Kolkata Widow Faces SIR Hearing Over Late Poet Husband's Pseudonym Documentation
On a Sunday afternoon in Kolkata, 67-year-old widow Basabi Chakraborty stood patiently in a queue for an SIR hearing at Baranagar Narendranath Vidyalaya. She carried with her a September 1983 marriage certificate as proof of her marriage to the late poet Bhaskar Chakraborty, with renowned poet Joy Goswami listed among the three witnesses.
The Name Mismatch Conundrum
Both Basabi and her only daughter, Praiti, received hearing notices requiring them to provide documentation clarifying her father's identity due to a significant mismatch in his name. Bhaskar Chakraborty, who passed away in 2005, was born as Bishnumoy Chakraborty. However, all his official documents, including the 2002 SIR roll, reflected his chosen pseudonym, Bhaskar, which he used consistently in his literary work and personal identification.
The poet had always wanted to be known as Bhaskar throughout his life, making this name his primary identity in both creative and official spheres.
Family Documentation Challenges
Around 2 PM, Praiti accompanied her mother to the hearing center. Basabi carried not only the marriage certificate but also the only affidavit Bhaskar made before his death. This crucial document explicitly states that Bishnumoy Chakraborty and Bhaskar Chakraborty are the same person.
"My husband was very careless about these things, especially documents," Basabi explained. "In his family, every man had a name with 'Pada,' which my husband and his younger brother didn't like. My husband changed his name to Bhaskar while his brother changed his name to Chandan. My brother-in-law changed his name in all his major documents, including the Madhyamik admit card, but my husband didn't do that."
She added that this documentation gap created bank account-related issues after his death in 2005, complicating financial matters for the surviving family members.
A Common Literary Practice in Bengal
This situation reflects a broader cultural phenomenon in Bengal's literary history. Not only Bhaskar, but it was a common practice at that time for several authors and poets in Bengal to use pseudonyms for their work, often carrying these pen names into their personal lives and official documentation.
The Hearing Process and Documentation
Praiti, who teaches psychology at a college in North Kolkata and is pursuing her PhD, commented on the hearing process: "I knew that I would get a hearing call. It is quite logical, because how would they know these two persons are the same? I submitted my Madhyamik admit card before, so today they took a copy of the affidavit made by my father, which they considered a major document."
Basabi noted the commonality of such documentation issues: "Several people in the queue received hearing calls for minor spelling mistakes in their names or surnames, and in our case the two names are completely different. We knew we would have to face this and I had submitted a declaration stating both are the same person to the BLO while submitting the enumeration form."
Unnecessary Documentation and Related Cases
Interestingly, though Basabi brought the 1983 marriage certificate bearing Joy Goswami's signature, Election Commission officials did not require it during the hearing. In a related development, Goswami and his daughter also received hearing notices recently due to "unmapping" issues, suggesting this might be part of a broader documentation verification drive in the region.
The Chakraborty family's experience highlights the complexities that can arise when artistic identities intersect with bureaucratic documentation requirements, particularly for families of literary figures who maintained pseudonyms as their primary identities.
