S Balakrishnan
Contd from prev issue
“ Then we went to the nearby Billyground area (billy=cat in Hindi). It is also called Hari Nagar. As the bus was proceeding, the misty view of Padmanabhapuram, a Keralitesettlement, caught my eyes. From Hari temple (hence Hari Nagar) on a hillock we had a fantastic view of paddy fields surrounded by hills withKorangNallah (stream) flowing through. Jai Bangladesh (the erstwhile East Pakistan) refugee settlers (mostly Hindus?) live here. An elderly Kali PodhaSaha carrying his infant grandchild SanjibSaha attracted my camera at Billyground. A lad I talked to had lost his father in the up-rise. He reached here some years back with his mother, uncle and other relatives. Land was allotted 5 years later. It seemed to me that the settlers are a bit laidback. Huts are in tattered condition. Plenty of cattle, hence milk was selling @ one rupee per pound (1/2 a kg. / one Horlicks bottle measure. Horlicks was then sold in glass bottles as plastic containers were not ubiquitous in 1970s). Due to water shortage, paddy crop could be raised only once annually. But because of late rainfall, second paddy crop had also been raised now, I was told. Vegetables and some cash crops are also grown. Plantain and arecanut plantations are raised, they said. Not much of coconut trees. However, no scarcity for drinking water. There are many perennial sources that supply water 24 hours. Water taps are seen on the street side. Billyground has a school, hospital and a market. Rosagulla is famous; what with a fair number of Bengalis around, it is but natural! “
As I was surfing the internet to verify facts & figures on RRS, I came across some new details which I was not aware in 1971 as a 15-year-old boy casually collecting stamps.I am sad now that I have in my collection only a few of those pinkish Refugee Relief Stamps and not the over printed /rubber stampedFamily Planning stamp which is a collector’s item. I dug deep into my haphazard philatelic collection but no luck. This postal levy for refugee relief was in vogue from 15 Nov. 1971 to 31 March 1973, when things started settling down in the new nation of Bangladesh and refugees trickled back to their homeland.When this postal levy ended on 31 March 1973, those who possessed (hoarded) stamps bearing the inscription “Refugee Relief” were allowed to handover such stamps to the District Collector who either paid the value in cash or in regular stamps.
I am glad that I have in my collection the commemorative stamp “Jai Bangla” issued by India Post on 10 April 1973 under ‘Thematic Category’. I am also a proud owner of just only one Bangladesh stamp that depicts a farmer tilling his land in Amar Sonar Bangla. I wonder if India Post issued a stamp honouringBangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman, but I am unable to find any such stamp in my trash-like collection. 2020 is Mujib’s birth centenary year; Mujib was born on March 17, 1920 and assassinated on 15th August 1975. Today, even after nearly 50 years, this 5 Paise pink stamp of 1971 is a testimony for India’s empathetic action towards the enormous issue of Bangladeshi refugees.
The author is based in Chennai. He can be reached at
[email protected] / 9840917608 Whatsapp.