This would qualify at best as an annotation, but the joy of tracking down details about someone whose name we read is worth sharing. In the post on Abanindranath's Jorasankor Dhaare, I'd quoted a passage that described an Italian gentleman, whose name I had transcribed with great uncertainty as "Manzata", "Mandhata", and "Manzatto". The scene was singularly moving one, which you can read following the link above.
Today after much cyber-hunting I found the correct spelling: Manzato. And I found a few extra details about him as well.
His full name was Guido Jullio Manzato. The Lucknow baptism records of 1902 says he was a “Band Master” by profession. 1902, because that’s when his second daughter, Ada Carmen, was born (9 June) to him and Aureglia Pardo. At that point, as the register suggests, they must have been in Lucknow.
Aureglia or Aurelia Pardo, married Guido Jullio Manzato at St. Thomas Church in Calcutta on 1899. I came to know of this detail from one F. Dyotor, who is the grandson of the couple, son of the first-born child of the Manzato’s, Cecelia Maria Manzato. He says that his father left England around 1920 “to take employment with Whiteaway Laidlaw, Calcutta”. They resided at 19 Victoria Chambers, Chowringhee, which would mean that his father had only to climb down a floor to get to his workplace. He left for England when he was 2 years old. (I wonder if Dyotor is still searching for his relatives. If so, any help would be welcome!)
Which of the daughters had left Guido Jullio, we aren't sure. If, as Abanindranath says, he lived with that one daughter, the day described in Jorasankor Dhaare must be some time after 25 April 1919, which is when Ada passed away at the age of 17.Ada used to be an assistant at Whiteaway, Laidlaw & Co., which would mean that Cecelia’s husband-to-be joined the establishment only a year after Ada’s death. Her remains are at the Lower Circular Road Cemetery. If it is indeed post 1919, is this Cecelia Maria leaving home for one reason or another?
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| The upper storeys were the Victoria Chambers. This is from my personal collection, Calcutta Souvenirs, set of 12 photographs, Series 1. |
Does this Manzata or Mandhata have anything to do with the "Mandhattar Amol" my grandmother uses to describe anything despicably old and dilapidated? Probably not - but that was my first thought. All this is terribly, terribly exciting! :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, this is a strange coincidence. I heard someone use the phrase today—it’s one I too use occasionally—and I was reminded of my earlier encounter with the corruption of Manzato. It is in fact Abanindranath who writes “Mandhata”, while Indira Debi hits the mark with “Manzato”. So I looked up the origin of Mandhata and it wasn’t hard to trace. Turns out he belonged to the Raghuvansh who descended from the line of Surya. After King Raghu came Mandhata who is supposed to have ruled the whole world. Traditionally, he also defeated Indra. Failing this I redoubled my efforts at locating who Manzato really was. Would have made for a far more interesting story if it were a reference to this, right? But Rabindranath too uses Mandhatar amol, and the phrase goes way back it seems.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks!
I was going through some of your old posts and found this post on Manzato interesting. Radharaman Mitra mentions that Manzato had a house near the Wellesley tank and it was still standing when he was writing Kolikata Darpan. Next time I am in that locality I will surely keep it in my mind to check if "dui Italianer bari" is still there.
ReplyDelete