Ronald

What happened over the road at the Remington building?

Bernard

Ah well that was before then. What happened at Remington building, in fact it was a little factory building opposite the Press, during the Calcutta killings either Hindus had got pinned in or Muslims had got pinned in and the other side just set the building on fire. When people came rushing out they just mowed them down. Killed them on the spot.

And your Uncle Norman always said that nobody ever knew, and doesn't know to this day, just how many thousands upon thousands really were killed in Calcutta during what they call the Great Calcutta Killings. That was 1947. He did a lot of rescue work.

But we did see on another occasion over some other riot, when there was a 22 hours curfew, and that's a thumping long time for a curfew, with two hours to get out and get what you've got to get in, we, you know, went to the gate once to have a look up and down the road to see how things were and you saw what appeared to be bundles of rags on the wall opposite. Just on the other side of the road, on the pavement. Then you'd see a police van come up and the bundles of rags really were dead bodies. They just picked them up, leg and a wing, and slung them in the back of the van and then they went clearing off as if nothing had ever happened. Somebody had got knifed in the night.

Some of our chaps lived all round there... Beniapuka. I mean Nikhil Saha, Nikhil Babu, his house was up there and he couldn't get out all to get anything in, no rations no anything. I went to see how he was going on and he said "Oh, we had a pretty disturbed night but we weren't in a great deal of danger because everybody knew we were Christians all round there." he said "But people have been killed all round this house, in the night." He couldn't get out to get his food in so we went to Kalimpong Home Products (on Park Street) and brought what we could back. That was just in two hours.

Ronald

But I remember hartals when I was there.

Bernard

You would do.

Ronald

Did we have a hartal when we came out on holiday?

Bernard

Shouldn't be surprised. Oh they'd declare hartals at the drop of a hat. I mean if the Communists... The only transport allowed on a road on a hartal day would be press cars and ambulances, and a doctor's car, but everything else... I mean that was Communists they just said we'll have a hartal tomorrow and everbody stopped.

I've seen them outside the Press where the trams stopped, which was a proper tram stop. I've seen small boys of about seven or eight with a little stick in their hand. They'd stop the tram car and said "Everybody off!" and everybody got off quite obediently. They never said to these chokras "Go on and sluther off. What do you think you're doing?" They had that little bit of authority, these little kids had, ordering people about. Extraordinary.