After close to 100 years, the house where Kazi Nazrul Islam had rested for a couple of years in the small town of Krishnagar, Nadia in the late 1920s, the West Bengal Heritage Commission has agreed for renovation of the vintage structure of Grace Cottage.

The commission agreed for repairs after repeated appeals by the local civic body and a cultural body. The house hosted the rebel poet between June 1926 and December 1928. Prior to this, he’d briefly stayed from 3 January, 1926 to June at an old-fashioned ancestral house of a leftist revolutionary Hemanta Sarkar in Golapatti locality in the town.

“The house witnessed a very crucial time in Nazrul’s life as a number of noted houses had denied printing his literary contributions after he married Pramila Sengupta of Coomilla. Also, he was rejected by Fazilatunnesa Khan, a mathematics student of Dhaka University. The same house recorded the poet’s political vibrancy, as he, inspired by friend Hemanta Sarkar, joined Bengal Provincial Political Congress Committee and penned a song ‘Chol chol chol’ for the party’s open session here,” said Inas Uddin, the secretary of Sujon Basor, a state-appointed caretaker organization struggling to preserve the poet’s memorabilia in Krishnagar town.

“In two phases, the state spent Rs 51 lakh for renovation of the age-old Grace Cottage that still bears traces where Nazrul’s son Arindam Khaled Bulbul, the key inspiration behind the poet’s unforgettable numbers was born on 9 October, 1926 here, besides the house witnessed a number of events of the poet’s life,” he said.

The heritage commission assumed the possession of Grace Cottage in 2012 by a notification (No: 549/N-1/WBHC/2008-09, Dated: 06.08.2012) after repeated appeals by Krishnagar Municipality and Sujon Basor. “The building was given a new coat of plaster, a poet’s half-bust statue was installed and the premises was cleaned where a library run by our organization is also accommodated,” said Dipankar Das, president of the voluntary organization.

Inas added, “Nazrul composed his first novel ‘Mrityukhuda’ while staying at Grace Cottage, and the novel bears several mentions of the cottage, Krishnagar town and its roads, localities like Chand Sadak, Boubazar. He also composed and tuned the first Bengali ghazal ‘Bagichay Bulbuli Tui’ on 22 May, 1926 here.” Also, a number of noted timeless poems like Daridro, Fanimanasa, Samyabadi, Puber Hawa were produced by him at the very Grace Cottage.”

‘Agnibeena’, Nazrul’s first collection of poems was published in October, 1922. At Grace Cottage, on the 125th birth anniversary of the poet, the English version of the book titled ‘Harp of Fire’ by Professor Giasuddin Dalal was also launched. Ashoke Sengupta, son of the sister of poet’s wife Pramila Devi graced the occasion. Ashoke’s mother Khuku was the inspiration for Nazrul’s poem ‘Khuki O Kathberali’, Sengupta said.

Another book ‘Kazi Nazrul Islam:125’ – a 1200 pages collection of poet’s letters compiled by Dipanjan Dey also was inaugurated on the poet’s birth anniversary at Grace Cottage elevating the poet’s lost memories into people’s minds.

Grace Cottage, situated over five bigha of land was founded by one British lady Miss Grace that in 1930 accommodated a thermal power generation station run by B N Elias & Company, which was later dismantled. “We’ve taken a resolution to instal Kazi Nazrul’s statue within the municipality premises,” said Asim Saha, member, chairman in-council of the civic body. But, the appeal for erecting a gate over the road leading to the cottage hasn’t been erected as yet.