Dimapur, April 29 (MExN): DOT Talks in collaboration with Tetso College organised the fourth in its webinar series on the topic “Calcutta: A Migrant City – Some concerns about our contemporary movement” with resource speaker Dr Samata Biswas and chaired by S Elika Assumi, Dean of Tetso College.
Dr Biswas who is currently an Asst Prof of English in the Sanskrit College and University, Kolkata, with regards to the recent lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, talked about how the whole nation saw with great amazement and horror the masses of migrants tying to walk back to their homes which were about a few hundreds or thousands of kilometres.
She used the examples of the North Eastern people and the Chinese-Indians or anybody who did not fit into the picture of the mainstream Indians. She said that if they were present in Calcutta during the past four or five months, they would have been addressed as “Coronavirus”. This she regarded was because they did not fit into the image of the mainstream Indians. Also there were reports on boycotts across Calcutta against Chinese eateries because they thought that the people would catch the virus through their food. But these people have not been to China for three generations, she added.
The question was how Calcutta had so many Chinese Eateries and the question of the migrants in the city of Calcutta. To get answers to these she said that we would have to trace back to the history of the formal capital of British India to its foundation and development of which everything is built by and with migrants.
The migrants have been working in Calcutta for many generations and have come from various places and have been living in slums or thatched houses for many generations. They worked as sweepers, sugar planters, cleaners, scavengers, electricians, etc. These migrants had moulded, created, recreated, and shaped the city both topographically and in spirit, she stated.
Dr. Biswas also talked about the role of migrant women, where she addressed on the subject of how these women were involved in work or participation in any field. The role of migrant women in shaping Calcutta has not merely been one of exploitation; they have also been at the forefront of the women participation in employment. She used the example of Meeta from “Meghe Dhaka Tara” who was an actress in one of the three first films during the 1960s. Refugee women were already participating in paid labour force much later than women from the city itself. These women worked as nurses, secretaries, etc..They also had jobs but still lived in huts or makeshift homes.
She ended the presentation by leaving a question, “what happens when we forget our history especially of marginalization and discrimination? Are we then doomed to repeat it? Are we running around our past?”
This was followed by the question and answer/interactive round where the attendees of the webinar raised various questions to the speaker. The webinar ended with the chairperson encouraging the viewers to keep joining such webinars which will keep continuing in the future as well.
