History

In Kalitara’s Jaliyal Village, Delowar Hossain and later, after him, the youngest son Md. Yusuf was born in 1927. The eldest son Ahmed Karim graduated from Feni College with a bachelor’s degree in general history. In 1927, when the famous poet Kazi Nazrul Islam came to Noakhali, Mr. Ahmed Karim gave him a gold fountain pen with a gold inkpot with his own hard-earned money. Moreover, he also read a welcome speech for Kazi Nazrul Islam.
In 1928, Ahmed Karim got married to Siddika Khatun. Following that, in 1930, 18th May, the current house’s registration was done. On 12th December of 1930, Ahmed Karim’s eldest son, Md. Rafiqul Alam was born. In a few days, further constructions of the current house were carried out. It was from that time that Md. Yakub Ali started to live with his children and family in the current Hansat Bari (Ponchayet Bari or Ponchayet House). Md. Yakub Ali donated his Kalitara’s house to the person who used to look after it or was the caretaker of it.
In 1931, the Kachari Ghor (the place where hujurs used to teach Arabic) or the “Dewri Ghor”, situated in front of the current house, was further constructed. In 1933, the construction of the “Dewri Ghor” was completed with nine thousand and five-hundred taka, which was quite a lot at that time. In 1934, mehdi and coconut trees were planted on two sides of the “Dewri Ghor”, and a rose garden was made in its center.
In 1935, a British lord went to Sofor Ali Master’s house on his visit to Kalitara. At that time, Mr. Ahmed Karim had a posting in Kolkata. When he came back to his house, he learned that the police officers, the DC and the civil surgeon welcomed the British person with rose flowers from the garden of his house. After he got to know this, he filed a police complaint against the 4 people involved.
In the same year, in 1935, a school was established in the area of the “Kachari Ghor” where women teachers were appointed. Siddika Khatun, Wahida Begum and a few Christian women were the teachers in that school. In the month of October in 1943, Ponchayet (head), Md. Yakub Ali died. He was buried underneath a “Bokul” tree.
In 1947, during the partition, Mr. Ahmed Karim lost millions he had kept in Kolkata’s Hindu banks called Urban Bank, Nath Bank and Shankar Bank. After losing such a huge sum of money, he came to East Pakistan. Ahmed Karim used to live in a house on Nehru Road.
Ahmed Karim came back to his house and joined as a “sheresta” (someone who oversees plots of land) in the judge court. He later retired from that position.
On the 6th of April in 1950, 22nd Choitro, on a Thursday, the house was struck by a catastrophic fire at 2:30 pm. When Rani and Komola came from school, their caretakers Ambia and Sufia set the house on fire accidentally as they were boiling milk for them. The day after, in Kolkata’s Anandabazar Potrika, news headlines came out regarding this. The news headlines of the incident said “Hansat Bari has been set on fire and commodities of the house worth millions were burned to ashes”. Just after 50 days of this incident, Majeda Begum, Md. Yakub Ali’s wife, died.
As if all this grief was not enough to handle, Ahmed Karim’s younger brother Md. Yusuf passed away on 9th January in 1960, when he was only 32 years old. Late Md. Yusuf was an extremely talented person who had written the life changing plays or “natok” “Mati O Manush” and “Meghna”. Right after this, he wrote short stories such as “Atonko”, “To-Let”, “Lovers Association”, “Gono Jagoron”, “Lutfunnesa” and many others. All of these plays were played on Radio Pakistan.
Famous Poet Jashimuddin, Sufia Kamal and journalist A.B. M. Musa were very close to late Md. Yusuf. While writing the play “Meghna”, poet Jashimuddin resided in Hansat Bari and wrote the introduction of the play. These published short stories and plays have been kept safely in Bangla Academy and Brother Andre High School. It is said that poet Jashimuddin used to write poems while residing in the “Dewri Ghor” of Hansat Bari.
Yakub Ali’s another son Md. Delowar Hossain was the director at Railway. Yakub Ali had two brothers called Abdus Somod and Abdus Salam Tahashildar, who used to live on the east side of Hansat Bari. Abdus Salam had two sons; the eldest son Mostafizur Rahman (Abu Mia) was a footballer. Abu Mia got married a few days before the house caught fire. The day that the house caught fire, he was at his in-laws’ house. But right after he heard about the incident of the fire, he left his newly married wife at her father’s house and went to Hansat Bari immediately.
It is also interesting to note that Abdus Salam’s youngest son Mohammad Gaziur Rahman, acted as Shiraj in the play Shirajuddoula.
In 1967, the Women’s College beside Maijdi Court Railway Station in Noakhali was established by Md. Ahmed Karim. His eldest daughter Jahanara Begum was the first principal in that college. Md. Enayetur Rahman Tarik is the deserving son of Jahanara Begum who has arranged for a family reunion, where all the members of the Hansat Bari will unite.
A look back at history reveals that Ahmed Karim died on Sunday, 12th December, in 1976 at 5:30 am in the morning. In the month of January in 1980, Md. Delowar Hossain died. The death of these significant people marked the end of a legacy of Hansat Bari.

Content written by:

Nabila Faiza Islam