Shikshyarambha
Did I ever aspire to be literate? I do not remember. However, I can remember a scene of my early age where Kutu da, an elderly cousin, had been performing the domestic Saraswati Puja in our Kalighat house and I was taken to him while he guided me to write my first alphabet. The ritual known as Hate Khari means holding the piece of chalk (Khari) by hand (Hate). It is a sort of permission given to a kid to initiate study. Kutu da , being a brilliant student of Sanskrit poetry and grammar , Kabya Byakaranthirtha , was one of the best available person to give the permission and guidance. But the kid in question never was eager to seek the permission.
From then onwards, my didi ,the elder sister ,took the lead. She took it as a moral duty and made me sit with a piece of slate and chalk pencil. I had to religiously observe the scripts as depicted in the Adarshalipi , one of the first books in Bengali, and copy them to the satisfaction of didi. Writing was not that difficult but satisfying didi was not at all easy. Didi, out of all persons, never believed in Gandhigiri during those days. I had the privilege of receiving of one or two slaps and experienced little boxing of ears at the end of each literary session. I always prayed to God so that didi would involve in other fruitful activities like helping mother in domestic chores. But God hardly got time to listen.
Me and sonada, my elder brother, were really puzzled to find ourselves one fine morning under the grip of didi. She dressed us up in best possible attires and we came to know that we were to go to school. Dada, our eldest brother, took us to streets. We moved on to Iswar Ganguly Street, crossed Sadananda Road and found our school at Apurba Mitra Road. The name of school was Kalighat Oriental Academi. Deben babu, the head sir, was known to our family. He just received brief introductions from dada and instructed Parimal, his attendant to take us respective classes. While sonada straightway got admitted to class four and I could qualify for class two. We were taken to our respective class rooms which were single story sheds covered with corrugated roofs. The room was already filled with boys of my age and size and they were shouting to the top of their voices. Before I could recollect my senses, Bankim babu, the mathematics teacher soon arrived with a piece of waving cane in hand and shouted “ silence ! sit down!”.
The bad days of my life just began!
From then onwards, my didi ,the elder sister ,took the lead. She took it as a moral duty and made me sit with a piece of slate and chalk pencil. I had to religiously observe the scripts as depicted in the Adarshalipi , one of the first books in Bengali, and copy them to the satisfaction of didi. Writing was not that difficult but satisfying didi was not at all easy. Didi, out of all persons, never believed in Gandhigiri during those days. I had the privilege of receiving of one or two slaps and experienced little boxing of ears at the end of each literary session. I always prayed to God so that didi would involve in other fruitful activities like helping mother in domestic chores. But God hardly got time to listen.
Me and sonada, my elder brother, were really puzzled to find ourselves one fine morning under the grip of didi. She dressed us up in best possible attires and we came to know that we were to go to school. Dada, our eldest brother, took us to streets. We moved on to Iswar Ganguly Street, crossed Sadananda Road and found our school at Apurba Mitra Road. The name of school was Kalighat Oriental Academi. Deben babu, the head sir, was known to our family. He just received brief introductions from dada and instructed Parimal, his attendant to take us respective classes. While sonada straightway got admitted to class four and I could qualify for class two. We were taken to our respective class rooms which were single story sheds covered with corrugated roofs. The room was already filled with boys of my age and size and they were shouting to the top of their voices. Before I could recollect my senses, Bankim babu, the mathematics teacher soon arrived with a piece of waving cane in hand and shouted “ silence ! sit down!”.
The bad days of my life just began!
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