Volume-I, Issue-II, November, 2024
Volume-I, Issue-II, November, 2024 |
বেলা বসুর ‘স্মৃতিপট’ : নারীশিক্ষা ও অদম্য ইচ্ছাশক্তি এবং সমকাল পর্ণা মণ্ডল, গবেষক, বাংলা বিভাগ, ত্রিপুরা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, ত্রিপুরা, ভারত স্টেট এইডেড কলেজ টিচার, বাংলা বিভাগ, হীরালাল মজুমদার মেমোরিয়াল কলেজ ফর উইমেন, কলকাতা, ভারত |
Received: 12.11.2024 | Accepted: 28.11.2024 | Published Online: 30.11.2024 | Page No: 238-245 |
DOI: 10.69655/atmadeep.vol.1.issue.02W.028 | |||
Bela Basu's Smritipot: Women's Education, Indomitable Willpower, and Contemporary Relevance Parna Mondal, Research Scholar, Department of Bengali, Tripura University, Tripura, India State-Aided College Teacher, Department of Bengali, Hiralal Majumdar Memorial College for Women, Kolkata, India | ||
ABSTRACT | ||
Bela Basu’s memoir Smritipot (2000) is a testament to the practical inspiration behind realizing the latent desires of the mind. Bela Basu is not a famous personality; she is simply one among the many ordinary housewives. She took up the pen with effortless spontaneity and simplicity. Society did not readily accept the positive aspects of women’s education. Denying women the right to education and the patriarchal efforts to suppress them repeatedly hindered the progress of women. Yet, among all this, conscious families and individuals have helped in supporting women’s traditional education. Bela Basu had an unyielding desire for education. In the early 19th century, her grandmother was a well-educated woman who had earned a scholarship. Growing up in such a family, Bela Basu aspired to higher education. However, in the 1940s, after studying until the eighth grade, her school was closed due to the onset of World War II. Despite this, she did not let go of her dream of higher education. Eighteen years after her marriage, she decided to take the school finals again with her son and succeeded with extraordinary brilliance. Afterward, despite domestic obstacles, she continued her education, progressing through intermediate, undergraduate, and special honors studies in succession. At a time when the rate of women’s education was on the decline in India, Bela Basu’s determination and her ability to reach the graduate level, even beyond the typical age for education, serve as an inspiring example of self-awareness and persistence. In her memoir, she describes her journey of education, setting an example for future generations of the realization of unstoppable willpower. | ||
Key Words : Women’s education, Indomitable willpower, Contemporary relevance, Traditional education. |