[Assam] A Tragic Story--from Tehelka

[BBaruah at aol.com]

I read about Dr Verrier Elwin's life long ago. As far as I remember he had  a 
house at Shillong where he lived with his family for a few years while he had 
 a job as an anthropolgical adviser to the Government of India.  I remember  
his account of having a cosy office, a secretary, etc for the first time in 
his  life.
 
Basically he was a missionary and a man who took delight in English  
literature. But having a second career as an amateur anthropologist (he  candidly 
admitted that he had no academic training as an anthropologist) and a  young wife 
made his life fulfilled indeed in a materialistic sense. In  spite of his 
short career as a reasonably paid executive, as a man  belonging to a fraternity 
vowed to living a life of poverty, it would  not be usual for him to provide 
for his family's future.  But I think  his wife Kosi was not able to maintain 
her family comfortably  after the  death of her husband; had she been a European 
wife, she would have taken  all possible care for the future.. In any case 
his biographer now tells us that  in later life they  separated.
 
Tippu Sultan's direct descendant was a rickshaw-puller in Calcutta not long  
ago. At least he had a roof under his head in a great metropolitan city like  
Calcutta. But in a poor country like India, what do you expect? Even artists 
of  national fame in India are not properly cared for in their old age as our  
well-informed netters would already be aware of.
 
Bhuban 
 
PS: The West Bengal Government no longer allows rickshaw-pullers in the  
city. And do not think rickshaw-pullers are always poor. That story I hope to  
tell on another occasion.
 
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