Calcutta Yoga Excerpt: Chapter 3

Calcutta Yoga is a new book about the history of yoga in Calcutta, covering 4 generations of the Ghosh and Bose families. Below is an excerpt from early in the book, about Buddha Bose's birth in 1912. It begins with his parents, Rajah and Emily. Learn more and purchase the book here.

Chapter 3
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Colombo, Ceylon, Sept 20th, 1912

   Rajah and Emily performed alongside the era’s top acts at all of the top venues, but the Spring of 1911 was climactic due to another pressing matter:

It came as no surprise when her mother and father of such high standing disowned her as she continued her relationship with Rajah, and inevitably fell in love. Sadly, her very slight figure was to bloom, as she had fallen pregnant.

   An unpublished historical family novel tells of “a very dark secret in the family.” Emily’s relationship with Rajah “displeased her parents” and reached the point where “she ran away with him to India.”
  When Emily became pregnant, there was no record of Rajah and Emily having a registration of marriage, nor did they share the same address. That April, the London census recorded Ripendra Bose, aged 26, living at 7 Manchester Street, Southampton with many foreign roommates who were also fledgling performers. Four months later, when Emily gave birth in August, the couple provided the address of 19 Danville Road.
  Neither Rajah nor Emily were prepared for a child, nor did they understand how this would mark the end of their career on the British stage. The interracial mix in their show challenged cultural norms of the time, and their unwed relationship had scandalous implications. Rajah may have been removed from the magician’s guild to which he belonged and faced discrimination. With a child, Emily’s father of “high standing” made life difficult for both of them.
   The following year Emily became pregnant with their second child and they decided to leave Britain for Calcutta, bringing their magic duo to the Bengal region of India. They traveled by ocean vessel. Then owned by North German Lloyd, the SS Derflinger was a passenger steamship made for voyages from Bremen to destinations in the Far East. Ocean passage, since the middle of the 19th Century, was a popular mode of travel between Britain and India.
   After the SS Derflinger boarded passengers in Southampton, it headed south, then toward the Middle East, crossed the Suez Canal and set off across the Arabian Ocean. It then circled around Ceylon to reach the Indian Ocean.
   On this particular voyage in 1912, before they reached Ceylon, Emily gave birth to her second child. The couple had left London while she was in her last trimester of pregnancy and, since the voyage to Calcutta by boat was quite long, Buddha Bose was born at sea with the given name Francis Joseph Chandra Bose. It was a Christian name given by his mother, paired with Chandra, a Bose family middle name selected by his father.
   Even though his official birth certificate listed September 20th, the birth date Buddha would provide throughout his life was August 10th. He would later say he was “born on the deck” of the boat. It is possible he was born on the earlier date and then registered later at the Colombo port, or perhaps the date just got mixed up later on.

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   The research leads me to Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), but just for one day. I check into the Galle Face Hotel, a colonial era hotel on the ocean shore. I go for a walk, passing the US embassy next door. After a month of pure sensory assault from street noise in Calcutta, the biggest pleasure of walking is noticing that the drivers in Colombo do not use their horns constantly. I pass by the embassy gates and inquire about the library, which is closed. I continue on, then turn right and walk down alittle alley to find a small local tea shop at the end of it. I purchase a tea biscuit and am handed black tea served in a clear glass. I cross over the railway tracks and sit down on a large rock. Above me it’s blue sky and white clouds, but a storm looks to be on the horizon. Looking out over the ocean toward the dark clouds in the distance, I can’t help but ponder many questions. This is like looking into a deep maze of family secrets, hidden, yet not so far gone as to be forgotten.

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   Over the final ten days of the voyage, they crossed the Indian ocean and the Bay of Bengal before entering the mouth of the Ganges river and arriving at the Port of Calcutta.