Bhaskar Parichha
There can be, and have been, many books on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Yet, when you ask for recommendations only two or three precious books will pop out: ‘The Spring Tiger’ by Claude Hugh, ‘His Majesty’s Opponent’ by Sugata Bose, ‘Brothers Against The Raj’ by Leonard A Gordon and a recent one ‘Laid to Rest’ by Netaji’s nephew Ashis Ray.
I would unhesitatingly insert another book to the long list of books on Subhash Bose – ‘Netaji Was Born Here’ by Raja Parija.There are reasons for this adding up.One, no book has ever dealt with Netaji’s early days in Cuttack so vividly as this one has and, secondly, the rare photographs of Subhash Bose that have been chronicled in this pictorial biography. As the title suggests, this is a befitting tribute to the radical personality who was born and had spent his formative years in the millennial city.
The book has in all six chapters and explores, for the major part, the family history of Subhash Bose, Netaji’s early days, his bond with Odisha, the Janakinath Bhavan and the Netaji Birth place museum. Together, you get a wholesome account of Subhash Bose’s fascinating years of growing up.Obviously; one doesn’t have to search elsewhere about this period of the great revolutionary’s life.
What tips the scale in favour of the book is the amount of information the author has dug up. As Raja Parija says in the Acknowledgement,’ a large chunk of information contained in the book is based on the interviews with a number of individuals and organizations with which the Bose family was closely connected. I had to cross-check the authenticity of information by visiting various locations for verification of available records and taking photographs.’
Many lanes and by-lanes of Cuttack have fascinating stories about the Bose family and the early life of Netaji. Sadly, much of this breathing history has been lost and only a few records have remained. Good thing is that all that had remained have been captured.
The author’s ‘protracted engagement’ with the project has resulted in some interesting stories and the readers are hugely benefited from this rather unusual discovery. There are indeed a lot of hitherto unknown facts on the young Subhash in this book: his classmates, how generous he was, his mission during outbreak of cholera, his empathy for the underprivileged. The author’s view is that Subhash inculcated most of his socio-political beliefs in his early days at Cuttack. Even the youthful Subhash had initiated Durga Puja for the first time in his parental house -Janakinath Bhavan in 1916!
As we know, a year later, in 1917, Subhash moved to Calcutta for his higher studies. He joined Scottish Church College and passed B.A with first class honours in philosophy. On September 15, 1919 he left for Cambridge where he prepared for the ICS examination.
Besides these important facets, the book has a major connect with Odisha’s leaders in the freedom struggle. After returning from Cambridge in the height of national movement, Subhash Bose got in touch with a galaxy of leaders: Madhusudan, Gopabandhu, Krupasindhu, Godavarish, Nabakrushna Choudhury and HK Mahtab.Mahtab had a great respect for Subhash and it was on Netaji’s inspiration that he threw himself into politics at a very young age. Bose’s election as INC president in the Haripura Congress, Mahtab the lone leader from Odisha being taken as a member of the CWC all that has been well documented in the book.
Subhash Bose espoused the cause of the Forward Block and he addressed several meetings in Odisha during his visit from 5th to 9th August, 1939.Even in Rangoon how Subhash gathered around his Odia compatriots, the INA camp in Burma where many from Ganjam had sacrificed their lives in the thick of British bombardment – all these turning points in INA’s history too are meticulously recorded.
What enhances the grandeur of the book are the exceptional photographs which the author had scrupulously collected from various sources. Take for example, a photo of Subhash’s mother Prabhabati Devi, his father’s signature in the membership register of Cuttack Bar, a 1905 photo of Subhash,a 1924 family photograph, picture of Durga Bewa who supplied Subhash the famous Cuttack (dahi ?)’vada’,the Protestant European School where Subhash studied, the 1909 school admission register,details about two of Subhash Bose’s teachers – Benimadhab Das and Narayan Prasad Mohanty of Ravenshaw Collegiate School – who had a great influence on the young Subhash and so on.
With an enlightening preface by Chandi Prasad Nanda who heads Ravenshaw University’s History department, ‘Netaji Was Born Here’ is a welcome addition to the innumerable books on this great son of India. The author’s keenness for history -particularly that of Cuttack – and his fascination for photographs as historical matter are indeed laudable. A book essentially aimed at revisiting Subhash Bose’s Odisha connection has certainly achieved its purpose.
(The writer is a senior journalist and currently associated with OdishaLIVE as Consulting Editor.)
