Image and Narrative contributed by Saugato Datta, London
This photograph was taken at a photo Studio in Dhaka.
The woman in the upper-right corner (dark blouse, sari and dangling earrings) is my grandmother Smritikona Basu (nee Majumdar) (1919-1995). To her left, in the middle is her older sister, Sadhana Basu and then their cousin whose name I don’t know.
The man is Sadhana’s husband, Manindranath Bose, who was a lecturer in Dhaka University. After partition of Indian and Bangladesh, he migrated to Bihar and became a professor and later a principal of a college in Begusarai. The baby is Sadhana’s oldest son (Samir Bose, 1933 -). He is now a retired Professor of Physics at the Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana. The old lady is my great-great-grandmother, Swarnalata Majumdar. My guess is she would have been born around 1880.
They all lived at my great great Grandmother Swarnalata’s house in Tikatuli, old Dhaka.
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Rachana Ghosh
26 Mar 2013This is indeed a wonderful picture. Could you please provide more information about Sadhana Basu and her family? I have been trying to develop the family tree from my mother’s side ( The Bose Family). I have been asking people in my family and they say that the name and the picture of sadhana basu seems very familiar. Just thought there might be a link?
looking forward for your reply
Regards
Rachana Ghosh.
Saugato
10 Jul 2013Hi Rachana,
Happy to see if we turn out to be related, which would give all my friends who roll their eyes and say “All you Bengalis are related” further ammunition. ;)
Some information that might be helpful: The Basus/Boses in question (i.e. my mother’s paternal side) had actually settled in a town called Sunamganj in Sylhet but were, I believe, originally from Barisal. So they weren’t really “from” Dhaka, but were living there. Feel free to email (sDOTdattaATgmailDOTcom) me if you want to do some more digging.
Best,
Saugato
Shuvo Brahmachari
29 May 2012Fascinating picture, and well preserved too. Who is the young girl?
Saugato
10 Jul 2013Shuvo, I don’t know her name, but in the manner of these folk who all seemed to eventually end up related by marriage, she wound up as one of my mother’s Kakimas… i.e. she eventually married the youngest brother of the man in the picture.
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