World in Turmoil around Calcutta in the 1940s

How time flies when you are retired

In the last fortnight, including the May Bank Holiday weekend, time disappeared like shooting stars!  Life was hectic with luncheons here and coffee mornings there; I was also engrossed with the Romsey Art Group's Spring Exhibition, being on refreshment duty, and accompanying friends to the gallery.  To see my paintings click on: http://jeanromsey.blogspot.com    

Future Musician Amelie

Yes! I sold my first Penguin painting to Dr. Tippet at the 
Romsey Art Group.  I am over the moon!  As you can all guess.

I spent an afternoon babysitting seven-month old Amelie, who showed great interest in musical sounds as she played on my electric organ like a skilled musician. It's wonderful to see Amelie's love of learning anything new, she has a remarkable sense of curiosity even at this young age and seems to understand everything you say to her.

The World In Turmoil
Here I Continue my Life's Journey: Calcutta became a war zone as  the Japanese started bombing India in 1942 until 1944.

I was born in the city of Calcutta during the British Rule, which today is known as Kolkata, the Capital of West Bengal.  At the time of WW2, this ex-Capital of British India Empire, was considered by many to be the Second City after London, and therefore an important target for the Japanese when they entered World War 2.


My father made the right decision to take the family out of Calcutta in 1942, as the Japanese intensified their bombing of British territory in South East Asia, dropping their first bombs in India on Kakinada and Visakhapatnam.

The Japanese had occupied the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in March and by April they moved 18 or more Kawanishi H6K 'Mavis' long-range-flying boats to Port Blair in the Indian Ocean, ready for their attack from the Bay of Bengal, with aircraft launched from their fleet, to wreak havoc on the Royal Navy and merchant frigates.  They savaged the harbours of Ceylon, and destroyed many Hurricanes and Fairey Fulmars that tried to oppose them.  In 1942 Burma fell by May, followed by Malay and Singapore.

I was just over three years old as we watched from the foothills of the Himalayas at Siliguri, where we finally arrived just before the Japanese started to drop their bombs on Calcutta at night time, causing the skyline to glow fiery red with every target they hit, and the explosions blasting fear into our hearts.  I could still remember my knees trembling, just looking at the burning glow below us. 

Calcutta had been a peaceful backwater city until 1941, and quite defenceless against the skilful night time attacks of the Japanese with their sophisticated fighter planes.  Britain immediately sent out a number of Hurricane squadrons that made their airfields around the city, one was between Chowringhee and the Maidan, right in the centre of town, surrounded by many restaurants such as the Great Eastern Hotel and Firpo's, used by teams of  fighter pilots whilst working on British India's defence.

Calcutta's High Court Building

There were many ACE bomber pilots in the British Air Force as well as those of the other allies in WW2, but the courage of two heroic pilots in one British squadron, both flying Lockheed Hudson, managed to destroy many Japanese fighter planes and their flying boat base, thus crippling their long range flying force,  saving many of Calcutta's beautiful architectural buildings.  

Calcutta's Victoria Memorial 

London also sent out their radar-guided night fighters that had been successful against the German Luftwaffe blitz in Europe, here too they scored many victories.  The Spitfires arrived in India in August 1943, their manoeuvrability and speed helped to intercept and destroy many of the Japanese Mitsubishi Ki-46, a turning point in the War, due mainly to the heroic courage and bravery of our pilots, many of whom lost their lives.  

All hell was let lose when the Japanese retaliated with a planned, concerted attack in broad daylight, combining their Army, Navy and Air Force strength, which considerably damaged Calcutta's Kidderpore Docks, killing 350 people with 500 civilian casualties. Sporadic attacks continued until 1944, when the Japanese fighter planes were deployed elsewhere. WW2 ended a year later.   During this period the seeds of revolt that had been sown the last few decades, became grounded and many prominent voices agitated for Indian self-rule.

Calcutta was originally developed by the British East India Company in the 1690s, becoming an important trading centre in South-East Asia with industries in textile, jute and other manufactures.  As the British Empire extended to nearly a quarter of the world,  Calcutta grew rapidly after the battle of Plassey in 1757, that ushered in a period of British rule.  With the crowning of Queen Victoria as Empress of India in the 187os, those areas in India, acquired by the East India Company, transferred to the crown, under the government of the British Empire, with Lord Canning as the first Viceroy of India.

Calcutta in the state of Bengal, became the capital of British India and throughout its history, Kolkata developed a culture that fused European philosophy with Indian tradition, and had been known as the "Cultural Capital of India", the "City of Processions", "City of Palaces" and even the "City of Joy".  When the capital was moved to Delhi in 1911, Calcutta continued to be the capital of the Indian state of Bengal.

The Bengal Renaissance spawned the new culture of the Babu class of urban Indians, made up of Anglophiles, bureaucrats, professionals and newspaper readers, usually of the upper caste Hindu communities, with growing socio-cultural sophistication.  Kolkata became the centre for revolutionary  activity in the early stages of the national movement for independence,  first sparked off by a sepoy revolt at nearby Barrackpore military barracks, which shook the foundation of the British Empire.  

The first national conference of the Indian National Congress was held in 1883, whose president advocated self-rule by Indians, supported by many other eminent Calcuttan, who influenced nationalist thinking.  Muslims too were involved in the nationalist movement to agitate against the British rule, with demands for the creation of a Muslim state, which soon led to clashes with the Hindus, eventually causing the tragic decline in communal relations that savaged Calcutta in 1946 and 1947.

The second scary event took place in 1946, when intense violence broke out, with Muslims and Hindus killing each other in the streets of Calcutta, 4,000 people died and bodies were found everywhere.  We shut our doors,  nobody dared venture out for fear of being involved.  Eventually the strife led to thousands of Muslims  migrating over to East Bengal, later known as East Pakistan,  and hundreds of thousands of Hindus moved from there into West Bengal, and Calcutta was swamped by refugees and displaced people seeking shelter and new homes, with not much assistance from the Central Government.  By 1947 the nationalist activities intensified into the Indian Independence Movement and Britain, devastated by two World Wars, was ready to hand over the reign of government to Indian self-rule in 1948.

With all these upheavals in India, my parents had yet another problem to deal with, that of locating other members of our family who were fleeing from the Japanese invasion of China from the North-east, whilst the Chinese communist uprising, led by Mr. Mao Zi Dong from the South-west, brought on the cultural revolution that was destroying everything  ancient and traditional.  My father literally turned grey overnight as he listened to the defeat of the Chinese Nationalist Army under General Chiang Kai Sekh as they were driven out of China into the off-shore island of Formosa.

The Lai family entered another phase of life in 1948, more in my next instalment. Speak to you again in a couple of weeks' time.