It always a happy feeling to see young Bengali historians, authors and scholars undertake stellar and indefatigable research to unearth and rediscover forgotten and yet inspiring episodes from history, especially that of the freedom struggle in India.

Was happy to meet Dr Debraj Bhattacharya, young historian and author with a keen sense of archival research. His latest book “Step Aside: the Last Few Days of Deshbandhu’s Life in Darjeeling”, published in Bengali and English, is a very well documented account of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das’s last days.

Unarguably one of the greatest mass leaders of pre-independence India and of Bengal, Deshbandhu had spent his last months in Darjeeling where he passed away on June 16, 1925 at the age of 54. Dr Debraj’s account is a moving record of those final weeks.

The book, published by the well-known Kolkata based publisher D.M.Library, is full of interesting anecdotes and details from archives and memoirs and makes it the first of its kind in recent times.

Among the many eminent people it refers to is an essay “Asutosh and Chittaranjan- a study” by educationist & freedom fighter Nripendra Chandra Banerjee. In it Banerjee writes: “Bengal seeks a synthesis – Asutosh’s brain and Chittaranjan’s heart, the coordinated play of intellect and love, the correlated flow and fruition of shakti and prema…”

Looking forward to reading it, and looking forward to seeing more such work from the author.

SOURCE

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