🌳 The family tree and old pictures

This post is a work in progress as I try to collect old pictures and more stories to go with the names in this family network:

Chart credit: Madeleine. 

Additional notes:

- By Biswajit Basu: My grandmother was Parimal (nee Mitra). Her eldest son was Piyush Kanti, who died in college of meningitis. 

(Edit: See Memories from another era for more stories about her)

- From Shoma (Somomita Taneja): 

My parents formal names were Subir Ghosh and Gayatri Ghosh. I’m married Kashayap Taneja and have a daughter, Tannya Taneja. My Grandparents were Surama Sinha (grandmother) and Pashupati Sinha. 

Further check required: 

Sidhartha Basu has two sisters, nicknames - esha mashi and thabi mashi. Then one more brother. Will check with tapati mamima for their formal names. 

Old pictures:

L-R: Sharada Mitra, Madeline; Pashupati Sinha; KP Mitra; Robin; Margot Mitra; Gayatri Ghosh; Surama Sinha; SN Mitra; Subir Ghosh; circa 1967-68

From Shoma: This had been clicked at 35 Feroz Shah road, where Ma and Baba used to stay with Pronab Mukherjee and his wife. Baba used to write his speech for the next day in Parliament. 

Sharda Prasad

Margot

Robin Mitra


L-R: Anima Basu, MK Basu, Monisha Choudhury/ Moon, Pronoti Dey, Biswajit Basu; 1959

L-R: Bashob De, Biswajit Basu, Anuradha Bose/ Runki, Swati Basu; 1974

Panna and Monisha Choudhury/ Moon; 1978

Nandalal Ghose (d. 1904)

From Sudeshna De:

Shri Nandalal Ghose was my paternal grandfather's grandfather. He was a lawyer and was good friends with Vidyasagar who officiated at his wedding. They used to meet often and have discussions over drinks though Vidyasagar didn't drink. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was a famous Indian educator and social reformer in the nineteenth century. (More about Vidyasagar here.)

📝Letter from a grandfather to a grandson

The Quantum Indians

Following this documentary, I (Biswajit Basu) have written to Prithvi (grandson) as follows:

Prithvi.....I want you to see this entire video properly and ponder over it.  It is about Satyen Bose, CV Raman and Meghnad Saha. Bose and Saha were Bengalis and Raman did his research leading to the Nobel Prize in Calcutta.  Think of the legacy they leave behind and that you are so close to those of Saha and of  Bose with whom you share a surname (Basu and Bose are the anglicised form of Bosu).

One of the anchors, Mr Partha Ghosh (with the white goatee) is Sudeshna auntie's own uncle (her father's brother) and also a great physics scientist of today.

You are of their lineage and thus a part of their great legacy. Your birth has brought you so close to these great men and even more greats like Subhas Chandra Bose (his ancestral house is still in Changripota which is now called Subhasgram which is our ancestral village) and to Swami Vivekananda (Narendra Dutta) who was related to my step grandmother).

Do something good in life.  You are so close to these great people and must live up to their legacy.  Remember that in whatever you do.  Study hard, be honest and moral and you will automatically live a good life.

_{(Swati Basu, Prithvi, Biswajit Basu; Delhi June 20, 2021)}

👵🏼👵🏼👵🏼Three Grand Ladies

^{(Picture from Monisha Choudhury’s collection. Place: Netaji Nagar. Sometime in the 1980-90s)}

In conversation with Biswajit Basu, to tell us more about these three lovely grandmothers:

On the left is my mother, Anima Basu, your grandmother.  She was born in Shimla in the times that the summer capital  of British India transferred to Shimla every summer.  Her parents were Basanta Kumar Dey and Parimal Dey (née Mitra, Madeleine's family). She married my father after he returned from World War II, in 1948. I was born in 1949 and Monisha in 1953. She passed away in 2004.  You must have heard a lot about her from your mother. 

(Author Note: Indeed, I have many recollections of my Dida! She was a prominent figure of my childhood. She was also present at my wedding in Dec 2002! Some more about her, as told by my mother, is in this post - Memories from another era)

In the centre is my Jethima, Shefali Bose.  She was the wife of my Jatamoshai (my father's elder brother), Rabindra Kumar Bose (note that Basu and Bose are the anglicised version of Bosu).  I remember my Jatamoshai as extremely fair with red hair!  He retired as the GM of the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works in Asansol.  He died in Gwalior while working for CIMMCO.  Their father was Girendra Kumar Bose who lived in Changripota (now called Subhasgram) to honour Subhas Chandra Bose whose house, in ruins, is still standing (when I saw it last, there was a tree that had burst through its roof).  Apparently he is related to us and was my father's uncle.  Shefali Jethima had 3 children, Arati didi (who lives in Bangalore), Deepakda (deceased) and Khukula (in Gwalior).  My step-grandmother was a Dutta said to be of the family of Swami Vivekananda.

The third lady on the extreme right is also my Jethima (Chhabi Rani neè Mitra) whom I fondly called Jodhpur Jethi as she lived in Jodhpur Park.  She was the wife of Srutiraj Ghosh, my father's cousin and Toto's grandfather.  She died on 9th September 2008 (date corrected). She was also a Mitra before marriage.

That brings me to the end of my nostalgic journey!

Author Note:

Another Grand Lady from our past was Nina, Jodhpur Jethi’s mother-in-law. Here is a wonderful article about her by her granddaughter, Prajna Sen - Memories of the Matriarch