Grasshopper Chronicle

After the market incident, the great Assam andolan no longer remained the same anymore at Golakganj. Parents were extremely reluctant to allow their children to participate in the picketings and processions, the Bandhs too no longer remained the fun days, as they used to be. Whenever there would be bandhs, there would be grim unease all around. Krishna Biswas, Debajit Singha, Dilip Ray, Bablu da were the ones who were badly injured. Soon news began to do the rounds that Krishna Biswas might not even survive, he was badly injured, somebody hit him with a wooden plank right on his head, and he fell down on the ground in a flash, bleeding like a river. Everybody got scared, including the ones who had hit him. They froze for a moment and kept looking at the fallen man at their feet when they were still holding those blunt wooden pieces and iron rods as their weapons. Having realised the gravity of the situation, they fled the scene. The AASU workers who came to enforce the bandh, no longer thought it safe to go ahead with their mission, they began to watch their fallen friends stupefied. The news of the incident spread like a wildfire. It spread first as three AASU boys were beaten by the shopkeepers of Golakganj bazaar, then gradually it spread as a rumour that three of them were dead. Soon the situation became very frenzied and dramatic. Several police personnel rushed to the spot, there were police all around with their red berets. One rickety jeep with colour peeled off, arrived from Golakganj Primary Health Centre as the wounded were supposed to be taken for treatment. Some big police officials from Dhubri also arrived. The wounded AASU boys were picked up from the ground but there was not enough space for so many of them to be taken in the jeep. Somehow they were adjusted inside. In the hospital Dr. Rajat Roy, the famous doctor of Golakganj saw them, Kailash compounder gave them first aid and put bandage on their wounds, and asked the police to take them to Dhubri District Hospital.

            Soon the big van from the police station arrived, all of them were laid on the floor of the van and were taken to Dhubri hospital. By that time the parents, siblings and relatives of the wounded AASU boys arrived at the hospital. They looked nervous, almost clueless and their mothers were crying loudly. All the AASU boys gathered in the hospital and were ready to accompany their wounded comrades to the hospital. There was hardly any space for all of them to be in the police van. Yet a number of them jumped onto the van and asked the driver to proceed immediately without wasting a minute.

We began to discuss in the class the exact sequence of events—how it happened, who were the ones who had attacked our AASU leaders, how were they, and all that. After a few days, all the wounded leaders were back to school, they were our seniors. But one of them was not there to be seen. Krishna Biswas. He was badly injured, and he remained in the hospital for long.

            Manoj told, “Krishna da may not survive. He might become the first swahid of Golakganj.” “Will there be a school holiday then?” quipped Joy.

Manoj informed, “If anything of that sort happens, I heard the seniors were telling, there will be a battle against the bazaar. All of us might have to join the battle.”

Joy Kumar said, “Why against the whole bazaar? We were not even aware when it all happened.”

“Not against the whole bazaar but against the ones who attacked our AASU leaders”, Manoj assured him.

 We always liked the idea of a swahid, something very heroic. Dying for the great cause of the motherland. Like Sawihd Bhagat Singh, Swahid Kanaklata, now Swahid Khargeswar Talukdar. They died at places away from us. But now, it is too close by. Somehow the prospect of becoming a swahid was not as exciting but rather scary. We felt to protect ourselves, we must join the battle. We strongly felt that those people of the bazaar, the shopkeepers, were our enemies. Once our great andolan was successfully over, they would pack up and leave the place.

For the next few days, the situation at Golakganj bazaar became somewhat abnormal. Most of the shops would be half-open, fearing a counter-attack anytime, and the people, who used to freely go to market, would be cautious, that they might again attack if they went near those shops. But the villagers, who used to come with their vegetables, milk, eggs, beetle nuts, and rice to sell and buy the groceries, were least bothered. They were doing their stuff as usual. After selling their vegetables, rice, beetle nuts, and stuff would take tea at Balai Kundu’s tea stall, buy bidi from Bhajahari Saha’s shop, loiter around in the bazaar and go home.

After the market incident, the great Assam andolan no longer remained the same anymore at Golakganj. Parents were extremely reluctant to allow their children to participate in the picketings and processions, the Bandhs too no longer remained the fun days, as they used to be. Whenever there would be bandhs, there would be grim unease all around. Krishna Biswas, Debajit Singha, Dilip Ray, Bablu da were the ones who were badly injured. Soon news began to do the rounds that Krishna Biswas might not even survive, he was badly injured, somebody hit him with a wooden plank right on his head, and he fell down on the ground in a flash, bleeding like a river. Everybody got scared, including the ones who had hit him. They froze for a moment and kept looking at the fallen man at their feet when they were still holding those blunt wooden pieces and iron rods as their weapons. Having realised the gravity of the situation, they fled the scene. The AASU workers who came to enforce the bandh, no longer thought it safe to go ahead with their mission, they began to watch their fallen friends stupefied. The news of the incident spread like a wildfire. It spread first as three AASU boys were beaten by the shopkeepers of Golakganj bazaar, then gradually it spread as a rumour that three of them were dead. Soon the situation became very frenzied and dramatic. Several police personnel rushed to the spot, there were police all around with their red berets. One rickety jeep with colour peeled off, arrived from Golakganj Primary Health Centre as the wounded were supposed to be taken for treatment. Some big police officials from Dhubri also arrived. The wounded AASU boys were picked up from the ground but there was not enough space for so many of them to be taken in the jeep. Somehow they were adjusted inside. In the hospital Dr. Rajat Roy, the famous doctor of Golakganj saw them, Kailash compounder gave them first aid and put bandage on their wounds, and asked the police to take them to Dhubri District Hospital.

            Soon the big van from the police station arrived, all of them were laid on the floor of the van and were taken to Dhubri hospital. By that time the parents, siblings and relatives of the wounded AASU boys arrived at the hospital. They looked nervous, almost clueless and their mothers were crying loudly. All the AASU boys gathered in the hospital and were ready to accompany their wounded comrades to the hospital. There was hardly any space for all of them to be in the police van. Yet a number of them jumped onto the van and asked the driver to proceed immediately without wasting a minute.

We began to discuss in the class the exact sequence of events—how it happened, who were the ones who had attacked our AASU leaders, how were they, and all that. After a few days, all the wounded leaders were back to school, they were our seniors. But one of them was not there to be seen. Krishna Biswas. He was badly injured, and he remained in the hospital for long.

            Manoj told, “Krishna da may not survive. He might become the first swahid of Golakganj.” “Will there be a school holiday then?” quipped Joy.

Manoj informed, “If anything of that sort happens, I heard the seniors were telling, there will be a battle against the bazaar. All of us might have to join the battle.”

Joy Kumar said, “Why against the whole bazaar? We were not even aware when it all happened.”

“Not against the whole bazaar but against the ones who attacked our AASU leaders”, Manoj assured him.

 We always liked the idea of a swahid, something very heroic. Dying for the great cause of the motherland. Like Sawihd Bhagat Singh, Swahid Kanaklata, now Swahid Khargeswar Talukdar. They died at places away from us. But now, it is too close by. Somehow the prospect of becoming a swahid was not as exciting but rather scary. We felt to protect ourselves, we must join the battle. We strongly felt that those people of the bazaar, the shopkeepers, were our enemies. Once our great andolan was successfully over, they would pack up and leave the place.

For the next few days, the situation at Golakganj bazaar became somewhat abnormal. Most of the shops would be half-open, fearing a counter-attack anytime, and the people, who used to freely go to market, would be cautious, that they might again attack if they went near those shops. But the villagers, who used to come with their vegetables, milk, eggs, beetle nuts, and rice to sell and buy the groceries, were least bothered. They were doing their stuff as usual. After selling their vegetables, rice, beetle nuts, and stuff would take tea at Balai Kundu’s tea stall, buy bidi from Bhajahari Saha’s shop, loiter around in the bazaar and go home.