“I am a refugee in love!”

This is a photograph of my paternal grandparents Kewal Krishan Puri and Reva Puri whom I call Dadu and Granny, taken at the Bombay Photo Stores Pvt. Ltd Studio in Calcutta, (Kolkata), West Bengal. My granny’s maiden name was Barbara Dorothy Reynolds, and my Dadu was devoted to her. This is their love story.

A Family of Freedom Fighters

It is unusual to see Bijoy clothed in a North Indian Dhoti (loose drape pants) because most young boys his age wore half pants. Apparently he had begun to dress like an adult to display his commitment to the independence struggle; perhaps he felt that serious work required an adult attire. And he was not alone in his commitment – several leaders of the Independence movement had recruited large numbers of young boys to act as secret messengers to deliver letters in nearby towns and villages. Whenever the policemen came around on suspicion and to arrest Bijoy (they would come around often) his proud mother Pareshwari Devi would instruct Bijoy – “If you sign any police papers for an early release, do not come back to this house”.