Acid Jars and Tiger claws - Part 1

This one's a bitter pill but something that needed a vent. In the late 80's, I'd spend the afternoons lazing beside my beautiful grandmother for a post lunch chat.She would help herself to some betel leaf from her mother's brass container(which is now with me). I'd wait eagerly for her to share her memories of youth and her recollections of life in an undivided Bengal. The conversation would centre around the Partition.. I was privy to her memories, a mix of sweet and sour, mostly acrid and unpleasant. Something in me made her confide. 

My grandparents belonged to the erstwhile aristocracy of East Bengal, that was dissolved and it's people displaced with ruthless precision due to the shortsightedness of the politics of power. My grandfather's family came from Jessore, my grandmother's family was from Barisal , both in undivided Bengal. My grandmother's father was a well known lawyer in Barisal. They grew up in great abundance but with even greater humility. She recalled the house in Jessore that she stepped into as a young bride just after completing her Intermediate. It was a red bricked double storied house with French windows and black marbled floors. The property comprised crop fields,ponds,fruit orchards and horses that my great grandfather loved to ride. The produce from the fields and the catch from the ponds catered to the needs of the household and the rest was given to villagers at nominal rates.

The family performed the Durga Puja in the house and the villagers were fed the 'bhog' in makeshift tents for 5 days. 

The utopia did not last too long. The Partition of Bengal resulted in the largest exodus in recorded human history. About 8 million people were displaced and worse, it shattered all notions of identity. People were forced to live as refugees in their own country. In a bid to flee, properties were put up at distress sales. Our house in Jessore was given away for an unrealistically paltry sum of a few hundred rupees. The land, was left behind. In most cases, properties were abandoned and occupied by strangers.I was told that our family just made it through with enough to buy a house in Calcutta.My great grandfather was a gynecologist in the British Indian army. He retired as a Captain. His knowledge and resources enabled him to set up his own practice at the house he bought in Calcutta on Harish Mukherji road. 

Helping herself onto another betel leaf, grandma asked me to water the plants growing in the ceramic acid jars in our house.On being asked about these jars, her face became grim.She revealed that when the riots broke out, houses would be stocked with acid jars and women would use it to intimidate dangerous intruders. While going to school , girls would fend off molesters with the 'bagh nakh' - it was a metallic claw like weapon that was worn in the fingers and remained hidden in the palm. It could tear open the enemy in an instant. The unspeakable atrocities against women during the Partition prompted such self defence.