This story from the Guardian was posted on another message board I visit. --------------------------------------------- Letter from India Kindly Bengali who fishes in reverse Rick Bevan Guardian Weekly <www.guardianweekly.co.uk> I first read about Satyendranath Boral in The Times of India. Satyendranath is a retired, 60-year-old stockbroker who has achieved a certain notoriety in Kolkata (Calcutta) by buying live fish and releasing them in the Hooghly river. He has been doing this every Sunday for 20 years. What makes this remarkable is that Satyendranath is a Bengali, a race of inveterate fish eaters. Satyendranath's acts of compassion have not been without incident. There are poor people in Kolkata for whom the expenditure of 3,000 rupees ($66) a month on released fish could provide a comfortable existence. Satyendranath has had to put up with verbal abuse from shoppers and shopkeepers alike. Kolkata is the most populated city in India and its inhabitants are supreme piscators. The fish markets of the city are full of basins of wriggling catfish, sacks of soft-shelled crabs and mounds of green fresh-water prawns. Bengalis buy their fish fresh, preferably alive. Satyendranath jokes that he has never married because he cannot find a suitable Bengali girl who is also a vegetarian. The fact is that no self-respecting Bengali girl would marry someone who tips his wealth into the Hooghly. It took me some time to track Satyendranath down. The following Sunday I went to the Bow Bazaar fish market and, more by luck than design, bumped into someone who knew him. Satyendranath had just finished feeding the cows in the local playground when I met him. At first sight he is a tall, portly Brahmin. He wears red-rimmed spectacles that match the red betel stains around his mouth. He later told me that he feeds the local cows, dogs, crows, pigeons and ants every morning. He was a devout Vaishna, one of the two main Hindu sects, and a pure vegetarian who abstains from eating onions and garlic. He has loved animals since childhood and, being a man of means, can afford these pious acts. He feeds molasses to the cows, biscuits to the dogs, corn to the birds and sugar to the ants. He was glad his acts were receiving international attention. It was a Sunday and yes, he was going to release fish. He asked me to meet him out side his friend's house at 10.15am. Satyendranath's good deeds are not just vague gestures of compassion. Over the years trial and error have made him realise that only certain types of fish are robust enough to survive the trauma of being released. He therefore only buys three kilos of either singi, magur or koi fish, three being Vishnu's sacred number. He also studies the tide timetables to ensure he releases the fish at low tide, when there is the greatest concentration of fresh water in the Hooghly. On Sundays he picks up his order of fish in a large metal dechi and takes a taxi to the Chandpal Ghat near the Howrah bridge. I accompanied Satyendranath and was surprised to find how many people knew him. The local shop owners greeted him by name. In fact, over the years a sort of mini-tourist industry has sprung up around him as locals bring their children to watch him. I watched him tip the black, wriggling catfish into a pail and gently lower it into the Hooghly to revive them before he tipped the fish into the river. If showing compassion to your fellow creatures brings grace then Satyendranath will surely achieve release from the endless cycle of rebirth. Some would view his actions as profligate in the face of Kolkata's enduring poverty. That is not how many Kolkatans see it; in the market he is called babu or father and regarded as a sort of Bengali St Francis of Assisi. And I find it reassuring that in this country of 1 billion people there is someone who cares even for the ants and the fish. -------------------------------------------------
I am the person who is helping Satyendra Nath Boral.It gives me pleasure to read this article . Thank You
