Life of Papiya
Papiya was born on 8th October 1953, at DUMKA (Bihar, India), third of the four daughters of Ujjal Kumar Ghosh, an IAS officer of the Bihar Cadre and Purnima Ghosh. Her father was a victim of, what was widely held to be, a Political Murder, in 1957. She, along with her sisters, was brought up single-handedly by her mother, Purnima Ghosh, who took up a job as a School Teacher after the ghastly murder of her husband.
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She was a Topper and the School Head-Girl, earning laurels in Debating, Dramatics, Elocution, Essay-writing etc. The winning trend continued in Patna Women's College. Here, too, she was elected the Premier of the Students' Union and stood out in all spheres. She, with her sister, Tuk Tuk, were the duo who contributed regularly to the ‘KOOKIE KOL’ Column of JS, a well known Youth Magazine and became a house-hold name, as a result.
As Patna University was closed down indefinitely in 1975 during JP’s Agitation, Papiya moved to Delhi University to pursue higher studies, where she completed her M.A., M.Phil and earned a Doctorate Degree in Modern Indian History. The subject of her M. Phil and Doctorate Degrees was “Civil Disobedience Movement in Bihar, 1930-34”.
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Papiya taught History at Hindu College from 26.11.1977 to 8.2.1979. Although she had a permanent job in one of the
best Colleges of Delhi University, she chose to come back to Patna Women’s College. This decision was not only driven by her commitment to provide support to her widowed mother, who was alone (the other sisters having, by then, moved out of Patna), but also because of her abiding conviction that she could contribute actively to the resurgence of Academics and Research in Bihar, which were not receiving proper attention at that juncture for various reasons. In fact the best brains were leaving Bihar, when Papiya took the bold decision to go back there. Papiya devoted 3 decades to her profession to Bihar. Nothing could deter her from her determination to give of her best, in spite of many frustrations and lack of suitable facilities.
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After a tenure in Patna Women’s College from 12.2.79 to 30.11.91, Papiya, on promotion, moved to the Department of History in the Patna University, to take Post Graduate classes, as well as to guide, evaluate and conduct research. She brought updated course material to the attention of her students, stocked the Library with the latest publications, often at her own cost and taught in fluent Hindi, which was not her mother tongue or the medium of instruction during her School and College years. That the syllabus of the University was in sync with other Central Universities was Papiya’s constant endeavour. Her teaching methodology was also very innovative and she always tried to weave in contemporary themes and ideas to make “History” more relevant for her students. She taught several Papers, though her specialization was Modern Indian History. Patna University, because of various financial problems, often did not pay its Teachers and Staff for several months. But Papiya always kept the flag flying and did not let up on her academic pursuits!
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Her Research Subjects related, inter-alia, to impact of Partition, plight of Dalit Muslims, Peoples’ Movements, Popular Syncretic Culture, Secularism, Contribution of the Underprived to Political Processes etc. Since she had a penchant for collecting data, she spent much time travelling to remote areas, meeting key sources (within and outside the country), spending her own limited resources. She would devote hours on translation, roping in friends and well-wishers in her endeavours! She also learnt Urdu to be able to do full justice to her Research work.
Papiya published various scholarly Articles in reputed Academic Journals. Her seminal book is entitled, “Partition and the South Asian Diaspora- Extending the Subcontinent”. Unfortunately, she did not live to see its formal launch on 1st January 2007. Both the Hon'ble President and Prime Minister of India, who were presented copies of the book, greatly appreciated it.
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President Kalam, in a letter of 3rd January 2007, to her sister, Tuk Tuk, said, (quote) "Prof. Ghosh has brought to bear the force of her intellect on this unique and interesting subject which would prove to be of great value to all those interested in the subject of the South Asian Diaspora. It is unfortunate that Prof. Ghosh is not with us to see the fruit of her efforts in writing this book" (unquote).
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