Hazra

 

At the Maidan,

I stood under a tall black statue,

Meeting place for us friends

Ahead of an exciting match at Eden

‘Let’s meet near that buri,’  

A friend had suggested.

Arriving ahead,

I waited,

And to while my time

Looked upon the tall buri

 

Flag in hand,

Head up in pride,

She stood,

With a fist clenched in rebellion

‘Do you even know her name?’

A soft voice called out

An old lady asked,

With headmistress-like glasses

Wrapped in a simple but faded

Lemon-white shawl

 

I felt guilty of ignorance

Every day I passed her,

But not for once

Was I curious.

The shawled lady smiled

‘I was not expecting an answer,

Not from today’s generation –

But she is closer than you think:

Shot dead at 70, flag in hand

Matangini Hazra still walks amongst us.’

 

Fragments of an old story

Returned:

Quit India,

Gandhian, imprisonment

And a death to inspire

More than a life could;

‘Freedom fighter,’ I uttered

While the shawled lady smiled,

‘Her greatest achievement perhaps

Was not just sacrifice’

 

‘But a sacrifice knowing

Posterity wouldn’t remember a name.’

My friends’ voices interrupt

I turn to see them rushing

‘Where are the others?

And why are you mumbling to the buri?’

I turned around

Shawled lady had disappeared.

‘Not buri,’ I correct my friends,

Hazra – Matangini Hazra…’

 

5^th August, 2026

 

Matangini Hazra occupies a unique place in Kolkata's memory, not only as a freedom fighter but as a symbol of ordinary courage. Born in a poor peasant family in Tamluk, she became deeply involved in the Gandhian movement and participated in the Civil Disobedience and Quit India movements. During the 1942 Quit India Movement, at the age of 72, she led a procession in Tamluk carrying the Indian flag and was shot by British police while continuing to advance, reportedly calling out "Vande Mataram."

Her memory entered Kolkata's public landscape in a significant way when her statue was unveiled on the Maidan in 1977 — the first statue of a woman erected in Kolkata's public spaces. The city also honours her through Hazra Road, named after her, a major thoroughfare in South Kolkata. In a city filled with monuments to kings, leaders, and intellectuals, Matangini Hazra's presence is unusual: a poor village woman, and grassroots activist whose greatest legacy was not office or fame, but the courage to stand with a flag in her hand when history demanded it.