Dwipantarer Katha - The Story of Deportation: (An Account of The Life of Political Prisoners in Cellular Jail)

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AMITA RAY, a former associate professor in English is based in Kolkata. She is a translator, short story writer and poet. She has three volumes (one in collaboration) of translations of noted Bengali authors to her credit. She translated Abanindranath Tagore's KHIRER PUTUL which has been widely acclaimed and inducted into the academic curriculum of a University. She has been engaged in several translation projects of academic institutions. Her collection of short stories titled TRAIL OF LOVE AND LONGINGS was published in 2021. Her creative outpourings in poems have been featured in esteemed anthologies, online/ print magazines and journals. UNTIL BIRDS SING is her debut collection of poems.

Accounts on Indian freedom struggle, penned by the free- dom fighters, suffer from inadequacy, mainly because many freedom fighters did not find time to jot down or record their experiences. This in turn, refers to the paucity of pri- mary sources in the field of academic research on different periods of Indian freedom struggle. There are other prob- lems as well, as far as Indian freedom struggle is concerned. For instance, we know about two broader streams in which Indian freedom fighters were divided, -- the Moderates and the Extremists; but we are not aware of many prominent freedom fighters belonging to both streams. Further, the older generation of Indians have forgotten many revolu- tionaries, whereas the younger generation, below 30 years of age, have not cared to know the names of many mar- tyrs, --- not projected by Indian cinema and television who sacrificed their lives for their motherland. My studies have led me to believe that Indian freedom fighters could be stratified into the following segments: well known, mod- erately known, lesser known and unknown (or forgotten). Moreover, there are regional varieties to such stratification. A freedom fighter, moderately known in Bengal, may be unknown in Punjab or Tamil Nadu and vice versa.

Barindra Kumar Ghosh, unlike his famous and widely known elder brother Aurobindo Ghosh, is a moderately known freedom fighter, among the people of Bengal and the rest of India. In this context, Amita Ray's translation of Barindra Kumar Ghosh's Memoir "Dwipantarer Katha", originally written in Bengali, assumes enormous signif- icance, in terms of disseminating more information and knowledge on Indian freedom struggle and Indian revo- lutionaries. Ghosh's Memoir makes a very good primary source for research on Indian freedom struggle. As it was written in Bengali, a matured translation was the need of the hour for expanding the scope of knowledge and research in the area. Amita Ray's translation meets the requirements, not only for the purpose of more information, but also for rekindling memories of struggle of our freedom fighters, many of whom, like Barindra Kumar Ghosh, were qualified enough for outstanding careers and self pursuits. Instead, they plunged into the freedom struggle at a young age with a vow to free their motherland from oppressive foreign rul- ers at the cost of their lives. Memoirs like "Dwipantarer Katha" need to be translated more in as many languages as possible. It is heartening to note that Amita Ray, a well known author, academic, critic and translator, has taken up the job and made it possible for the 'Memoir' to reach a wider audience, through her efficient English translation of the book.