By the river Icchamati, where history divides and unites, the remnants of the Taki Zamindari House stand as a testament to a bygone era. Once home to the illustrious Roy Chowdhurys, descendants of Maharaja Pratapaditya Roy Chowdhury, one of Bengal’s famed 12 Bhuiyas, its grandeur has faded but not its legacy. Born in 1934, Debabrata Roy Chowdhury grew up amidst this heritage. At 92, he reflects on a life intertwined with privilege, loss, and resilience, offering us a rare glimpse into a transformative chapter of history.

Q. Tell us how life was during your growing-up years

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I was born in central Calcutta. My father was a lawyer, and my mother was a homemaker, as was common for women then. North Calcutta was a place for the aristocrats, with old houses like the Boses of Bagbazar, the Mitras of Shyampukur, the Tagore of Jorasanko. These wealthy aristocratic families used to walk around like babus and travelled in Fitton Gari. South Calcutta, we thought, was for the upstarts.

In my family, everyone was an independent professional—uncles were doctors, lawyers, judges, and so on. During my time, the professionals came from the aristocratic part of society, while the middle class engaged in service. We attended a good school, St Xavier’s. We were among the few houses to do so. My father was determined that all of us siblings were properly educated. My sister was sent to Loreto School to complete her schooling. Even my mother herself was educated, having graduated from Victoria College, which was a rarity during that time. People used to come to her for consultations.

Q. How did your family react when you first heard the news? Did you fully understand what it meant at that time?

My father was distraught. Being young, we couldn’t comprehend the gravity of the partition. I understood there was a debacle and something grave was going on. Father was particularly distressed because Khulna district went to East Pakistan. Khulna and Murshidabad posed a problem to the Britishers when bifurcating Bengal. So, they gave the Muslim-majority district, Murshidabad, to India and the Hindu-dominated district, Khulna, to Pakistan. Baba never expected Khulna to go to Pakistan and that loss deeply affected him. It might have contributed to his death.

Q. That time must have been so upsetting. How did your family cope with all that?

We were severely affected economically. Not so much politically, as our house was in West Bengal, but our landed property in Khulna was lost. Our affluence was largely gone.

Between 1950-54, we went through a difficult time. When my father passed away, my eldest brother was 18, I was 16, my sister was 14 and the younger ones were 8-10. My father was a successful lawyer, and we enjoyed the quiet comforts. It was difficult for my mother to rear the children singlehandedly. We passed through that period, completing our education driven by sheer will. The youngest became a celebrated sitar player and a professor of economics. My next brother was a physics professor and Nuffield Scholar in England. My sister and my eldest brother also became professors, and I joined a bank.

Q. How was Calcutta during the imperial rule? How did these events shape the city and its people?

I think it was better compared to our present. The British imposed their dominance, yet the Anglo-Indian community thrived, with many women working.

The partition was a tremendous blow to the country. Bengal and Punjab were divided according to population and religious dominance, triggering communal violence and mass displacement. Many refugees migrated from eastern Pakistan to Calcutta leaving the city overwhelmed. Many people died owing to starvation, lack of shelter and unhygienic living conditions. The economy was in shambles.

Nevertheless, Dr BC Roy, the then chief minister of Bengal, handled the situation very tactfully by relocating refugees to places like the Andamans and Dandakaranya. In Calcutta, initiatives like introducing yellow taxis gave people a way to earn a living, while others started small businesses.

The riots in Punjab and Bengal were ghastly. On 16, 17 and 18 August, 1946, Calcutta saw horrific violence, leaving hundreds dead. In one incident, my uncle who resided in Kalyani was away at work when riots broke out suddenly. His family was at home alone. Their Muslim neighbour who lived right beside them offered them to hide in their house. Then, an Anglo-Indian friend, Mrs Muriel helped the family along with many other Hindu women, arranging for safe passage.

Before the partition, in the struggles for the independence of the country—many people died, and others were put to the gallows. The then Prime Minister Clement Atlee admitted that it was the work of Bose and his INA that hastened India’s freedom. There was this aftereffect of INA, with a naval mutiny in Bombay, and another in the Army shook British confidence in their control over India.After independence, while challenges persisted, Jawaharlal Nehru’s government focused on modernisation. Industries grew, dams were built, and new jobs were created.

We also witnessed the horrible famine in Bengal in 1943. It was a very difficult time, with beggars everywhere, crying for food. Back then, people were very poor, the majority of the people died of hunger! Life for the common folk was hard.

Q. Can you tell us how things shifted after the country gained freedom?

The most tangible change which happened was the emancipation of women. In those days, most women were housewives and very few women were educated. Women’s education was more prevalent among the Brahmo Samaj, the followers of Raja Ram Mohan Roy. The Hindus were mainly conservative, and the women typically managed the house and childcare, a system which existed among the rich and the poor alike. It was not customary to work anywhere for a girl in those days, and only a select few pursued careers. The males maintained the house, the income would be theirs. This idea changed due to the economic conditions after the partition. Prices soared and the market was very ‘dear’. It was not feasible for a man alone to provide for his family. Naturally, women had to work, because if they didn’t, the houses would have stopped functioning. People were not earning so much unlike today, and someone earning 500 rupees back then was considered to have a very respectable job.

Among the Bengalis, there was an aversion towards manual labour. All the taxi drivers, thela-wallahs, rickshaw-wallahs, coolies came from outside. The transport business was majorly in the hands of the Punjabis. Bengalis were more interested in higher studies, becoming professors, doctors or office clerks. This changed after partition, Bengalis had no choice but to turn to businesses. They opened shops, worked in ball-bearing factories, became contractors, and so on.

There was a rise in the demand for luxury goods. We were accustomed to minimal clothing and food. Owning a car was rare, and children usually walked to school or took public transport. The value system was different, and the standard of living was much simpler compared to today’s world.

Q. So, how was the education system back then?

The education system was considerably better. From 1960, I noticed the quality of education deteriorating. Though technical education improved, general education went into a slump. The standard of English has declined. College students back then knew a lot outside their curriculum—they read a lot of books, where real education lies.

Education was accessible to all, though not everyone had the means to afford it. Even in vernacular schools, English was taught at a decent standard.

Interestingly, the Bible was offered as an optional subject and we had to even sit for exams on it. We also had Sanskrit, Latin or Pali in matriculation as a compulsory classical language. For boys, mathematics– arithmetic, geometry and algebra—was mandatory, while girls could take arithmetic and home science.

Q. Did you ever face any discrimination?

Discrimination was present, but it wasn’t overtly prominent. For instance, Indians weren’t allowed in certain clubs like the Calcutta Club. But as it was their colony, they had to employ Indians to run the country. The army, the navy and airforce were full of Indians, only the head positions were occupied by the English.

Q. Do you remember the first Republic Day? How was it?

26 January, I remember, was celebrated very prominently in Delhi. The whole event was aired on radio, broadcast live. But in Calcutta, the celebration was simpler, the parade held in Fort William wasn’t as pompous or beautiful as in Delhi. As far as my memory goes, I personally never experienced that colour here in Calcutta. We remember Republic Day more as a holiday. I was young during that time, so the main change I felt was the British were gone, and there was no longer discrimination between the whites and the browns. There was a sense of unity and despite everything, we had gained our freedom, and now we had our own Constitution.