Bombay Flu

00 [Blurb/Information]

**** This part can be Skipped being not an actual part of the story but as an author I would really appreciate it if you spend some time reading this.****

***The story plot and all the characters except Gandhiji are work of my own imagination, however the calamities both natural and social are real***

**This section is a blurb to enlighten the readers about the background of the story i.e. socio-economic structure of the early 1900s in India under the leadership of 'British East India Company' **

The 1918 flu pandemic, also referred to as the 'Bombay Influenza' or the 'Bombay Fever' in India was the outbreak of an unusually deadly influenza pandemic in between 1918-1920 as a part of the worldwide 'Spanish flu' pandemic.

The spread of the disease was exacerbated by a failed monsoon and the resultant famine-like conditions, that had left people underfed and weak, and forced them to move into densely populated cities. As a result of the severity of the outbreak, the year 1919 saw a reduction of births by around 30 percent.

The healthcare system in the country was unable to meet the sudden increase in demands for medical attention. The consequent toll of death and misery, and economic fallout brought about by the pandemic led to an increase in emotion against colonial rule.

The pandemic is believed to have killed up to 14 -17 million people in India, the most among all the other affected countries.

Brahmo community (Bengali: ব্রাহ্ম সমাজ Bramho Shômaj) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a reformist movement of the Hindu religion under the leadership of Raja Rammohan Roy.

Brahmo or the traditional Bengali elites are Bengal's upper class and are mostly the Brahmins, Kayastas of Bengal. They form the bulk of the historical colonial establishment of eastern India. Educated mostly in a select few schools and colleges, they were one of the wealthiest and most anglicised communities of colonial India.

In all fields of social reform, including abolition of the caste system and of the dowry system, emancipation of women, and improving the educational system, the Brahmo Samaj reflected the ideologies of the Bengal Renaissance. Gayatri, the female protagonist, belongs to Brahmo.

In the wake of Raja Ram Mohan Roy's movement against women's subjugation to men and British influence on Indian culture and civilization the position of women had once again undergone a change. However, it was only under the enlightened leadership of Mahatma Gandhi that they re-asserted their equality with men.

Shaktism/Energy Worship is a Goddess-centric tradition of Hinduism. Mr. Lahit Mukherjee, the investigator in the story is a follower of Shaktism.

Satyagraha (Sanskrit: सत्याग्रह; satya: "truth", āgraha: "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or holding onto truth, or truth force, is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone who practices satyagraha is a satyagrahi.
The term satyagraha was coined and developed by Mahatma Gandhi.He deployed satyagraha in the Indian independence movement and also during his earlier struggles in South Africa for Indian rights.

Cover Credits: awakened_dreams
Thanks Anna!