Amartya Sen reflected on his childhood days spent in Santiniketan as he sat on a wooden chair in his backyard. He recalled how he came to live there for a long time during the Second World War, the early morning walks he took with his maternal grandfather, and how this time with him sparked an interest in literature and linguistics.
On land leased by Visva-Bharati University (VBU), which Rabindranath Tagore founded in Santiniketan, a neighborhood of Bolpur in West Bengal’s Birbhum region, in 1921, his father constructed the home, Pratichi. The residence is currently at the center of a dispute with the university, which has accused Sen of occupying extra land that belongs to it and listed him on a list of those who are inhabiting the campus illegally.
Sen discussed the relevance of Santiniketan in his life during an interview. Vice-chancellor of Visva Bharati, Kshitimohan Sen, was his maternal grandfather. Sen was born in Santiniketan and later resided in Dhaka and Mandalay (both in Myanmar), before relocating to Bolpur during World War II. It was a safer choice than Kolkata and Dhaka, according to his father Ashutosh, a former professor at Dhaka University.
Sen thought back to a chat he once had with Satyajit Ray, a Visva Bharati student at Kala Bhavana, the school for the fine arts. Nandalal Bose, who is regarded as one of the founders of modern Indian art, was one of Ray’s instructors.
Sen received a letter from Visva Bharati on January 24 asking him to turn up more land that it claimed he owned. Similar notices had also been issued before by it. Sen received documentation pertaining to the property last week when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met with him. She also gave officials the order to give the Nobel laureate Z-plus security. In an interview with The Indian Express, V-C Bidyut Chakraborty stated that the documents Banerjee provided Sen were completely incorrect and immaterial.
Banerjee’s instructions were followed, and the government established a police outpost in “Pratichi”. The house is almost a popular tourist destination. Visitors were given historical explanations about the Sen family, the achievements of the economist, and even the land conflict by guides stationed outside the gate.
News Mania Desk
