kolkata no one remembers who naren sen was nor why his name was linked to the small railedoff square half way down sitaram ghosh street meandering between amherst street and harrison road from long before they were renamed after raja ram mohan roy and mahatma gandhithe early summer sun is filtered by high walls green with age the houses warren like and huddled together give the narrow lane the resonance of a midcity canyonoctagenarian bijoy roy and his family came to naren sen square from bally in the 1970s during the height of the naxalite movementas a journalist roy was attracted by the academic ambience of the parathe time honoured schools and colleges hare and hindu city vidyasagar presidency and st pauls publishers and booksellers on bankim chatterjee street and college street provide reassuring backdrop of scholastic activity even today the maze of streets and alleys around naren sen square smells of printers ink and freshly cut paper many coaching colleges and schools mostly one room affairs in private residences have come up to reinforce the emphasis on education in this middle class locality roy is aware too of the rich cultural and religious heritage of his surroundings the brahmo samaj on keshab sen street and the ancestral home of kartick bose nearby were once landmarks of the bengali renaissance in the art music and poetry even commerce and cricket the sage ramakrishna himself used to stay at the jhamapukur rajbari and the kali temple at thanthania still purifies the air of this placeon the eastern fringe pataldanga has been the home of not only the genteel fragile inhabitants of rabindranaths novels but also real life doyens of science and literature in previous centuries like ramendra sundar tribedi bhudeb mukherjee and narayan gangopadhyaythe legendary mahendra dattapioneer in umbrellaslived next door and his son kali is a childhood friend of roys sonwhat makes living in crowded ghetto bearable obviously the strong bonding with neighbours and the concern of the young generation for their eldersalthough many properties have changed hands and the old joint families are breaking down the residents have not become islands unto themselveseven local politicians like somen mitra the congress leader actually take interest in sorting out problems like garbage clearance and water shortagethe para boys are always standing by to help not just when they need to collect subscriptions for the pujas and other forms of merry making roy is particularly appreciative of the medical facilities available close at hand the old bishudhanand hospital on amherst street is still one of the cleanest in the city and the thallasemia unit there is visited regularly by patrons like mithun chakraborty the indian cancer society operates a long standing cancer detection centre which women regard as a boonat one time the entire area used to be water logged during the monsoonsa new pumping station at hrishikesh park opposite the aajkal office has changed all thatas in other north kolkata paras a strong adda culture persists in this part of the