Aparajita: You know, whenever one talks of North Bengal, it is Darjeeling - the snow-capped mountains, beautiful forest bungalows, tea estates that comes to one’s mind. Next is Siliguri and NJP (New Jalpaiguri Station). So whenever I told someone that my husband is from Siliguri, who was born in Naxalbari …there was no apparent excitement… just the opposite a sudden dead silence. One obviously associates Naxalbari with Naxalbari movement and Naxalism. I always wondered what it was like to be born in Naxalbari… to live in a place that gave its name to a movement, movement of a particular type… radical and revolutionary. So how do you see the place Naxalbari and your life there…how long did you live there?
Rajib: Yes I was born in Naxalbari …show more content…
And these people are not academics but are ordinary people from various occupations. And would then elaborate that such and such babu who helped that sahib for that survey, he himself wrote another book later…and they will come and say, do you want a photocopy of this? And he will happily give you a photocopy as …show more content…
It’s like a far away distant land which is exotic and its not only the scenic beauty that attracts Bengalis but it is that unknown exotic past that attracts them most…you fear it and at the same time you love it as well. Fear and Love both enmeshed into one another. This is something, which I see reflected in the people of North Bengal themselves. So when they discuss and write…they are in a way trying to rediscover themselves by rewriting the past. And while engaging and rewriting the past; the colonial archives play a central
Rajib: Yes I was born in Naxalbari …show more content…
And these people are not academics but are ordinary people from various occupations. And would then elaborate that such and such babu who helped that sahib for that survey, he himself wrote another book later…and they will come and say, do you want a photocopy of this? And he will happily give you a photocopy as …show more content…
It’s like a far away distant land which is exotic and its not only the scenic beauty that attracts Bengalis but it is that unknown exotic past that attracts them most…you fear it and at the same time you love it as well. Fear and Love both enmeshed into one another. This is something, which I see reflected in the people of North Bengal themselves. So when they discuss and write…they are in a way trying to rediscover themselves by rewriting the past. And while engaging and rewriting the past; the colonial archives play a central