The Sleeping Dictionary (73 page)

F
irst, I must thank my parents, Subir Kumar Banerjee and Karin Banerjee Parekh, for temporarily removing me from elementary school in order to join my father’s three-month sabbatical to India. I still treasure my illustrated diary recounting the unforgettable experience with my sisters, Rekha and Claire Banerjee: from giant lizards in the garden to mosquito net beds, Amul cheese, and kumkum. Since that happy period in 1973–74, I’ve traveled to India four more times, but I doubt I’d feel as strongly called to India if I hadn’t had that marvelous childhood introduction. I am grateful to the many relatives in our Banerjee clan, based in Kolkata and Jamshedpur, especially my aunt Sumitra Sengupta and my cousin Gautam Sengupta, who smoothed the way for me into India’s National Library. More relatives—the Chatterjees of Midnapur—kindly welcomed me to their historic hometown, Kharagpur, and Digha. Dr. Bharat Parekh, my mother’s husband, shared some great freedom-fighting stories from elder relatives that inspired my account of Kamala’s and the Sens’ activities.

I also received very special assistance from my father’s wife, Dr. Manju Parikh, whose family has been established in Kolkata since the 1970s. Manju’s mother, Padmaben Parikh, and her sister,
Hemantika Puri, both recently died and are very much missed. I was so lucky to know them and will always be grateful for their introductions that led to my connecting with wonderful experts on the city, among them Sunita Kumar, who brought me into Middleton Mansions; Moina Jhala, the Browsers, Tiku and Rekha Ashar, who know College Street so well. Dr. Dilip K. Roy, a retired surgeon and my father’s best friend from childhood, gave stories and reading suggestions, as did his son, Kaushik, and daughter-in-law, Dina. Damayanti Lahiri and her mother, the artist Shanu Lahiri, gave me a delicious taste of the city’s intellectual-social energy. Thanks also to Rajashri Daspupta and Sushil Khanna for their hospitality and suggestions of historic walking tours, and Professor Madhu Mitra for helping with Tagore titles.

Several scholars of Indian history steered me to places I would never have found on my own. Geraldine Forbes, distinguished teaching professor at SUNY Oswego, inspired me with her memoirs of Bengal’s women freedom fighters and gave me a kind introduction to the Oxford historian and former Gandhian activist, Tapan Raychaudhuri, who was generous enough to meet with me during his winter visit to Kolkata. Dr. Forbes also referred me to Professor Krishna Bose, the director of the Netaji Bhawan (and a former Member of Parliament and daughter-in-law of the late Sarat Bose), who graciously spoke at length with me about Bose family history at the Netaji Bhawan. Also during my Kolkata visit, I was blessed to have met Dr. Durba Ghosh of Cornell University, who shared information about the lives of jailed freedom fighters. Dr. Parna Sengupta of Stanford University offered insights into missionary schools in India. Dr. Hari Vasudevan, director of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, gave a good picture of the social and international ferment during wartime. More details of old city culture came from Dr. Sweta Gosh of Saint Xavier’s sociology department. Dr. Usha Thakkar, honorable secretary of the Mani Bhavan Gandhi Museum in Mumbai, gave me a wonderful house tour in Mumbai and an explanation of Gandhiji’s role in the
freedom movement. At Loreto College, I was happy to learn about the history of girls’ education in India from Dr. Anuradha Chatterji, and I am appreciative to the faculty of La Martiniere Girls school to allow my visit to their beautiful, historic building. Mrs. Flower Silliman, a longtime teacher in Kolkata, used her fantastic memory to help me write accurately about the cultural life of the 1940s, from diamond rings to nightclubs. To the librarians at India’s National Library’s reading room near the Esplanade, many thanks for hauling down all those old
Amrita Bazar Patrika c
opies—and the cups of tea!

The Sleeping Dictionary
also took me to London. Before I’d reached the India Office archives held by the British Library, librarian Hedley Sutton alerted me to recently declassified files from a secret intelligence unit operating within the ICS’s Bengal division. Thanks to him, Mr. Lewes found a profession!

Unbelievably, there really was a gentleman like Mr. Lewes—that is, a passionate collector of books and printed material related to the British rule of India. The real collector came from Saint Paul, Minnesota, and his name was Charles Lesley Ames. At the turn of the century, Mr. Ames began reading about India, and this led to his collecting books and government records of British India. In 1961, he donated more than twenty-five hundred books to the University of Minnesota, which established the Ames Library of South Asia, which has become one of the foremost Indian libraries outside of India. At the Ames Library, I received tireless and frequent guidance from its librarian David Faust. I also appreciated the efforts of my inspiring University of Minnesota Hindi teacher, Nadim Asrar, now a journalist working with the
Times of India
in New Delhi.

Research is the fun part of writing a historical novel. Sitting through dozens of rewrites is the hard part. I couldn’t have pulled it together without my Minneapolis writers group: Gary Bush, Heidi Skarie, Maureen Fischer, and Stanley Trollip and Judy Borger. Also: the writers Neroli Lacey for her expertise on Britain, and Joyce Lebra for her insights on women in the INA. Subin Banerjee shared
childhood stories of wartime Calcutta, and Karin Banerjee Parilch did a thorough copy-edit.

Online research put me in touch with so many knowledgeable people. Members of the India-British Raj LISTSERV that is organized by Harshawardhan Bosham Nimkhedkar within
rootsweb.com
, were able to answer detailed questions about wartime raids, school life, cars, and restaurants in 1930s and 40s Calcutta. My generous online helpers on the Anglo-Indian colonial experience include Nick Balmer, Sunny Kalara, Kabita Chhibber, Sylvia Staub, Doreen Grezoux, John Feltham, Warren O’Rourke, Dr. Stanley Brush, Blair Williams, and Roy Wildemuth, the assistant curator of the Antique Wireless Association’s military collection. Anyone else I missed: my apologies, and I owe you a gin-lime!

I am so grateful for the steadfast support of Vicky Bijur, who has been encouraging me to write about India for more than a decade, and to editor extraordinaire Kathy Sagan for believing in this book, and her assistant, Natasha Simons. Most of all to my beloved husband, Tony, and our children, who understand my mental and physical absences. To every one of you:
Shukria.
Thank you so very much.

Sujata Banerjee Massey

AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPH BY TEDDY MEDIA

SUJATA MASSEY
is a former newspaper journalist and author of ten award-winning mystery novels. Born in England to a mother from Germany and a father from an old Calcutta family, she now lives near Washington, D.C., with her husband and children.Visit her on the web at
www.sujatamassey.com
.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

I read many books about India’s history (in English) in preparation for writing this novel. I’ve listed most of them below along with the chapters where they appear. Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry has appeared in many collections and anthologies and on many websites. I’ve used the most widely known titles, English and Bengali (if available to me) and the year of original Bengali publication and the name of that publication if I could locate it. Other important books that I used in research, but did not directly quote from, are listed as well.

Book I
:
Tagore, Rabindranath. “Golden Boat,” 1894.

Chapter 1
:
Tagore, Rabindranath. “The Flower Says,”
Chandalika,
1938.

Chapter 2
:
Tagore, Rabindranath. “Sea Waves,” 1887.

Chapters 3
and
10
, and
Book III
:
Denning, Margaret Beahm.
Mosaics from India: Talks About India, Its Peoples, Religions and Customs.
Fleming H. Revell Company, 1902.

Book II
:
Tagore, Rabindranath. “Two Birds,” 1894.
One Hundred and One: Poems
. Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1966.