This is an excerpt from a journal entry written by my paternal grandfather, Tilak Raj Malhotra. The entries span from December 1949 to December 1982. Reading these feels like an intrusion to me, given their deeply personal nature and my lack of explicit permission. Yet, years ago, I resolved to document them on this Archive
The Motor Driving Licence was issued in the former East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) in the city of Dhaka, where my mother tells me her father lived for some time.
My Thatha did not expect Mother Teresa to write him at all. But after two weeks or so, once he was transferred to Madras, he received a signed letter by Mother Teresa at his office. The letter conveyed gratitude and how his contribution helped several children at the Missionaries of Charity.
He writes this memoir on simple hardbound exercise books in pure Bangla using a ball point pen. In the foreword, he writes, “The life story and memoirs of a senior freedom fighter who was a trusted associate of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose,
and an active member of the Azad Hind Government.”
Debaprasad Chatterjee’s British Indian passport was issued on 30th June, 1927. His national status is ‘British subject by birth’, and although the passport does not specify a space for ‘caste’, it is mentioned nevertheless as ‘Hindu-Brahmin’.
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