Resilience and Freedom- IDC Seminar Report on India In British Period - Part I

The seminar trail of India Discovery Center reached the British Period on a bright sunny morning on 30^th November 2019 at Bemis Hall, Lincoln.  It was the seventh all-day seminar of a series entitled “Let us explore the Cultural History of India” that started with the examination of Indus Period in July 2016.   While India has been written about by many foreign visitors, rarely it has been studied by people of Indian descent. India Discovery Center attempts to create a forum of education for the youth and public world-wide on the topics of culture and heritage of India. About eighty people from the community in various professions and groups attended the meeting.  The day had samples of period music, special lectures and presentations on six tracks as done in previous seminars.  

The Seminar on the British Period opened with invocational hymns by Guru Resham Singh of the Guru Nanak Gurudwara in Medford, Ma.  The solemn voice of the singer brought songs of devotion and cultural nostalgia to the meeting. 

Dr Bijoy Misra, President of India Discovery Center welcomed all and gave a summary of the seminars held in the past sessions.  He introduced the IDC volunteers and thanked the sponsors for contributions to the seminar efforts.  

This report is divided into two parts.  In Part I, we cover the guest lectures and the musical offerings.  The Part II will cover the presentations in six tracks as in previous seminars.  As we will see in part II, Resilience and Freedom became the dominant traits during the struggle for independence.

Guest Lectures:

The first lecture “India’s Freedom, 1947” was offered by Mr Mool Raj Mathur, the nonagenarian community member, who was present at the freedom assembly in Delhi in 1947.    He recollected his time as a student in Hindu College, Delhi in the 1940’s and his activities as a student agitator against the British.  He narrated his experiences in public marches and described the agitations and the police charge. Several pictures of the period were presented.

Mr. Mathur was presented with a plaque from India Discovery Center for his long years of community service and efforts in promoting art and culture in the local community.  Both of his daughters, his sister, other family members and many grandchildren were present to participate in the felicitations.

The second lecture “The Partition of India - a Personal Story” was offered by Dr Bhagwan Shahani, Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine in University of Illinois at Chicago.   He narrated his family’s departure from their ancestral home in Karachi through the sea.  The family arrived in Mumbai and took shelter in friends’ houses.  After a few years, they managed to create their own home in the new community.  Dr Shahani did good in school.  The trauma of displacement brought strength and resilience in his life.  He has been an example of immigrant’s hard work and success in the west.  He showed pictures of massive displacement of people through trains and road traffic in 1947.

The third lecture “People to People – Kartarpur Sahib Corridor” was offered by Mr. Zahir Ali, an immigrant from Pakistan who worked for Raytheon co. and currently operates his own consulting company.   He talked about the division of Punjab.  He was nostalgic about the affinity of Punjabi people across the border.  He particularly cited the transport and amenities offered by the Government of Pakistan at the recently constructed site of Sikh pilgrimage at Kartarpur Sahib in Punjab. He urged similar gestures be offered by Government of India in sites of Islamic pilgrimage across the border in India.

Musical offerings:

In the morning session, two vocalists from the community - Ms. Sudhira Misra and Ms. Namrata Mohanty offered two period songs, both composed in the early part of twentieth century.  The first song in Sanskrit was composed by Poet Radhanath Rai (1848-1908) “O’ My Mother India! The eternal shelter to Man! We should uphold your honor, in whatever capacity we can!” The second song in Odia was composed by Poet Madhusudan Rao (1853-1912) - “O’ my mother India, we offer our services at your feet.  We cry with you and our happiness is linked to yours! We salute you!”  The songs were put to music by Ms. Swati Panda of Raganjali School of Music in Shrewbury, MA. 

Mr. Maneesh Srivastava from the South Asian Poets of New England recited the Hindustani poem used by the rebelling soldiers during the Indian Mutiny in 1857. 

“This land is ours, we love it more than our life!  It shines the world and we are its owners!” The poetic sentiment shone through the words and the diction.

“Freedom songs in Bengali” was a musical rendering of the spirited Bengali revolutionary songs by Anushree Paul, Jayashree SenChaudhuri, Shivaramakrishnan, Rahul Ray, led by Swapna Ray of Swaralipi Academy of Music, Wayland, MA. The presentation included melodious Akla Cholo Re, the song by Rabindranath Tagore, “If nobody gives you a hand, walk alone!!  Walk alone!” and Chal Chal Chal song of Kazi Nazrul Islam “O’ young man! March forward!  We will bring new light, there would be a new day!  March, young man, march!” 

The concluding music was offered by the Swaranjajli Music Group, based in Chinmaya Mission at Andover, MA.  Naresh Parmar led the group and Ravi Mosurkal, Laxmi Ramesh, Madhusudhan Akkihebbal, Rakshit Mazumdar Ramesh Yalakkishettar, Raghav Ranjan participated as vocalists. Popular nationalist songs in various Indian languages were strung together as a joyful musical medley.  The audience participated in sing-along compositions through much of the presentation.

Dr. Satyendra Sharma, the Executive Director of IDC, proposed a Vote of thanks acknowledging help from the Town of Lincoln and the Council of Aging in the Town.  Chandu Shah helped with the printing of seminar papers and Leo Rosseau helped with video-recording.  The research and intellectual help of many in the seminar preparation was acknowledged.

India Discovery Center is a nonprofit educational organization based in Lincoln, MA.  More information can be obtained through the website https://www.indiadiscoverycenter.org.

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