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Down the memory lane and the Photos of Great Bengal Famine 1943 The town where I grew up and finished my graduation was not my birth place. I was born in the port city of Chittagong, in December 1939, nearly three months after Hitler attacked Poland that resulted the outbreak of World War II. Just to remind my readers that World War II began in the month of September 1939 when Britain and France declared war on Germany following Germany’s invasion of Poland. Soon after Japan seized Burma in 1942 and bombed Chittagong and Calcutta, my father sent us to our ancestral village home in Barisal fearing that Chittagong would be under Japan’s control soon and also rice, which is the staple food of Bengalis, became a scarce commodity there. Because the then British Government bought up massive amounts of rice and hoarded it causing the great man made “Bengal Famine”. At least 3 million people died from starvation and malnutrition during this man made famine in 1943 that I witnessed as a . (See the black and white pictures). The famine is also called “Churchill’s Secret War”. Churchill had worsened the starvation in Bengal by ordering a ship load of wheat sent from Australia for Bengalis by ordering the diversion of the ship elsewhere for British troops posted around the world! “Dr. Gideon Poyla, an Australian biochemist, has called the Bengal famine a man made “holocaust”. So it will not be wrong if anyone portraits me as a product of British India. I did not came to live in my home town ‘Barisal’ until India was fragmented and divided and Burma was allowed to get detached from India by the then British Rulers. They left the Indian sub continent and Burma without bothering about the problems that were bound to crop up during the transition period and after that! Unfortunately, a large number of people of divided sub-continent and Arakan State of Burma- are still suffering from the problems left unsolved by the British rulers! Deaths and destruction followed soon after British left the sub continent divided and Arakan state detached from the sub-continent. Millions of people of the sub continent suddenly found themselves as refugees due to partition of British India in to two independent countries! The ethnic minority people of Arakan (Rakhine) State, known as Rohingyas, suddenly became Stateless and now being forced by the Military Junta of Burma to flee their homeland to save their lives! An ethnic cleansing operation is now going on in modern Burma under the civilian leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi. The purpose of posting the paragraphs at above is not for denouncing the questionable actions of the then colonial rulers as history has already taken care of analyzing the consequences of leaving the sub continent fragmented and divided by the British. Churchill will be always remembered as the person responsible for the man made famine of 1943 which caused death of three million people of undivided Bengal (now Bangladesh and Indian State of West Bengal). My intention to post the above paragraphs are to show my readers some pictures of the Great Bengal Famine Of 1943 and one picture ( Pic #1) of my home town where I grew up after the partition of the British India and where my parents and my little brother are now resting in peace! Needless to mention here that I can’t identify the city where I grew up when I occasionally go there to pray at the graves of my parents and stay overnight in our Barisal town house that still remains livable! My home town is now a crowded modern mega city almost unrecognizable to me. |
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Denial policies invite catastrophe….
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Very interesting and awful segment of your history. I have learned a lot so thank you for sharing.
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Some memories of the inhumanity of our times must live on to remind us not to let things like this happen again. Dr Gidion Poyla was correct. Thank you looklook it must have been hard for you to post this.
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All countries have some dark and sad times in their past...... the key is to remember the lesson we should have learned and work to not make those same mistakes. When I see pictures like this, I wonder again, why there is such a push for space exploration, when there are such great needs right here. Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.
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Very interesting and awful segment of your history. I have learned a lot so thank you for sharing. Thanks for your kind understanding, Archer. Stay well and happy always.
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Looklook, good day to you. It took me some time to read your above blog last night as the front is small. I have re-read it this morning, it is so interesting for me to learn about all those fatalities, domination and unfortunate fate of those people during the colonialism period. I wasn't aware of those dark periods of your country and its people. As I wasn't born yet, I got to know about the WW11 much later during my teens. It is really heartbreaking to read about your above recollections and the photos speak for themselves, very poignant and vexatious. Though here, we were also colonised by the British but better treated as the location of my country was and is still a strategic point for those colonialists. But reading your blog with the photos as proofs, is truly hurtful and devastating. Thank you so much Looklook for this blog which has enlightened us and me in particular, about the ill-fated and doomed periods of your country. I wish you well and and all my best Looklook. Thank you again. Lisa.
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Some memories of the inhumanity of our times must live on to remind us not to let things like this happen again. Dr Gidion Poyla was correct. Thank you looklook it must have been hard for you to post this.
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All countries have some dark and sad times in their past...... the key is to remember the lesson we should have learned and work to not make those same mistakes. When I see pictures like this, I wonder again, why there is such a push for space exploration, when there are such great needs right here. I agree with you. But do we learn anything really from our past mistakes? History says repeatedly that we do not learn any thing positive from our mistakes. May I tell you why there is such push for space exploration? I believe that “Space exploration has often been used as a proxy competition for geopolitical rivalries”. The countries involved in such rivalries forget about other great needs right here on the planet we lovingly call Earth. Take care and stay happy.
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Thank you so much for your meaningful comments left here on my blog page. MySeek. I wish your comments could get the attention of those who, according to you, make ‘decisions of life and death’ for their own interest while staying always at the safe side. I believe they do not have time to ponder on such beliefs because they don’t bother about us- the common people. Those who plan a war perhaps can not sleep at night at all because they can not be sure whether the plan would work successfully or not! May be, I am wrong. But I can not think nothing better about these people! They are real Predators and must not be allowed to control us under any pretext! Thanks again for your thoughtful opinions. Stay well and happy. Be safe on road.
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Looklook, good day to you. It took me some time to read your above blog last night as the front is small. I have re-read it this morning, it is so interesting for me to learn about all those fatalities, domination and unfortunate fate of those people during the colonialism period. I wasn't aware of those dark periods of your country and its people. As I wasn't born yet, I got to know about the WW11 much later during my teens. It is really heartbreaking to read about your above recollections and the photos speak for themselves, very poignant and vexatious. Though here, we were also colonised by the British but better treated as the location of my country was and is still a strategic point for those colonialists. But reading your blog with the photos as proofs, is truly hurtful and devastating. Thank you so much Looklook for this blog which has enlightened us and me in particular, about the ill-fated and doomed periods of your country. I wish you well and and all my best Looklook. Thank you again. Lisa.
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Mrs. Joe I agree with you. But do we learn anything really from our past mistakes? History says repeatedly that we do not learn any thing positive from our mistakes. May I tell you why there is such push for space exploration? I believe that “Space exploration has often been used as a proxy competition for geopolitical rivalries”. The countries involved in such rivalries forget about other great needs right here on the planet we lovingly call Earth. Take care and stay happy. Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.
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I totally agree with you on this! Have a great weekend.
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Very bad memories, without a doubt, Looklook. I did not know the unfortunate participation of "Sir" Churchill in the 1943 Bengal famine. And that horrible quote of him shows the bad feelings and high degree of racism in that person. What a sad part of the history of World War II! War is terrible. Thanks for the History class and for sharing that sad part of your childhood. Blessings on your way! (Sorry I can not enlarge the font size, either)
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Very bad memories, without a doubt, Looklook. I did not know the unfortunate participation of "Sir" Churchill in the 1943 Bengal famine. And that horrible quote of him shows the bad feelings and high degree of racism in that person. What a sad part of the history of World War II! War is terrible. Thanks for the History class and for sharing that sad part of your childhood. Blessings on your way! (Sorry I can not enlarge the font size, either) A large number of books have been published on the Bengal Famine of 1943 supported by black and white photos of the famine stricken people of the then Bengal. When the Japanese seized Burma, and the British Army retreated, the rulers feared that they would proceed on into British India, through the eastern border of Bengal. To stop the impending Japanese attack, a two-pronged scorched-earth initiative was launched in eastern and coastal Bengal by the British Rulers that caused the famine. The objective of these "denial policies" was to prevent the invasion by denying access to food supplies, transport and other resources, mainly from Bengal. The British Rulers seized Rice crops in godowns, burnt the crops on field, destroyed the boats, and took many other destructive steps to stop the Japanese army. Churchill was then the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . His comments on Gandhi are equally horrible. Anyway, thanks for your feelings and your Comments. I appreciate. Have a nice Week end. Take care.
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