Among
all residential areas in Dhaka, Gendaria was a very old and famous area in the
past. It is said that, once an English tourist went to the bottom of the iron-bridge
riding on a horseback, and looking at surrounding scenarios, he said, “What a
grand Area!” For this reason, the name of this area became ‘Grand Area’, which
was later changed to ‘Gendaria’.
Besides,
many people say, “A large amount of sugarcane used to be cultivated in Doyaganj
and Mirhajirbag areas. And those sugarcanes were sold in Doyagonj and Ghuntighor.
Since then this area has been named Gendaria.” Many historians and researchers have
agreed to this theory.
At
the beginning of the nineteenth century, Gendaria was the first
residential area of Dhaka in British India. It has somewhat lost its image of a
residential area, but the luster is still there. There are famous Dhupkhola
Math, Sadhana Aushadhalaya founded by Jogesh Chandra Ghosh, Simanto Granthagar and
Simanto Khelaghor Ashor, Kisholoy Kochi-Kachar Mela, historical Kadam Rasul
Mosque built during the Sultanate period and Asgar Ali Hospital of the recent
time.
The
ancient name of Gendaria is ‘Dolaiganj’. Historian Muntasir Mamun in his book ‘Dhaka:
Smriti Bisritir Nogori’ (ঢাকা: স্মৃতি বিস্মৃতির নগরী) has talked about Gendaria. In one part of the book,
he has written, “Dinanath Sen, Deputy Inspector of the schools in East Bengal, and
two influential lawyers Rajanikanta Chowdhury and Ananda Chandra Ray jointly
bought the vast area of Gendaria. Only Dinanath Sen built house for living. Dinanath’s
house was built on 17 bighas of land. Dinanath inspired relatives and friends
to build house in Gendaria, and Gendaria became a residential area for middle
class people at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Dinanath Sen made the
road (which is now Satish Sarkar Road) of going to the Gendaria rail station at
his own expense. But he had one condition that “no one can set up drug shop or
brothel by the side of the road made by him.”
By
the way, it should be mentioned here that Adinath Sen, son of Dinanath Sen, has written
a book ‘Dinanath Sen and Totkalin Purba Banga’ (দীননাথ সেন ও তৎকালীন পূর্ববঙ্গ) in three volumes.
The legendary film actress Suchitra Sen got married with his
son Barrister Dibanath Sen.
One
of the main roads in Gendaria is Dinanath Sen Road. Apart from this, other
important roads are Distillery Road, Satish Sarkar Road, Rajani Chowdhury Road,
K.B. Road and A K Das Road.
There
is a rail line to the east of Gendaria. Train goes to Narayanganj from Komlapur
through Gendaria. Kadam Rasul Mosque is to the North of
the rail station. It is said that stone containing the holy footprints of the
great prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SM) is kept here. There were two connecting
bridges to the west of Gendaria. One bridge, named Lohar Pool (Iron bridge), is
made of iron, brick and stone. Another one, named Kather Pool (wooden bridge),
is made of wood post and wooden deck. But now these two bridges do not exist.
The flowing canal under the bridges is now the busiest highway in the megacity
Dhaka.
In
1926, the first women’s organization, Gendaria Mahila Samity, of the then India
was formed in Gendaria. Revolutionary Ashalata Sen was the president of this
organization. In 1971, during the liberation war, Ashalata Sen’s son Samar Sen
was the permanent delegate of India in the United Nations.
Another
old organization of Gendaria is Anjuman Mufidul Islam. This organization was formed
to bury the dead bodies of the Muslim people died in riot in Kolkata. A branch
of this organization was opened at Gendaria in Dhaka after the division of the
country in 1947.
Simanto
Granthagar and Simanto Khelaghor Ashor of Gendaria is not only a library. It is
the name of a cultural movement. Nasim Ali, whose nick name is Kochi Bhai, is
the founder of this library. He studied in Law department of the University of
Dhaka. He was involved in left-wing politics. He started the library with a few
books. This library has great contribution to many people including Imdadul Haq
Milan in their becoming authors. Recently, the library has been modernized.
Gendaria
Kisholoy Kochi-Kachar Mela is one of the leading children’s organizations of
the country. Kisholoy Kamal Memorial Library belongs to this organization.
Valiant freedom fighter, Mohammad Shafiur Rahman Dulu is the president of
Kisholoy. Recently sitting in his office, he was saying, “It will be hard to
find a family here, of which not at least a single member was member of
Kisholoy.”
It
is needless to say that Gendaria was once pioneer in cultural activities. This
area was resounded with the walks of cultural personalities, authors, poets,
journalists and athletes. Among them are Justice Aminul Islam, writer Hayat
Mahmud, actor Syed Hasan Imam, Shawkat Akbar, Shuchanda, Babita, Champa,
actress Shabana, Nina Hamid, Aly Zaker, ATM Shamsuzzaman, journalist Golam
Sarwar, cricketer Aminul Islam Bulbul, sports commentator Abdul Hamid and many
others.
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