The bicycle at present has change into an merchandise of luxurious and a health accent for many people. For individuals from my technology–having grown up within the late 80s and 90s–the standard bicycle would discover a point out in our mother and father’ nostalgia journeys, famed tales of how they travelled from one finish of a metropolis or city to a different on them. I’d typically hear my mom and her siblings wax lyrical about their father’s (my grandfather) bicycle, which is a continuing companion in so a lot of his previous photos. Since all of my mom’s sisters lived in New Delhi. I’d typically hear about my grandfather, the late Atulya Kumar Banerjee’s travels’, notably about an epic bicycle journey that he undertook in his 20’s from Calcutta to Kashmir in 1933.

My maternal uncle or Mama, Aurobindo Banerjee, a retired IRS officer informed me all about it after noticing my rising curiosity after my older brother and I found a set of letters and photos tucked away in a cabinet at residence, belonging to my late mother and father. My uncle and my youngest aunt (my mom’s youthful siblings) confirmed me an impeccably stored journal my grandfather and his mates stored of their bicycle journey, amusingly titled ‘Speedy Stars’.

The diary is full with photos from the beginning of the journey (they have been flagged off with a lot fanfare), to cautious cataloguing of the whole journey. It seems to be extra like a traditional pocket book, the sort you and I’ll have taken to high school. Its hardbound cowl neatly contained in a shiny sheet of colored paper.

“The diary, together with a number of different gadgets was handed over to me by my father’s good friend and reporter for the Speedy Stars, Romani Mohan Mitra. He was my maternal grandfather’s scholar and that’s how he knew my father. They have been very shut mates and I suppose he knew of my curiosity in historical past and such issues”, says my uncle (mama).

In comparison with the frayed and tattered letters and items of paper with the ink barely legible, this diary feels newer than my notebooks would presently. The diary is probably solely half-full, with a mix of images (that are worn out and the individuals together with my grandfather are barely recognisable) and newspaper articles caught to them with detailed descriptions of every.

The journey began on 12 March 1933, on the day of Dol Jatra (Holi) and was accomplished on 27 April 1933. Dadu and the remainder of his group made it to their vacation spot after a couple of month and a half, with loads of the journey taking them by means of what’s now Pakistan. “The cash collected from the cyclists for the tour amounted to Rs 250. This could have been some huge cash at present, virtually Rs 2,50,000, I imagine”, says mama. Additionally they raised donations from different individuals and offered images, in response to the information within the diary.

Nobody in my household might inform me rather a lot concerning the origins of the membership, however from the newspaper articles within the diary, it says that it was like a health membership of kinds, and so they have been making an attempt sure velocity and endurance information too. Why did they do it?

“Journey. Plain and easy journey. He was a author. A inventive individual delves into all this stuff,” mama says. Mama is extraordinarily passionate and a eager author himself. He tried to get particulars of the journey revealed within the Indian Specific a number of years in the past however to no avail.

The sights they noticed…

Three pages include particulars of the journey: the members of Speedy Stars who undertook the journey, the monetary contributions they made or the fund that have been collected, and particulars of when the journey started and from the place. They handed vital locations like Asansol, Bagodar, Sasaram, Benaras, Allahabad, Kawnpore (now Kanpur), Kannauj, Brindaban (now Vrindavan), Delhi, Karnal, Moga, Firozpur and Lahore throughout this journey.

Whereas the diary doesn’t point out too many particulars concerning the group members, one of many newspaper clippings quotes Mr P Mullick, Secretary of the Speedy Stars Membership, as saying that “the membership has been organised with the aim of giving an impetus to the sporting spirit and younger males who’ve a particular liking for sports activities.” Mama says that Mr P Mullick couldn’t go on the journey with the group. Possibly this handwriting is his and he began sustaining this whereas the others have been away.

Footage in entrance of the Purple Fort in Delhi, the Taj Mahal, a junction at Sialkot, the Dal Lake and the Shankaracharya temple in Srinagar are some locations which are evident from the photographs. The journal additionally incorporates clippings from now-defunct newspapers like Liberty, Advance and the Amrita Bazar Patrika.

One other article revealed in Liberty with an attention-grabbing caption – ‘4 Bengalees’ Lure of Journey’ – experiences of the group’s arrival at Cawnpore (Kanpur) from Fatehpur. “All of them have been in excessive spirits, wonderful well being and good moods. They described their thrilling expertise of the journey which led by means of hills and forests… the younger males halted for 36 hours (on the Bengali Union) and have been taken care of with nice consideration and care. At daybreak on the twenty ninth ultimo (of final month) they joyously rode and whirled their wheels off in direction of Etawah amidst cheering, shouts and prayers. The Members of the Union pray that the younger adventurers could take pleasure in good well being and sustain their spirits to perform safely their daring enterprise.”

The diary is nearly scrapbook-like, very similar to how I’d make my very own diaries of quite a few Cricket and Soccer World Cups, I’d maintain a file of at school, with out ever realizing about my grandfather’s book-keeping methods. It’s unclear as to how lengthy the Speedy Stars continued for (the membership seems to have had a registered deal with), or how profitable they have been in championing the reason for sports activities and bodily health.

The bike: my grandfather’s trustworthy companion

My grandfather, Atulya Kumar Banerjee, was born in Burdwan (Bardhaman) on 10 June 1910 and moved to New Delhi from Kanchrapara in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal in 1952 together with his job within the railways. Together with his spouse and 6 youngsters in tow (my mom was the second oldest and would have been eight or 9), Dadu moved to the Railway colony at Tilak Bridge. Nevertheless, his date of delivery on the India-Pakistan passport issued to him in 1955 is completely different – 1 August 1911. This passport was issued to him as a result of his job took him to Pakistan for work a number of instances.

He had dabbled with modifying and publishing his personal journal, a Bengali literary journal referred to as Rikta, which ran from 1932-1935, a career my nice grandfather had been in earlier than him. Maybe he by no means received the popularity; a set of his manuscripts and writings stay unpublished, stored lovingly by my uncle and aunts.

Rikta coated primarily literature, politics and present affairs of the time. These are primarily copies of the originals with the covers lacking. My uncle donated fairly a number of of those to the Aurobindo Ashram a while again. Dadu used a pen identify, Shree Shebok, for this, however apparently, his contact data as editor and writer is talked about on the backside of the final web page of the journal. You’ll be able to see some fascinating ads within the journal too, for quintessential gadgets like ointments and tea and Boroline, in fact!

There are a number of photos of my grandfather alongside together with his beloved bike, after he had been married; it remained a trustworthy companion for a few years. In keeping with my uncle, “He (like his mates accompanying him on the journey) had very strange cycles, largely second hand, as have been then out there in these days, years earlier than indigenous manufacturing actions began. I don’t precisely bear in mind if he ever opened up on the journey (or on the Bengali journal he began round that point) to us. But when it was the identical one we noticed and was with him till it was stolen a number of years earlier than his demise in 1984, it was an beautiful piece – a British Humber with a deal with with a pure brass handgrip. He was extraordinarily possessive about it and meticulously maintained it, although I used it extensively. Your mom too rode it.”

There’s one other particular factor about this bicycle journey my uncle tells me, “My maternal great-grandfather, Balai Deb Sharma, was a newspaper editor and a revolutionary. He went to jail fairly a number of instances and funnily sufficient he met my grandfather in 1933 on the first cease of the bicycle journey in Burdwan. Actually, my grandfather promised him then itself that he would marry my grandmother.” Mama has heard this story from his mom.

I typically take a look at tales of Partition or when India was underneath British rule and never lots of people speak about adventures and discovery by the youth, in all probability as a result of individuals had different priorities.

A lot of the articles spotlight the reception they acquired from individuals wherever they made their pitstops – largely at Bengali golf equipment. I’ve a fascination for journey, not solely to expertise a brand new place however the journey that takes me there and what one finds out alongside the way in which. Dadu’s image with the bicycle has a shikaari shambhu look to it, however that’s how I entertain myself when trying by means of such issues. It’s no coincidence that I made my first motorbike journey in 2008 at across the similar age my grandfather would have been in 1933.

(Textual content by Tanmoy Mookherjee, phrases by Aurobindo Banerjee, images by Tanmoy Mookherjee and Navdha Malhotra. This text was first revealed on The Museum of Materials Reminiscence).