The book deals with the many facets of Salt Lake, its birth (1956), rise into a township (1962) and its present avatar. What is little known to most of us readers or the residents of the township is the existence of the Salt Lakes, the marshy lands and how life existed there.
The local history apart, the book also gives the readers an insight into how the place used to be a bird’s paradise and many rare varieties would frequent the place from around and afar.
The book traces the time when habitation first started in the 1830s. Going earlier, in the 18th century, the author says the place (eastern fringes) were known as malicious jungles and the huge waterbody was part of Sundarbans. Bidyadhari river used to flow through the jungles, the wetlands served as the backwater swamp. The brackish water was saline in nature and so, the British started calling this place, Salt Lakes.
The writer has done some extensive research in forking out information from the British newspaper archives and maps. He goes back three centuries to trace the formation of Salt Lakes. Tracing reports from the European magazines and newspapers, the author mentions a monstrous storm on 11 to 12 October, 1737 and an accompanying earthquake around the same time, which caused widespread destruction and deaths in lakhs. That catastrophe led to the formation of the Salt Lakes and the marshy land turned into a forest.
Author Ray has divided the chapters based on the timeline, with the earlier chapters chronicling the transition from marshy lands to a township and then again, the later chapters mentioning about the historical, sociological importance of the place. This tells us how the early Salt Lake played a role in India’s freedom movement and it developed into a trade hub with boats carrying goods from Bangladesh and afar through the Kestopur canal, traces of which are still there.
The author, who is presently employed with the state government as assistant labour commissioner said the motivation to write this book came to him as he wanted to know the unknown facts of the city. “People have a certain interest in Salt Lake. I also live here and wanted to know how it came about and wanted to let people know the history of this place. Through more awareness, we can save portions of it. There is no recorded history of this place though it is such an important address today. A book by Bhupesh Kumar Pramanik has some scattered information. As a People’s Green Bench member, my interest grew further on Salt Lake. The PGB is into the local history of a place, researching the place. The source of most of my information is libraries. I have been researching this for close to 15 years,” said Mr Ray.
The author also used to bring out a magazine, Ekti Shohorer Kotha, which has now shut shop, where he first wrote about Salt Lake.
“This book is a compilation of all the articles I wrote in the magazine. The few remaining traces of the earlier Salt Lake, including Mahishbathan, I visit once in a while. These areas are still underdeveloped. Only the major Salt Lake areas were developed, spread over 12 sq km, confined to Sector 1, 2 and 3. Originally, the Salt Lake area was over 45 sq km. A few parts of it are protected under the Kolkata Wetlands,” added the author.
Now, the author plans another edition of the book with pictures of birds, which used to flock in this part earlier. Some of them still flock to the New Town area, added the writer.
Spotlight:
Salt Lake has a history to tell
By Amit Ray
Nilanjana Prakasani, 2024
Rs 120/-