My father was all alone in India having left his family back in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).The year was 1964.At that time China declared war on India due to some disputes in the land demarcations. This war was backed by Pakistan who supported the Chinese. So East Pakistan had got aggressive against us in West Bengal. It did not surprise that it took a very different form. The war between India and China broke out as a war between Hindus and Muslims between India and East Pakistan.
It took a toll of life and several lives suffered trauma in the aftermath. Our family members were very badly affected by the 1964 Riots. We had lost our property, savings and much more. My father took admission in a local school in India and did a job as a laborer. After school got over he carried rice bags for local players. A bag of Rice weighed about around 100 kilos. With 100 kilos in his back he traveled from the main road where trucks would unload, to the local trader’s store rooms. He did this on a regular basis and suffered terrible back aches frequently.
Back in school he was quite a bright scholar and stayed in toppers list most of the time. By the time it was 1971 and Pakistan declared force on East Pakistan. India had Indira Gandhi had as Prime Minister. India stood by East Pakistan and helped it overcome the forces from Pakistan. East Pakistan got its Independence from Pakistan and it was named Bangladesh from then on.
Military forces were deployed and Muslim people in West Bengal were asked to move to Bangladesh. In the same time Hindu people were escorted to West Bengal. There was a refugee camp organized somewhere in West Bengal and my father found his first job as accountant. He kept account of the goods being supplied and places it was being distributed to.
But this job did not last very long. His role was no longer required in the refugee camp. The refugees had been allotted some place in West Bengal. My father was given an instant job in the Writers Buildings.
While movement from one country to another there were quite significant incidents that had occurred. A rich Muslim man had a lot of property. Even the place we live today was owned by him. It had passed a lot of hands before we started living here. He had a gigantic family and even owned a cinema hall and a theater adjacent to it.
As bad luck would have it, all his property was taken away and refugees were given shelter in some of them .Most of the Muslims had lost their property but some sold them at throw away prices before leaving for Bangladesh. The cinema hall still runs now. Its’ just that ownership has changed. But in place of the theater there is a market place and a large laundry shop.
Meanwhile rice market was getting increasingly hot. And our place was becoming the rice capital of West Bengal. Even though my father had a government job in hand, he thought business was a more preferable job. He had sufficient knowledge of the business and continued to do so before he got into transportation business. But that was after his marriage.
to be continued..............read chapter 3
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