Communications

 

 

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Introduction

 

In a world without internet and mobile phones, yet a world of momentous rapid change and uncertain futures how did people keep up with the news?  How did people separated for years from loved ones, by war and political events, stay in touch with each other? How were the vast amounts of data handled that informed the machinery of war and imperial business and the organised resistance thereto? 

 

 

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Communications

 

 

 

 

          _____Pictures of 1940s Calcutta________________________

 

 

 

 

 

          _____Contemporary Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___

 

 

 

 

 

          _____Memories of 1940s Calcutta_______________________

 

how bad and slow and tenuous communications were in war time

Nowadays, when to pick up a telephone puts you in touch with friends and relatives in the most remote parts of the world and when TV brings instantaneous news and pictures from virtually anywhere, its difficult to realise how bad and slow and tenuous communications were in war time, particularly for the ordinary person. Heaven knows! Communication of important forces messages was difficult enough, as I know well enough - but even if we had had the modern facilities we wouldn't have been allowed to use them because of security. No, for news it had to be English language newspapers like the ' New Statesman', or blatant propaganda news from the 'Forces Network'. Private news had to depend on letters - slow and uncertain.

Harry Tweedale, RAF Signals Section, Barrackpore, 1943

 

(source: A6665457 TWEEDALE's WAR Part 11 Pages 85-92 at BBC WW2 People's War' on http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/ Oct 2006)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with the original submitter/author)

 

 

 

 

 

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Postal Services

 

 

 

 

          _____Pictures of 1940s Calcutta________________________

 

Calcutta Post Office seen across Dalhousie Square

Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944

 

 (source: Glenn S. Hensley: Post Office, C015, Calcutta Post Office seen across Dalhousie Square from today's Brabourne Road (Opposite old No. 8 Dalhousie Square)  seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a  series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)

 

 (COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)

 

 

 

 

 

 

          _____Contemporary Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___

 

 

THE GENERAL POST OFFICE

Trams :—Within reach of all trams, except Kidderpore, Alipore and Behala.

Buses :—2A, 3A, 4A, 5, 8, 8A, 13, 14.

Across the placid waters of a miniature lake in Dalhousie Square stands the General Post Office, occupying the corner of Koilaghat Street and Dalhousie Square West, Its majestic dome and graceful pillars, crowned by Corinthian capitals, give it a dignified appearance worthy of one of the more important public utility services. The eastern facade is adorned by a large illuminated clock with four dials, three of which are visible from outside; of these, two indicate Calcutta Local Time, and the third, facing south, Indian Standard Time.

Built from the design of Mr. Walter Granville, Architect to the Government of India, the General Post Office was erected in 1864 on the site of the southern wing of Old Fort William, at a cost of Rs. 6,50,000/- and opened to the public in 1868. The General Post Office today is, beyond all doubt, the best organised and most up-to-date in the East.

There is much that is profoundly interesting to the visitor in the General Post Office and the buildings that adjoin it on the north, viz. the Collectorate, the Customs House and the East Indian Railway House. These four buildings, taken together, cover the site of Old Fort William, which took 14 years to build, and was in flames during the siege of Calcutta in 1756. Affixed to the walls are marble tablets descriptive of outstanding historical events, and brass lines let into pavements and courtyards, define the boundaries of the vanished stronghold.

Ascending the broad flight of steps we enter the rotunda, in the centre of which is a circular counter where stamps are on sale from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays and holidays. In the rotunda are also located the Enquiry Office, the Poste Restante, a counter for the sale of stamps to the value of Rs. 100/- and upwards, separate boxes for inland letters and packets, foreign letters and packets, registered newspapers, and the airmail letterbox.

A passage to the right of the rotunda leads to the northern wing of the building, to which access can also be gained from the main road; here directly in front are the post-boxes for local letters and packets, and inside, the inland registration and insurance departments. Staircases at either end lead to the private post-boxes on the upper floor.

A passage to the left of the rotunda leans to the southern wing of the building, where the inland parcel, money order, telegraphic money order, postal order, and savings bank departments are located; while on the upper floor are the departments dealing with foreign registered letters, Customs assessments and foreign parcel delivery.

A descent by a short flight of steps from this wing brings us to Koilaghat Street. Turning and entering the gate immediately on the right, you are confronted by a four-storeyed building, on the first floor of which is the window delivery of inland parcels, and on the second floor the window delivery of inland registered and insured letters.

The red brick building on the left accommodates the office of the Presidency Postmaster, and adjoining it is the office of the Accountant-General, Posts and Telegraphs (entrance from Koilaghat Street). The office of the Postmaster-General, Bengal and Assam, is at No. 1 Council House Street.

 

HOURS OF BUSINESS

                                                                                                                                From                       To

Reference and enquiries attended to                                                                7 a.m.                      7 p.m.

                On Sundays and Post Office Holidays                                                                             12 noon

Poste Restante                                                                                                     7 a.m.                      7 p.m.

                On Sundays and Post Office Holidays                                                                             12 noon

Certifitatcs of posting graded (throughout the year)                                     7 a.m.                      7-30 p.m.

Air Mail Registered Articles                                                                              7 a.m.                      4 p.m.

                On Air Mail days                                                                                                                 6 p.m.

Registration of foreign, amd inlaid letters, post-
cards and packets                                                                                                7 a.m.                      5-30 p.m.

                With late fee                                                                                                                         6 p.m.

                On Saturdays                                                                                                                        4 p.m.

                With late fee                                                                                                                         5 p.m.

Inland parcels received for despatch                                                                10 a.m.                    6 p.m.

                On Saturdays                                                                                                                        2-10 p.m

Foreign parcels received for despatch                                                             l0a.m.                      5 p.m.

                On Saturdays                                                                                                                        3 p.m.

Insurance of letters (all classes)                                                                        7 a.m.                      5 p.m.

                On Saturdays                                                                                                                        4p.m.

Insurance of parcels                                                                                            10 a.m.                    5p.m.

                On Saturdays                                                                                                                        2-30 p.m.

Value payable articles of letter mail received                                                  

                for despatch                                                                                          10 a.m.                    5 p.m.

                On Saturdays                                                                                                                        4 p.m.

Value payable articles of parcel mail received                                

                for despatch                                                                                          10 a.m.                    5 p.m.

                On Saturdays                                                                                                                        2-30 p.m.

Money orders issued                                                                                          9 a.m.                      3 p.m.

                On. Saturdays                                                                                                                       1 p.m.

Telegraphic money orders issued (including                                                 

                Sundays)                                                                                               8 a.m.                      6 p.m.

Express telegraphic money orders paid on every                                          

                day of the year                                                                                     8 a.m.                      6 p.m.

Express telegraphic money orders are received on                                       

                every day of the year and subject to the condi-                            

                tions mentioned in Clause 1 (2) (II) of the Post                              

                and Telegraph Guide                                                                           8 a.m.                      6 p.m.

Ordinary telegraphic money orders are received                                           

                on Post Office holidays which are not also 'Tele-                         

                graphic holidays’                                                                                 8 a.m.                      6 p.m.

British and Indian postal orders paid and sold                                               10 a.m.                    3 p.m.

                On Saturdays                                                                                                                        1 p.m.

Savings Bank business transacted                                                                   10 a.m.                    3 p.m.

                On Saturdays                                                                                                                        1 p.m.

Issue of Wireless Broadcast Receiver licenses                                              7 a.m.                      6 p.m.

                On Saturdays                                                                                                                        5 p.m.

 

AIR MAILS

                                                                        Hours               Day

Europe, Egypt, Palestine, America,

     Allahabad, Karachi                                       8 p.m.               Monday. Tuesday,

                                                                                                Wednesday, Friday,

                                                                                                Saturday

Sudan, Kenya, Uganda.                                     8p.m.                Tuesday, Wednesday,

                                                                                                Saturday

French Guinea. Gold Coast, Ivory

Coast, Nigeria                                                   8 p.m.               Tuesday

East. South and South-West Africa,.

Mauritius                                                          8 p.m.               Wednesday, .Saturday

Cawnpore, Delhi, Jodhpore                                8 p.m.               Tuesday, Friday

French Indo China (Southern)

and Saigon                                                        6 p.m.               Sunday

Northern and Central Sumatra                            8 p.m.               Monday, Thursday,

                                                                                                Saturday

Hong-Kong, China, Japan, Philip-

pines, Hanoi and North China                             8 p.m.               Tuesday, Saturday

Ceylon (By air from Madras)                             3 p.m.               Daily (except Wednesday

                                                                                                and Saturday)

Burma, Siam, Malaya, Dutch East

Indies, Australia & New Zealand                        8 p.m.               Tuesday, Wednesday,

                                                                                                Saturday

 

SEA BORNE MAILS

Europe, America                       Despatch    closes                     6-30 p.m. on Thursday

Australia                                                                                 3-00 p. m. on Tuesday

Malaya and China                                                                   3-00 p.m. on Wednesday

Ceylon                                                                                    3-00 p.m. daily (except

                                                                                                          Wednesday)

Burma                                                                                    6-00 a.m. on Tuesday,

                                                                                                            Friday, Sunday

Mauritius                                                                                3-00 p.m. on Sunday

 

When direct mails are not closed South Africa and Mauritius

mails posted up to 5-45 p.m. are sent to Bombay daily. Japanese

mails posted up to 3-00 p.m. are sent to Colombo dally.

 

INLAND POST

                                                                                                Rs.       A.        P.

LettersNot exceeding one tola in weight                               0          1          0

                        For every additional 1 tola or fraction    0          0          6

Book and Pattern packets—For the first 2 ½ tolas or

                                                            fraction thereof 0          0          6

                        For every additional 2 ½ tolas or fraction          0          0          3

Newspapers—For a weight up to 10 tolas                               0          0          3

                        For a weight up to 20 tolas                               0          0          6

                        For every additional 20 tolas or fraction            0          0          6

Parcels—Not exceeding 40 tolas in weight                               0          4          0

                        For every additional 40 tolas or fraction            0          4          0

All parcels over 5 ½ seers must be registered. No parcel

weighing over 12 ½ seers can be accepted by the Post

Office for transmission.

Registration—The fee for registration is 3 annas, for each

article to be registered, whether it is a letter, a postcard,

a book or pattern packet, a newspaper or a parcel.

 

Insurance — When the value does nut exceed Rs. 100            0          3          0

                        When it excecds Rs.l00 but not Rs. 150            0          4          0

                        When it exceeds Rs. 150 but not Rs.200           0          5          0

                        For every additional Rs. 100 or fraction

                          thereof over Rs. 200 and up to Rs. 1000         0          2          0

                        For every additional Rs.1100 or fraction

                          thereof over Rs. 1000                         0          1          1

Money Orders—For a sum not exceeding Rs. 10                   0          2          0

                        Exceeding Rs. 10 up To Rs. 25             0          4          0

On any sum exceeding Rs. 25, for each complete sum of Rs. 25 the charge is four annas and four annas for the remainder if it exceeds Rs. 10, otherwise it shall be only two annas.

The amount for which a single money order may be issued must not exceed Rs. 600.

 

Indian Postal Orders

Indian postal orders starting from annas 8, and rising by steps of 8 annas to Rs. 10, are sold by all head and sub-post offices. The commission charged in respect of each order is 1 anna.

 

FOREIGN POST

For England and Countries participating in the Empire Air Mail Scheme

Letters, Printed matter, Business papers and Sample

                packets— For every ½ oz. or fraction thereof                              0              2              6

 

For Burma

Letters—For a weight not exceeding 1 tola                              0          1          6

                        For every additional 1 tola or part thereof          0          1          0

Post Cards – Single                                                                 0          1          0

Printed matter – For the first 5 tolas                                        0          0          9

                        For every additional 5 tolas or part                    0          0          6

Newspapers—For every 10 tolas or part                                                       0              0              6

Business papers and Sample packets—For the first 5 tolas 0           0          9

                        For every additional 5 tolas or part                    0          0          6

For Aden,Ceylon, Nepal and Portuguese India – India Inland rates

For other British Possessions and Protectorates

                        Letters and printed matter-up to 1 oz.   0          2          6

                        For every additional 1 oz. or part                      0.         2          0

 

For all Foreign Countries served by the Foreign Post –

 

LettersFor a weight not over 1 oz.                           0          3          6

                        For every additional 1 oz. or part                      0          2          0

Printed matter—for every 2oz. or part                                    0          0          9

Business paper—for a weight nor over 10 oz.             0          3          6

                                    for every additional 2 oz. or part           0          0          9

Sample packets—for a weight up to 4 oz,                               0          1          6

                                    for every additional 3 or- or part           0          0          9

Parcels—The rate or parcels vary according to their

weights and countries of destination.

 

Parcels for England

            For a weight not exceeding 3Ib.{ via Gibraltar   1          8          0

                                                            { via. Overland 1          13        6

            For a weight of 7 Ibs.               { via Gibraltar               2          12        0

                                                            { via. Overland 1          1          6

 

British Postal Orders

British postal orders for fixed sums from 6d. to £l-1-0

are available for sale to the public at all head and sub-

post offices.

 

Foreign Money Orders

Foreign Rupee Money Orders—

                        On any sum not exceeding Rs. 10                     0          3          0

                        Exceeding Rs. 10 but not exceeding Rs. 25       0          6          0

The procedure on larger sums is the same as that on
Inland money orders.

 

On Sterling Money Orders—

                        On any sum not exceeding £1               0          4          0

                        For each additional pound or part up to £5        0          3          0

 

Above £5, Re. 1 for each complete sum of £5 and for

the remainder as for money orders not exceeding £5.

 

Air Fees—Inland

                For a postcard                                                      6 pies plus ordinary postage

                For a letter or packet                                          One anna for eachtola or part

                                                                                                thereof plus ordinary postage

                For a money order                                               One anna in addition to ordi-

                                                                                                nary commission

 

For Ceylon and Portuguese IndiaIndia inland rates

For Burma—1 ½  annas per tola or fraction,. plus ordinary postage

 

Air Fees—Foreign

For Letters, Printed matter or Sample packets—

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                                                                                                                                                Rate per half

                                                                                                                                                ounce or part

                                Country of destination                                                                        thereof in addi-

                                                                                                                                                tion to ordinary

                                                                                                                                                postage

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                                                                                                            Rs.       A.        P.

Iraq                                                                                                      0          2          6

Iran (except Western Iran) and Siam                                                     0          3          0

Iran (Western), China, Japan, Hedjaz, the Philip-

   pines and French Indo China                                                  0          4          0

Netherlands Indies                                                                                0          6          0

All countries in Europe, except Great Britain and

   Ireland                                                                                               0          6          0

United States of America          (excluding internal services)                   0          6          0

            Do.                              (including internal services)                    0          10        0

French. Equatorial Africa, Nigeria and Gold Coast                                0          7          0

Countries in Europe served by India-Greece-Ger-

many service                                                                                         0          8          0

Portuguese East and West Africa and Belgian Congo                0          8          0

Bahamas, Costa Rica. Cuba, Dominican Republic,

    El Salvador. Guatemala, Hayti, Honduras, Jam-

    aica, Leeward Islands, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama.,

    Porto Rico,Trinidad, Virgin Islands and French

     West Indies                                                                         0          13        0

Venezuela                                                                                             1          2          0

Dutch West Indies (Curacao, Oruba and Bonaire)                                 1          4          0

Colombia, Equador. British, Dutch and French Gui-

   ana and Peru                                                                         1          4          0

Brazil                                                                                                    2          14        0

Argentine, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay                                   3          6          0

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TELEGRAMS

                                                                                                                                                Rs.          A.            P.

The Central Telegraph Office is open day and night for

the despatch of express telegrams, and from 8-30 a.m. to

9-30 p.m. daily (except on Sundays and Holidays) for

ordinary telegrams.

Inland Telegrams

Express—For the first 8 words or less                                                                             1              2              0

                                For every additional word                                                                  0              2              0

Ordinary—For the first 8 words or less                                                                          0              9              0

                                For every additional word                                                                  0              1              0

Charges for Burma are double those of Inland rates.

 

Foreign Telegrams

Britain and all places in the British Empire via I.R.C.-

Full rateper word                                                                                                            0              13           0

Code rate—(maximum 5 words) per word                                                                        0              8              6

Deferred rate—(maximum 5 words) per word                                                 0              6              6

Letter Telegrams—(for 25 words or less)                                                                      7              0              6

                For every additional word                                                                                  0              4              6

John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source pages  63-70 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta: Central Press, 1940.)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)

 

The APO POST OFFICE

Hello.  This is your local APO saying hello and wishing you "Quick mailing service!" Expect our cooperation. You will get it. However, casuals at this APO for only a short time should neither attempt no expect to receive mail. Anyone remaining at this APO for a sufficient length of time to receive mail should contact the local Postal Officer. Use only the facilities of the APO for mailing and for money orders. You will find complete postal services on the ground floor of the Hindusthan Building. Packages are now limited to a weight of ten pounds - one per month. Watch the weight of that gift you purchase.

New Service on V-Mail.  V-mail may now be speeded up by using a 6 or .06 air-mail stamp. V-mail bearing air-mail postage is transmitted on a separate roll. After developing it goes by air in the States. Remember: All V-mail has to be properly addressed inside and outside, censored inside and outside, and then sealed before posting.

Local APO Postal Hours.

1. Stamps, parcel post, registry service:

  Daily 0815-1200, 1315-1545, Sundays 0900-1300

2. Money Orders:

  Daily 0815-1200, 1315-1545, Sundays 0900-1200

Cables.  U.S. Military personnel and civilians who are authorized by the War Dept to use the APO can send a cable to the U.S., either E.F.M or Sender's Composition Cable, at the office of the Base Censor, Fourth Floor, Hindusthan Building. Have it censored, pay for it, and have it filed - all right on the spot.

Orders for Flowers.  Anyone desiring to send flowers to someone in the U.S. can do so through the American Express Co., 28 Dalhousie Sq.; or they can send a Money Order to a home-town florist and give him the necessary address and instructions.

 

(source: “The Calcutta Key” Services of Supply Base Section Two Division, Information and education Branch, United States Army Forces in India - Burma, 1945:  at: http://cbi-theater-12.home.comcast.net/~cbi-theater-12/calcuttakey/calcutta_key.html)

 

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with the original submitter/author)

 

 

 

Writing letters

India

February 9, 1945

Dearest:

Per my usual fashion, when given the opportunity, I am starting your letter early tonight. That is a good idea in two ways: first, should I get real busy I'll have had my chat with you; second, it provides me with a chance to write half a letter to you, spend the evening accomplishing other objectives, and then finishing your letter with a final word to you.

About the mail. I received your January 26 letter today, as well as clippings postmarked January 24 and the Miss Somers' January copy of the NEA mailed January 17. So you did handsomely by me today, as indeed you did yesterday. My January 29 issue of Time arrived also, and a carbon copy of a general letter issued by Rhea Burrow. Further, I got quite a surprise when a heavy package filled with fruit cake, candy, and cookies came from the Misses Floro and Dorff. It had been sent to my temporary APO and so had taken a long time in transit - however, the contents were in excellent shape. I brought some of the items along to eat while CQing tonight.

Now that it is definitely warmer and rain is threatening, our friendly pests, the bugs, are back. It is interesting to observe how the bugs change in kind and character from one season to another. At the moment I am being particularly annoyed by a brown bug, about a half inch across, through, and deep. It infiltrates through the bamboo lattice works and goes careening around the room. I've already killed a half dozen of them. The ever present mosquito is here, but I've seen very few of those small blue bugs. Just as I was about to write that the huge, inch long, half inch wide beetles hadn't been seen recently, I heard a buzzing by the door, and sure enough, there was one, appearing for all the world like an overloaded bomber struggling through the air.

A moment ago I checked with Capt. Frankel on the appearance of the OD, or rather his lack of appearance. The Colonel came out of the door at the same time - and it seems that no one had noticed that there was no OD. In the meantime (it is 7:45) the Colonel and the Captain have been missing their supper.

I have a lot of letters that I should tackle, but I don't feel ambitious tonight. Instead, I think that I'll rather ration myself - one letter, your clippings, another letter, the NEA Journal, etc. Okay? See you in a couple of hours, sweetheart.

I've had an evening of excellent fun, inasmuch as I have done nothing but take my time writing a few letters, reading a detective book, and poring over your letters. Among the letters which I wrote was one to Ray and Miriam and when you read the copy which I am sending you, I hope you do not think me too severe in my dealings with Ray. I really enjoyed the twitting which I gave him, but I'm not too sure that he will. However, read his portion of the 1-6-45 V.Mail which they sent me and see if you don't think that he deserved it. After all, I could have just let my punches fly, instead of pulling them as I did. In some fashion, though I presume it's folly to try, I must cure him of that habit of talking down to me. He does it to everyone, I realize, but it particularly irks me. While I recognize his brilliance I refuse to concede, on the basis of the evidence which I now have, that he is a better thinker than I. Furthermore, I know a lot more about a great many more subjects than he. And when it comes to questions of world policy, I don't consider that his performance of the past two or three years grants him the slightest right to even open his mouth. Tsk. (I imagine that I'll continue to split infinitives right to the bitter end!)

It is now quite late, and I presume that I ought to say goodnight. There was a slight mixup at the 81st on the OD question, but one put in an appearance around 8:00. About 10:45 I heard someone open the door to the Staf room and enter. I was amazed to hear the Colonel's voice asking if the OD had shown up. Lt. Steegman dropped in for a few moments today. One more mission, then home for him. He expects to leave about the 20th, he said.

I note that in an earlier paragraph I remarked about the absence of the little blue bugs. I take it all back. I have killed so many of them that there is a heap by my desk.

Well, sweetheart, I sent you another big brown envelope today filled to the brim with letters, service papers, and copies of my letters. I hope you find it interesting.

All my love to you, cherished one, and I repeat, what fund to sleep with you.

Goodnight, darling Ritter.

Dick

Richard Beard, US Army Lieutenant Psychologist with 142 US military hospital. Calcutta, February 9, 1945

(Source: page 128 of Elaine Pinkerton (ed.): “From Calcutta With Love: The World War II Letters of Richard and Reva Beard” Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2002 / Reproduced by courtesy of Texas Tech University Press)

 

US Mail Censorship

Censorship is a necessary evil that actually amounts to be a blessing in disguise; the general idea is to keep you safe so that one day you can return to Seventh Heaven. Cooperate - give yourself a break. Help your censor instead of hindering him. He, in turn, wants to make those letters interesting (after all, the guy has to read 'em); therefore he offers instead of the usual list of "Don'ts," a list of "Do-write-home's."

1. Do write about India and about Indians in a general way. Write your frank opinions on everything save the war and local politics.

2. Do write that you were in an air raid. Write it, "We had an air raid awhile back." Facts aren't allowed; nor are they necessary to impress the folks back home.

3. Do write with common sense about what you see and hear in this Theater. Ask yourself, "Would my telling this hinder the war effort in even the slightest way?" Your own good judgment will cause the censor's razor blade to grow rusty from lack of use.

4. Do send picture postcards, making sure to include scenes from several different cities so as to avoid identifying any certain location.

5. Do send home both notes and coins in small amounts.

6. Do send home postage stamps up to 10 in number, however, not disclosing your geographical location at the time.

7. Do send home menus, etc., after cutting out location and name.

 

(source: “The Calcutta Key” Services of Supply Base Section Two Division, Information and education Branch, United States Army Forces in India - Burma, 1945:  at: http://cbi-theater-12.home.comcast.net/~cbi-theater-12/calcuttakey/calcutta_key.html)

 

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with the original submitter/author)

 

 

 

 

 

          _____Memories of 1940s Calcutta_______________________

 

Letters Home under Censorship

As I say, I sent my parents an allowance but I wrote them very desultorily. I wasnae a great letter writer. They wrote me pretty regularly. But you got letters from horne in big packs, because it took weeks and weeks. And generally even the letters from home were censored. Sometimes it was just a waste o' time. Accordin' to ma folks, they told me some o' the letters I wrote there was just hardly anything left o' them by the time they got them, censored, pencil through them, you know.

Eddie Mathieson, Marines’ commando soldier  on the Burma Front. Calcutta, 1944/45
(source: page 241 of MacDougall, Ian: Voices from War and some Labour Struggles; Personal Recollections of War in our Century by Scottish Men and Women. Edinburgh: Mercat Press, 1995)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Ian MacDougall)

 

One of the things was loneliness

Because of the civilian friends I made at Barrackpore, it may seem that life was fairly comfortable. It could certainly have been worse - and undoubtedly was at many other more remote RAF stations. Still, apart from the climate, there were many drawbacks that home based admin and civilians wouldn't understand. One of the things was loneliness - complete separation from loved ones - as no home leave and even a lack of knowledge of where or what people were doing. Mail was erratic and uncertain. I would estimate that about a third was lost either to enemy action or RAF or P/O inefficiency. When mail did arrive it was a very major event in our lives even though the news could be months out of date. We were not even living in a particularly friendly country. The "Quit India" movement was in full swing and most people wanted us "out". Not for us the friendly reception our forces had in Europe, the Middle East, Australia and the American continent.

Harry Tweedale, RAF Signals Section, Barrackpore, 1943

 

(source: A6665457 TWEEDALE's WAR Part 11 Pages 85-92 at BBC WW2 People's War' on http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/ Oct 2006)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with the original submitter/author)

 

 

 

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Telegraph Services

 

 

 

 

          _____Pictures of 1940s Calcutta________________________

 

A Christmas Telegram

113752914920767846923_1

This is a telegram sent from my Father, Philip Gallop, to my mother, Audrey Brown, before they were married.

It reads as follows:

'253 C CW K 4577 Overseas 19 20 1620

LC = Audrey Brown 174 Liverpool Rd Reading

Best wishes for a Happy Xmas, All my love darling, Philip Gallop.'

It was dated 1943.

Philip Roy Gallop, Royal Air Force, Calcutta, 1943

 

(source: A8612967 A Christmas Telegram at BBC WW2 People's War' on http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/ Oct 2006)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with the original submitter/author)

 

 

 

 

 

 

          _____Contemporary Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___

 

 

both operators then pocketing the difference

Edgar Baker of TIME-LIFE International, publishers and distributors of our overseas  editions, returned last week from a six months' business trip to the South Pacific,  Malaya and India, where he experienced the usual quota of unexpected surprises and  contradictions.

In India, for instance, he found that sending telegrams was a fruitless occupation because the operators were likely to mail the message to its city of delivery, where another operator retyped it on a telegraph form—both operators then pocketing the difference.

(source: TIME Magazine, New York,  Aug. 11, 1947)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)

 

 

 

 

 

          _____Memories of 1940s Calcutta_______________________

 

 

Copper Ornaments

There were several placements in India but for the main part Alfred was stationed in Bengal at Khargpur, where the remit was to keep the lines of communication open between Delhi and Calcutta and between Calcutta and Madras. Sections of the telegraph lines on which the messages were sent were stolen from time to time by the locals who melted them down and made copper ornaments from them. Alfred's company had patrols out to prevent the thefts as far as possible

Captain Alfred Richardson, Royal Corps of Signals Eastern Command, Calcutta, 194

 

(source: A4103506 Captain Alfred Richardson ISO JP and his War in India at BBC WW2 People's War' on http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/ Oct 2006)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with the original submitter/author)

 

 

 

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Calcutta Telephones

 

 

 

 

          _____Pictures of 1940s Calcutta________________________

 

 

 

 

 

          _____Contemporary Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___

 

THE BENGAL TELEPHONE CORPORATION

The telephone is so widely used today in almost every department of life, that we have come to take it for granted and consider it just a bare fitting to be installed as a matter of course. If we but pause to dwell on the subject, we cannot but marvel at the ingenuity of its inventor, and the way the telephone has developed in a scant sixty years. On its inception it boasted a handful of venturesome subscribers, while today telephones are numbered in their thousands in all important cities of the world.

The pioneer of the telephone was Professor Graham Bell of the United States of America; in 1877 he perfected his invention, and succeeded in transmitting sound over a length of wire. The following year he crossed over to England, and demonstrated the practicability of his invention.  Official circles, however, were sceptical, and it was left to private enterprise to make the telephone what it is today.

The first page in telephone history was written in 1878, when an exchange was opened in America. A year later London followed suit; but it was not until 1883 that the first telephone exchange was opened in Calcutta, with an initial total of 121 subscribers. Progress was slow at the start; it took seven years to raise the figure to 437, and another ten years to 821. Howrah was connected in 1884 and Budge-Budge in 1892.

During the Great War the progress of the telephone suffered a setback owing to Government restrictions. When these were removed, however, subscribers joined in ever-increasing numbers, till a total of approximately 15,000 was reached in 1937 ; this number is today nearing 20,000. 

In 1921 the Telephone Corporation opened the Central Exchange at No. 8 Hare Street with an ultimate capacity for 10,000 lines, and later, with a view to relieving pressure on the Central Exchange and to speed up the service, two exchanges were opened in 1924, one in north Calcutta, known as "Burra Bazar" and the other in south Calcutta, called "South," while yet another exchange was opened in 1929 in Park Circus, known as "Park." Today there are six exchanges spread over the city with a total of 250 operators.

The amazing development in the Trunk Telephone System has brought the farthest cNoorners of India within easy reach of subscribers, whilst the Overseas Telephone Service has made it possible for one to converse with a subscriber in almost any part of the world.

John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source pages  73-74 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta: Central Press, 1940.)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)

 

 

Telephone exchanges

The six exchanges are Calcutta, Park Street (P.K.), Burra Bazar (B.B.), South, Regent and West.

Other exchanges in the Calcutta area are Howrah, Barrackpore.

 

John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source pages 74  of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta: Central Press, 1940.)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)

 

Telephone communication

Telephone communication is slow and poor. Messenger service often is more satisfactory.

 

(source: “A Pocket Guide to India” Special Service Division, Army Service Forces, United States Army. War and Navy Departments Washington D.C [early 1940s]:  at: http://cbi-theater-2.home.comcast.net/booklet/guide-to-india.html)

 

 

E Pluribus

If Smith spells his name Psmith, that's his business, but it's a nuisance to telephone companies. The Calcutta phone company decided last week to take a strong line with variant spellings. Its trouble was not with Smiths (everybody in Calcutta knew the billboarded Smith Bros., Dentists) but with Mukerjees. They spelled it Mookerjee, Mookharjea, Mookarjie, Mocurgey, and a dozen other ways. The Chatterjees and the Bannerjees also went in for whimsical variations.

Hereafter, each name would be listed only one way in the phone book. But which way? That was left up to Calcutta University (which already standardizes its students' names). A faculty board found that the high-caste ancestors of present-day Mukerjees, etc., had all been imported from Benares 600 years ago by a Bengali king who wanted to increase the number of Brahmans in his realm. When the British East India Company came to Calcutta, the Brahmans' descendants flocked to work as babus (clerks). Their employers promptly shortened the babus' names and made them more pronounceable for British tongues.*

The university decreed a return to the pre-British forms. Mukerjees, Chatterjees and Bannerjees would find themselves listed as Mukhopadhyaya, Chattopadhyaya and Bandopadhyaya. Anything simpler, Calcutta nationalists swore, would be a British imperialist corruption.

* An old Sassenach trick. Unable to pronounce Gaelic names, Edward IV issued an order in 1465 requiring all Irishmen to take "an English surname of one towne, as Sutton, Chester . . . or art or science ... or office, as cook, butler." Though the law was generally ignored, the Irish did find it expedient to Anglicize their names. In the proud name O Ceallaigh, for example, the O was dropped, hard Irish c became k, the guttural aigh softened to y; and the result was Kelly. Many Eire patriots are now reversing the process, with Murphy re-emerging as O Murchadha, and Moriarty as O Muircheartaigh.

(source: TIME Magazine, New York, Sep. 13, 1948)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)

 

Hello! Hello!

Said Kunming: "Wai! Wai! Hello! Hello!"

Said Calcutta: "Hum Calcutta se bolte hein Calcutta calling!"

For the first time China and India were linked by telephone last week. U.S. engineers, with British material and Chinese and Indian labor, had strung the wires, in pace with the construction of the Stilwell Road, across 1,750 miles of some of the world's toughest jungles and mountains, made tougher by Japanese gun fire. Said the New York Times:

"Whether or not swift communication makes for swift understanding one doesn't know. The line may carry angry words. . . . But the Orient ... is shrinking, and this is one of the shrinkages. ..."

(source: TIME Magazine, New York, Jun. 25, 1945)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)

 

Letters: Peacetime Conscription

Calcutta to Kunming

Sirs:

Reference is made to TIME'S [June 25] article on the Calcutta-Kunming telephone line. . . . Word received here from the India-Burma Theater indicates that TIME'S casual reference to construction by "U.S. engineers, with British material and Chinese and Indian labor" has had a detrimental effect on the morale of some 5,000 U.S. Army Signal Corps men who participated in the project. These men spent 22 months fighting malaria, monsoons, wild animals, pests, and Jap snipers to build this vitally important line through 1,700 miles of treacherous jungle and mountain terrain, and unquestionably deserve a world of credit for a great job. . . .

In overcoming tremendous obstacles to build this communications link, which serves the Stilwell Road, the pipeline and many airfields, these Signal Corps men have made an important contribution to victory over Japan and certainly should not be ignored in any discussion of the project.

FRANK E. STONER

Major General, U.S.A.

(source: TIME Magazine, New York,  Aug. 6, 1945)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)

 

 

 

 

 

          _____Memories of 1940s Calcutta_______________________

 

 

 

 

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Time and Punctuality

 

 

 

 

          _____Pictures of 1940s Calcutta________________________

 

 

 

 

 

          _____Contemporary Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___

 

time and punctuality

Most Indians have a different idea about time and punctuality from ours. If a man says he will come at 5 o'clock he doesn't necessarily mean 5 o'clock sharp but within and hour or two of five. If you instruct a workman to finish a job by Tuesday, he may take it to mean merely sometime soon. If you want work done on time, you must keep a close check on the progress of it. All work stops on holidays, which sometimes last for several days.

 

(source: “A Pocket Guide to India” Special Service Division, Army Service Forces, United States Army. War and Navy Departments Washington D.C [early 1940s]:  at: http://cbi-theater-2.home.comcast.net/booklet/guide-to-india.html)

 

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with the original submitter/author)

 

 

 

 

 

          _____Memories of 1940s Calcutta_______________________

 

 

 

 

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The News

 

 

 

 

          _____Pictures of 1940s Calcutta________________________

 

 

Calcutta magazine stand

40

 

The Calcutta counterpart of the American railroad magazine stand.  Available are canes, suitcases, soda water, shopping bags, cigarettes and a hundred other items peculiar to the Indian taste.

Clyde Waddell, US military man, personal press photographer of Lord Louis Mountbatten, and news photographer on Phoenix magazine. Calcutta, mid 1940s

(source: webpage http://oldsite.library.upenn.edu/etext/sasia/calcutta1947/?  Monday, 16-Jun-2003 / Reproduced by courtesy of David N. Nelson, South Asia Bibliographer, Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania)

 

News sellers at the Esplanade

Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944

 

 (source: Glenn S. Hensley: News sellers, C003, News sellers at the Esplanade seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a  series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)

 

 (COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)

 

 

 

 

          _____Contemporary Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___

 

 

INFORMATION

Information Channels.  Do as you would in any strange city at home: ASK QUESTIONS. Ask that M.P. coming along the sidewalk. Or go into any store and you will find a manager or a salesman who can speak English well enough to direct you. Ask any fellow American soldier that you chance to meet. For officers, a special information service has been set up in the Maidan Camp Headquarters, opposite Grand Hotel. For the best available information on almost any question try:

ARC Cosmos Club - Dalhousie Square

ARC Burra Club - 8 Dalhousie Square ARC Rest Camp 1 - Lady Brabourne College Continental Services Club - 12 Chowringhee Rd. Y.M.C.A. - 25 Chowringhee Rd. Information Desk, Hindusthan Building.

 

(source: “The Calcutta Key” Services of Supply Base Section Two Division, Information and education Branch, United States Army Forces in India - Burma, 1945:  at: http://cbi-theater-12.home.comcast.net/~cbi-theater-12/calcuttakey/calcutta_key.html)

 

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with the original submitter/author)

 

 

India's Hartal

For one day last week, India was practically without news. More than 100 of India's newspapers suspended publication in a one-day hartal (Indian sitdown strike). Only nine major papers appeared.

India's press is a hodgepodge. There are the British-owned English-language papers: the Calcutta Statesman, the Bombay Times of India, etc. There are few Moslem papers (some English-language, some native), like the newly started Delhi Dawn of Obstructionist Mohamed Ali Jinnah. And there are the liberal, Hindu-owned English-language and Hindu-language papers, like the Calcutta Amrita Bazar Patrika and the Bombay Chronicle, that support Mohandas Gandhi. These latter, in the majority, are always whole-hog for Indian independence.

Before the war all Indian papers were fairly free; there were restrictions, but the British seldom applied them. When war came, Indian editors and British leaders agreed: 1) the press would not hamper Britain's war effort; 2) the Government would permit the papers to go on demanding Indian independence; 3) as a control, the Government retained the right to close any obstreperous publication after giving the offending editor full warning, a second chance. Things worked well until last August, when the suppression of Gandhi's civil-disobedience campaign culminated in disorders.

Heavy Hand. India's press at once felt Britain's heavy hand. Papers in Delhi were ordered to limit political trouble stories to three columns, use headlines not higher than a fifth of an inch over them. Elsewhere in India news offices were searched, some papers suppressed, some editors arrested.

India's editors stood it as long as they could, in late December decided to stage last week's hartal. They also decided to refuse to print, thenceforth, any unnewsworthy British handouts or the speeches of any British statesmen. On New Year's Day they failed to publish such routine news as Britain's annual "honors list." Although the British-owned Indian papers did not participate, they sympathized; the Calcutta Statesman offered Indian-owned papers "our good will and . . . mediation. . . ."

Boomerang. Because Britain long encouraged the teaching of English in Indian schools and colleges, Indians learned to like their news in English, which explains why so many Indian papers are printed in English. By watching the British press, Indians long ago learned that an unfettered press is a steppingstone to freedom. Because they had good British newsmen as models (Rudyard Kipling joined the Lahore Civil and Military Gazette in 1882), Indians grew up to be Grade A journalists, dialectically skillful, intensely nationalistic.

The British, faced with a rebellious Indian press, this week had only to look to the past to see who was to blame. From Britain herself, Indian editors had learned to value press freedom and to fight for it.

(source: TIME Magazine, New York, Jan. 18, 1943)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)

 

A Letter From The Publisher

P. S. I wonder how many of TIME'S 20 editions you remember. Seven of them, with 424,727

circulation, are printed just for our armed forces overseas and are their No. 1 source of

news these days. You'll find the whole list below.*

* Here are the 20 editions of TIME, printed on every continent except Antarctica. TIME U.

S. (four printings) Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Classroom; TIME Canadian; TIME

Air Express for Latin America (five printings); Export, Mexico City, Bogotá, Buenas

Aires, Sào Paulo; TIME Overseas (three printings); Export Honolulu, Stockholm; TIME for

the Armed Forces (seven printings); Pony, Pacific Pony, VMail, Sydney, Calcutta, Teheran,

Cairo.

(source: TIME Magazine, New York,  Sep. 18, 1944)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)

 

A Letter From The Publisher

By the time you read this letter, the full election story will have galloped with TIME'S Pony Edition to our troops in Germany—flown with TIME'S Calcutta Edition to G.I.s deep in the jungles of Burma and India —reached interned U.S. airmen far in the north of Sweden through the pages of the Scandinavian Edition we print behind the German blockade.

We held this issue open until 4:15 Wednesday afternoon te give TIME'S editors time to weigh our correspondents' reports, integrate the last-minute news with our stacks of advance research and write an election report that would be complete and straight and in perspective. And then it was up to our production and distribution men to make up for this almost-a-day-and-a-half delay.

(source: TIME Magazine, New York,  Nov. 20, 1944)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)

 

A Letter From The Publisher

For a long time now TIME has been perhaps the biggest single importer into the U.S. of a better understanding of what is going on in other lands. And now that we are printing TIME each week on every continent—in Mexico City, in Bogota, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Honolulu, Manila, Sidney, Calcutta, Teheran, Cairo, Rome, Stockholm and soon Paris—we hope we are also taking our place as perhaps the most trusted exporter to other lands of a better understanding of America and the part America is trying to play on the world scene.

In the vastly complicated ONE WORLD that is emerging from the war, the need for this sort of understanding among thinking people, alike at home and abroad, may well prove the greatest need of all.

(source: TIME Magazine, New York,  Apr. 30, 1945)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)

 

Press Trust

WHEN India became free, it was incongruous that her main domestic news agency, even if staffed almost throughout by Indians, should remain under non-Indian control, and (though this was not quite so evidently important) that news coming from abroad, other than that supplied by newspapers' own correspondents, should not be sifted by Indians so that what seemed most likely to interest the public here should be given more fully, what less interesting compressed. The new agreement, the result of much patient negotiation removes these anomalies. In future, Indian newspapers will, through the Press Trust, become proprietors of the present Reuters subsidiary company the Associated Press of India and themselves share in the ownership of Reuters, a world-wide agency whose facilities for collecting news are thus at India's service. Indian correspondents will be posted abroad with Reuters'. Reuters will maintain a special "Indian Desk" through which news coming to this country will pass, and will distribute abroad news supplied by the Press Trust in India.

(source: The Statesman. Calcutta/Delhi, September 22, 1948)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with The Statesman)

 

A Letter From The Publisher

During the last four years we have told you a good deal about the development and growth  of our overseas editions. This week, thanks to an announcement by C. D. Jackson, vice  president of TIME Inc., I can tell you about their postwar destiny in TIME-LIFE  International, a new division pooling all the international editions of TIME and LIFE.

At war's end we found ourselves tangled up in the complications of printing 17 different  international editions of TIME, totaling over 1,000,000 copies a week, and speeding them  to the four corners of the world. These editions were of every conceivable size, from a  V-Mail TIME to a "Pony" edition (the first miniatured magazine to be sent by fast  overseas delivery to our armed forces), to "Colt" sizes like the Paris edition, and  others in the familiar U.S. TIME size. Some—like our prewar Air Express edition to Latin  America and the edition we began in Sweden in 1943—carried their own advertising and  served our English-reading subscribers around the earth. But most of them—like the  editions printed in Honolulu, Australia, Calcutta—served military needs only.

(source: TIME Magazine, New York,  Jan. 28, 1946)

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)

 

NEWSPAPERS - THE ROUNDUP

Newspapers.  To keep yourself orientated on the latest news from the war fronts try The Statesman, The Amrita Bazar Patrika, and The Hindusthan Standard newspapers in the morning and The Star of India in the evening.

The Roundup.  The Roundup is the weekly newspaper published by and for the Military Personnel in India-Burma Theater - distributed free of charge to all installations in the Base Section. If it's news you want (excellent maps and new analysis), if it is information you seek, or if you merely desire some good reading material to pass away the time, the Roundup is your Number One bet. It appears every Thursday morning; and with unfailing regularity its small yet highly efficient staff gives you a newspaper that you can be proud to call your own. It is published for you, it is yours. Get your copy at your own camp, or see one in town at one of the clubs you visit. Pre-censored for mailing home.

 

(source: “The Calcutta Key” Services of Supply Base Section Two Division, Information and education Branch, United States Army Forces in India - Burma, 1945:  at: http://cbi-theater-12.home.comcast.net/~cbi-theater-12/calcuttakey/calcutta_key.html)

 

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with the original submitter/author)

 

 

RADIO for U.S. Servicemen

VU2ZU Calling.  VU2ZU calling at 1355 on the dial! You Yanks in Base Section No. 2 not only have a great newspaper of your own, but you also have a modern and complete radio station serving you and the Allied Forces in the I-B Theater. With two small, well-equipped studios and a large auditorium for producing live shows, and now operating on 1000 watts, VU2ZU is now Big Time. Sound-proofed walls, indirect lighting, heavily carpeted floors - it's worth anyone's visiting just to take a look.

Listening In.  Much of the broadcasting time is and will continue to be devoted to transcribed programs fresh from the States. But live shows featuring you and your buddy are one of the main factors in entertaining you. Daily summaries of the news will be augmented by important news flashes that will be broadcast throughout the day. Sports events, important ceremonies, etc., will continue to receive spot covering. Consult the Radio Station for weekly radio programs, keep tuned in for late happenings, or when in Command town visit the studios to look them over and, if you wish, to participate with the audience in live shows. For any program requests, write or telephone to the Station Director, Station VU2ZU, located in Rest Camp No. 1 of Base Section No. 2.

 

(source: “The Calcutta Key” Services of Supply Base Section Two Division, Information and education Branch, United States Army Forces in India - Burma, 1945:  at: http://cbi-theater-12.home.comcast.net/~cbi-theater-12/calcuttakey/calcutta_key.html)

 

(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with the original submitter/author)

 

 

ABUL MANSUR AHMAD:  NON-MUSLIM "MAGNATES" OF THE SO-CALLED "MUSLIM" JOURNALS, HYPOCRISY UNMASKED

Muslim journalism in Bengal cannot be said to be in its infancy. But it does not appear to be a force to reckon with. This is not without reason Muslim journalists have got to work under serious disadvantages.

Administration, commerce and industry being the main sources of patronage that supply the financial sinews of the press of a country and the Muslims being practically non-existent in all of them, Muslim journalism simply cannot thrive.

Therefore, we find, during the last half-a-century, Muslim newspapers came out in large numbers but all of them died prematurely in quick succession.

The Khilafat movement gave the Mussalmans a rude shake-upage As a result Muslim journalism made several attempts with renewed vigour to come to life.

The Daily "Sevak" and the Daily "Mohammadi" of Moulana Md Akram Khan, the Daily "Sultan" of Moulana Islamabadi, Daily "Navajug" of Maulvi AK Fazlul Haq, Daily "Taraqqi" of Sir AH Ghaznavi, the Daily "Mussalman" of the late Maulvi Mujibur Rahman and "Muslim Standard" of Sir Abdur Rahim are instances of this attempted renaiscence. All these attempts in their turn also failed chiefly due to the above-mentioned handicaps.

All this, no doubt, is a tragic history so far as success is concerned but none the less it is a glorious chapter in the history of journalistic as well as of political renaiscence of Muslim Bengal. The hollowed names of Munshi Reazuddin Ahmad, Munshi Shaikh Abdur Rahim and Maulvi Mujibur Rahman of revered memory and those of Moulana Md Akram Khan, Moulana Maniruzzaman Islamabadi and Moulana Ruhal Amin will be written in letters of gold in the history of Muslim journalism.

During this period of apparent unsuccess, weeklies, bi-weeklies, tri-weeklies and dailies have come and gone. Some of them were political extremists, some were moderates ; some of them were pro-Congress, some were anti-Congress ; some of them were Nationalist, some were communist. The same paper was sometimes this, sometimes that ; the same paper had developed now conviction and changed sides.

But nobody minded it, for like other communities, the Muslim community itself has, and have divergent political groups in her womb. It is neither unnatural, no desirable. on the contrary, it is a sign of life in a community.

Muslim Out and Out

But in spite of these political differences, they all had one common characteristic: they were all Muslim concerns, with a clear Muslim tone speaking in a distinct Muslim language. With a clear Muslim tone speaking in a distinct Muslim language. Occasional help from Hindu friends and well-wishers and patronage from Government had never interfered with their Muslim colour and character, nor have they ever sabotaged their independent growth as Muslim institutions.

But the time has changed. With the introduction of provincial autonomy, some of the disadvantages artificially created for the Mussalmans have been removed.

They have been given at least theoretically, some political powers. This transfer of political power having had a democratic process, Muslim masses also are having to play their parts in this renaiscence. A thrill of life has shaken their slumbering lifeless body-politic. A sign of awakening is clearly visible here, there, everywhere.

Now, the Press being the "Fourth Estate" according to the universally-accepted modern political theory, the Mussalmans are naturally looking up to the growth of an adequate number of newspapers to help and supplement their political regeneration.

Not only is it a national necessity but also the time is rife and the soil is also ready. The newspaper-reading public in the community has in recent years considerably grown in size. A large number of working journalists, as distinguished from proprietor journalists, have grown upage Highly educated Muslim young men are ready to rush in the financially risky profession of journalism in preference to a safe berth in the Provincial Service. They seem to have realised that the future of their great community will have to be hammered out and built on the anvil of the national press rather than in the bench and the bar.

This is therefore the proper time and opportune moment for the Muslim financiers to start Muslim dailies both in Indian languages and English, which are bound to be politically powerful and commercially lucrative.

Slow process

But the process is a bit too slow for no other reason than that the number of moneyed men amongst the Bengalee Muslims is not large. The result is that, in a country like Bengal (including Bengali-speaking part of Assam) with a Muslim population of forty million, we have got only one Bengali daily the "Azad" and only one English evening daily, the "Star of India". They are undoubtedly doing yeomen's service to the Muslim community both in giving them political training and in fighting for their rights and privileges. But for a population of forty million of whom at least two to three million are literate enough to read newspapers, one Bengali daily and one English daily are by no means adequate. Both for healthy political education and for profitable commercial avocation, there ought to be at least two to three English and four to seven Bengali dailies run, managed and edited by Mussalmans themselves. For a community, which have got the democratic right to rule Bengal, to have no more than one Bengali and one English Daily, is a matter of great shame. This state of affairs cannot go on for any length of time, Muslim Bengal is bound to have a rich, powerful and profitable Press of its own in no time.

This opportune moment in the journalistic and consequently in the political and commercial, life of Muslim Bengal, may have, for the present, been overlooked by the Muslim leaders and moneyed men, but it has not escaped the hawks eye of some non-Muslim commercial adventurers. Just as the cow-worshipping Marwaris are merrily making money out of dealing in hide of the "mother-cow" just as the Islam-hating non-Muslims are merrily making money out of printing and selling the Holy Quran ; in the same self-same manner, some non-Muslim businessmen of Calcutta have taken it into their hands to make money by running "Muslim Dailies".

This is to say the least, a positive menace to the growth of Muslim journalism in Bengal. This is sabotaging the political training of the Muslims. This is simple burglary into the commercial and industrial interests of the Muslims. How this is working, I shall describe in a moment from my very recent personal experience.

Recent experience

During recent years we have made in co-operation with some Muslim gentlemen of position and eminence several attempts to run a Bengali Muslim Daily. on each occasion our attempt failed not because the paper did not go, but because Non-Muslim commercial adventurers had butted in, conspired and driven us out. These papers are still going on masquerading as "Muslim Papers" blazoning for non Muslim names as editors or " directors", but Hindu writers running the roost. They have driven us out, and with us and our Muslim colleagues, alleging that we were not sufficiently non-communal; but strangely enough, we have been replaced, not by abler and more non-communal Muslim hands but by Hindu hands. This has converted overnight a Muslim paper into a Hindu paper. How we fell prey into the traps laid by these unscrupulous commercial adventurers, is another story ; but, in order to avoid misunderstanding, it may be mentioned here that in starting those papers avowedly with the object of preaching non-communal politics, we had thankfully accepted financial help from Hindu friends. We found nothing objectionable in accepting financial help from our Hindu brethren in starting a Muslim newspaper, just as we find nothing objectionable in accepting financial aid from our Hindu brethren in starting a Maktab, a Madrassa or an Etimkhana, or any other Muslim institution.

"Dummy" editors

In consequence, we now find "Muslim Dailies" run by non-Muslims, edited by non-Muslims and even composed and printed by non-Muslims, only bearing Muslim names as editors. This is deception pure and simple played upon the Muslim community. People have heard of political "show-boys". The epithet is certainly apt in the case of Muslim leaders of the Congress ; but here in Bengali journalism we have got "show-boys" as "Muslim editors".

This is dishonesty from top to bottom ; for it is cheating both the reading public and the advertisers.

Financially speaking this is nothing short of burglary into the commercial and industrial interests of the Mussalmans.

Politically speaking it is simply defrauding the Muslim public. Needless to say, our Hindu friends have got the natural and democratic right to openly appeal to their Muslim countrymen towards any ideal they themselves like and adopt. What we strongly object to is this unjournalistic subterfuge and political deception. It is inimical to the wider interest of the country.

The Press has got a sacred duty to perform. The Muslim Press is no exception. It must not therefore be allowed to become a gambling place for non-Muslim […]

 ‘Star of India’, Calcutta, 23.06.1942, page 06

  (source ‘Star of India’, Calcutta, 23.06.1942, page 06)

 

 

 

          _____Memories of 1940s Calcutta_______________________

 

 

The prefects’ perks

In the dining hall we were arranged by classes, the Senior Cambridge nearest the top end, then two lines of tables of ten, all the way down to Standard Three, near the doors to the kitchen. The Prefects (aka The Oppressors) had their own table on a raised platform, and among their perks was toast instead of bread at breakfast, and newspapers to read. It was a constant criticism from the masses that our un-elected leaders always read the sports pages before the headlines on page one. Our point was that we were in the middle of World War Two, and we felt the happenings in North Africa, Burma and the Pacific Islands were more important than batting averages. Truthfully, we were just upset that they had toast!

John Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source: John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow hill Schools Kurseong at  http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)

 (COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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