Indeed if a house could speak, it would not only tell the story of the family that lived in it, but also narrate fragments of history that it may have witnessed. There could be events which have escaped the limelight of mainstream records, which such old houses would love to share with the world. Indeed some buildings and residences have almost been like a living but silent spectator to the great dramatic evolution of our nation.
One such house, that holds a treasure trove of stories, history and anecdotes, is the house that “came to life” in 1885, standing on about 10 acres of lovely lawns, gardens and tree groves, almost adjacent to the Circuit House of Faridpur. Originally the home grounds were comprised of over 30 acres, but in the early 1900s, the British had some roads fork through the property, carving off some parts on all sides.
The main residence is comprised of about 30,000 square feet of floor space across five buildings with almost 40 rooms (excluding two fabulously decorative and floral relief work embellished mausoleums and a six minaret mosque). The home is popularly referred to as the White House of Faridpur (not just for its bedazzling whiteness, but as it was the seat of governance of Faridpur).
It is listed by Wikipedia among the notable palaces of Bangladesh, and by some publications as a heritage location of the country. This is the house which bears the name of Moyez Manzil, and which was made by the much fabled Zamindar of Faridpur, Chowdhury Moyezuddin Bishwash, who was not only one of the pioneers of kindling the anti-colonial sentiments among the elite of Bengal, but was also one of the founding patrons of All India Congress and of the first political party of what is today Bangladesh, called the People’s Association of Faridpur. He had also been a staunch pillar of protest during the Anti-Indigo movement of 1859 and who had even rallied his forces to aid the valiant initiators of the Sepoy Revolution of 1857.
The house, the main building of which consists of a two-storied Victorian mansion of 20 rooms, made in a combination of Victorian and Islamic architecture, with a strange simplicity of layout and austerity of style, devoid of the labyrinthine style of palace architecture with a complex layout of interconnected rooms and passages, and rather standing in resplendent glory with a simple row of rooms lined up between of over 300 feet of verandahs, would indeed ask which other home in Bangladesh, may have had the honour of having such luminaries as its guests, in those years that laid the foundation of our nation?
The house would surely talk about all the major historic events that took place in its grounds, of the famous people that visited it over the years, and about the people who lived there and of the lifestyle, which would portray the story of a bygone era. It would narrate with pride that it was the venue for many confidential meetings of the core committee of Congress, in the early 1900s, organised mostly by Ambika Charan Mojumdar (16th President of the Indian Congress, and a close friend and legal advisor of Chowdhury Moyezuddin).
These were aimed at the reunification of Bengal, between 1906 and 1911, of which Chowdhury Moyezuddin was a strong advocate, during the temporary splitting of Bengal. It would also describe about several other meetings of Congress held across the 1920s, and 30s and attendees are known to have included Maulana AK Azad and Dr MA Ansari, both of whom were Presidents of Congress at different times.
Surely the event to be mentioned with highest emphasis would be the Annual Conference of Congress in 1924, which had been hosted in Faridpur town, at the Ambika Hall, by the eldest son of Moyezuddin, called Chowdhury Abd-Allah Zahiruddin Lal Mia (previously known as Chowdhury Muazzem Hussain Lal Mia), with the post-lunch and evening sessions of the conference being held within the grounds of Moyez Manzil.
This event, which had been chaired by Chittaranjan Das, was attended by Madame Sarojini Naidu (the first female political leader of India), Netaji Shubhash Chandra Bose (who was a Congress President), the poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and even by Mahatma Gandhi himself. A few opine that Gandhi may have departed after the morning sessions though. Poet Kazi Nazrul had even stayed over at the house for several days and composed a couple of poems inspired by the house and its pond and gardens.
The house would speak about Lal Mia, who in time rose to be one of the leading stalwarts of the central national committee of the Indian Congress party, member of the Upper Legislative Council of Bengal representing greater Faridpur, and a member of the Rajya Sabha, went on to organise and host many more events there, and who had also been the Chief Whip in the 1960s and Central Cabinet Minister for Health, Labour and Social Welfare from the turn of the 60s to his demise in 1967, not to mention an innumerable portfolio of other positions held.
The house would also state how it feels proud to also have been the residence of Chowdhury Yusuf Ali Mohon Mia (the second son of Moyezuddin) who had been the chief architect of the Jukto Front of 1954, and subsequently who came to be known as the King Maker of Bengal, along with having been an eminent parliamentarian at the state level and a provincial minister as well.
The house would also express pride of having been the residence of Chowdhury Enayet Hossain Tara Mia the youngest son of Moyezuddin who was also a Member of Legislative Assembly of the Central Parliament across the 60s. And the house would mention that it continues to be the ancestral home of two more persons who have held Ministerial positions of present Bangladesh for a number of tenures and several more parliamentarians and upazila chairmen.
In talking about events, the house would chronologically discuss about the many events such as the All India Literary Conference, hosted within its grounds, also in 1924, which had been chaired by the celebrated novelist Sharat Chandra Chatterjee, and attended by many of the greatest literary personalities of India and Bengal. Rabindranath Thakur, who was a family friend and like an uncle to Lal Mia had been invited for the event too.
It may be mentioned the Nobel laureate’s uncle Prosonnokumarnath Thakur had been a business partner of Chowdhury Moyezuddin and members of both families visited each other’s homes many a times. Here, the resolution was taken that every author would try and inculcate the message of independence in everything they would write be it in a subliminal manner.
The house would proceed to share about the Bengal Education Policy Conference held in its grounds in 1929, which was attended by great Sher-e-Bangla, and almost every Minister of the Provincial Government of Bengal, where it was resolved to promote female education and equal literacy opportunities for all communities, which was a milestone in the development of the nation. The house would not overlook mentioning that at the end of the conference, they inaugurated the Halima Girls High School, named after the wife of Chowdhury Moyezuddin, as one of the first schools providing female education in present Bangladesh.
Then would come the story of All India Nationalist Muslim Conference, held in its northern courtyard in 1931, Chaired by the Nawab of Mahmudabad from Uttar Pradesh, India, and attended by the Muslim politicians, scholars and aristocrats from across India, where it was agreed that a united move would have to be taken by all Muslims for independence, as till then, a large section of the Muslim political elite had preferred to make favorable compromises with the British government.
And then we would get to her story of the very first Science Agriculture & Technology Fair of what is Bangladesh today, held in the home grounds in 1933, the predecessor of all trade and industrial fairs where stalls were set up by prominent industrialists across Bengal, promoting new agricultural technology and equipment, an event chaired by Jagadish Chandra Bose, the most noted scientist of India, till date.
The house would excitedly share the account of the 1935 All India Motion Picture Conference, which had started on the new years eve of 1934, held in the southern lawn of the house, and attended by Promothesh Borua (the first actor to play Devdas in a movie, and who was also the Crown Prince of Assam), noted producer BN Sarker, super stars of the time - Leela Desai, Kanon Devi, Ashok Kumar and even Prithvi Raj Kapoor, (the father of Raj Kapoor and the great grandfather of current Bollywood icons Kareena and Ranbir Kapoor).
The resolutions of this conference included the decision to form an academy of motion pictures and to launch national awards to celebrate acting talent as well as honour the efforts of the people who worked behind the scenes. I am sure the house would add that the next morning, these celebrities inaugurated the first movie theatre of Faridpur, (and possibly of Bangladesh) established by Chowdhury Moyezuddin’s sons, which was named Maya.
But movies were already famous in Faridpur, even before the theatre was launched, for the house would tell you that cinemas were screened in the front yard of Moyez Manzil for hundreds of guests invited from across the district, on special occasions, which were always considered to be evenings of great festivity for the townsfolk.
The house would surely narrate about those wondrous evenings when celebrated Indian singer KL Saigel would visit as a guest and enthrall audiences with his melodious voice and teach a few notes to the grandchildren of Moyezuddin; of the excitement that pulsated through the home, when stars like Solil Chowdhury, Bollywood actor Murad, and many great icons of stage and theatre would come and perform in stages built in the north courtyard, with the female members of the family looking on from the arched balconies above.
The house would share the stories of the myriad plays and dramas enacted by local artists, often supported by great celebrities from the stages of Calcutta and the night-long excitement, applause and feasting with sometimes members of the family joining in as supporting cast.
The house would surely describe the 1941 all India Rabindra Memorial Conference held after the demise of the great poet, attended by about 50,000 people; about the series of meetings held in 1945 and early 1946, involving top political leaders of India including Sher-e-Bangla and Suhrawardy, debating over the different theories related to the partition, that they could feel was drawing near as was the independence.
These lawns which are now overgrown with grass and which remain unattended most of the time, was where in 1946, several meetings were held to develop strategies for and nominations of candidates for the famous elections of that year, which led to the subsequent partition and independence in 1947, as the eldest son of Chowdhury Moyezuddin had been the chief nominator of candidates and political architect of the election.
Indeed, the walls of the house and even the trees in its gardens could bear testimony to so many political strategies that laid the foundation of India and Pakistan.
