Kusum

Kusum was born on 31 August 1913 in Kanurampur village in Mymensingh District, under the British Raj in the Bengal Presidency. Her family were Bengali-speaking Hindus in a household with her father’s parents, living from tenant cultivation. The men worked rainfed fields of rice and jute; the women cooked, carried water, husked paddy, and went out for weeding and harvest when the household needed hands.

Her father, Madhab, left before sunrise for the fields and came back with mud on his ankles. Her mother, Sushila, had already borne five children. Haridas, the eldest, was nineteen and moved between the plow and the market path. Annapurna, sixteen, cooked and carried water when Sushila lay in confinement. Sukeshini, ten, was sent on errands and kept Kamala, seven, from underfoot. The name Gopal still surfaced in the courtyard talk, a boy who had died at three.

Dasi Moyna, the dai, handled the delivery in the house. The birth was hard. Kusum came out limp, and the adults rubbed her with warm cloth and tried to get her to cry. Bhagirathi, the grandmother, lit a small lamp before Lakshmi and set a plate with rice, banana, and a pinch of vermilion near the household shrine. Sushila tried to nurse while her sisters-in-law boiled water and kept the room shut.

For the first two days Kusum took the breast, though weakly. She slept against Sushila’s chest and opened her eyes when the courtyard grew loud. Kamala crept to the doorway to look at her. Then the feeding slowed. On 8 September 1913 she died in the house. Madhab and Narayani carried her wrapped in cloth to the village burning ground by the water and completed the cremation rites, placing a small offering of rice and flowers after the fire was put out.