The festival of Vishwakarma Puja-when machines are worshipped for their smooth functioning and virtually everyone in Calcutta engages in kite-flying competitions-was especially exciting for Satyajit. Chhedi was five years older to him and always called him Ray Chowdhury. One of the first friends he made was the son of their housemaid Shyama, Chhedi. But that did not leave him in want of company. Satyajit Ray in his early 20s.Source: Wikimedia Commons The First Friend ‘How can she wash her hands in the water I’ve found?’ he said, irritated. Just then, a girl from the nearby village came and started washing her hands in the water.
Soon enough, water started trickling out of the sand. With his wooden toy spade, Manik started to dig the sand excitedly. Prayag told him if he dug the sand deep enough, he would find water. One evening, little Satyajit or Manik as he was lovingly called and their long-time house help Prayag were sitting on the banks of river Usri. When Sukumar Ray was ailing, the family went to Giridih (now in Jharkhand) for a change of air. Satyajit heard him exclaim loudly, ‘Look, a ship!’ When Satyajit ran out into the courtyard, he saw a steamer pass by-his first sighting of a ship. One day, his father was sitting by the window and painting. The house they stayed in was by the Ganga and had a small courtyard. One incident that Ray clearly remembered about his father though was from the time they had gone to Sodepore, a small town in the northern suburbs of Calcutta, for the sake of his father’s health. Satyajit Ray had very few memories of his father. It was only much later that he could grasp who his father had been through his writings, art and what his mother and other relatives told him Ray never had a chance to get to know his father.
When Satyajit Ray was just two years old, his father died of kala azar or black fever at only thirty-five. Sadly, he fell ill soon after Satyajit Ray was born. His indigenous characters and allusions have been intrinsic to children in Bengali families across generations. Sukumar Ray was one of India’s first writers of nonsense literature. Right: Ray during the making of his debut film 'Pather Panchali'. Left: Satyajit Ray in his childhood days.
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