A charming home in Bhoot Bangla
The news in an Assamese daily about an old bungalow being razed to give way to a court complex wrenched my heart.
The building was a Britishera bungalow in Dhubri, a town on the Assam-bangladesh border. The picture of the building, turned grey with moss and neglect, made me almost call out to Dhukhia and Jhunu, the two men who maintained the bungalow. My voice fails me and I start sobbing. I grieve at the fact that much water has flown down the Brahmaputra since 1963 when I was a 12-yearold and the bungalow was our home.
It was the designated house for the resident manager of River Steam Navigation (RSN), a steamer company incorporated in London. Dad, mom, my brother and I lived in the magnificent house, happily and blessedly 58 years ago. The historic gurdwara where the ninth Sikh Master, Guru Teg Bahadur, brought about peace between the Ahom kings and the Mughals stood a few metres away. The sprawling house, spread over acres, had red floors and huge rooms with attached bathrooms, fitted with the best of amenities. The servant quarters were at the back of the house with a long cemented path leading to them. On either side of the path was the kitchen garden, in which grew beetroot, cabbage and the greenest of lettuce. Moti, the cook, served the best and the healthiest of salads and loved to bake for us.
The kitchen perpetually smelled of freshly baked cakes and cookies. Dad enjoyed entertaining and would often invite people visiting the gurdwara or staying in the adjoining Circuit House to our home for tea served in the lush lawns. Mom would often joke that people go towards the river to catch fish but her husband went fishing for guests.
Months after dad completed his tenure and got transferred to Tezpur, RSN got liquidated to be rechristened as Central Inland Water Transport Company (CIWTC). The bungalow that we vacated was claimed by the Assam government and was allotted to a judge. A litigation for ownership followed between the CIWTC and the Assam government. In 1970, however, the bungalow hit international news when the judge murdered his wife and three daughters with the help of his servant and dumped them in the bathtubs to be buried later in the backyard. The house was sealed and the judge hanged. Stories and novels got written and some movies based on the murders were made. The house came to be called Bhoot Bangla and remained vacant till the CIWTC won the case and posted dad again to Dhubri to occupy the house.
By this time, the house had lost its beauty. People stopped passing by it as some claimed to see four ghosts clad in white saris running around the house.
It took my parents months to get used to living in the same house because of its changed status. Gradually, local people gathered courage to visit the dreaded place. They did not come to see the house but the brave Punjabi couple who dared to live among the ghosts of Putuli Rajkhowa and her three daughters -- Nirmali, Jonali and Rupali -- killed by judge Upendra Nath Rajkhowa.
IT WAS THE DESIGNATED HOUSE FOR THE RESIDENT MANAGER OF RSN, A STEAMER COMPANY INCORPORATED IN LONDON. DAD, MOM, MY BROTHER AND I LIVED IN THE MAGNIFICENT HOUSE, HAPPILY AND BLESSEDLY 58 YEARS AGO