Caroline and Bhaskar Dutta Baruah chose to go back to Guwahati from London
after Bhaskar's father passed away, just to keep the family business Lawyer's
Book Stall going. Bhaskar now has another line of business called "LBS
Publications".
I commend Caroline for her dedication and effort.
Dilip
The Norman connection
- AssamÂ’s French daughter-in-law restores 18th century tome OUR SPECIAL
CORRESPONDENT Caroline Dutta-Baruah with her book in Guwahati
on Monday. Picture by Eastern Projections Guwahati, March 11: In 1752, a
snobbish Frenchman who had travelled to this part of the world as a
representative of the French East India Company went back home and wrote about
his travels in Assam.
Two hundred and fifty-six years later, a Normandy-born researcher stumbled
upon the worn-out pages of the 18th century travelogue and as chance would have
it, she happened to be married to the scion of one of the oldest publishing
houses in Assam.
Three years of back-breaking research and Caroline Dutta-Baruah is ready with
what she describes as her labour of love — Adventures of Jean-Baptiste
Chavelier in Eastern India, a loyal translation of ChavelierÂ’s Journel de mon
voyage a Assem.
So was it just academic interest that drew her to this 250-year-old
manuscript?
Not really. Caroline’s “interest in Assam” peaked when she became a
daughter-in-law of the state in 2000.
Being married to Bhaskar Dutta-Baruah, whose family owns the LawyerÂ’s Book
Stall, one of AssamÂ’s oldest publishing houses, provided the necessary
encouragement.
“I found out about the historical memoirs from the French researcher Jean
Delouche with whom I had worked for a brief period. It was such a fascinating
piece of work that I had to bring it to the people of Assam,” said the
31-year-old.
There have been many references to ChavelierÂ’s travels to Assam in several
documents and research works but his manuscript remained hidden under thousands
of other papers at the Bibliotheque de lÂ’Institut in Paris till Delouche
discovered it in 1985 in a very bad shape.
“Delouche restored the manuscript, filled in some missing pages and gave it a
proper shape,” Caroline said.
The Adventures of Jean-Baptiste Chavelier includes the part that is most
relevant to the state, Journel de mon voyage a Assem (Journal of my travels in
Assam).
Caroline, of course, took Delouche’s help for translation, which was a “very
tedious job” since Chavelier’s language was Old French and many words have been
either lost or changed over the years.
The 214-page was launched at the World Book Fair in Delhi recently but will
be available in Assam only next week.
Delouche, who has written the introduction for the book, describes Chavelier
as “kind of Asterix in Assam, brave, bold, but impatient, besides being full of
his Gallic superiority and incapable of appreciating any other type of culture.
He simply missed the magic potion of the cartoon hero to make a feat of this
journey”.
However, the simple flaws apart, ChavelierÂ’s observations could become major
source material for researchers and even “pleasurable reading for the common
people,” Caroline said.
Having met her husband at Leeds in England, when both were studying there,
Caroline is also working on popularising Assam silk in the West.
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