My maternal grandfather told me this story. I was just ten years old when he told me. The incident took place in 1945. The reason I’m not going to verify it because I trusted him. He passed away in 2007. But before going into the story, let me give you a brief on my grandfather. He was born in East Bengal (now Bangladesh) in British India. He was raised there by his parents with his two sisters and a younger brother. He got his education at a school which was 5-6 kilometers from his home. He used to walk every day to reach there. He failed to complete his matriculation exam as his family had not the means to tender the fee required to sit in the test examination. That forced him to leave his education and came to Calcutta in search of work.
Bengal famine of the 1940s had hit his family hard. He had no other option to leave his education. However, this piece is not on his life but rather a story involving him and Calcutta.
He came to Calcutta in the mid-1940s and got the job of a tram conductor. Calcutta was the jewel in the crown of British India. He was fascinated by the enormity and extent of Calcutta. The city exposed him to a lot of new things that he never experienced before. One thing that caught his attention was ice cream. It was new to him. Before coming to Calcutta, he never tasted ice cream. He became so addicted to ice cream; he used to have one ice cream every day after his shift. Ice cream was part of his daily routine.
Second World War was at its fag end, and allied forces were liberating the world from the clutches of Nazism. During that time, the American army had a camp in Bengal too. Chowranghee (a place in Kolkata) used to remain filled with American soldiers. Though my grandfather was an extrovert, but he never developed any friendship with the whites. He always maintained the gap, created by the Englishmen, between natives and whites. All of his friends were natives. But this story explores how that gap dissolved, for a short period, with the help of ice cream.
One day, after work, he was busy with his favorite thing, that was ice cream, at Chowranghee before returning to his Bhowanipore ‘mess’ where he was living as a boarder. While having the ice cream, he noticed from the corner of his eye that an American soldier was watching him from a distance. My grandfather felt a bit uneasiness. It was a time when crazy things were happening. World War II was coming to an end, and everyone was under the watch of the British government.
My grandfather started to think whether unknowingly he had done anything wrong. He was unsure of what to do. So, he decided not to pay any heeds to the soldier. After a minute, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw that the American soldier, standing beside him. The soldier was smiling. (My grandfather identified him as an American via his uniform). The soldier asked him, pointing at the ice cream, ‘where did you get this from?’ He had no idea how to speak to a soldier. He couldn’t speak for the first few seconds. Then he showed him the way, by hand gesture, from where he got the ice cream.
The American soldier smiled but didn’t leave. Then the unthinkable happened, according to my grandfather. The soldier asked my grandfather whether he would like to accompany him to the ice-cream seller. My grandfather was unable to decide what to say. He never chatted with a white with such details before. During the interview, he had a chat with his British boss. But after a moment of thought, he decided to accompany him to the ice-cream seller.
At the ice-cream seller, the soldier didn’t buy ice cream for him only but also bought an ice-cream for my grandfather too. That broke the barrier. While having the ice-cream, they chatted about various things. The soldier asked my grandfather which side he was at the start of the war. My grandfather, a staunch Gandhi supporter, told the soldier that he was always on India’s side.
After the ice cream affair, the American soldier offered my grandfather a lift to Bhowanipore in his jeep. Initially, he was unsure in accepting it, but the ice cream affair broke the barrier between both of them. He finally took the lift and reached Bhowanipore safe and happy.
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