself at such an odd angle remained a mystery. Enclosed by a wired fence, the structure had remained like that for ages and no cyclone or storm had been able to disturb the formation ever. Surrounded by bamboo plantations, the place had many stories attached to it. According to the locals, this was the place where human sacrifices were made 1000 years back to appease the presiding deity of the area. However, according to the guides accompanying the tourists, there was actually an ancient shrine of the Khasi tribe that was no longer used after the advent of Christianity in Mawlynnong and Riwai. The entry fee to visit the stone was Rs. 10 per head.

From there we went to see the cleanest village Mawlynnong. Mawlynnong was declared the cleanest village in Asia in 2003. It had a tiny population of 500 as of 2015. The population comprised of Khasis, who were mostly Christians. There were three churches in the village. The total number of households here as enumerated in 2014 was 95. The literacy rate was 90%. Agriculture was the chief occupation of the local people, betel nut and bay leafs being the main crops. In summer one could find pineapples and lychees too. The village presented picturesque views all around. I took photographs of some places and people. An entry fee of Rs. 50 is charged for cars entering the village.