Tuesday, 6 July 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

2 comments:

  1. How lovely to connect so closely to these stalwart of women that I’m blessed to have known and grown up with

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  2. Lovely to read about the 3 grand old ladies & to see this picture having a jolly good giggle. I don’t think I ever met your Jethima Shefali Bose, but Anima Kakima & D Dida to Proma, was a firm favourite & always ready for adventure! A small correction, Ma died on the 9th of September, so she knew & was thrilled about Prithvi’s birth. I also remember so clearly how happy she was when Tulu & Bablu called to wish her on the 7th. Her speech went soon after.

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