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BIRTH, PARENTAGE, AND EARLY ENVIRONMENT
My father, Janakinath Bose, had migrated to Orissa in the eighties of the last century and had settled down at Cuttack as a lawyer.
There I was born on Saturday, the 23rd January 1897. My father was descended from the Boses of Mahanagar, while my mother,
Prabhabati (or rather Prabha Vati) belonged to the family of the Dutts of Hatkhola. I was the sixth son and the ninth child of my parents.
In these days of rapid communication, a night’s journey by train southwards along the eastern coast takes one from Calcutta to Cuttack and on the way, there is neither adventure nor romance.
But things were not quite the same sixty years ago. One had to go either by cart and encounter thieves and robbers on the road, or by sea and brave the wrath of the winds and the waves.
Since it was safer to trust in God than in brother man, it was more common to travel by boat.
Sea-going vessels would carry passengers up to Chandbali where transshipment would take place and from Chandbali steamers would get to Cuttack through a number of rivers and canals.
The description I used to hear from my mother since childhood of the rolling and pitching and the accompanying discomfort during the voyage would leave no desire in me to undergo such an experience.
At a time when distances were long and the journey by no means safe, my father must have had plenty of pluck to leave his village home and go far away in search of a career.
Fortune favors the brave evening civil life and, by the time I was born, my father had already made a position for himself and was almost at the top of the legal profession in his new domicile.
Though a comparatively small town with a population in the neighborhood of 20,000, Cuttack’ had an importance of its own owing to a variety of factors.
It had an unbroken tradition since the days of the early Hindu Kings of Kalinga.
It was the de facto capital of Orissa which could boast of such a famous place of pilgrimage as Puri (or Jagannath) and such glorious articles like those of Konarak, Bhuvane swears, and Udaigiri.
It was the headquarters not only for the British administration in Orissa but also for the numerous ruling chiefs in that province.
Altogether, Cuttack afforded a healthy environment for a growing child, and it had some of the virtues of both city and country life.
Though n comparatively small to^m ^vitll a popula¬ tion in tlie neighbourhood of SOiOOO, Cuttack* had an inipoitance of its own o’v’ing to a variety of factors.
It [lad au unbroken tradition since the days of the early Hindu King.s of Kalinga. It wjis do Jacto capital of Orissa which could boast of stidi a fanioxis place of pil¬ grimage as Puri (or Jagannath) and such glorious artrelics as those of KonaraW, Bbuvaneswais and l^daigiri.
It ss’as the hcad<^uartcrs not only for the British adminis¬ tration in Orissa, but also for the numerous ruling cliicfs in that province.
Altogether, Cuttack afforded a healthy environment for a growing child, and it had some of the virtues of both city and country life.
Ours was not a rich, but what might he regarded as a well-to-do, iniddle-cla.ss family.
Naturally, I had no pcawnal experience of what want and poverty meant and had no occasion to develop those traits of selBsbness, greed, and the rest which are sometimes the unwelcome heritage of indigent circumstances in one’s early life.
At the same time, there w’as not that luxury and kvislincss in our home which has been the ruin of so many promising but pampered young souls or has helped to foster a supercilious, high-brow mentality in them.
To be a member of a large family is, in many ways, a drawback. One does not get the individual attention which is often necessary in childhood.
Moivovcr, one is lo.st in a crowd as It were, and the growUi of personality suffers in consequence. On the other hand, one deve¬ lops sociability and overcomes sclf-ccntredness and angu¬ larity.
From infancy I was accustomed to living not merely in the midst of a large number of sisters and brothers, but also with uncles and cousins.
The deno¬ tation of the word ‘family’ was therefore automatically enlarged.
What is more, our hoiGe had always an open door for distant relatives hailing from our ancestral village.
And, in accordance with a long-standing Indian custom, any visitors to the town of Cuttack who bore the stamp of respectability could—with or without an introduction—drive to our house and expect to be put up there.
Where the hotel-system is not so much in vogue and decent hotels arc lacking, society has some¬ how’ to provide for a social need.
| Author | Subhash Chandra Bose |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 164 |
| PDF Size | 17.9 MB, 55.5 MB |
| Category | Biography |
Netaji’s Life And Writings Book PDF Free Download