Manoj Deka and my childhood days in Morigaon: Part-I

I was born and brought up in Morigaon, a small town in central Assam. The entire town was like a big family where every one knew each other. There was only one petrol station, one movie hall (it was actually a godown which was later converted into a movie hall). I liked the Bhramyaman Theatres (Mobile Theatres) that came to Morigaon during October to February time. I could recognize almost every one when we went to watch a show there - Sharma uncle, Baruah uncle, Kalita uncle etc.

Deuta (my father) came to Morigaon when it became a sub-division (circa 1971). Prior to that, he was working with the Deputy Commissioner's office in Nagaon. There was a Basic Training School (a training school for primary and middle school teachers) in Morigaon. (It host the Police Reserve now). It was a big campus. When Morigaon became a sub-division, the school was shifted to somewhere else outside Morigaon. The campus of the school was given to new administrative setup of the new sub-division. It had the offices of Sub Divisional Officer (SDO), Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) within it and the firebrigade. There were around six official residences there. (We used to call those as quarters). The first one was allotted to the SDO, the last one to deuta and middle ones were given to the EACs (Extra Asst Commissioners), EMs (Executive Magistrate), and judicial magistrates.

Around 1980, the SDO office shifted to a new campus in Pachatia. Deuta also bought a plot of land in Pachatia. Pachatia was an area consisting of several villages. All the villages were named after a caste of people who lived there: Kalita gaon, Koch gaon, Heera gaon etc (This is something that I don't like). My father bought the plot of land in Koch gaon. Koch is a very major caste in Assam. (The great Koch king Naranarayan ruled Assam in 16th century AD). All our neighbours used the surname Deka.

Deuta bought two adjacent plots of land from two brothers. One of them was the father of late Manoj Deka. Deuta was about to start building our own house; but he suffered from a major desease in 1981. He was cured; but I think he was left penniless as a result of the costs involved in his treatment. At the same time, we had to vacate our official residence as the SDO's administrative setup was vacating the old campus. We left our official residence in 1982 and moved into a temporary accommodation in our plot that was originally constructed as a shelter for the labourers who would construct our house!

Our eastern-side neighbour was Dilip Deka (Dilip da as I called him). He was a high-school teacher in a venture school (a school which is not owned by the Government and it expects to be owned by the Government sometime in future. The teachers don't get any salary). Dilip da lived there with two his parents, grand-mother, two brothers (Laba and Dhon) and a sister (Rupa).

One day Dilip da showed me some books and coloured postcards of Soviet Russia. I remember the postcard on Lenin and the red USSR (CCCP) flags. Dilip da told me that his cousin brother is a Communist party member in India. His cousin went to Russia and he brough those postcards and books. His cousin's name was Manoj Deka. That was my first indirect link with late Manoj Deka. I was around six years old at that time.
(To be continued.)