Forced Displacement

Post-memory doesn't mean the end of the previous memory, but signifies continuity in the representation of the past and the influence of memory in the present

- Pratiti Roy

WHEN Kanti came to India from Bangladesh, his family received around five acres of forestland from the government to build a house and start farming. Kanti, a resident of Betul district in Madhya Pradesh, confirms that it took him and other families several years just to understand the land before they were able to start farming. As Bangladeshi farmers, they mostly knew only how to cultivate rice, which requires sufficient water and fertile ground to sow rice grains, but what they received was just forested land. Ashish, son of Kanti, recalls that his father secured a job while staying at the rehabilitation camp. He remembers his father narrating the stories of getting only wheat grains from the ration shop of the government. As Bengalis, they desperately craved for rice, so when they brought flour from the refinery, they used to boil it in water and have it as a substitute. Today, Kanti, who is a retired tailor by profession, remembers his camp days in Madhya Pradesh not as a bad dream, but as a harsh reality that had transformed his life forever.