VOL - I
NOVEMBER 2020
ISSUE - 06
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
October. The leanest month in the calendar of the District, the most eventful in the Hindu almanac. The month of Durga Puja, a prodigious festival in Bengal lasting a week and marked by sumptuous pageantry, with Lukshmi Puja trailing five days later on Hunter’s moon, this year a rare blue one. And Deepawali a fortnight thereafter on interlunation, followed right after by Bhatri dwitia, — another popular occasion here, doting sisters praying for the health and long life of their beloved brothers. In short, one continual, monthlong celebration. As might be expected, most Lodges and Chapters do not have meetings and convocations in this month. Kathmandu of Nepal and St. John’s were the two exceptions.
This year, however, one event eclipsed the lull of the fallow month: the Annual Communication. The occasion merits more than a passing mention; it is dealt with at length below. Trailing that, dear brethren, is a riveting account by Bro Abhiroop Sengupta on the translocation to Calcutta of the toponymous Lodge Light in Andamans from a trans-Bay-of-Bengal archipelago, that has now assumed strategic importance in the face-off with an imperialistic hector who bears the sole culpability for the woes the world is grappling with. The prowess with which Bro Sengupta wields the pen matches the deftness with which he parries his epee with a tac-au-tac riposte. In consonance with the tact with which he pointsmans the congenitally jaywalk-loving Calcuttan and the exasperatingly chaotic traffic of the city in the khakis of a Traffic Warden. Scroll down, brethren.
ANNUAL CONVOCATION
The Annual Convocation of the District Grand Chapter, deferred by three months due to the lockdown and the restriction on assemblages, was finally held on the 17th of October. Conforming to apprehensions, the attendance was thin. In a departure from the normal opening and closing of the Chapter and the alignment of the banners of the twelve Jewish tribes, — ten lost – the amendments suggested by UGLE to conform to the social protocols, were complied with. M E the Grand Superintendent appointed Comps Gautam Dutta Chowdhury, Dipendra Nath Banerjee and yours truly as the Deputy Grand Superintendent, Principals Joshua and Haggai in that order. Comp Sandip Mukherjee was appointed the President, District Committee of General Purposes, Comp G N Singh reappointed the Scribe E and Comp Manish Bansal promoted as the Principal Sojourner. Comp Thapar deferred his address to the Craft Communication that was to follow, to save on time and, what the compulsive cynic would be sorely tempted to quip with tongue firmly ensconced in a visibly protruding cheek, boredom.
ANNUAL COMMUNICATION
Tea and biscuits tucked in, the frugality dictated by the circumstances, the brethren climbed the bifurcated stairs – a pair of cascading stair runners would have been the perfect complement to its majesty — for the second part of the evening, the Annual Communication. The attendance, as at the Convocation, was a quarter of the usual presence: restrictions on travel prevented the out-station brethren from joining; the participation from each lodge was restricted just to the Master and the Secretary to maintain physical distancing; coronaphobia kept many a District officer away. As could be expected under the circumstances, a fair amount of jugglery had to be resorted to for the evening’s secondment to the vacant chairs of the Wardens, Chaplain, Sword Bearer, Deacons and Standard Bearers, yours truly filling in for the Director of Ceremonies.
Notable among the new appointments were those of Bro Darayas Bapooji as the Deputy District Grand Master, Bro Nauzer Batlivala – convalescing in the salubrious clime of Jamshedpur after a nasty bout of pneumonia, did he give us all an almighty scare – as the Senior Warden, Bro Sandeep Rohatgi as the Junior Warden, Bro Cyrus Confectioner as the Chaplain and Bro Anil Vaswani as the President, District Board of General Purposes.
RW the District Grand Master commenced his address lamenting the loss of brethren to COVID-19. He welcomed the new officers on board and congratulated those promoted. Compliments were showered on Bros Devdutta Basu, Subir Datta and G N Singh on their service to the District. He especially commended the selfless work done by Bro Singh in distributing relief material during this pandemic with a zeal that can aptly be qualified missionary, in the process courting distinct peril for self and family. The charity would continue, Bro Thapar assured, with a substantial grant having come from UGLE. He then dwelt on the blow to Masonry dealt by the scourge and how despite the recent resumption of the meetings, the attendances were thin and festive boards yet to resume. He signed off with special thanks to Bro Singh for arranging the Annual Communication and Convocation in such adversity.
Meeting concluded, the brethren dispersed with a tameness that stems from disappointment, — on other years the Ladies’ Night lights up the evening – not unaware that the distancing maintained within the Temple would well nigh be impossible without, with nearly two score fraternising.
LODGE LIGHT IN ANDAMANS, A Masonic Journey of 70 years
By Bro Abhiroop Sengupta, Wor Master, Lodge Light in Andamans
The history of the Lodge Light in Andamans, numbered 6931 under the English Constitution, goes back to a time when the country of India was going through the transitional phase of becoming a Republic. Looking back the origin of this now over seventy year old Lodge can be traced to the initative and endeavours of some like minded individuals under the able guidance of W Bro Rai Bahadur S. N. Mukherjee, who was a senior ranking police officer based in Port Blair and who also went on to become the first Master of the Lodge. The other founding members included W Bro Hugh William Moore , Bro Sushil Kumar Mukherjee, Bro Nirod Chandra Das, Bro Saroj Mukherjee, Bro Bala Subramaniam, Bro Bibdananda Subbaya Chengappa, Bro Richard Parkinson and Bro Philip John Conner. The year was 1949 when this initiative was taken and some records suggest that the Warrant of Constitution was issued on the 2nd of November 1949 but it was not until the 14th of January 1950 that the Lodge was consecrated for the first time ever at the Freemasons’ Hall, Port Blair, Andaman. It can thus be one of the last English lodges or probably the last to have been consecrated just before India became a republic on the 26th of January, 1950.
While a lot of information has gone missing over the years, some records including the Lane’s Masonic records and the recollections of some of the oldest active members of the Lodge including W Bro P.K. Ghoshal and W Bro Sudip Dutta suggest that the Lodge continued meeting at the above mentioned address till the mid 1960s and after which the Lodge was brought down to Kolkata. It is interesting that post this relocation the Lodge started meeting at the Fort William for a good number of years. Finally in the 1970s the Lodge made 19 Park Street its permanent home and also received its Warrant of Confirmation on the 12th of September 1973. Prior to this relocation , there is a mention of the Lodge meeting at the Freemason’s Hall, Park Street in 1956.
Post its relocation to Park Street the Lodge Light in Andamans made a name for itself for having some of the best ritualists of the district on its rolls. Among the most notable ritualists some names include W Bro D.A. Hilt, W Bro S.D. Mazumdar and W Bro Barun Bakshi. The legends regarding the gifted ritualistic knowledge of W Bro D.A. Hilt are still whispered in the meeting rooms of the District Grand Lodge. Another unique feat of the Lodge was that other than two subscribing members who rose to the rank of District Grand Master, that being Right Worshipful Bro Archibald Edwards(English Constitution) and Right Worshipful Bro Hari Singh(Scottish Constitution), the lodge also boasted of five brethren who had served in the role of Grand Secretary of different constitutions(English, Scottish and Indian). This included W Bro D.A. Hilt , W Bro Sudip Dutta and W Bro Ashok Sengupta who during different tenures served as the District Grand Secretary of the District Grand Lodge(English Constitution). On the other hand W Bro I.T. Zarif and W Bro Barun Bakshi served as the District Grand Secretary of the Scottish Constitution and as the Regional Grand Secretary of the Indian Constitution respectively. It should be mentioned that both W Bro D.A. Hilt and W Bro Sudip Dutta served for about a decade each in that capacity. W Bro S.L. Banerjee, Past Deputy District Grand Master, and W Bro Minoo Confectioner, a prominent District official, were also associated with the Lodge. Among the other prominent members W Bro T.D. Ghosh was one of the earliest members having become the Master of the Lodge in the year 1953 and continued being a member till the mid 1980s, around when some of the present elders of the Lodge had the honour of his company. These elders are now guiding the younger brethren of the Lodge. Thus it won’t be wrong to say that the legacy of W Bro T.D. Ghosh in a way serves as a connecting point between the present younger brethren of the Lodge and the Founding Fathers of Lodge Light in Andamans. W Bro T.D. Ghosh along with W Bro Nikhil Das also served the District Grand Lodge with dedication as members of the official staff. Some of the other past prominent members of the Lodge include W Bro Nandalal Ghosh, W Bro Captain(Dr) Provat Chandra Sen, W Bro B.C. Chakravarty , W Bro Amiya Bhushan Chatterjee, W Bro Abdul Majid Mehotra, W Bro A.K. Bagchi and W Bro D.C. Chakravarty. Among the present elders of the Lodge W Bro P.K. Ghoshal and W Bro S.S. Chakravarthy are deeply revered.
Another prominent member of the Lodge was the late W Bro Major(Dr) Bhupesh Chandra Deewanjea whose birth centenary is slated on the 14th of December 2020. W Bro Deewanjea had the honour of serving behind enemy lines in the Second World War. Though a qualified doctor he was trained in guerrila warfare and as a member of Force 136 was para-dropped near the River Kwai. Alongside receiving other gallantry awards, later in 1950 he went on to receive the Certificate of Valour from the President of Burma for his war contributions. What makes his association with the lodge even more unique is that he went on to introduce all three of his sons, W Bro Shivaji Deewanjea, W Bro Amitabh Deewanjea and W Bro Partha Deewanjea to Freemasonry and each one of them went on to become the Master of the Lodge Light in Andamans on different ocassions.
Another father-son association in the Lodge is that of the present Master and the author of this article W Bro Abhiroop Sengupta and his father Bro Ashis Kumar Sengupta. What makes this association a little unique is the fact that in this case it was the son who introduced his father to Freemasonry and on taking the Eastern Chair also had the honour of investing his father as the Junior Warden of the Lodge.
In the past few years the Lodge had undertaken multiple charity initiatives which included an eye check up camp in collaboration with a Rotary Club, a health check up camp for Police personnel and lastly the distribution of bags and raincoats at an orphanage in Bamangachi. In the past two brethren of the lodge on separate ocassions, namely W Bro Ashok Sengupta in the early 2000s and W Bro Abhiroop Sengupta in 2017-18 also took a keen interest in the renovation of the DGL Library. The Lodge Light in Andamans celebrated its 70th year of existence this year and while it should not be denied that in the course of this journey, it had its highs and lows but under the able guidance of the elders of the Lodge, especially W Bro Sudip Datta the lodge has been able to tackle every storm. The lodge is indeed blessed to have W Bro Sudip Dutta as its mentor who is not just one of the stalwarts of Freemasonry in the District but had also guided the Lodge through many unforeseen circumstances. The present brethren are optimistic that with his guidance, the blessings of the other senior members and the legacy and memories of our past members the Lodge Light in Andamans 6931 EC will surely regain its past glory.
Disclaimer – In the course of preparation of this article a lot of facts were shared by the elders of the Lodge who had to depend mostly on their memory. Please do excuse if any fact is found to be incorrect or if some names which should have been included have been missed.
EDITOR: Amit Dutt
Mobile: +91 98312 23230, E-mail : a_k_dutt_06@yahoo.com
DISTRICT GRAND SECRETARY: Gyanendra Narain Singh
Mobile: +919230613338, 9903033599, E-mail : dgsofbengalfm@gmail.com
Freemasons’ Hall, 19, Park Street, Kolkata – 700 016, West Bengal, India.