Written by Asish BasakSeptember 23, 2025

‘Shrestha Bonedi Barir Pujo – Hall Of Fame’: A search for Bengali Heritage by Dr. Partha Sarathi Mukherjee

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‘For a race which has not quite produced greats as the likes of Rabindranath Tagore or Netaji Subhash or Swami Vivekananda or Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar any many other great immortals in the last sixty to seventy years, cultural dilution and hibernation of racial pride played a sad part’, felt Dr. Partha Sarathi Mukherjee, the highly trained Nephrologist and Critical Care Physician from London.

Dr. Partha had willingly sacrificed his busy and lucrative practice in the United Kingdom and relocated to Kolkata, his home city a decade ago, to work on restoration of Bengali pride and Glory. He passionately aims to delve into the ‘Soft Power’ of Bengali language, culture and heritage to bring together Bengalis and Bengali-loving organizations across the continents.

Months ago, he used a term when he described himself during a National TV Channel interview – ‘Bangalibaadi’ and it went viral. That was the real impetus for Partha to ideate and form the ‘Bengal Forum For Intellect And Culture’.

For three hundred million Bengali speakers across the globe, there should be one platform, so that one could play ‘Dhaak‘ in Boston, USA and ladies could dance the ‘Dhunuchi Naach’ in Baghbazar seeing the same, in real time. That could form the basis of a ‘Cultural Superpower’ whom the world would respect.
It is with this goal that he did painstaking research over the years, formed a database of families of ‘Bonedi Baris‘ or Heritage Households of Bengal.

These houses are of existing family members of great Bengali Freedom Fighters, and Dr. Partha Sarathi Mukherjee united them through online and whatsapp groups, forming a forum of sorts, first time ever.
He documented and archived crumbling edifices, from Sister Nivedita’s last remains in a forgotten Darjeeling cremation ground, Deshbandhu’s House near the Mall, ex-Chief Minister of WB Jyoti Basu’s ancestral house in Bangladesh, Bangabandhu’s house in Dhanmondi, and the Iconic Birendra Krishna Bhadra’s stuff of daily usage, with a message for heritage preservation.

Holding ‘Bengali Heritage Quiz’ in important festivals and conducting Heritage Walks across Baghbazar, Kumartulli and Sutanuti in North Kolkata, he lobbied for a ‘UNESCO Heritage Zone’ for this area.

With painstaking labour, he started the unique ‘Shrestha Bonedi Barir Pujo – Hall Of Fame’ which is in its fourth year.

For all his efforts to bring the faded glory of ‘Bangaliyana’ alive, Dr. Partha Sarathi Mukherjee was awarded ‘Sera Bangali Samman” at New Delhi, 2025 alongside the noted humanist author Taslima Nasreen.

On this Debipsksha, 22nd Sep. eve, the 333 year old Heritage Household of Haraprasad Shastri, ‘Hara Kutir’ at Pathuriaghata, was brought alive, under Partha’s stewardship. Prominent puja enthusiasts, performers, artists, heritage activists and families of freedom fighters sat on the historic Thakurdalan. Six female Dhaakis showcased their performance in front of Maa, the goddess Durga.

Dr. Mukherjee, seated among other prominent intellectuals and journalists, promised to take the ‘Bangaliana’ struggle to UNESCO.

Surrounded by starlike affection and ovation, Dr. Partha Sarathi Mukherjee was asked by a media person what he expected in the coming years out of all this effort.

‘Nothing’– he smilingly replied-“Bhalo thakun, Bangali thakun’. (Stay well and be a Bengali.)