Burdwan : The place I was born and brought up

The 2^nd Oct blast has brought Burdwan to headlines of national and international newspapers for all sorts of wrong reasons which had made many people like me very sad.  I wanted to paint the picture of Burdwan that I was aware of so far and I felt very proud of being from Burdwan.

The name of Bardhaman city, which lends its name to the district, comes from the 24th Jain monk Tirthankar Mahavir Bardhaman. Probably Mahavir was from a village named Ajahapur situated close to the NH2, near Memari Railway Station.

 Burdwan was one of the richest districts in India till 70s due to very fertile land and mines along with Industry.  Bardhaman was important during Medieval age and while India was under British rule. This fertile land was important even during the Gupta and Sena rule. Post independence, Bardhaman became an important economic hub in West Bengal because of its location, and also due to the natural resources available in the region (esp Coal.)

Burdwan is one of the premier districts in India in terms of value of mineral. The Raniganj coalfield was the birth place of the Indian coal industry. Besides coal ,important minerals found in the district are ,iron ores, calcium carbonate, abrasives, silica bricks and moulding sands, glass sands, building materials, Manganese, Bauxite, laterite etc.

Burdwan is the birthplace of many great sons of mother India. The great freedom fighter Rashbehari Bose was born in Subaldaha village, Burdwan. Upendranath Brahmachari  was born at Sardanga village near Purbasthali. Kamalakanta was born in Bardhaman. Kazi Nazrul Islam was born in the village of Churulia near Asansol in the Burdwan District. Kashiram Das, great poet had translated the Mahabharata in Bengali. He was born at Singi village near Katwa on the end of 16th century. His work is known as Kashidasi Mahabharata.

I did my schooling from CMS School in Burdwan which was established in 1834 and I must say whatever I have achieved small or big in life is due to the foundation that I had in Burdwan from the guidance of my school teachers and my parents.

I would term Burdwan a Goldmine and  strongly believe that the common people of Burdwan must try to find the answers of these questions:

1>Who is responsible for the current state of Burdwan?

2>Why they did this to Burdwan?

3>Can they ever compensate the damage they did to Burdwan?

4>Can these evil forces still come folding their hands to seek vote from people of Burdwan and for what?

Jai Hind

Keshab Ray.