Ankur Bora
Kalyan Dutta-Choudhury had been a well-wisher and
supporter of Assam Foundation of North America (AFNA) and AFNA projects for a long time. Dutta-Choudhury passed away recently and I would
like to dedicate my marathon run for the Tapoban project "In the loving
memory of Kalyan Dutta-Choudhury "
 |
| Kalyan Dutta-Choudhury with daughters and grand children |
I have the fondest
memory of Dutta-Choudhury - Kalyan da
used to write various stories specially on rituals , practices of lower Assam
particularly in the Gauripur area. As I
am preparing for the run - I am overwhelmed with emotion, filled with sadness , the long term
associations spreading over ten years - at the same time I am able to do
something meaningful - that we will be
able to keep the legacy alive. Rani Dutta Choudhuri shares the followings
“ From
the bottom of my heart, myself and my family appreciate the honor you are
planning to bestow on Kalyan. He would have been so pleasantly surprised but at
the same time humbled. He enjoyed being
able to share his musings with AFNA and particularly with you. He had great
affection and respect for you”
 |
| Ankur Bora at Austin Marathon 2008 |
A
Tribute Rani
Dutta-Choudhury
Kalyan Dutta Choudhury
passed away on July 24th 2018 in Guwahati, Assam. It was on his yearly visit to
the region that he took ill suddenly and breathed his last. He left behind his
grieving family: his wife Rani, his daughters Amrita and Devika, his son-in-law
Mike, and his grandchildren Hera, Pia and Hugh. Also mourning his passing are
his older brother Shilabhadra’s family and his many nieces and nephews, the
offspring of this large and close family, who loved and respected their uncle.
Kalyan was born in the
small town of Gauripur in Goalpara district of Assam in 1938. He was the
youngest of ten brothers and sisters. At barely two years old, he lost his
father to illness. The large family supported each other through difficult
times, and maintained the family brick business for many years. Kalyan’s
mother Amiya Lata and his oldest brother Rebati (Shilabhadra) were the most
important influences in Kalyan’s life. Kalyan was home schooled as a youngster.
No doubt, Kalyan was sheltered and protected by his doting family. Kalyan read
voraciously growing up. He eagerly helped himself to the books his oldest
brother brought into the house. He developed a lifelong love of literature.
It was not the humanities that Kalyan studied in college but science. After Dhubri College, he attended Cotton College and then Guwahati University. With a first class degree in physics from the University, Kalyan headed to IIT Bombay. Advanced degree in hand Kalyan came back to teach in his Alma Mater, Guwahati University. Ever ambitious, Kalyan fulfilled his dream of pursuing even higher studies in America. Landing first at the University of Louisville, Kalyan moved on to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where his two daughters were also born. He accrued three more degrees and, along with his young family, he headed back to Assam.
After two years in
Assam, Kalyan with his family returned to the US. Back in the land of
opportunity, Kalyan worked mainly in industry, but he enjoyed most of all his
career as a professor and department chair at a technical college in East
Texas. After retirement, and moving to Berkeley, CA to be closer to his
daughters, Kalyan’s writing flourished. He told stories of his youth and mused
about politics and culture. His family treasures these stories and the memories
they bring up.
Kalyan’s priority was always his family. His passion was education, the pursuit of knowledge and the welfare of youngsters growing up without all the advantages that life bestows on some. He will be always missed by family and friends.
Rickshaws of Gauripur Kalyan Dutta-Choudhury
The first rickshaw came to our town of Gauripur quite by an economic accident when a medical doctor, Dr. Upen Khan, felt he needed to quickly provide some means of income-generating scheme to his young nephew, a circumstantial migrant from East Pakistan, to provide for his parents who were living in the doctor’s house. The nephew named ‘’Patal’’ was built sturdily. He didn’t do well in school. Then one morning came a shiny new rickshaw in town – the doctor’s residence. People flocked to see what it was! A few cars going around in the town toot-tooting were quite old losing their novelty. In addition, they looked distant to common folks. .
It was a brand new novelty. And people looked at the lone rickshaw as a wonderment as it passed by with an occasional wealthy rider with an air, ‘’Look, what I’m riding!’’ Then, whoever wanted a leisurely ride along the banks of the river in the evening took to riding on it sitting coolly. Then the lone rickshaw became popular with newly-wed couples in nearby villages . They came to town to have ‘taste’ of the town-life like going to a movie or eating ‘’maza’’ (sweets) and drinking tea. The newly-married brides would pull down her‘’ghongta’’ (veil) to hide her face from an occasional friendly teasing or leering eyes
The lone operator became a busy-man taking advance reservation from prospective clients. But pulling the rickshaw took its toll on the health, and initial enthusiasm of the young man.
At that time of uncertainty of continuity of the rickshaw service in the town, an enterprising wealthy business house at Gauripur saw the potential for a few rickshaws in town. The business house was named, ‘’Lochchu, Bichchu Brothers’’. Actually, their business was repairing bicycles and selling accessories like tires, tubes, bells, saddles etc. They also had a furnace for doing small welding jobs and shaping things right. Their new venture would fall in line with what they did..
The brothers figured out that if they could buy three and four rickshaws and employ their own people, like nephews there in town or Bihar, they had a good business going. One of the brothers went to Calcutta and brought the planned number of the rickshaws and let them in the town. Rickshaws were no more a novelty in the town. It had been three of four years since the town’s people were introduced to that novelty. Willy Nilly, rickshaws became a necessity grafting into the economic landscape of the town
Town’s people began hopping into a rickshaw out of necessity like having to go from one part of the town and another for doing some business or going socially . When catching a train to Gauhati or Calcutta, we in our establishment would ask our maternal uncles who had cars to give us a ride to the railway station. No longer was that needed. We would tell one of the known rickshaw-pullers to come to our house at appointed time to provide that service. That particular rickshaw puller’s face comes to my mind till to this day. His name was Jagnu, was friendly to a fault. I tried to pull his rickshaw a couple of times. It was awfully hard because it tended to veer in one direction. Rickshaw was basically a bicycle modified to a tricycle with much-added weight in the rear. One portly dry-leaf-tobacco-seller named Bhola got into a deep ditch by the road when trying to pull a rickshaw. Luckily, he survived without so much as a scratch in his body! He was mightily embarrassed, though
When one business gets a taste of success, people see the potential in that line of business. So, others came and put their money in that business. Rickshaw population in the town grew by leaps and bounds. From one, it grew to four or five. Then, it rapidly grew to twenty or something. That’s my estimate.
For that number of rickshaws, there has to be a stand where pullers would come back to for rest and some ‘’nasta’’ or ‘’jalpan’’. (snacks). Two areas of the town became congregating points of rickshaws. One was ‘’town-square’ where busses came to disgorge passengers and pick them up, and the other was spot near the station. Initially, rickshaws were pulled by Hindu people from Bihar. Then, local Muslim young men took to pulling them. It is the economy, stupid.
In no time, rickshaws were no longer used for ferrying ‘’grahak’’ (passengers) from one place to another. They were used for carrying loads of jute, pineapples, bananas, fish, vegetables and other goods from points of origin to the points of commerce.
We went to Gauripur this July. I found that a friend and class-mate of mine and his brother have started a side-business of renting out rickshaws on a daily-basis to pullers. They absorb all repair cost. My friend said that when rickshaws are new, the margin of profit is good. But business is not so good after a few years when they’ve to opt for new rickshaws which aren’t cheap. I was told a new type of rickshaws (there was nothing new) that I saw operating in the city was designed by an IITan. ‘’Hog-wash. An IITan has better things to do’’, I said
Well, while we’re in Guwhati three or four years ago, I heard some Gauripuria words coming from the direction of two rickshaws parked by road side. I ambled in their direction and asked them, in Gauripuria, where they were from. They said they were from Balajan which is three or four miles to the West of Gauripur. Anyway, I asked them if they operate their own. I gathered that they rent them. For five days, they pay 100 rupees a day with next day free. All the repair-work is done by the ‘’mahajan’’ (owner) who has a central repair-shop with mechanics.
I asked them how was the business?.. ‘’Hoy ak-rakam’’ (Getting by), they said. A few years ago, a rode in a rickshaw pulled by a ‘’gamocha’’ wearing middle-aged man. This was coldness of winter. I asked him where he was from? He said Nalbari or somewhere. I asked him who were there in Nalbari? He replied, ‘’There were my wife and two children – one daughter and a son’’, . I trust some extra-cash in his palm and hugged him helplessly before walking away. I realized that my education was on the shoulders of these poor deprived people.
