Md. Zahid Hossain

Those of us who are over 30 and who have spent our childhood in a very rural environment, are more or less familiar with "Kachari’’ as it served as a living room for guests, travellers, and students who take Jaigirs in the courtyard outside the house. Apart from being used as a’’ Maktab’’ it’s also a centre for social discussion. Once a beacon of hope turns into a dilapidated shed. In the evening, children return home from their obstreperousness, echoing their recitation under candlelight, and playing in the moonlight of night.

These scenarios became a memoir of mindset. Things change utterly, we feel suffocation leaving the mechanization of relentless exhaustion and hyper-mechanization of the bustling city. Once this repentance was shared by our senior citizens, that time we didn’t have this sensation. ‘’An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon stick’’ as said by W.B Yeats. As time circulated, we became the storytellers of our new generation, duties vested upon us! “That society was so serene and peaceful, with no desperation. In future, generations consider them out of fashion like us.

Once upon a time most of the households, particularly respected figures in the rural towns had Kachari houses. And this Kacharighar was a part of village Bengali's history, tradition, culture and culture. With time, the Kachari house has disappeared from Bengali culture. The original version of the guest room or drawing room is no longer seen in rural towns. This reflected a witness of a simple community compared to a modern double-standard society.

The Kachari house represented the nobility of the status household in Bengal. Here dwellings included tin or tin canopies constructed of wood. It is used to host discussions, Shalis meetings, and storytelling sessions. A very morning, when I woke up in my confined room with the faint sound of Azan gave me an onslaught of realization that of austere far from religious morality and practices. We are proactive in gaining material prospection but extremely indolent in performing religious duties. People gather in every prayer time and together they accomplish their Namaz.

When farmers return from their work or in the meantime of work during summer session, they take shelter in the courtyard of such places. Punthipath used to sit in the Kachari house in the presence of the village people during the monsoon season. Pedestrians used to rest for a while in this kachari house. In case of danger, there was provision for an overnight stay in the Kachari house. Food was sent from inside the householder's house for the guests of the kachari house. The accommodation of the resident tutor (lodging master) was in the Kachari house itself. In some houses, the kachari ghar was also used as a Maktab in the morning.

'Kachari Ghar' known as 'Bungalow Ghar' is almost extinct. Now the drawing room has taken its place. The few Kachari houses that remain today are almost destroyed due to neglect. Along with the evolution of time, families in cities, as well as villages, are becoming small and self-centered. Most of the young generation leave their country for a better future, with the remittance they shape the society, and the tradition of Khachari education becomes outdated. Therefore, the century-old Bengali tradition of kachari ghar is on the way to extinction.