“There is a corner of a foreign field that is forever India...” - The Chattri Memorial Service – 9 June 2013

August 2014 will mark the centenary of the beginning of the First World War. With each decade that passes our understanding of the conflict fades but one cannot forget the cost in lives. When I first began to read history I thought writers had made errors of magnitude: just on the first day of The Battle of the Somme in 1916 there were 19,000 British deaths. French and German casualties were even higher. It is hoped that as the anniversary approaches there will be more awareness of the sacrifices made.

While the First World War was an almost exclusively European conflict, over a million Indians (from what now comprises modern day India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) fought for the British Empire in the European theatre from Flanders to Salonika. Of those it is believed 43,000 were killed and 65,000 wounded[1]. During the Second World War 87,000 Indian servicemen were killed[2], having fought in campaigns in Europe, Africa and the Far East. A number of Indians fought in the Battle of Britain as Spitfire pilots. There are Indian cemeteries and memorials scattered all over the world.

In a couple of weeks the Chattri Memorial near Brighton will be holding a service to the memory of Indian soldiers who fought on the Western Front in the First World War. The memorial was built in the aftermath of the First World War as 12,000 Indians who were wounded in battle were taken to hospitals in the Brighton area. Tragically a number died of their wounds: 53 Hindus and Sikhs were cremated on a site on the Sussex Downs at Patcham and it is on this site that the memorial was built. In addition, Muslim soldiers were buried at Woking.

While any wartime death is a tragedy these Indians died in unique circumstances.  They were fighting for an Empire that subjugated their countrymen, they were often uneducated and illiterate, with perhaps very little understanding of the conflict that had brought them thousands of miles from home. They had been gravely wounded and ferried across the Channel, and perhaps they had an expectation that they would recover and be able to go home. Sadly that was not to be. Perhaps their families had little idea what had happened as communications were very slow by today’s standards.

In these circumstances it is important that we remember these sacrifices and those made by servicemen of all nations particularly with such a poignant anniversary on the horizon. I hope you may be able to read about the Chattri Memorial (www.chattri.com) and attend the memorial service.

[1] http://europeanhistory.about.com/cs/worldwar1/a/blww1casualties.htm

[2] Commonwealth War Graves Commission

 

The Tagore Festival

[caption id="attachment_517" align="alignleft" width="225"] Statue of Tagore, Gordon Square[/caption]

Sue and I paid a very quick visit to the Tagore Centre’s Tagore Festival in Gordon Square, central London yesterday afternoon. The Tagore Centre organised the Festival in particular to commemorate the centenary of the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Tagore.

Rabindranath Tagore is revered in both West Bengal and Bangladesh as a cultural icon: a writer and poet of the highest merit as well as a distinguished musical composer responsible for the canon of work known as Rabindra Sangeet. Tagore’s family hailed from East Bengal in the area that is now Bangladesh, where they were landowners. Despite being sent to look after the ancestral lands Tagore devoted himself to culture from an early age. He was also a Brahmo, a member of an organisation that advocated Hindu reform. Tagore travelled widely across the world and espoused a form of Asian co-operation. He is most famous for Gitanjali, a series of poems which were received with awe by English poets when they were translated into English, and which prompted his Nobel Prize. In addition, Tagore composed the national anthems for both India and Bangladesh.

On a personal note my father sang Tagore songs from his teenage years. Apparently he sang at friends’ weddings and social events in Calcutta. But with a busy life and career when he came to the UK such cultural activities took a backseat. However, close to retirement my father began to play and sing again using an accordion and taking music lessons. At my father’s funeral a number of his contemporaries played and sang in memory of him.

The Tagore Festival took place in a corner of a busy square full of lunching students and office workers who sadly had little interest in the proceedings. We saw some classical dances, songs from Rabindra Sangeet, and a number of readings. Dr John Stevens of SOAS, quite bravely we thought, read in Bengali from Tagore’s diaries in addition to reading from Gitanjali in English.

There were a few stalls around the stage selling food, paintings, and Tagore texts. After a brief stay and eating a few samosas we left with the impression that this was an opportunity lost.  The Festival was sadly lacking in vision and organisation. Whilst it is appreciated that the event was to commemorate Tagore, this could have been the focus together with a more commercial approach to the other stands and activities. So, for example, the Festival could have been combined with Kolkata or Indian Street Food, and other types of music. Regular readers will know how much we have enjoyed Indian musicians in London but Tagore is probably still an acquired taste appreciated the most by those from a Bengali background. This was an opportunity to really bring Tagore to life, to educate the wider audience about his life and work. The Festival might have been more of a success had it taken place on a weekend - it was attended mainly by more mature first generation immigrants. It needs to widen its constituency to appeal more broadly to the second and third generations, and to groups other than Bengalis.