Kishanganj: Insan School & Dr. Syed Hasan [Part 10]

Contributed by: Dr. Equbal Wajid

[An extract from the author’s autobiography]

In 1984 the School was extended in class-wise campus. Each class had its separate staff room, hostel, kitchen, dining hall and play ground all in one campus. Dr. Syed Hasan told us that is a first kind of experiment in Education in India that we are running autonomous class wise schools. The 4th and 5th class was running in separate campus. Ist, 2nd  and 3rd, had a separate campus, class 6th, 7th and 9th were shifted in separate campuses. Mr. Raghuwans Prasad was the in-charge of class 4^th  and 5^th. Usmani Bhai was the in-charge of 6^th class campus. Mr Jehangir Malick was in-charge of 7^th class campus.  The 9^th class was opposite to the College. In its start Mr.Shahab Saharwardi was the in-charge of this campus. Class 10^th was kept in at the entrance, under the eyes of Dr. Syed Hasan.

The College was finally shifted along the

Bahadurganj Road

near ‘Singhiya’ village. It took more than half an hour for us to go on foot form School to College stepping on school’s own land. There were two ponds in the campus which were being used for fisheries. Once, small fishes in many hundred packed tins came from Calcutta for fishery and were put in the pond. At  the same time rumors were heard among the communal Hindus of the town that huge quantity of Bombs has been brought to Insan School. Dr. Syed Hasan played a successful trick to stop the rumor. When the news was on the peak he ignored the supply line to the kitchen and let the students and teachers go starve.  Two or three times meal was not cooked. As a result now everybody was talking about the starvation and not about the Bombs. Dr. Syed Hasan told us later that how beautifully he defused the rumor.

The big pond always looked beautiful. I, along with Jahangir Bhai use to sit on its shore and talk about our futures. We often talk about Dr. Syed Hasan. Whenever I looked on its water I enjoyed a lot. We watch the fishes swimming in the water. Sometimes in the evening some fishes jump high from the water into the air. We enjoyed this scene. Sometimes some fishes jump on the road and were caught by passers. Once I saw a fish leaped on the road. It was a big Garai [ a kind of fish]. That time I was going to the town I hadn’t  any kind of bag with me to carry the fish so a passer from the near village took hold of the fish. 

A tragedy is also attached to this pond. One day at Tiffin time a resident-student of class 6xth or 7th went down the water and died. It was the rainy season. The VIP’s of Kishanganj came to school to look for the situation. Dr. Syed Hasan was of the mind that the student should be buried in Kishanganj, but Dr. Qamrul Huda a VIP and a sympathizer of the School advised him to send the corpse to the parents. Dr. Qamrul Huda said:

“JISKI AMANAT HAI US KO WAPAS KAR DI JAEY”

[The dead body must be returned to the parent]

On the advice of Dr.Qmrul Huda, Dr. Syed Hasan revoked his decision to bury the child in Kishanganj and decided to send the dead body to the parent. Teachers took it as a big risk to go along the dead body. They were afraid that something may happen wrong with the teachers who will escort the dead body of the child. Ali Imam Bhai, a Science Teacher declared that he will go along the dead body. He said:

“If ,at the least, the parent of the dead child will kill me in ambush, I am ready to go”.

I also asked to go with the dead body. Raghuwans Parasad a Hindu teacher and a loyal to Dr. Syed Hasan also intended to go with us. By 11:00 or 12:00 am an ambassador and a fiat car were hired for the task. The postmortem had been done and travel documents to carry the dead body had been taken from the police. I sat on the back seat of the Fiat, close to the left door and took the head of the child in my lap. It was nearly 350 kilometer journey by road. The student was from a village in Barh District.

In Purnea town, we purchased a big ice part and put it on the back seat of the car, and put the dead body up on it. The two cars moved in grave darkness. Time to time we see the head lights of trucks or other vehicles and nothing else.  It was raining all the way. There was no telephonic contact with the parent. The locality to which the parents belong was horrific. People fear to travel in the area in night. All along the way we faced  nothing wrong. By 11:30 night we stopped our cars beside the

High Way

. The village where we had to go was one Kilometer away from the high way. We find someone and asked him to guide us. He guided us to the village. It was12:00 night. Two of us stayed waiting in the car with the dead body. Passing through different narrow streets we reached near  a house. The guide told us.

“YEH GHAR HAI” [This is the house].

Now it was 12:00 night. There were silence all around, only our foot steps can be heard clearly. We knocked the door. The voice of an old woman came in response:

“KAUN HAI?” [Who is there”]

“HUM LOG ……..  INSAN SCHOOL ……..SE …….AAEY ………HAIEN” [We….. have …..come …..from……. Insan School].  We answered.

The old woman kept silence for a while then asked in a shivering voice:

“KIYA ……BAAT……….HAI”?  [ What…… is ……the….. matter?]

“JI HAAN….. KUCH BAAT …..HAI. ….KOI ….MARD …..HAI ….TO …..BAHAR …..BHEHJIYE….” [Yes, ……there is something ……if there  ….is…… any …..male member …….inside…… send him.]

“KOI MARD NAHIEN HAI BETA YHAN KOI NAHI RAHTA HAI’[No male member is here inside. Nobody lives here.] She said.

“AAP….. KA LARKA…. KISHANGANJ …..MEIN ….PARHTA…. HAI” [ Does your ….son study… in Kishaganj?] We asked.

Then the old lady started crying.:

“ KIYA ……HUA ….MERE….. BETE ……KO” [What …..happened….. to…. My….. child?]

She sobbed.

We kept silent …………..

She comprehended the matter and was unable to get her sob back. She cried loudly. Then the guide told her the fact. We came to know that the address written in the School register was not of the parent but of the village where the grandmother [maternal] of the boy was staying. She told us to take the dead body to his father’s village. One of their relatives came with us to guide. It was the month of Ramadan. The other village was 12 km far from here. We reached their easily. The news relayed to his house. The boy’s mother was there. His father was in Calcutta. As it was the month of Ramadan{Fasting] they may have finished their Sahari [ the meal to be taken before first light to keep fasting]. We took the dead body and moved slowly between mud and dirt, and at last we reached the house. It was a big house. There was a big door widely opened towards the yard. As we stepped into the house carrying the dead body,  we heard the sob and cry of the mother and other women. In the mean time the call for the morning prayer was going on from a nearby mosque.  

It was a highly pathetic  and horrifying scene I ever witnessed. The father of the child was informed through telephone, He was a brave and bold man. He said that he is just starting from Calcutta. By 11 o’clock the father came. He was a man of tolerance. I don’t saw him crying. He had patience. He was quite. He saw the dead body of his son, some drops of tears fell down over his cheek . After a while we offered prayer for the Corpse and buried the child. It was now 3:00 pm. The father asked us to take rest but we took his permission and  left them and started back for Kishanganj.

[to be continued…..]

Disclaimer: The content of the article is the personal views / experience of the author (contributor). Kishanganj Blog (Md Mudassir Alam) is not responsible for any type of personal remarks or any objectionable statement made by the author.