Eurasian poets
Asok Dasgupta Old Park Street Cemetery, Kolkata
It is heartening to learn that Kaisar Haq has taken upon himself the task of introducing through your newspaper the great Eurasian poets in English whose presence was felt till the end of the British Raj. But it is more rejoicing that he made the beginning with Henry Louis Vivian Derozio whom we remember--if we remember at all-- as the person who had died very young having awakened the society against the evils that had blocked our road to the modern age of logical thinking and the associated freedom. He had his ardent followers among his students many of whom were older than him while he had his influential detractors too. It is therefore quite understandable why we know so little, especially when his pen had stopped so untimely, that he was a poet too. The writer categorises Derozio as a Eurasian writer which he was no doubt. But are we correct while we describe him as an Anglo-Indian as was mentioned in the Oxford University press publication of 1923? Not perhaps. True, when we are evaluating his great endeavours as a social crusader or as a poet as well it is of little importance to judge whether he could be called an Anglo-Indian or not. But it is better still if we take the trouble to understand the contemporary history-of Bengal particularly, and feel the pulses of the Portugese descendants in the British dominated Bengal. Derozio was a Portugese descendant, an Indo-Portuguese. Before coming of the British the Portugese had their presence felt in Bengal. They served as army commanders of the local rulers and in some particular regions they were themselves the rulers. As the Portugese influence receded from the centres of power and the British tightened their grip over Bengal, the Portugese descendants gradually accepted Anglican names in their bid to get entry into the Anglo-Indian society. Perhaps this explains the presence of 'Henry' in the midst of 'Louis' and 'Derozio' that signify his Portugese descent. With tears let us remember Derozio, the short-lived youth of Portugese descent, residing near today's Entally Market of Kolkara, who wrote in English and loved Bengal. While reading his poems it strikes me that 2009 will be his bi-centenary year.
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