It is about two families of Kishorganj subdivision of Mymensingh district of undivided Bengal united by marriage. The family trees show a great number of family members in descending orders. We have to identify a married couple as a benchmark and, then, proceed there from. Marriage of Rajani Kanta Sarkar of Hazipur (also known as Bir Hazipur) village with Naliniprava Roy of Banagram village is our benchmark.

Rajani Kanta’s family was rooted to Singrail, a village about 10 miles (16 Km) away from Hazipur. Jairam, a descendant of this family, was ambitious as well as adventurous and purchased large area of land in terms of square miles at Bir Hazipur by the side of a tributary of the river Brahmaputra to settle down there. For the descendants of Jairam, their ancestral village should be reckoned as Hazipur. Jairam’s movement from Singrail to Hazipur was a turning point for the Sarkar family. Rajani Kanta’s father Ramnath was a benevolent person with religious inclination. He along with his brother Ramnidhi maintained two guesthouses at Hazipur for such travellers as needed food and shelter. This was a distinguishing feature of the Sarkar family. Another distinctive feature of this family was its focus on education. Ramnath’s son Rajani Kanta left Hazipur for Calcutta to complete post graduation in two subjects and also graduation in law. This was another turning point for this family. His accomplishments in education had no parallel at Kishorganj at that time. On completion of his formal education, Rajani Kanta moved from Hazipur to Kishorganj subdivisional town and built a house there in early 1920s to practise law. That was yet another turning point for this family. Kishorganj became a centre for secondary level education for the entire family. Even Naliniprava’s younger brothers lived at Kishorganj house during their secondary level education. So also did Rajani Kanta’s three younger brothers. Some of Rajani Kanta’s brothers Devendra and Sachindra’s grandchildren are doing very well in their academic and professional lives. Because of Rajani Kanta’s continuing focus on education, many of his descendants are now world citizens. Unfortunately, Bengal was divided during the partition of India in 1947 and the whole of Mymensingh district became part of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The family members, who were living at Hazipur and Kishorganj after the partition of India, left for India and other parts of the world. Rajani Kanta’s second son, Sisir Kumar, was on service with the East Pakistan/Bangladesh Government and stationed in Dacca. He also left Bangladesh for India on retirement.

Ramnath’s second wife Nityamoyi, his first wife having expired at an early age, hailed from Singrail. Nityamoyi excelled in her primary education and was awarded a Government scholarship. Nityamoyi’s father, Naba Kishore Roy, was a schoolteacher and had two sons. His elder son, Prasanna, had no issue. His younger son, Surendra, had four sons and three daughters. The eldest son, Nagendra, was ultimately at the helm of engineering services of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) in Eastern India. Nagendra was the first in the extended family to travel abroad to the USA in 1951 for training on power generation, transmission and distribution. Nagendra’s younger brother, Hirendra, was a medical doctor and his children and their spouses are also mostly medical doctors (half a dozen in number) working in West Bengal Public Health Services. Hirendra’s younger brother, Jogendra, has one son and three daughters. All of them and their spouses are well established in India. Jogendra’s younger brother Chittaranjan’s eldest son, Chandrasekhar, is doing flourishing business in Bombay after a stint in the Middle East. Surendra’s daughter Kulabala’s granddaughter is now at Alexandria in Egypt as her spouse is stationed there.

Naliniprava was the eldest daughter of Nabin Chandra Roy of Banagram. Nabin Chandra was also an ambitious and adventurous person. His father, Golaknath, had three more sons – Kailash Chandra, Sarat Chandra and Ishan Chandra. Sarat Chandra had one child, a daughter, who had no issue. Kailash Chandra’s descendants are there scattered mainly in the Eastern parts of India. Ishan Chandra had a family of four daughters and three sons. Out of his children, daughters Kushum’s and Bina’s children excelled in their professional lives in India and abroad. Kushum’s second son is settled in Canada and her grandson (son of daughter Sephali) is settled in Australia. Bina’s younger daughter and her husband are on medical services in the UK and their son is in the USA. Ishan Chandra’s sons’ descendants are also doing very well in India.

Nabin Chandra made an unsuccessful adventurous journey to Burma for better prospects. He ultimately came back to India and went to the tea gardens of Upper Assam for job opportunities. In course of time, he was at the top of the Indian staff at a tea garden’s office. Because of his competence and strong personality, he commanded respect of not only the Indian staff but of the British officers also. He arranged jobs for many of his relatives in the tea gardens. Nabin Chandra’s descendants from his daughters sides excelled in professional careers. His eldest daughter Naliniprava had eight children – four sons and four daughters. The children of the four sons numbered nineteen out of which ten are in the USA and one in the Middle East. The children of the four daughters also numbered nineteen out of which one is in the USA, another in the Middle East and another returned to India after many years in the USA and UK. Out of the total thirty-eight children and their spouses, many are highly placed both in India and abroad and one of them, Mukul, has established a renown and ever-growing High School at Gauhati in Assam. His youngest daughter Anilprava’s sons also performed well in their professional careers. Her third surviving son was a medical doctor in the Indian Army holding the rank of Brigadier and married a colleague, who was also a medical doctor. The Brigadier’s son is in the USA pursuing higher education. Nabin Chandra’s son Arunendra was a renowned artist at Dibrugarh in Assam. He was also a top class stage actor. Among Nabin Chandra’s sons’ children, one of the granddaughters of Phanindra Nath is in the USA; and one of the great grandsons of Tezendra Nath is in the USA and one is in the Indian Army after graduating from the National Defence Academy.

Like Nabin Chandra and Rajani Kanta, their descendants also had it in them to help the families’ members to achieve their educational goals and to tide over temporary hardship. Nabin Chandra’s daughter Anilprava and Ishan Chandra’s daughter Bina were such persons. So were Rajani Kanta’s son Sisir Kumar and daughter Priti. In fulfilling their commitment to the families, their spouses like Anilprava’s husband Bharat Chandra Roy, Bina’s husband Amal Das, Sisir Kumar’s wife Monorama and Priti’s husband Harendra Chandra Bhowmik played major roles. Other members of the families not mentioned here also extended invaluable help and support to the members of the extended families in their own ways.

Rajani Kanta’s brother Narendra deserves a special mention here. He left home to dedicate his life to the services of mankind through Ramakrishna Mission as Swami Parisudhdhananda. 

While the forefathers of the families lived on the earnings from landed properties, the emphasis today is totally on education. Knowledge is now the most powerful attribute of a person. Following the footsteps of Jairam, his descendants as well as other members of the extended families are spreading out into the world looking for better opportunities. The sum total of progress made by the families thus far is modest, but if the descendants pursue their family commitments with focus on education, some of them would definitely achieve in future pride of places in the fields of their interests/specialization.