Four months after French author Lapierre’s demise, his data ‘leaves’ Pilkhana slum perpetually

By PTI

HOWRAH: Barely 4 months after the demise of French author Dominique Lapierre, his Indian pal Reginald John who helped him understand the lifetime of slum dwellers that was featured in his e book ‘City of Joy’ moreover died, ending the interval of affection and compassion showered by the two amongst of us of Pilkhana in West Bengal’s Howrah district.

John, who earned nicknames like ‘John Sir’ and ‘Bade Bhai’ (elder brother) for his social firms to the dwellers of Pilkhana, as quickly as considered the second largest slum throughout the nation after Mumbai’s Dharavi, breathed his last at a time when the financial metropolis of Howrah witnessed communal violence all through Ram Navami processions.

Lapierre, who handed away in December last yr, and John are described by their admirers as males who may merely mingle with of us and had giant hearts.

John who used to run an NGO was affected by most cancers.

He died on the age of 70 on March 29.

“Instead of love, peace and kindness that Bade Bhai, Lapierre, and French priest Francoise Laborde showered here, now our city experienced clashes between two groups and hatred,” acknowledged Mohammad Ejaj, a resident of Pilkhana, positioned spherical 3-4 kilometres from Howrah Railway Station.

Fr Laborde received right here to Howrah sooner than Lapierre and the author’s arrival proper right here was in reference to the priest.

Surajit Basistha, an advocate and the president of a neighborhood welfare organisation ‘Seva Sangh Samiti’, with which John was associated as its CEO, acknowledged Pilkhana did not actually really feel the heat of such violence.

“Maybe, our social services helped strengthen the bonding among people in Pilkhana, which was once a Muslim-majority area. We serve one community, ‘needy’, without considering their caste, creed and religion,” Basistha suggested PTI.

Terrence John, the youngest brother of ‘John sir’, described the ability of social workers and their humanitarian firms to push again such clashes.

“There was a big commotion when former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead (in 1984). At that time, the entire place took a very different turn, my brother gave shelter to many in the Samiti. Nobody dared to enter the place because he was there. Because of his tireless work for the (local) people, the place did not experience any such disturbance,” acknowledged Terence John, the principal of a great school.

From a congested locality full of tin roof houses and dingy and waterlogged streets of the Nineteen Seventies and Nineteen Eighties, Pilkhana has progressed significantly over time.

Some multi-storeyed concrete houses have come up and sanitation has improved, nonetheless the locality nonetheless lacks ample social infrastructure.

However, whatever the opprobrium of being described as a slum, “joy is still alive among people of Pilkhana”, Reginald John had suggested PTI after the demise of Lapierre in December last yr.

Reginald John was one among many guides who had given the French author the considered Pilkhana, a rabbit warren positioned alongside the Grand Trunk Road throughout the northern part of Howrah.

Basistha recalled that Lapierre found Reginald John as a “true friend and guide” to know Pilkhana and its of us.

Lapierre was a volunteer of the Samiti and an “ardent assistant” of Fr Laborde who lived throughout the slums and formed the welfare organisation in Sixties.

Regiland was such an individual who helped the organisation realise the targets of its founder.

According to locals, Fr Laborde, Lapierre and Reginald John lined the scale and breadth of Pilkhana utterly and labored day and night for the betterment of locals.

Terrence acknowledged his brother’s affiliation with the author was to help him purchase knowledge and introduce him to slum dwellers of Pilkhana which was later featured in his e book.

“My brother was one of the soldiers of the Seva Sangh Samiti, working for the poor people for more than 50 years. He helped them not only during the flood of 1978 but also established a school for children and a medical centre for improvised people. He had left a big footprint in this area as a social worker,” Terrence John acknowledged.

HOWRAH: Barely 4 months after the demise of French author Dominique Lapierre, his Indian pal Reginald John who helped him understand the lifetime of slum dwellers that was featured in his e book ‘City of Joy’ moreover died, ending the interval of affection and compassion showered by the two amongst of us of Pilkhana in West Bengal’s Howrah district.

John, who earned nicknames like ‘John Sir’ and ‘Bade Bhai’ (elder brother) for his social firms to the dwellers of Pilkhana, as quickly as considered the second largest slum throughout the nation after Mumbai’s Dharavi, breathed his last at a time when the financial metropolis of Howrah witnessed communal violence all through Ram Navami processions.

Lapierre, who handed away in December last yr, and John are described by their admirers as males who may merely mingle with of us and had giant hearts.googletag.cmd.push(carry out() googletag.present(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

John who used to run an NGO was affected by most cancers.

He died on the age of 70 on March 29.

“Instead of love, peace and kindness that Bade Bhai, Lapierre, and French priest Francoise Laborde showered here, now our city experienced clashes between two groups and hatred,” acknowledged Mohammad Ejaj, a resident of Pilkhana, positioned spherical 3-4 kilometres from Howrah Railway Station.

Fr Laborde received right here to Howrah sooner than Lapierre and the author’s arrival proper right here was in reference to the priest.

Surajit Basistha, an advocate and the president of a neighborhood welfare organisation ‘Seva Sangh Samiti’, with which John was associated as its CEO, acknowledged Pilkhana did not actually really feel the heat of such violence.

“Maybe, our social services helped strengthen the bonding among people in Pilkhana, which was once a Muslim-majority area. We serve one community, ‘needy’, without considering their caste, creed and religion,” Basistha suggested PTI.

Terrence John, the youngest brother of ‘John sir’, described the ability of social workers and their humanitarian firms to push again such clashes.

“There was a big commotion when former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead (in 1984). At that time, the entire place took a very different turn, my brother gave shelter to many in the Samiti. Nobody dared to enter the place because he was there. Because of his tireless work for the (local) people, the place did not experience any such disturbance,” acknowledged Terence John, the principal of a great school.

From a congested locality full of tin roof houses and dingy and waterlogged streets of the Nineteen Seventies and Nineteen Eighties, Pilkhana has progressed significantly over time.

Some multi-storeyed concrete houses have come up and sanitation has improved, nonetheless the locality nonetheless lacks ample social infrastructure.

However, whatever the opprobrium of being described as a slum, “joy is still alive among people of Pilkhana”, Reginald John had suggested PTI after the demise of Lapierre in December last yr.

Reginald John was one among many guides who had given the French author the considered Pilkhana, a rabbit warren positioned alongside the Grand Trunk Road throughout the northern part of Howrah.

Basistha recalled that Lapierre found Reginald John as a “true friend and guide” to know Pilkhana and its of us.

Lapierre was a volunteer of the Samiti and an “ardent assistant” of Fr Laborde who lived throughout the slums and formed the welfare organisation in Sixties.

Regiland was such an individual who helped the organisation realise the targets of its founder.

According to locals, Fr Laborde, Lapierre and Reginald John lined the scale and breadth of Pilkhana utterly and labored day and night for the betterment of locals.

Terrence acknowledged his brother’s affiliation with the author was to help him purchase knowledge and introduce him to slum dwellers of Pilkhana which was later featured in his e book.

“My brother was one of the soldiers of the Seva Sangh Samiti, working for the poor people for more than 50 years. He helped them not only during the flood of 1978 but also established a school for children and a medical centre for improvised people. He had left a big footprint in this area as a social worker,” Terrence John acknowledged.