Oral history with Mohammad Shamsul Alam Joarder, 2012 January 16
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Lt. Col (retd) MS Alam Joarder was born in village Nagdah, Alamdanga, Nodia district in British India. His early days were spent in Jagaddal. Jagaddal is a town in North 24 Parganas district, on the banks of the Ganges river in the state of West Bengal, On the eastern banks of the river, the town has many jute mills which drew a large labour force from the neighboring states of Bihar and Orissa, as well as eastern Uttar Pradesh, quite often forming an overwhelming majority of the population in the area. Mr. Joarder's father, Golam Rasul Joarder was an employee of the Alliance Jute Mills in the town.Life was happy and peaceful in the small town. Little Alam and his sister went to Kolkata almost every weekend to visit the famous sites, such as, the Victoria Memorial, the zoo..etc. Mr. Joarder recalls riding the train to the city of Kolkata in the 40's. It was a beautiful city with lots of attractions for tourists. One day in 1946, there was a big procession on the GrandTrunk Road (now Jessore Kolakata Haridaspur Road). Little Alam and his sister also wanted to join the procession with their father. But it was too crowded and his father decided not to take them to Kolkata. Later, he came home in sweat and blood. An awful riot had broken down in Sealdah. Hindus were killing Muslims and Muslims were killing Hindus without any reason. Mr. Joarders'a father said, "Thank God I came home alive. If I took two of you with me, I'd not have been able to save you from the mobs".Mr. Joarder's father felt things became tense between Hindu and Muslims after Partition and decided to move to E. Pakistan. He sent his family to his ancestral home in AlamDanga and loaded his furniture and belongings on a truck and headed for the border. However, the border patrol did not allow him to take a single piece with him. Thus, the family migrated to E. Pakistan only with their clothes on. Mr. Joarder and his family migrated to the new country and started all over again. He completed his intermediates from the Magura college and joined the Pakistan Army. He retired as a Lt. Col from the Bangladesh Army. Today he lives in his residence in Dhaka and has 4 grown children. Mr. Joarder spends most of his time preaching Islam and for humanitarian causes
Description
| Type of resource | moving image |
|---|---|
| Extent | 5 video files |
| Place | Dhaka (Bangladesh) |
| Date created | January 16, 2012 |
| Language | Bengali |
| Digital origin | born digital |
| Sound content | Sound |
| Color content | Color |
| Map data | Scale not given ; Pre-partition residence: Jagdal, Odisha, India(21.02, 82.9326); Current residence: Dhaka, Bangladesh (23.8103, 90.4125 |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Joarder, Mohammad Shamsul Alam, 1937- | |
|---|---|---|
| Interviewer | Afroz, Farhana | |
| Creator | Afroz, Farhana | |
| Cinematographer | Afroz, Farhana | |
| Sponsor | Raichle, Joelle |
Subjects
| Subject | India > History > Partition, 1947 |
|---|---|
| Genre | Filmed interviews |
Bibliographic information
| 1947 Partition Archive - Mohammad Shamsul Alam Joarder | |
|---|---|
| Source ID | partitionArchive_0296 |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/rp602hw9371 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © The 1947 Partition Archive (http://www.1947partitionarchive.org/). All rights reserved. To protect the privacy and well-being of the interviewee, use of this content for any purpose other than personal, non-commercial use requires the explicit written permission of The 1947 Partition Archive.
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...