Endowments for the Poor Donated by Probini and Partition Center Friends
Endowments
for the Poor
Donated
by Probini and Partition Center Friends
Nihar
Kana Ghosh Educational Endowment Fund
In
2024 Partition Center and Probini Foundation supporters established a
fixed-deposit endowment fund for the poor and the dirt-poor to be managed by a
monk Swamiji of Pranab Ashram of Bangladesh. Nihar Kana stood first in
all-Bengal school exam in 1919 of the united India, more-than-likely the first
girl to stand first, in a joint exam for a population possibly more than the
U.S. at that time. She studied at the Donovon Girls School of Madaripur City,
Bangladesh, receiving Gold Medal and special congratulatory note from the
colonial British Administrator of India. Donovan school started its journey
with a few girl students including Nihar Kana Ghosh.
Gold Medal Award, 1919
Representatives
from Partition Center met with the school administration and the Pranab Ashram several
times in 2019, 2021 and more.
Donovan Girls School, Madaripur City, Bangladesh; 2021
After
the birth of her two sons in 1920s, in 1934 she appeared at college-level
all-Bengal exam where she obtained the highest mark in compulsory Bengali
language exam receiving several awards. At that time in history, it was
extremely rare for married girls with children to join schooling or appear for
exam for higher studies.
Calcutta
University, the First University of India, Document, 1933
One of two1933 Awards
Second Award: 1933
Letter Envelope from British Colonial Masters
Quite a few individuals came forward to donate funds. Donors, in order of donation, are: Prof. Dr. Sachi G & Dr. Shefali S. Dastidar, Mr. & Mrs. Anil & Chhaya Gupta, Mrs. Aruna Barskota, Mr. Sushil Sinha, Miss Shriya Lakshmi (9-year-old), Mr. Shuvo Ghosh Dastidar, Mrs. Apala Eagan, Mr. Khurshedul Islam, Mrs. Pratima Roy Chowdhury, Prof. Dr. Sujata Ghosh Dastidar, Dr. Dipankar Ghosh Dastidar, Mr. Shirsendu Brahma, and Rev. Arlene Wilhelm. Donors belong to diverse nationalities and religions, but with one mind. Donation ranges from $20 to $2,100 dollars. There are donors from the U.S., Nepal, Bangladesh, and India. The fund will be managed by Pranab Ashram hermitage of Bangladesh
First Probini Building, on right, built in 2000: The Nihar Kana School
& Home for the Devotees, Bangladesh
Mrs. Ghosh’s Birthday
Celebration in 1987 at Hicksville, Long Island, New York State
Recently
(2024) Pranab Ashram helped many students and adults needing aid. Partition
Center-supporter aids to poor students in Bangladesh was distributed by Monk
Maharaj to Ms. Neepa Mandal, Ganesh Chandra Roy, Ms. Riju Mandal, Arya Mandal,
Biplab Chandra Patra, Bhim Sen Sarkar, Ms. Brishti Rani, and Ms. Tuti Mandra,
for educational help. Among adults, support was received by Mrs. Begum for
clothing, Ms. Prapti Roy for medical treatment, Ms. Sipra Mandal for medical
treatment, and Ms. Amori Das for rebuilding of her destroyed home, among
others.
We received
donations from men and women, Americans, Indians, Bangladeshi, Nepali, Hindu,
Muslim and Christian, including a 9-year-old girl and a Christian minister.
Second
Educational
Endowment for the Poor
Bibhuti
Bhushan Ghosh-U.S. Independence Endowment for Poor
Students
Happy 4th
of July 2024.
Establishment
of Bibhuti Bhushan Ghosh-U.S. Independence Endowment for Poor
Students was completed on U.S. Independence Day of 4th of July. A
fixed deposit account was established in Bangladesh.
Mr.
Bhibhuti Bhusan Ghosh completed his school in 1910s from Barisal District in
today’s southern Bangladesh, then joined the newly opened Dhaka University in eastern
Bengal, now Bangladesh. He was one of the first students to graduate from that
university in 1920s. After graduation he joined British Glasgow University’s
Engineering College graduating in Civil Engineering, returning to colonial
India to start his career. At the time of 1947 India and Bengal partition, as
he had a job in today’s India, he was able to rent a place in Kolkata, in
today’s West Bengal. As a result, he was able to host a large number of Hindu
refugees from East Pakistan, today’s Bangladesh, including his own family, in
Kolkata, India. That 1947 rental building still exists today in Kankulia area
of southern Kolkata. After many years of struggle, he was able to build a house
in Kolkata’s Ballygunj area, where he established his engineering and building valuation
office, later converted to his son’s and grandson’s medical office that exists
till today.
A 1976 Letter by Sri Ghosh to his Daughter-in-Law Shefali
2023 Home in Kolkata, India built in 1956 by Refugee B. B. Ghosh
A
Rooftop Garden in Congested Kolkata, 2023
New
endowment was a very, very important landmark for the donors. People in order
of donation are Sabyasachi & Shefali Ghosh Dastidar, Sumedha Jana Dastidar,
Dilip Chakravorti, Linda Reenie, Aruna Barskota, Prof. Dr. Sujata Ghosh
Dastidar, Shriya-Lakshmi (9-year-old), Anil & Chhaya Gupta, Amitabha &
Keoli Chatterjee, Dara Rodriguez, Shuvo Ghosh Dastidar, and Anindita &
Sumit Ghosh Dastidar. Donation ranges from $20 to $2,500 dollars. Donors include
Americans, Indians, Canadians and Nepali. The fund will be managed by Madaripur
City Ashram in Bangladesh, headed by Monk Maharaj.
Please visit several historic areas near the Madaripur Ashram
and stay in their guest house, with wonderful warmth.
Madaripur Ashram is also has a new museum-like space
devoted to Nihar Kana Ghosh and Bibhuti Bhushan Ghosh.
Third
Madaripur ashram has named
the endowment Dr. Sankar Ghosh Dastidar Medical Health Assistance for whom the monk
established a memorial decades ago. https://empireslastcasualty.blogspot.com/2021/09/madaripur-city-probini-foundation.html.
Dr. Sankar Ghosh Dastidar Medical Assistance Endowment at
Madaripur Ashram,
Bangladesh
Dr. Sankar Ghosh Dastidar Medical Assistance Endowment
at Madaripur Ashram, Bangladesh will be run by Monk Maharaj like the other two
endowments: Nihar Kana Ghosh Education Endowment for the Poor, and Bibhuti
Bhusan Ghosh & U.S. Independence Day Education Endowment for the Needy.
Local residents insisted on names connecting minority refugees.
Dr.
Sankar Ghosh Dastidar went to school in a Barisal village of eastern Bengal,
now Bangladesh, not far from Madaripur. After high school he joined the famous Nil
Ratan Sarkar Medical College of Calcutta University in today’s Kolkata, India.
In Barisal district he had to go to school in a dinghy during monsoon, and walked
in dry season. Like his maternal grandparents and uncles of former Faridpur
district of now Bangladesh, he too was active in India’s independence struggle during
British Colonial oppression. Like his grandparents and uncles, he too was
punished by the oppressor. He became refugee after 1947 Partition. Graduating
from medical college, he devoted himself to serve Hindu refugees cleansed from
East Pakistan/Bangladesh at “refugee colonies” in West Bengal state of India.
He was offered a high paying medical job in the U.S. but chose to be a doctor
at a District Refugee Colony of West Bengal State of India for a tiny fraction
of the salary offered in the U.S. Later he moved to Dandakaranya Refugee
Rehabilitation Project in the remote jungle area of central India, a long journey
from East Pakistan/Bangladesh and Kolkata, where he rose to become the Chief
Medical Officer. After retirement, he started private medical practice in
southern Kolkata, near Ballygunj train and bus stations attracting poor
patients, many of whom couldn’t pay either for service or for medication that
he paid for his patients. Many agricultural workers came to visit him by train
from southern part of the state’s 24 Pargana District. He also became the physician
for Bharat Sevashram Sangha HQ giving them free service. Swamiji knew him very
well.
Doctor is author of many books and papers. Here’s one of the books, Money Parey (Comes to my mind) of a Hindu refugee shelter in India.
https://empireslastcasualty.blogspot.com/2022/04/memoirs-of-physician-mone-parhe.html
Donors for the endowment are Mrs. Aruna Baskota, Mr.
Srikant Mookherjee, Mr. & Mrs. Anil and Chhaya Gupta, Mr. Sunil Goel, Mr. Namha
Andy Kapoor, Dr. Bhola Banik, Mr. Anugata Bach, Shuvo, Sumedha and Shriya-Lakshmi
Ghosh Dastidar, Mr. Amrish Kapur, Prof. Dr. Dwijen Bhattacharya, Prof. Dr.
Alireza Ebrahimi and Drs. Sachi G & Shefali S. Dastidar.
*********
Letter: Here is a very important and encouraging letter from an eminent leader and rights worker, a refugee himself, living in New York for about five decades:
Dear Prof Sabyasachi:
We admire your impeccable work, yet tireless, for about half a century, for helpless Hindus of Bangladesh.
Our high regards to you.
Pabitra
28 October 2024
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