Blue Gold

Blue gold

……………

It was late in the evening when we approached  the last rice mill for rice husk survey. The mill owner Mr.Mandal enthusiastically showed us around the rice mill where boiled rice is produced. He invited us for tea in his house adjacent to the mill. I noticed a ruin of two storied brick shed with wild growth around.

“What is that shed?” I inquired.

“That’s Neel Kuthi, our ancestors were Indigo planters.”

“Oh I see, that is the warehouse where the Indigo cakes were stored.” I said.

After finishing tea we came out and got into our car for returning to Bolepur. I was curious to know more about Indigo farming but realized Mr.Mandal being the zamindar whose ancestors would have been ruthlessly exploited the poor farmers so would not give the real picture. Our car had hardly moved a few 100 meters when a young man in shabby cloth waved at us for stopping the car. The driver stopped the car, the young man came at the rear and requested for a lift to the next village. It was dark so I took pity; the driver invited him to sit in the front. After a few kilometers he asked us to stop, the village was very near to Ajay River.

In the meanwhile he told us his name was Joy Biswas and he was returning home from the rice mill, he was an operator there. I got interested in him and asked, “Do you belong to a farming family?”

“Yes, my father is a farmer, we grow rice.” After travelling for about 20 minutes Joy signaled, “ Please stop here my house has come. Why don’t you come in and meet my father.” He politely invited us.

It was a typical thatched roof house with a clean courtyard in the front. We could see cow shed with a few cows and a chicken coop. The house was having electrical connection. His father came out hearing the sound of our car stopping; with folded palm he led us to the front room. It had two cane chairs and a wooden cot. We took the cane chairs, Joy went inside to arrange tea. His father who was more or less of my age sat on the cot and inquired the reason of our visit. I explained him how we were surveying the availability of rice husk in Burdwan and our subsequent visit to Mandal’s rice mill, where we met his son.

My curiosity was about Indigo farming so I eagerly asked senior Biswas, “Other than rice what other crops your forefathers grew, let us say a century back.”

“I heard from my father that my great grandfather was growing Indigo plants, it will be around 1840 or so. The Mandal family was the zamindar and he was representing an East Indian Company to collect the produce from here.”

“Yes I have seen the Neel Kuthi of Mandal’s. From the books I understand the farmers were not very eager to plant Indigo as that would mean not planting paddy.” I said.

“Yes we were forced to plant Indigo in major part of our land. As you know our lands are very fertile, being very near to the river , found to be suitable for Indigo farming by British. Those white men with their Indian accomplish like Mandal would force all the farmers to plant that wretched herb. They would give us dadan( sort of advance against a contract) and we will purchase seed with that money.”

“Yes I read in Nil Darpan, the play by Dinabandhu Mitra, how the families were tortured to grow Indigo. The process of fermenting the leaves in vats, straining after fermentation and finally the sludge will be dried to form cakes as end product. The process of fermenting has to be completed before sun rise. It was a back breaking labour but farmers got hardly 2.5 % value of the market price.” I shared my bookish knowledge.

“Yes babu it was shear torture and so our ancestors revolted.”

“Yes I know, the Indigo revolt in1858 to 1860 against the British. By the way are you any chance related with Bishnucharan Biswas of Nadia who was one of the leaders of the revolution?”

“No babu but my great great grandfather gave shelter to a revolutionary who finally killed the Mandal, zamindar of that time, of the same family whom you visited.” He informed.

In the meanwhile his son had brought tea and some biscuits. We enjoyed their hospitality but my curiosity was not quenched, I wanted to see a plant.

“ Is there any Indigo plant around?”

“Yes, as a reminder we have a few of those in the corner of our field, but in the darkness of night I can’t take you there. Why don’t you come tomorrow morning?”

“Ok,we will come tomorrow.”

Taking leave from them we got into our car and drove off to Bolpur.

After finishing breakfast in Camelia hotel in Prantik we proceeded to our destination for project Indigo.

Senior Biswas was waiting for us,his son had left for his work in rice mill. We walked for about a kilometer deep in the village. We entered a paddy field, some palm trees were there by the side of a pond and a shrub. He took us near the shrub. The trees were two to four feet in height, green leafs, small pea like fruits. Biswas plucked a fruit and peeled it show small pods inside. He explained inside the pods are the seeds of the plant. They pluck the fruits for seeding of future plant and leafs are fermented to produce Indigo.

He explained,” The stench of the work vats, where the Indigoplants were putrefied, was so offensive that the processing area was kept more than a mile away from habitats. The odor from the rotting weeds drew flies and other insects.”

While he was explaining I was trying to imagine the toiling poor villagers in the field during those turbulent times. India was the major exporter of Indigo to Europe. East India Company had a monopoly on Indigo trade to the world. More than 80% produce was exported. In 1897 the export from Calcutta port peaked  over 9.5 million pounds.

We went back to his house. Then Biswas brought a letter which had yellowed by age was pasted on a parchment paper. It was a letter informing that one Subinoy was happy by the treatment he got from Biswas family so he was leaving behind a handi full of some precious substance known as Blue Gold which was costlier than gold. He has buried it in the courtyard. After reading the letter I looked up at him and asked, “Could you find it?”

“No, I could not.”

I smiled at him and said, “Keep trying to find out. The vessel may fetch money but the content will be of no use to you now.”

“Why, he wrote it is costlier than gold.”

“Yes it was costlier than gold when he wrote this letter. The vessel contains Indigo which was costlier than gold in 1850s or so. That is the reason it was called Blue gold then.” I informed him with a twinkle in my eyes.

I could see he was upset by my observation.

We thanked Biswas and drove back. On the way back I was thinking though British government had banned Indigo cultivation by 1860 because of the peasant revolution and the graphic presentation of the plight of farmers in the play Nil Darpan which was translated in English and was presented to British parliament but still there were farming in Champaran,Bihar.As a matter of fact Mahatma Gandhi started his first Satyagrah from Champaran, Bihar and Kheda, Gujarat in 1917 against Indigo farming.

Somehow I like visiting places connected with history but never imagined an obscure village of Bengal would ignite my interest so much.