Early Humans in Schio

Last week I went on a small trek to visit the underground caves of Bocca Lorenza near Schio. In early 20th century, objects from late neolithic period were found in those caves.

This post is a result of that visit and relates to archaeological objects found in 3 areas close to Schio - Bocca Lorenza underground caves, Monte Magre and the summit of Monte Summano.

After the end of the last ice-age and the beginning of Holocene some 10-12 thousand years ago, slowly humans must have expanded to the northern mountainous areas of Italy. 

Guido Cibin's Archaeological Collection

In early 20th century, an amateur archaeologist from Schio, Guido Cibin (1860-1947) was responsible for finding and safe-guarding most of those archaeological objects in this area. The map below shows the different locations around Schio, from where Cibin collected archaeological materials. 

Guido Cibin  was instrumental in setting up the first archaeological museum in Schio in the newly built Technical school on the Castello hill in 1912. There are around 4 thousand archaeological objects of the the Cibin-Gori collection, including Roman coins and Greek vases. Some of these will hopefully, soon be displayed at the new city museum being created in Palazzo Fogazzaro in Schio.

Let me start with the archeological finds from Bocca Lorenzo underground caves.

Bocca Lorenza Caves in Santorso

In late 1908, Guido Cebin together with Don Rizieri Zanocco from Piovene, they explored these caves located on the southern flank of Summano mountain. Among the objects they found were hundreds of neolithic tools made from flint-stones, and many prehistoric decorative bones. The materials collected cover a 7000 years period, starting from late Neolithic period (around 6000 years ago) till about a 1000 years ago.

The flint-stones found here are not local and thus it means that persons living here were in contact with other groups and probably had some kind of commercial exchange system. Image below shows some objects from neolithic period found here.

Cibin also found many vases from late iron age 4th century BCE, as well as a bronze axe-piece. These vases are hand-modelled and they have different decorations such as fish-spine, triangles, zig-zag lines and lines of dots. The area is full of animal bones, including deer, wild goats and pigs, rabbits, and buffaloes, they had enough wild animals to hunt in this area. Some vases from Bocca Lorenza are shown in the image below.

In late neolithic period it was used as shelter by shepherds. During the copper age (3300-2300 BCE), it was also used for some burials. During the bronze age (2300-900 BCE), groups of persons were living here. During the second iron age, around 4-5th centuries BCE, shepherds again started using it, while some feel that it was also used for religious and ritual use. Only a few Roman period objects have been found here.

The structure is composed of a vestibule and a series of deeper underground caves, as shown in the image below from the publication, "Grotte d'Italia".

Monte Magre in Schio

In 1912, a person called Giovanni Piccoli was excavating a cave for limestone on Monte Magre near the ruins of an old castle. He found some archaeological objects including deer-antlers with incision-signs. He informed the authorities and thus, Monte Magre also became an area of archaeological interest.

The archaeological objects found in Monte Magre start from the bronze age (2300 - 900 BCE) and go on till medieval period. Most interesting findings are from late iron age, 4th to 2nd century BCE, when there was an important shrine in this area. Parts of a stone building where the shrine was located can still be seen. Here some animal bones, a stone axe, and some bronze and ceramic objects were found.

The most interesting finds from Monte Magre are pieces of deer-antlers with incisions in southern Rhaetic (retico) alphabet. This language was used in alpine and pre-alpine areas in north Italy during the second iron age (around 4th century BCE). It has been given the name of Magrè alphabet.

These bones have a hole at one end and were probably used to hang them from trees. It was probably a shrine dedicated to Diana or Artemide, as it was located in a forest and probably used by hunters. Some say that the incisions refer to a Venetian divinity called Reitia. It is thought that Magrè was the border area between the Veneto speaking persons and Reti speaking persons living to the north, who controlled the Alps and its mineral wealth.

Among the archaeological objects found at Monte Magre, the antler-pieces with Reti incisions are in the museum of Este. Some other objects can be seen in the archaeological museum in Vicenza.

The Shrine at the Summit of Monte Summano

The Summano mountain (around 1300 metres) dominates Schio and the surrounding towns and countryside. People say that its name comes from the antique cult of god Summanus. Its name reminds me of the ancient Indian myth of Manu (som+manus), at the time of universal floods (Noah in Christian mythology).

There are stories about sacrificing black rams on the summit of Summano. Bone-ash deposits and old medals and coins have been found here. In 2007 a silver statue of Mars was found in the area. Thus, during 2008-10, some preliminary archaeological tests were conducted here, during a second silver statue of a mother-goddess or Salus was also found. Archaeological objects found here can be seen at the Alto Vicentino Museum in Vicenza.

Near the summit there are areas where there are traces of regular fires dating back to second iron age (4th century BCE), indicating that there may have been a shrine or a sacred place here (shown in the image below). There are also traces of Roman period buildings near the summit.

Conclusions

Most of the information for this post came from an exhibition on the Cibin-Gori collection held at Fogazzaro Palace in Schio in 2023.

I loved the visit to Bocca Lorenza, even if I didn't try to explore any of the caves. I am hoping to write specific posts on how to visit Bocca Lorenza and Monte Magre.

I have already written about the visit to the summit of Summano mountain in my post on Sacred Sites to visit in Schio. 

*****

Renaissance Art & Giovanni Bellini

The renaissance period introduced the ideas of three-dimensional depth, realism, perspective, colour-tones and light in paintings, based on new understandings from different sciences such as anatomy, physics, mathematics, geology and natural sciences occurring in that period.

This post focuses on the evolution of a renaissance period artist through 11 paintings on the theme of "Madonna and child Jesus". The artist is Giovanni Bellini and all the paintings are from the Accademia museum in Venice.

The image below is that of a telero (huge painting covering an entire wall) started by Giovanni Bellini in 1515-16, left incomplete due to his death. (Click on the images for a bigger view)

The Bellini Bottega in Venice

In that period, the artists worked in Bottega or workshops, where the master artist had many apprentice and helpers. Jacopo Bellini, Giovanni's father, was a renowned Venetian artist in Venice. One of Jacopo's famous works is a tall mosaic inside St Marks basilica in Venice, known as "Mosaic of Visitation".

Giovanni Bellini, also called Giambellino, was born around 1930-35. He is considered as one of the great masters of early Venetian renaissance art. Giovanni had learned the art from his brother and father, was also influenced by his brother-in-law Andrea Mantegna, as well as other artists. Giovanni played an important role in developing the ideas of "tonality" in art, ensuring an overall tone for the painting and a smooth passage of tones in different parts of the painting.

Before presenting his art-works, let me briefly introduce the Accademia museum of Venice, where you can admire the originals of all the paintings presented in this post.

Accademia Museum

This museum hosts some of the masterpieces of renaissance period art by maestros like Tiziano (Titan), Tintoretto, Canaletto, Tiepolo, Hans Memling & Hieronymus Bosch. It is situated close to the Accademia bridge (orginally called Ponte della Carità, inaugurated in 1854). If you like renaissance art, do not miss visiting this museum during your visit to Venice.

The building hosting the Accademia museum today, was once a convent and a church (Santa Maria della Carità church).  Under Napoleon's rule in late 18th century, the religious persons from the church and the nearby convent were sent away. In 1807, the old Accademia museum was shifted in those buildings.

Giovanni Bellini's "Madonna and the Child" Series of Paintings

Bellini made a series of paintings of Madonna with the child Jesus. Let me now show you 10 paintings from that series present in the Accademia museum, so that you can appreciate his evolution as a painter.

There is an 11th painting at the end of this post, from his series on the theme of Pietà.

1. From 1448

I am not sure how old was Giovanni when this painting was made and how much did he actually contribute to it. The madonna of this painting does not look very young. Baby Jesus, sitting on a parapet, is holding an apple in his left hand and two fingers raised showing his dual (human and divine) nature. Madonna is expressionless while the child has a knowing expression, much wiser than his age.

2. From 1455

This painting was done when Giovanni was about 20 years old. It is simpler with fewer colours compared to the first one. The baby wearing a black dress, looks younger but still has a knowing expression while he holds his mother's chin with his hand.

3. From 1470

When this painting was done, Giovanni was 35 years old and clearly it is a more mature work, even if it not an oil painting on canvas like the others. Madonna seems to be lit by the light, with a blue sky behind her. Her face has a serenity while looking down at her sleeping son, lying nude, his hand hanging down, almost like a glimpse of the future awaiting them. There is a sense of three-dimensionality, proportions and perspective in this work.

4. From 1475 

Giovanni made this when he was forty. He has light coming in from upper right side, lighting up Madonna's serene and young face, while the light on the baby is more diffused. The baby has a more innocent face, and he makes the sign of his dual nature with this right hand, while his left hand grips his mother's thumb. 

5. From 1480

By now, Giovanni was 45 years old and clearly more skilled as a painter. The whole canvas seems lit by light with bright colours. The background has a light blue sky, fluffy clouds and the Euganei hills near Padua. The baby has a knowing and petulant look, as he holds his right hand in the two-fingers sign while his left hand discreetly seeks his mother's touch.

6. From 1485-90

Now Giovanni has crossed fifty years, he is recognised as a maestro. Perhaps, this means that now he can experiment and try new colours and ideas. The most distinctive change in the painting is the use of bright red colours in Madonna's gown and the heads and wings of the six cherubs on the clouds floating above. The baby seems to be wearing a modern looking night-shirt. The baby also has a more child like expression and seems to be talking to his mother.

7. From 1485-90

This is also from the same period. In this, the two have a green screen behind, the surface of the parapet is painted green, and in the background on the two sides there are two trees. The baby is nude, has a more child like expression and his left hand holds his mother's fingers. Once again the whole canvas seems to be lit by light.

8. From 1488 (With St Catherine and Magdalene)

This is a more complex work. Compared to the two women saints on the two sides, dressed in rich clothes and wearing jewellery, Madonna looks similar to the other paintings above. The baby seems lost in ecstasy. While the background is dark, the 4 figures seem lit by an external light, creating a few shadows. It seems to have clear Flemish or Dutch influences.

9. From 1490 (With St Paul and St George)

Like one above, this one also has two figures standing on both sides of the mother and child. However, this painting has much more in common with his other works - light blue sky with clouds, a red screen behind them, all the persons lit by a light coming from the left with a hint of shadows in the right side of the canvas.

10. From 1503 (With St John Baptist and a Woman)

This painting was done when Giovanni was 68 years old and it is even more complex, with a detailed urban background with the Vicentino mountains behind them - the houses have a distinct look, may be it shows the city of Bassano. Sheep are grazing on the grassy hills (click on the picture to see a bigger version for the sheep). It is bathed in light with shades of liliacs, pinks, green and light blues. Madonna has a soft and innocent expression. The skin tones of Madonna and the woman on the right seem to have the red tones associated with Titan.

11. From 1505 - Pietà with Madonna and the Dying Jesus

The last painting is from the Pietà series, and is from 1505, when Giovanni was 70 years old. The white-haired Madonna's face is etched with lines of sorrow. A dramatic touch is given by the broken tree on the left of the canvas. The background is in the shade of orange-yellow seems to show Padua with Euganei hills and Vicentino mountains behind. Once again, the whole canvas seems to be lit all over with a diffused light and few shadows. (You can click on all the images for a bigger view.)

Things I Noticed in the Paintings

I think that as Giovanni grew older and more skilled, his works assumed more renaissance characteristics - they seem more three-dimensional, more realistic, while the proportions and perspectives improve.

In most of his paintings, the Madonna has an innocent or an aloof look, she does not seem to be looking at you. I also noticed that in many paintings, her little finger seems to be bent or crooked in the middle - it does not seem very natural. Try bending your finger like that and you will see what I mean.

On the other hand, the baby Jesus has a more knowing look, creating a kind of dissonance because his facial expressions are more adult-like. At the same time, the child's proportions do not always look right. For example in painting number 10 above, the child seems to be too long. Child's ecstasy, with his eyes turning up, in image 8 also made me feel a little anxious.

I love the light and vivid colours that seem to illuminate many of his works. They lack the light and shadow effects (chiaroscuro), which would become a dominant part of later renaissance art.

I also love the tender affection between the mother and the baby, expressed in the way the boy holds his mother's thumb or touches her hand. 

To Conclude

To look at the different paintings of Giovanni Bellini in a chronological manner gives us an idea of his evolution as an artist. At the same time, it gives us an idea of how the renaissance ideas of art were evolving.

Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 and his Monalisa was painted in early 1500s. Michelangelo was born in 1475 and his frescoes of Universal Judgement in Vatican were painted around 1540. Thus, the art of Giovanni Bellini needs to be seen in the context of all the other artists, as they exchanged ideas, knowledge and techniques. 

All the paintings presented in this post are from Accademia museum in Venice. To feel their full impact, you need to look at them in the museum. For example, the sensation of light when you look at painting number 10 above is absolutely incredible. When I saw it, I was transfixed.

BTW, the Telero shown in the first image above was commissioned to Giovanni Bellini in 1515, when he had turned eighty. He was unable to finish it, as he died in 1516. It was completed many years later by another artist, Vittore Belliniano. 

I have been to the Accademia museum a few times, and every time I go there I discover new works which I had not noticed earlier!

*****  

Searching For Lila

I came across the story of Lila Lakshmanan Biro by chance. Half-Indian and half French, she has worked as a film-editor with many of the famous French film-directors like Godard and Truffaut in the 1960s.

Born in 1935, Lila will be ninety years old this year. She lives in an old age home in a suburb near Paris. My artist friend Samit Das, whom I have found on the journey to find Lila, has confirmed to me that she is fine and keeping well.

I first met Lila in a book when she was called Lila Herman. Finding her reincarnations into other names was an exciting search. This is the story of that journey.

 My First Encounter With Lila

I came across her first when she was known as Lila Herman, while doing research about the Roberto Rossellini - Sonali Dasgupta story.

In December 1956, Roberto, well-known Italian director, famous for his neo-realistic films like Rome, Open City and Paisà, came to India to shoot a film. Sonali Dasgupta, wife of Indian producer-director Harisadhan Dasgupta, was supposed to collaborate with Roberto. The two fell in love and this created a huge scandal in India. Hounded by journalists and an upset family, Sonali looked for support. She found some support in Lila Herman.

At that time, Lila was married to Jean Herman, an aspiring film-director. Jean was teaching French in Bombay in those days, was one of Rossellini's assistants for his film. They had a son in Paris in 1955 and then come to Bombay, where they had stayed for 2 years.

That is how I started my search to learn more about Lila Herman, but I found very little. She edited some films in early 1960s and then disappeared. 

Lila Herman to Lila Lakshmanan

The search for Lila Herman was a little complicated because her husband film-director Jean Herman had also disappeared and had become famous as Jean Veutrin, a well-known French mystery-writer. 

She had disappeared because she and Jean had divorced. After the divorce, she had become Lila Lakshmanan and had continued to work as film-editor. However, after a few years, even the trail of Lila Lakshmanan also turned cold.

Lila & Atila Biro

Searching for Lila Lakshmanan brought me to her second marriage to the well-known French architect and artist of Hungarian origins, Atila Biro. She had become Lila Biro.

Her husband Atila was born as Attila in Hungary in 1931, studied in Germany and settled in Paris. As a painter, he chose to write his name as Atila. Many of his works are part of different European art museums.

Atila and Lila married in 1963. Together, Atila and Lila, travelled to Italy, Marocco and many times to India. Atila had a large number of exhibitions in different European countries and the two often travelled together for those events. I don't know if Atila and Lila had any children. Atila Biro died in 1987. You can check some of his works on the Facebook page of Atila Biro foundation.

Lila Biro's Book

In 2012, Lila Atila Biro wrote a book called "Atila, Le soleil des métamorphoses" (Atila, the Sun of Metamorphosis).

The preface of this book was written by Lila's first husband Jean Vautrin (Herman), who wrote about his admiration for Atila's paintings.

I think that Jean and Atila had separated because she was in love in Atila. She married Atila, soon after her divorce while Jean had his second marriage a few years later. However, the three of them, Jean, Lila and Atila, probably continued to be good friends. 

Lila Biro Interview in 2017

In 2017, an event was organised in Paris on visual mapping of modernism in Indian art. In that connection, some art exhibitions and talks were organised, in which clips from some of Lila's films were also included. On that occasion, in an interview to Bombay Mirror by Sumesh Sharma, Lila had shared some information about her life:

"Lila was born in Jabalpur in 1935, where her father Lakshmanan was the director of All India Radio, while her mother was French. As a child, she had lived in Delhi, Lucknow and Bombay. Then her parents separated and 12 years old Lila arrived in a boarding school in England.

She went to Sorbonne to study English Literature when she was 17. Lila successfully graduated and went to study at the French film school ID’HEC, where she met her first husband, Jean Herman, now better known as the French writer Jean Vautrin. She was studying editing as she didn’t think she was creative enough to be a director.

During her last year at the film school in Paris in 1955, she gave birth to her son. Lila’s mother, found a job for Jean Herman teaching French Literature at the Wilson College in Bombay, thus, they lived there for 2 years until the end of 1957.

Regarding the Roberto-Sonali story she said: “I was with Rossellini, when he met Sonali Das Gupta. He was a man who had the accomplishment of perusal; he would be convincing and would get his way with people. When Sonali’s affair became public, she came and lived with me on Carmichael Road."

In the End

In late 1960s, Lila Biro continued to work as editor for different well-known French film directors. Thus, in the films she edited, her name appears as 3 different persons - Lila Herman, Lila Lakshmanan and Lila Biro. I think that she stopped working as film-editor in early 1970s.

About the impact of her work, in 2023, film producer Daniel Bird said: "Lila Biro is a remarkable character who witnessed Rossellini in India, played a key role in the cutting of key titles of the French New Wave, and was a close collaborator of the Hungarian émigré painter, Atila Biro. For me, however, she’s also the star witness in a crime against film grammar: the jump cut. The editing style of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless is now legendary, but I’ve always wondered what it must have been like in the cutting room when that revolutionary editorial decision was made. Thanks to Lila, that moment is vividly brought to life."

There was another Indo-French woman connected to the films - Leela Naidu. Leela was 5 years younger to Lila. In 1955, when Lila and Jean had come to Bombay, Leela was crowned Miss Femina. I wonder if the two had met and had been in contact in India or in France.

I am also curious about Lila and Jean Herman's connections with the films in Bombay, as the two had just come out of the cinema institute in Paris and must have been very interested to collaborate with Indian film-makers. It was the time when films like Mughle Azam and Devdas were being made.

To conclude this article, here is a romantic picture of a dedication of a painting by Atila to his "ma Lila cherie" (my dear Lila) from 1969 (click on the picture for a bigger view).

I wish I could talk to her and do a long oral-history chat to explore her memories.

***** 

Note: The first image of Lila presented above has been made from 2 images I found on internet. However, I could not find any picture of Lila and Atila together. The second image of Atila's dedication of a painting is taken from the facebook page of Atila Biro foundation.

Stories from A Honey-Bee Lover

A couple of months ago, I was in India, staying with my sister in Gurgaon. One day, while looking out of the window, I was amazed to see a huge beehive hanging from the bottom of a balcony in the neighbour's house. I asked my brother-in-law, he said that it is in the house of his friends, a doctor-couple - Sanjoy and Rakhi Gogoi.

I had never seen such a big beehive and was wondering if they were they not afraid of those bees? (Click on the pic for a bigger view)

A couple of days later, while going out for walk with my brother-in-law, we met Dr Gagoi. I told him about my surprise when I had seen that beehive from the window.

It turned out that Dr Gagoi is passionate about the subject of the bees and beehives. This post is about Dr Gagoi and his passion for the honey bees.

Dr Sanjoy Gagoi's Honeybees' Story

A few years ago, he saw a beehive growing in the terrace outside their kitchen. At that time, he did not know anything about the bees. He was alarmed by it and asked for someone to come and remove it.

A couple of guys turned up in his house. They used smoke to kill the honeybees and then removed the beehive and took it away for the honey. They also gave some honey to him. 

Later, when he saw hundreds of dead honeybees on his terrace, Sanjoy felt terrible, he felt that perhaps removing the beehive was not a good action. So he started to read about honeybees, their species, how they are organised, how they live. From what he had learned, he decided that he is not going to remove any beehive ever again.

Soon the honey bees were back on his terrace. This time, he started observing them and he learned many things about them. After sharing his house with them over the years, he feels that the honeybees recognise him. He has never been stung by one.

He is full of stories about the honey bees. For example, that periodically they will leave the beehive and go somewhere else, taking all the honey with them and then, after a few months, one day come back to their old home. bringing their honey.

Another story he shared was about the attacks of a group of bats on the beehives. One evening he found the bees buzzing around furiously, trying to fight the bats. He also joined them, fighting the bats with the long handle of a broom and in the end they successfully managed to send away the bats.

An average beehive can hold around 50,000 bees. They must collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to make 1 pound (450 grams) of honey. A worker bee can live from 30 to 60 days. There is usually a single queen in a hive. Worker honey bees are all female. They forage for food, build the honeycombs, and protect the hive.

Some persons from neighbouring apartments sometimes complain about the bees. However, Dr Gogoi explained that honey bees are critical to the ecosystem, and they’re protected by the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. It is a crime to destroy a beehive and the correct procedure would be to inform the forest officer and ask them to come and shift the beehive to a safe location.

I wish that I had recorded all the stories he had shared about the honey bees. I remember listening to him spellbound.

Conclusions

It seems that the bees are dying all over the world and a world without bees would face huge problems with crops because the bees are one of our foremost pollinators. 

After listening to Dr Gogoi, I had thought that I will read some natural sciences book on this theme. I am hoping to do that soon. In the meantime, if you have any stories about honeybees, please do share them in the comments below.

In 2023, I had read different fiction books about people loving or living with honeybees. One of those books, The Last Bee-Keeper by Julie Carrick Dalton, was about a dystopian world where almost all the honeybees are dead. I still remember that book. You can check my post from 2023 in which I had written about the fiction books related to honey bees. 

***

Day of Remembering: Annamaria's Story

Our history books are full of stories of massacres and of persons forced to leave their homes and become refugees. Such stories have a special resonance for me because my mother's family was forced to leave their homes and lands in 1947, when that part of India became a new country called Pakistan.

Recently, I met Annamaria Marussi who told me her story of massacres and becoming a refugee from Istria, a peninsula at the north-eastern border of Italy, which is now a part of Slovenia & Croatia. Annamaria was born in a tiny town called Isola (Izola) in Istria.

This post tells her story. The image below has Annamaria with her son and grand-daughter.

Let me start by briefly explaining the location and history of Istria.

Istria - The Land and Its History

Istria (Istra in Slovenia and Croatia) is a peninsula, a thumb like stub of land jutting out into Adriatic sea close to the border between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. This land is part of Karst region, a geographical area characterised by a plateau with steep cliffs overlooking the sea, extending from north-eastern Italy to Croatia. The area is full of caves and deep sink-holes (foibe).

This part of Europe, today marks the meeting place of 4 countries - Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy and this explains its chequered history. 

By 5th century AD, it was part of the Roman empire, which gave it the name Histria. Then for around 400 years, it passed under different rulers, from Byzantines, to Longobards and Slavs. Around 900 AD, for about 800 years, till around the end of 18th century, Isria/Istra was under the Venetian republic and therefore, the winged lion symbol of Venice became a common sight in this area.

Around 1820 AD, this area came under the Austrian-Hungarian empire till the first world war, and then it became part of Italy. After the second world war, the area was occupied by the partisans of Tito and became a part of Yugoslavia. Finally, after the end of Soviet Union, Yugoslavia broke in different parts and now it is divided between Slovenia and Croatia.

The map below (from Wikipedia) shows how Istria is divided between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia today. The purple arrow near the top left part of the image shows the location of Isola (Izola) where Annamaria lived as a child.

The Foibe Massacres & The Ideologies

In 1945, as the German forces retreated, the partisans of Marshal Tito occupied Istria. As a lot of its inhabitants were Italians, the Slav origin partisans wanted to send them away and the fastest and least costly way to kill them to push them down the foibes, or the sink-holes, some of which were as deep as 300 metres. These killings were justified by the partisans as a just reprisal of the Slav deaths caused by the fascist German-Italian regimes. Many persons deny that civilians were killed and justify it as political vendetta.

Apart from the persons killed in the foibe, between 1947 and 1954, around 350,000 persons of Italian origin left their homes as Istrian refugees to escape the communist regime of Tito.

How many persons were killed in the foibe-massacres? There are contested claims from the two sides, varying from a few thousands to 10-20 thousand. Istrian refugees say that a lot of innocent persons were killed and present names and stories of some of them to prove their point. Yugoslavians downplayed the killings, saying that only the fascists and their collaborators were killed. 

Every year, 10 February is the Day of Remembrance In Italy for the Istrian refugees and the persons killed in the foibe-massacres. 

Personally, I believe that extreme left (radical communists) are the mirror images of extreme right groups like fascists. Examples from Soviet Union, China, Vietnam and Cambodia, show that communist violence was no less brutal then the fascists', though communists sometimes ignore those while fighting the different fascisms.

Story of Annamaria Marussi

Annamaria was six years old when her family was forced to leave their home in the tiny seaside town of Isola on the Istrian coast. According to her, out of the 32,000 persons living in that town, 28,000 had left as refugees. She talked about that experience with the following words:

"I come from the town of Isola in Istria but my father was from Fiume (Rijeka in Croatia). He had come to work in Isola. My mother's family, all her relatives, were from Isola.

I was born in the house of Domenico Lovisato (NdR: a well-known geologist and palaeontologist, born in 1842 in Isola in Istria) and then our family had shifted to another house. In those days, Isola had only 2 main roads and our house was on one of those. We lived on the first floor and as you came down the stairs, there was a atrium and the main door. At the top of the door was a crescent-shaped window with glass in different colours. After many years, when finally we had our house, I asked to have the crescent-shaped window over the door, with glass in different colours, to remember that house in Isola.

I remember the times when we would go for vendemiare (grape-collection for making wine). The family of my maternal grandmother had vineyards. They had some containers which were hung on the mules and donkeys and they would put small children in those containers. So I would go to the countryside sitting inside a container hanging on the side of a mule.

I also remember when it was time to collect almonds, or when I went with my father in a small boat because he loved the sea and fishing. Sometimes in the evening he took me with him for fishing. Later, after the exodus, when we were living in that rundown house in Trieste, some evenings I went with him to the Audace wharf for fishing, and I was supposed to not make noise because otherwise the fish didn't come near.

Our family, I, my parents and my brother, we all had to leave our home. My father had left earlier, while the remaining three, we left in 1947, when the Paris Peace plan offered us the possibility of leaving. We were allowed to take only our furniture, we put them in trucks which took them to store-houses as the refugees didn't have homes or spaces in refugee camps to keep them. We took the boat which was going too and fro to take the refugees to Trieste in Italy.

We were more fortunate than other refugees because my father had already found a place for us in the old town of Trieste. It was bare, small and poor but at least we had a home and we could all stay together. Trieste had an enormous refugee camp, created in the silos, an old store-house building near the railway station. It was divided into small boxes, each hosting a family. There were around 2000 persons living that building.

Over the years, the Istrian refugees have created some associations, which promote the organisation of the Day of Remembrance, so that we don't forget the Istrians. Out of the 350,000 refugees, around 70,000 left Italy to emigrate to north and south Americas, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. They can be found in every part of Italy.

I remember when we had put our stuff in the truck and said goodbye to our relatives. My grandparents were still there when we left in 1947. One of my traumatic memory is from 1945, when the German soldiers, while retreating had blown up a dam and we heard this terrible sound of the bomb.

I went back to see my old house in Isola and it was such an alienating sensation. It has changed a lot. To see that house which was my house and to see other persons living there, to think of the memories of that place of how it was, it was traumatic.

After so many years, the impact of that exodus, of leaving that home is still strong, I have nostalgia for those days. It is a wound, because it was not just leaving our old home, but it was that life in a small town where everyone knew everyone else, all that lost. For example, the sister of my father, they emigrated to USA. My paternal grandmother used to live with their family, she could not go with them to USA because they said that she was too old, and she suffered from this separation. Other relatives were sent to Sanremo. My husband's family some were sent to Perugia, we were all thrown apart in different directions, so many lacerations in our hearts."

Conclusions

Talking to Annamaria brought back my childhood memories of talking to my maternal grandmother and her lingering sorrow about the land and persons, as well as the trauma of partition of India and Pakistan. In those days we were living in the house of a Muslim trader who had gone as a refugee to Pakistan and I remember wondering if he knew that we were living in his house.

The real issue about becoming a refugee, as in Annamaria's story, is that of facing forced eviction and violence, as well as, loss of property, dignity and family relationships. That is the pain we carry in our hearts for ever.

The image below has Annamaria Marussi and Gianni Bevilacqua, two persons who were forced to leave their homes in Istria and become refugees, at the Day of Remembering exhibition on 10th February 2025 in Schio (VI), Italy.

I also remembered an encounter with a Pakistani girl in Washington DC, after watching a play, "A Tryst with Destiny" written and directed by my sister, which was about the India-Pakistan partition. She had said, "I understand the trauma of my elders about leaving their homes and becoming refugees and having nostalgia for the past. But I was born in Pakistan and that is my homeland."

I can imagine the lives of the persons now living in the house in Isola where Annamaria lived as a child. For them also that house, the community of Isola and the Istria region, is now their homeland. If and when, they will leave that house to go and live somewhere else, they would also miss it.

I think that is the story of all refugees. The first generations miss what they have lost and carry that hurt all their lives. But the second and third generations, hopefully, they can stop being a refugee, they can make new memories about their new homelands, and the old stories lose their power of hurting us and keeping us as a prisoner of the pain. 

*****

Caste & Women in India

These days I am listening to an old TSATU podcast of Amit Varma (AV) with the economist, Prof. Ashwini Deshpande (AD). This podcast, raised a couple of questions in my mind. This post is to explain those points.

During my professional life, I have also worked in the areas of exclusion and discrimination in different parts of the world (ASHA workers, most of whom belonged to SC groups in the image above). However, compared to AD, I have much less experience with quantitative view of these issues based on data.

With this little introduction, let me go to the points raised by AD which raised questions in my mind.

Creamy Layer & Affirmative Action

The first question came to my mind was when she spoke about the creamy layer controversy in the SC reservations. She asked, why do we raise this question about the exclusion of creamy layer only for SC reservation and not for exclusion of creamy layers for other caste groups. I could not understand this point.

Are there reservations for general caste groups from which creamy layers should be excluded? Which reservations?

Did she mean that persons from rich or privileged backgrounds should be excluded automatically (not allowed to participate) in some competitions or jobs? Won't that be considered a reverse-discrimination, and can it be done legally?

On the other hand, I am aware that in areas like disability, no one would ever say that disabled children of a disabled person who has already benefited from an affirmative action should be excluded. But to apply that logic to caste-reservations, would mean that caste is like a disability in a way, a physical marker or a deeper social marker, that does not go away with education and material well being? 

My understanding has been that by excluding creamy layers of SC would provide more opportunities for SC persons from less privileged backgrounds and would enlarge the base of SC persons in better jobs. However, I can see that only a small percentage of SC persons are able to reach high school or university level and if we exclude creamy layer, those seats will be taken over by non-SC candidates - so, we need to understand the lack of competitiveness in the creamy layer persons.

Reasons of Lack of Competitiveness Among persons from Creamy Layer

AD said that 3-4 generations of better jobs and incomes for creamy layer families are not enough to compensate for their backwardness lasting for centuries. So I think that the issue here would be to understand the nuances of why children from well-to-do families, going to good schools but belonging to SC, continue to need affirmative action? What determines their lack of capacity to compete with others? Can there be other kinds of interventions to support them?

I am also curious to know if there is data about the children of creamy layer of SC? For example, are their studies comparing economically better-off SC families to non-SC poor families? How are the two groups different? For example, is it a question of internalised stigma due to caste which is stronger than stigma around poverty? If yes, how does stigma affect them and which additional barriers do they face?

Names and Surnames

During the podcast, there was some discussion about the way Dalit persons can be identified by their names and thus face discrimination.

Perhaps, one way to deal could be to have a law where any SC family can legally change their family names and choose any names from other castes. If people can't identify the castes from the names, perhaps the caste system will be weakened?

Women engaged in family-based economic activities

AD said that a lot of "non-earning" women are engaged in and contribute to home-based economic activities, but they are not recognised as earning members of the family. I have talked about this issue to women groups in a few states, especially in Karnataka and Maharashtra. I found that the women engaged in such activities are very much aware of their economic contribution to the families, their families recognise it and women used this recognition to negotiate roles, benefits and activities that they desire for themselves or their families. However, it is possible that this is not quantified in the data. We did not do a quantitative survey about it.

It was a similar experience while talking to ASHA workers in some states - they may not earn much money, but they gain the power to use their roles to improve their social standing and for negotiating greater powers inside their families and outside in wider communities. Again, we did not make a proper survey about their castes, but from my interactions with about 10 groups of ASHA workers in 2 districts of Maharashtra, around 60% were SC and about 15% were ST. While talking to them about the challenges of doing the ASHA work, I don't recall any of them ever raising an issue of their caste.

So, IMO, there are many aspects of this subject which need greater data and understanding. However, I think that it is time to stop talking about eliminating castes. As long as we have to ask people to get certificates of their castes so that they can access benefits, we are strengthening the caste system. A more realistic aim can be to eliminate inhuman treatments forced on specific groups of untouchable persons through precise and targeted interventions.

Conclusions

During the podcast, AD did not say anything about issues of hierarchies and discrimination among the different SC groups themselves, about which I had heard during the field work in India. What role does that play in the overall scheme of things?

In my experience about caste-related-research, another problem was that it was never clear which groups persons are talking about when they talk of caste oppressions or use terms like Dalits. Often, they put together all the persons doing manual work, and not just the untouchable castes. Their aim is to create a wide coalition of marginalised groups and not to ensure the improvement in life-conditions of specific marginalised groups such as untouchable caste groups, which I feel should be priority for all caste related work.

I loved listening to AD and to her insights and hopefully I will look for her publications and read them as well. It is a great podcast and if you are interested in development issues related to caste and to women in India, do listen to it.

***

Sonali SenRoy's Book

I had first heard about the Sonali - Rossellini story in 2008, when Dilip Padgaonkar's book, "Under Her Spell: Roberto Rossellini in India" had come out. 

Over the past 17 years, I have spent numerous days in libraries and archives, collecting information in English, Italian and French about their story. For example, you can read my article about this story written in 2008. You can say that I am obsessed with it.

Today I received a book written by Sonali in 1961, that I had ordered. There was a surprise hidden in it. This post is about her book and the surprise. The image below shows Sonali from the back-cover of her book.

Let me start with a brief background about the Sonali-Rossellini story.

Brief Background About Sonali-Rossellini Story

The 1945 film, "Rome, Open City" created the legend of Italian film director Roberto Rossellini. At the end of 1956, Rossellini arrived in India to shoot a film. At that time, he was married to the Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman.

In India, he fell in love with Sonali Dasgupta, wife of film director Hari Dasgupta. There was a huge scandal. In October 1957, Rossellini and Sonali escaped to Paris with her younger son.

4 years later, in June 1961, Sonali wrote a book in French & Italian titled, Altro Mondo (the Other World).

Sonali's Book

I had heard about this book, but had not managed to lay hands on it. After so many years, a few days ago, while re-reading my old notes, I was reminded of this book and thought that now it might be possible to find it on internet. I found it straight away, and ordered a used-copy for a little more than three Euro.

Today morning that book arrived. It says that it was originally published in French and translated into Italian by Sonali herself, with the help of Mr. Dominique Aubier. It was published by Longanesi & C., Rome in June 1961. The cover has the picture of a woman from the Ajanta caves.

On the book, the author's name is Sonali Dasgupta. The first question in my mind was - why did she use this name for her book?

Sonali's maiden name was Senroy, and after her marriage to H. Dasgupta, she had become Sonali Dasgupta. When she had reached Paris in the beginning of October 1957, Roberto was still married to his second wife, Ingrid Bergman, and their legal separation was ratified in Rome in early November 1957. At the end of November 1957, their daughter Raffaella was born.

Thus, her choice of publishing her book as "Sonali Dasgupta" in 1961, probably meant that she and Roberto were not yet formally married. May be, at that time, her divorce with Hari Dasgupta was not formalised and thus she was forced to use that name, because it was on her official documents?

Surprise in the Book

I was surprised that the used copy of the book I have received, has a hand-written note in Italian by Sonali (click on the picture for a larger view): 

 "Questo libro non è l'opera di uno scrittore ma l'esperienza di una donna. La sincerità in esso racchiusa è la prova della simpatia e amicizia per tutto e tutti. Maggio 1961, Roma, Sonali Dasgupta."

(Trans.: This book is not the work of a writer but the experience of a woman. The sincerity in it, is the proof of sympathy and friendship for everything and everyone. May 1961, Rome, Sonali Dasgupta)

Sonali and her elder son Raja

The book is dedicated to Ragia (Raja), her elder son. In the book, the spellings of Raja are "Ragia", because Italian does not have J and it uses "gi" for the J sound. It is possible that she had given verbal instructions about the dedication and the person transcribing it had used the Italian spellings of the word. I feel that she must have been disappointed that her son's name was not spelled properly.

When I had first read about the Sonali and Roberto story, I had been greatly struck by her leaving of her elder son, Raja, in India, who was around 5 years old at that time. It had seemed to me like a "Sophie's Choice" kind of situation because a mother had been forced to take one child and to leave behind her other child.

I think that by dedicating this book to Raja Dasgupta, she was expressing her regret and pain at that separation.

Contents of the Book

The book is composed of 13 chapters. The first chapter starts with her days in Bombay immediately preceding her departure from India for Paris, with her young son Arjun (later he changed name and became Gil Rossellini). A couple of chapters have brief glimpses of her life in India such as about her birth in Banaras/Varanasi and her father's work as a doctor and about her journey to Europe.

Rest of the book is about her encounters with Europe, first with Paris and Saint Remy in France and then about her life in Italy. These encounters include linguistic difficulties, challenges of adapting to the western clothes, and the curiosity of people about the sari-wearing woman. In the parts about Italy, there are also different episodes of dealing with journalists and other curious persons.

The book does not touch on her love-story with Roberto and her life with her first husband. It reads like a series of vignettes, as if she was talking to someone about what it means for her to be an exotic Indian in Europe and to explain the peculiarities of India to the Europeans. The first draft of the book was probably written by that interviewer (Dominique Aubier), at a time when she didn't have a good command over French or Italian.

The book also shows her desire for dignity and privacy, for not giving in to journalists looking for melodramatic stories and scandals.

Conclusions

To find this book with her handwritten words in my hands was an incredible sensation. Suddenly, I could touch the words she had written and imagine her sitting at a table in a bookshop, writing dedications.

It seemed to me, as if across time and space, she has decided to extend her finger towards me, daring me to touch her.

I had written to her once to ask for an interview, but it was a time of bereavement and she had withdrawn from all public contacts at that time. She died in 2013.

I have been obsessed with this story for almost 2 decades. I have already written about it a few times and have been in contact with Raja Dasgupta, her elder son, as well as with a few other persons who knew her.

With all the material that I have collected about this story, I know that one day I will write a book about it. When I saw her handwriting today, I felt as if she is herself asking me to do it.

***