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Straits Times
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Poster power: Singapore's vintage election memorabilia in the spotlight
Mr Wak Sadri (left), owner of Treasure At Home, with his son Emyr Uzayr, holding election posters of Dr Tan Cheng Bock and Mr Wong Kan Seng at Treasure At Home Vintage Store at 80 Playfair Road. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO Follow our live coverage here. SINGAPORE – While hunting down old furniture on Perak's streets in 2022, vintage shop owner Wak Sadri stumbled upon a page of Singapore's history. It was an issue of Petir Pictorial, the PAP's official magazine, dated 1959, the year it scored its first election victory . On its cover, the men in white were arranged on the steps of the then City Hall while the party's red and blue lightning insignia bolted across a flowy cloth that draped over the building's severe Corinthian columns. History was made – as the party has swept every Singapore election since and will seek to win its 16th election come May 3. In its day, the magazine costs 60 cents. A year ago, Mr Sadri sold the 1959 issue for a four-figure sum. The 46-year-old vintage veteran, who runs Treasure At Home Vintage Store at Kapo Factory Building in Tai Seng, believes that serendipity is essential on his frequent acquisition trips: 'You have to expect the unexpected – if you think that you're going to get something, you are sure not to get it.' Art deco armchairs, crowned cabinets, hand-painted store signs, teapots and trinkets line his maximalist chamber, which boasts customers like the set designers of hit drama serial Emerald Hill (2025) and cooking doyenne Violet Oon. But, of late, it is his shop's election and political memorabilia that have received a spike in queries from interested collectors as voters feel the rush of GE2025. The old campaign posters, like the rows which now punctuate Singapore's roads, are designed to grab an onlooker's attention. On how vintage and current election posters differ, Mr Sadri's son Emyr Uzayr, 21 – also known as Wak Jr – points out the penchant in the past for a minimalist colour palette: 'It's simple but it's loud.' Mr Sadri brings out a set of multilingual PAP posters from the 1960s to make the point that the language used then was more poetic and impactful. The Chinese slogan was done in a melodious rhyming couplet while the English and Malay ones were pithy. For some, these old pieces are just relics of a bygone era. For others, they are imbued with stories of Singapore's colourful political history and visual culture, starting with the artisans and printers. Treasure At Home Vintage Store hosts a collection of framed and multilingual PAP posters from the 1960s. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO This was the case for a young man who came to the shop in 2024 and immediately trained his eyes on the bottom right-hand corner of one such poster, Mr Emyr recounts. The text reads, in capital letters, 'Lithographed in Singapore by Malaya Engraving & Litho Printing Co.' The young man immediately knew it was the place where his grandfather worked, and the poster is possibly a piece his grandfather had played a part in printing. The hallowed artefacts in Mr Sadri's family-owned business often come alive as history's – and the present – rotating cast of characters pass through its tight corridors. One of Mr Sadri's customers is Dr Tan Cheng Bock – which explains why a framed poster of the former presidential hopeful's 2011 campaign sits in the store. Dr Tan, who is currently contesting as part of the newly formed West Coast-Jurong West GRC, had given him six signed posters. One of these posters – a collectible from a hotly contested four-way presidential election that Dr Tan had lost by less than 10,000 votes – sits in Mr Sadri's collection. Dr Tan was also a PAP MP for Ayer Rajah SMC from 1980 to 2006. He is not too keen on selling that poster – as it reminds him of a certain sale he made that he regrets to this day. It was an old photograph he found in an old Toa Payoh provision shop, one of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew when he first became prime minister in 1959: 'For me, it's sentimental because I used to work for him.' Mr Sadri used to be part of the Police Security Command and was regularly deployed to escort the late founding prime minister in the last decades of his life, as well as other ministers. The photograph, irretrievable now, had emanated an aura that felt true to his physical presence: 'We know his aura, it's second to none. He had a mind made of – not gold – platinum.' A close-up of the late Ong Teng Cheong's presidential election campaign flyer at the Treasure At Home Vintage Shop at 80 Playfair Road on April 22, 2025. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO Mr Sadri's poster of Singapore's former deputy prime minister Wong Kan Seng – when he was running for the constituency of Kuo Chuan in the 1984 – attracted the attention of Mr Wong himself, who sent an employee to examine the poster. While Mr Wong did not buy the piece, Mr Sadri says one of his two copies was sold to an Australian collector. These artefacts freeze history in a frame and offer it up for examination – and it is not just Mr Wong's vintage spectacles in the poster. Kuo Chuan constituency, like many constituencies from the 1980s, no longer exists. With the creation of group representation constituencies (GRCs) in 1988, it was merged into Toa Payoh GRC – which also no longer exists. Mr Emyr, currently a finance undergraduate, has learnt a thing or two about acquiring vintage items since his young days exploring Sungei Road Thieves Market with his parents and sister. Once, when he spotted a series of eight English-language Plebeian newsletters by Barisan Sosialis in a collector's house, he played it cool: 'I didn't want to make it seem like I was eyeing it because he might just increase his price.' A single issue of the Plebeian newsletter by defunct left-wing political party Barisan Sosialis goes for a low three-figure sum per issue at Treasure At Home Vintage Store. PHOTO: TREASURE AT HOME Barisan Sosialis is a defunct political party formed in 1961 by the leftist faction of the PAP that was expelled following its abstention during a vote of confidence called by Mr Lee. For a low three-figure sum per issue, the inflammatory pieces were snapped up by several undergraduate students. It all goes back to the 1955 elections, when the Rendel Constitution allowed for a majority of seats to be elected rather than appointed by the British colonial authorities. That story is contained in a hefty tin sign – with the year 1955 printed on it – that hangs grandly from the ceiling of the shop as a statement piece. Mr Sadri acquired the signage from a Eurasian family which collects black and white historical pieces. He says: 'They said they got it from the Marshall family – but we can't verify it, so we can only say that it is from the election period.' A close-up of the '1955' sign, referencing the year that the Labour Front won the election, seen at Treasure At Home Vintage Store. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO He is referring to the family of David Marshall – who became Singapore's inaugural chief minister when his left-wing Labour Front won Singapore's first Legislative Assembly in 1955. Mr Marshall subsequently resigned from the Labour Front in 1957 and formed the Workers' Party (WP) that same year. There are gaps in the shop's collection which Mr Sadri and Mr Emyr hope to remedy, such as the paucity of WP memorabilia – which Mr Emyr says are hard to find on the market. The family maintains that the business, regardless of their personal political beliefs, remains unaffiliated with political parties. David Marshall of the Workers' Party (WP) speaking at an Anson by-election rally in 1961. Workers' Party election memorabilia, such as the banner in the background, are hard to find, say the owners of Treasure At Home Vintage Store. PHOTO: ST FILE Mr Sadri also collects presidential portraits – starting with those of Singapore's first president Yusof Ishak, who died in 1970, and first first lady Puan Noor Aishah Mohammad Salim, who died at 91 on April 22. He is missing the portraits of more recent presidents and hopes to acquire them in order to complete his display collection in store. Portraits of Singapore's first president Yusof Ishak, and first first lady Puan Noor Aishah, found at Treasure At Home Vintage Store. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO Most of the artefacts – such as a hand-painted PAP curtain blind celebrating the '14th year of honest effective government' dated to around 1973 – do not bear the names of their creators, which makes it harder to establish the precise provenance. Mr Emyr says: 'This is the thing about local businesses – the artists don't have the names written on the items. It's the opposite with Americans, who usually sign their names on posters and even furniture.' A hand-painted PAP curtain blind celebrating the '14th year of honest effective government' dated to around 1973, sold to a Hong Kong collector. PHOTO: TREASURE AT HOME The piece in question was sold overseas to a Hong Kong collector, like many of the shop's historical memorabilia, but Mr Sadri is making an appeal for Singaporeans to treasure their own history: 'I hope that Singaporeans will actually keep the artefacts here in Singapore. This is where they belong. This is where the story starts and sometimes ends.' As campaign posters go up and election merchandise is being distributed, he urges people to hold on to meaningful pieces. 'You should keep things. They may not sound interesting or be something that entices you now, but in 10 to 15 years, this election might have changed people's lives.' He quips: 'One minute past is already a historical event.' Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
New Paper
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Paper
Poster power: Singapore's vintage election memorabilia in the spotlight
While hunting down old furniture on Perak's streets in 2022, vintage shop owner Wak Sadri stumbled upon a page of Singapore's history. It was an issue of Petir Pictorial, the PAP's official magazine, dated 1959, the year it scored its first election victory. On its cover, the men in white were arranged on the steps of the then City Hall while the party's red and blue lightning insignia bolted across a flowy cloth that draped over the building's severe Corinthian columns. History was made - as the party has swept every Singapore election since and will seek to win its 16th election come May 3. In its day, the magazine costs 60 cents. A year ago, Mr Sadri sold the 1959 issue for a four-figure sum. The 46-year-old vintage veteran, who runs Treasure At Home Vintage Store at Kapo Factory Building in Tai Seng, believes that serendipity is essential on his frequent acquisition trips: "You have to expect the unexpected - if you think that you're going to get something, you are sure not to get it." Art deco armchairs, crowned cabinets, hand-painted store signs, teapots and trinkets line his maximalist chamber, which boasts customers like the set designers of hit drama serial Emerald Hill (2025) and cooking doyenne Violet Oon. But, of late, it is his shop's election and political memorabilia that have received a spike in queries from interested collectors as voters feel the rush of GE2025. The old campaign posters, like the rows which now punctuate Singapore's roads, are designed to grab an onlooker's attention. On how vintage and current election posters differ, Mr Sadri's son Emyr Uzayr, 21 - also known as Wak Jr - points out the penchant in the past for a minimalist colour palette: "It's simple but it's loud." Mr Sadri brings out a set of multilingual PAP posters from the 1960s to make the point that the language used then was more poetic and impactful. The Chinese slogan was done in a melodious rhyming couplet while the English and Malay ones were pithy. For some, these old pieces are just relics of a bygone era. For others, they are imbued with stories of Singapore's colourful political history and visual culture, starting with the artisans and printers. Treasure At Home Vintage Store hosts a collection of framed and multilingual PAP posters from the 1960s. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO This was the case for a young man who came to the shop in 2024 and immediately trained his eyes on the bottom right-hand corner of one such poster, Mr Emyr recounts. The text reads, in capital letters, "Lithographed in Singapore by Malaya Engraving & Litho Printing Co." The young man immediately knew it was the place where his grandfather worked, and the poster is possibly a piece his grandfather had played a part in printing. The hallowed artefacts in Mr Sadri's family-owned business often come alive as history's - and the present - rotating cast of characters pass through its tight corridors. One of Mr Sadri's customers is Dr Tan Cheng Bock - which explains why a framed poster of the former presidential hopeful's 2011 campaign sits in the store. Dr Tan, who is currently contesting as part of the newly formed West Coast-Jurong West GRC, had given him six signed posters. One of these posters - a collectible from a hotly contested four-way presidential election that Dr Tan had lost by less than 10,000 votes - sits in Mr Sadri's collection. Dr Tan was also a PAP MP for Ayer Rajah SMC from 1980 to 2006. He is not too keen on selling that poster - as it reminds him of a certain sale he made that he regrets to this day. It was an old photograph he found in an old Toa Payoh provision shop, one of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew when he first became prime minister in 1959: "For me, it's sentimental because I used to work for him." Mr Sadri used to be part of the Police Security Command and was regularly deployed to escort the late founding prime minister in the last decades of his life, as well as other ministers. The photograph, irretrievable now, had emanated an aura that felt true to his physical presence: "We know his aura, it's second to none. He had a mind made of - not gold - platinum." A close-up of the late Ong Teng Cheong's presidential election campaign flyer at the Treasure At Home Vintage Shop at 80 Playfair Road on April 22, 2025. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO Mr Sadri's poster of Singapore's former deputy prime minister Wong Kan Seng - when he was running for the constituency of Kuo Chuan in the 1984 - attracted the attention of Mr Wong himself, who sent an employee to examine the poster. While Mr Wong did not buy the piece, Mr Sadri says one of his two copies was sold to an Australian collector. These artefacts freeze history in a frame and offer it up for examination - and it is not just Mr Wong's vintage spectacles in the poster. Kuo Chuan constituency, like many constituencies from the 1980s, no longer exists. With the creation of group representation constituencies (GRCs) in 1988, it was merged into Toa Payoh GRC - which also no longer exists. Mr Emyr, currently a finance undergraduate, has learnt a thing or two about acquiring vintage items since his young days exploring Sungei Road Thieves Market with his parents and sister. Once, when he spotted a series of eight English-language Plebeian newsletters by Barisan Sosialis in a collector's house, he played it cool: "I didn't want to make it seem like I was eyeing it because he might just increase his price." A single issue of the Plebeian newsletter by defunct left-wing political party Barisan Sosialis goes for a low three-figure sum per issue at Treasure At Home Vintage Store. PHOTO: TREASURE AT HOME Barisan Sosialis is a defunct political party formed in 1961 by the leftist faction of the PAP that was expelled following its abstention during a vote of confidence called by Mr Lee. For a low three-figure sum per issue, the inflammatory pieces were snapped up by several undergraduate students. It all goes back to the 1955 elections, when the Rendel Constitution allowed for a majority of seats to be elected rather than appointed by the British colonial authorities. That story is contained in a hefty tin sign - with the year 1955 printed on it - that hangs grandly from the ceiling of the shop as a statement piece. Mr Sadri acquired the signage from a Eurasian family which collects black and white historical pieces. He says: "They said they got it from the Marshall family - but we can't verify it, so we can only say that it is from the election period." A close-up of the '1955' sign, referencing the year that the Labour Front won the election, seen at Treasure At Home Vintage Store. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO He is referring to the family of David Marshall - who became Singapore's inaugural chief minister when his left-wing Labour Front won Singapore's first Legislative Assembly in 1955. Mr Marshall subsequently resigned from the Labour Front in 1957 and formed the Workers' Party (WP) that same year. There are gaps in the shop's collection which Mr Sadri and Mr Emyr hope to remedy, such as the paucity of WP memorabilia - which Mr Emyr says are hard to find on the market. The family maintains that the business, regardless of their personal political beliefs, remains unaffiliated with political parties. David Marshall of the Workers' Party (WP) speaking at an Anson by-election rally in 1961. Workers' Party election memorabilia, such as the banner in the background, are hard to find, say the owners of Treasure At Home Vintage Store. PHOTO: ST FILE Mr Sadri also collects presidential portraits - starting with those of Singapore's first president Yusof Ishak, who died in 1970, and first first lady Puan Noor Aishah Mohammad Salim, who died at 91 on April 22. He is missing the portraits of more recent presidents and hopes to acquire them in order to complete his display collection in store. Portraits of Singapore's first president Yusof Ishak, and first first lady Puan Noor Aishah, found at Treasure At Home Vintage Store. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO Most of the artefacts - such as a hand-painted PAP curtain blind celebrating the "14th year of honest effective government" dated to around 1973 - do not bear the names of their creators, which makes it harder to establish the precise provenance. Mr Emyr says: "This is the thing about local businesses - the artists don't have the names written on the items. It's the opposite with Americans, who usually sign their names on posters and even furniture." A hand-painted PAP curtain blind celebrating the "14th year of honest effective government" dated to around 1973, sold to a Hong Kong collector. PHOTO: TREASURE AT HOME The piece in question was sold overseas to a Hong Kong collector, like many of the shop's historical memorabilia, but Mr Sadri is making an appeal for Singaporeans to treasure their own history: "I hope that Singaporeans will actually keep the artefacts here in Singapore. This is where they belong. This is where the story starts and sometimes ends." As campaign posters go up and election merchandise is being distributed, he urges people to hold on to meaningful pieces. "You should keep things. They may not sound interesting or be something that entices you now, but in 10 to 15 years, this election might have changed people's lives." He quips: "One minute past is already a historical event."
Straits Times
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
GE2025: Singapore's colourful elections, seen through vintage collectibles
Mr Wak Sadri (left), owner of Treasure At Home, with his son Emyr Uzayr, holding election posters of Dr Tan Cheng Bock and Mr Wong Kan Seng at the Treasure At Home Vintage Store at 80 Playfair Road. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO Follow our live coverage here. SINGAPORE – While hunting down old furniture on Perak's streets in 2022, vintage shop owner Wak Sadri stumbled upon a page of Singapore's history. It was an issue of Petir Pictorial - the PAP's official magazine - dated 1959, published by the party in the year it scored its first election victory. On its cover, the men in white were arranged on the steps of the then City Hall while the party's red and blue lightning insignia bolted across a flowy cloth that draped over the building's severe Corinthian columns. History was made – as the party has swept every Singapore election since and will seek to win its 16th election come May 3. In its day, the magazine costs 60 cents. A year ago, Mr Sadri sold the 1959 issue for a four-figure sum. The 46-year-old vintage veteran, who runs Treasure At Home Vintage Store at Kapo Factory Building in Tai Seng, believes that serendipity is essential on his frequent acquisition trips: 'You have to expect the unexpected – if you think that you're going to get something, you are sure not to get it.' Art deco armchairs, crowned cabinets, hand-painted store signs, teapots and trinkets line his maximalist chamber, which boasts customers like the set designers of hit drama serial Emerald Hill (2025) and cooking doyenne Violet Oon. But, of late, it is his shop's election and political memorabilia that has received a spike in queries from interested collectors as voters feel the rush of GE2025. The old campaign posters, like the rows which now punctuate Singapore's roads, are designed to grab an onlooker's attention. On how vintage and current election posters differ, Mr Sadri's son Emyr Uzayr, 21, – also known as Wak Jr – points out the past's penchant for a minimalist colour palette: 'It's simple but it's loud.' Mr Sadri brings out a set of multilingual PAP posters from the 1960s to make the point that the language used then was more poetic and impactful. The Chinese slogan is done in a melodious rhyming couplet while the English and Malay ones are pithy. For some, these old pieces are just relics of a bygone era. For others, they are imbued with stories of Singapore's colourful political history and visual culture, starting with the artisans and printers. Treasure At Home Vintage Store hosts a collection of framed and multilingual PAP posters from the 1960s. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO This was the case for a young man who came to the shop in 2024 and immediately trained his eyes on the bottom right-hand corner of one such poster, Mr Emyr recounts . The text read, in capital letters, 'Lithographed in Singapore by Malaya Engraving & Litho Printing Co.' – and he immediately knew it was the place his grandfather worked at and possibly a piece his grandfather had played a part in printing. The hallowed artefacts in this family-owned business often come alive as history's – and the present's – rotating cast of characters pass through its tight corridors. One of Mr Sadri's customers is Dr Tan Cheng Bock – which explains why a framed edition of the former presidential hopeful's 2011 campaign sits in the store. Dr Tan, who is currently contesting as part of the newly formed West Coast-Jurong West GRC, gave him six signed posters. One of these posters – a collectible from a hotly-contested four-way presidential election that Dr Tan had lost by less than 10,000 votes – sits in Mr Sadri's collection. Dr Tan was also a PAP MP for Ayer Rajah SMC from 1980 to 2006. He is not too keen on selling that poster – as it reminds him of a certain sale he made that he regrets to this day. It was an old photograph he found in an old Toa Payoh provision shop, one of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew when he first became Prime Minister in 1959: 'For me, it's sentimental because I used to work for him.' Mr Sadri used to be part of the Police Security Command and was regularly deployed to escort the late founding prime minister in the last decades of his life, as well as other ministers. The photograph, irretrievable now, had emanated an aura that felt true to his physical presence: 'We know his aura, it's second to none. He had a mind made of – not gold – platinum.' A close-up of the late Ong Teng Cheong's presidential election campaign flyer at the Treasure At Home Vintage Shop at 80 Playfair Road on April 22, 2025. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO Mr Sadri's poster of Singapore's former deputy prime minister Wong Kan Seng – when he was running for the constituency of Kuo Chuan in the 1984 – attracted the attention of Mr Wong himself, who sent an employee to examine the poster. While Mr Wong did not buy the piece, Mr Sadri says one of his two copies was sold to an Australian collector. These artefacts freeze history in a frame and offer it up for examination – and it is not just Mr Wong's vintage spectacles in the poster. Kuo Chuan constituency, like many constituencies from the 1980s, no longer exists. With the invention of the GRC system in 1988, it was merged into Toa Payoh GRC – which also no longer exists. Mr Emyr, currently a finance undergraduate, has learnt a thing or two about acquiring vintage items since his young days exploring Sungei Road Thieves Market with his parents and sister. Once, when he spotted a series of eight English-language Plebeian newsletters by Barisan Sosialis in a collector's house, he played it cool: 'I didn't want to make it seem like I was eyeing it because he might just increase his price.' A single issue of the Plebeian newsletter by defunct left-wing political party Barisan Sosialis goes for a low three-figure sum per issue at Treasure At Home Vintage Store. PHOTO: TREASURE AT HOME Barisan Sosialis is a defunct political party formed in 1961 by the leftist faction of the PAP. It was subsequently expelled following its abstention during a vote of confidence called by Lee. For a low three figure sum per issue, the inflammatory pieces were snapped up by several undergraduate students. But it all goes back to 1955 elections, when the Rendel Constitution allowed for a majority of seats to be elected rather than appointed by the British colonial authorities. That story is contained in a hefty tin sign - with the year 1955 printed on it - that hangs grandly on the ceiling of the shop as a statement piece. Mr Sadri acquired the signage from a Eurasian family which collects black and white historical pieces. He says : 'They said they got it from the Marshall family – but we can't verify it, so we can only say that it is from the election period.' A close-up of the '1955' signage, referencing the year that the Labour Front won the election, seen at the Treasure At Home Vintage Store. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO He is referring to David Marshall – who became Singapore's inaugural chief minister when his left-wing Labour Front won Singapore's first Legislative Assembly in 1955. Mr Marshall, who subsequently resigned from the Labour Front in 1957, formed the Workers' Party (WP) that same year. There are gaps in their collection which they hope to remedy, such as the paucity of WP memorabilia – which Mr Emyr says is hard to come across on the market. The family maintains that the business, regardless of their personal political beliefs, remains unaffiliated with political parties. David Marshall of the Workers' Party (WP) speaking a Anson by-election rally in 1961. Workers' Party election memorabilia, such as the banner in the background, are hard to find, say the owners of Treasure At Home Vintage Store. PHOTO: ST FILE Mr Sadri also collects presidential portraits – starting with those of Singapore's first president Yusof Ishak, who died in 1970, and first lady Puan Noor Aishah Mohammad Salim, who died at 91 on April 22. He is missing the portraits of more recent presidents and hopes to acquire them in order to complete his display collection in store. Portraits of Singapore's first President Yusof Ishak, and First Lady Puan Noor Aishah, found at the Treasure At Home Vintage Store. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO Most of the artefacts – such as a hand-painted PAP curtain blind celebrating the '14th year of honest effective government' dated to around 1973 – do not bear the names of their creators, which makes it harder to establish the precise provenance. Mr Emyr says: 'This is the thing about local businesses – the artists don't have the names written on the items. It's the opposite with Americans, who usually sign their names on posters and even furniture.' A hand-painted PAP curtain blind celebrating the "14th year of honest effective government" dated to around 1973 sold to a Hong Kong collector. PHOTO: TREASURE AT HOME The piece in question was sold overseas to a Hong Kong collector, like many of the shop's historical memorabilia but Mr Sadri is making an appeal for Singaporeans to treasure their own history: 'I hope that Singaporeans will actually keep the artefacts here in Singapore. This is where they belong . This is where the story starts and sometimes ends.' As campaign posters go up and election merchandise are being distributed, he urges people to hold on to meaningful pieces. 'You should keep things. They may not sound interesting or be something that entices you now but, in 10 to 15 years, this election might have changed people's lives.' He quips: 'One minute past is already a historical event.' Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
The Hindu
21-04-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Calcutta University scholars travel to Sundarbans village to save language
A group of scholars from the University of Calcutta recently visited a village in the Sundarbans in a bid to save a language that is on the verge of extinction. They went to a settlement called Kamarpara in Gosaba subdivision of South 24 Parganas to begin translation into the English of a novel written by a local in a tribal language called Sadri, and also to spend time with members of the Sadri community. The novel — titled Baman Burir Char ('Dwarf Old Lady's Char'), with char meaning emerging riverine islands — has been authored by Dayalhari Sardar, who is an Assistant Professor of Bengali at nearby Bhangor Mahavidyalaya. 'I would say it is the author who is actually saving the language. But language and literature are not just about the scripts and words — they carry with them culture, tradition, politics, society, struggles and much more. So, by translating it into English and opening it up to a global audience, we're essentially introducing the world to their world. It helps build an identity and also creates opportunities for pedagogy,' Shreya Datta, one of the four scholars who visited the village, said. According to her, the idea behind spending a day with the community earlier this month was to understand the 'geography of the literature' on which the Sadri novel is based. Ayan Ghosh, another member of the team, said there were 741,528 Sadri speakers in West Bengal as per the 2011 linguistic census, a majority of them being concentrated in the northern part of Bengal, primarily among tea plantation workers — descendants of labourers brought by the British during the colonial period. 'In contrast, only a small number of Sadri speakers were brought to the Sundarbans region, primarily from present-day Chhattisgarh, to clear the dense forest and prepare the land for cultivation. The descendants of those labourers are the present-day Sadri-speaking community that we visited,' he said. Sadri does not have a script; members of the community living in West Bengal write in the Bengali script and those belonging to Chhattisgarh use Devnagari. 'The novel is about the Sadri life of Sunderbans, especially char lands, river erosion, loss of land, vulnerability of people's life there. The author is happy that his novel is being translated into English. We have been engaged with this kind of work since the last few years. In 2022, I organised a workshop called 'Translating Sundarbans'. This translation is the result of that workshop,' Mrinmoy Pramanick, a University of Calcutta Professor who led the team, said. Team members said that reaching Kamarpara was quite a task. After taking a train to Canning, they boarded an autorickshaw to Kotrakhali, a journey of 40 minutes, and from there crossed the river by boat to reach the Gopalkata ferry ghat, where villagers came to pick them up on motorbikes. 'The village is surrounded by waterways that isolate it from essential services, particularly healthcare facilities. Communication with the outside world becomes virtually impossible after nightfall,' Sudeshna Ghose, a project fellow, said.
