Segunbagicha: From Dhaka’s cultural capital to a commercial centre
The transformation of Segunbagicha from an elite residential area to a bustling commercial hub is a story of rapid urbanisation and shifting priorities
In the heart of Dhaka, there was an area resembling a tranquil island. It was more abundant in serene streams than houses. During the monsoon, the surroundings were full to the brim with water, enticing locals to swim, row and fish.
The 'island' was home to fewer than twenty houses, alongside two expansive fields. As dusk fell, the inhabitants would retreat to their homes. By nine o'clock, they would finish their dinner. And by ten o'clock, they would fall into a deep slumber.
This was how Segunbagicha from the 1960s to the 1980s of the last century looked like. But with the passage of time, it has now come known mainly as a "Office Para".
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However, the history of Segunbagicha dates back much further than the 60s or 70s. It traces its origins to the British era, akin to the development of some other areas like Gandaria and Wari.
Until the 1840s, the East India Company had its cantonments at Purana Paltan, Nayapaltan, and Topkhana. Subsequently, these were relocated to Ramna and Begunbari. Following the removal of the cantonment, the East India Company transformed the area into a garden.
The British initially developed residential projects in Gandaria and Wari to transform Dhaka. After Gandaria and Wari, they turned their attention to Segunbagan.
Author Nazir Hossain wrote in the book Kingbodontir Dhaka, "Once upon a time there were a lot of teak trees in Segunbagicha. Later, it was converted into a residential area. Dr SN Roy, Dr JK Chowdhury, Charu Banerjee and a few others built houses here."
According to historian and researcher Muntassir Mamoon, due to the garden around the area, the entire area gradually became known as Segunbagan. And that Segunbagan is today's Segunbagicha.
Both the words 'Bagan' and 'Bagicha' mean garden, and they both come from Sanskrit. Still, the Pakistani rulers liked the word Bagicha more, and so they renamed Segunbagan as Segunbagicha in the mid-1960s.
A safe haven for wealthy Hindus
The Business Standard spoke to several natives of the area to learn about the history of Segunbagicha. The oldest among them is Tutu Sa'ad, who is in his eighties. Born in Kolkata, he moved to Segunbagan in 1950.
He mentioned that the open areas of Segunbagan were formerly the domain of the Bhawal Raja. Additionally, during World War II, the region was under the British Army. Tutu Sa'ad speculates that there might have been an abandoned runway used for the landing of warplanes during that time.
According to him, the road connecting Birdem Hospital to what is now the Foreign Ministry was entirely government-owned space. Similarly, the road that currently serves as the North-South Road, passing through Topkhana, was once an open field.
"I didn't see the plane, but I saw the tanks the plane dropped on that field. They are probably drop tanks from when the British Royal Air Force fought the Japanese in World War II," he said.
Just as wealthy Hindus resided in the Wari and Gandaria areas during that era, some also lived here. Following partition, they relocated to West Bengal by selling or exchanging their properties.
Another elderly resident of Segunbagicha is Delwar Ramiz, a lawyer by profession. He mentioned, "Many old houses in Segunbagicha were constructed around 1935. During that time, many Hindu businessmen and bureaucrats resided in these houses. However, a big number of them left after 1947."
To the northeast of Segunbagan, there was a slum where the residents spoke a distinct dialect of Hindi. On the southern side, there were also several houses where some students from Eden School lived. The Khorsani and Ispahani families also lived here.
As a majority of the Hindus left this area, people from old Dhaka, or from many districts outside Dhaka, came here to buy plots and build houses. Many Muslim migrants from West Bengal also settled here as well. Some even began residing directly in properties left behind by Hindus.
The chronicles of the Mujib family
Interestingly, in the late 1950s, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, as the chairman of the Tea Board, used to live in a government quarter in Segunbagan with his family. Bangladesh's current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was around ten years old at that time.
"In the early 1950s, they lived at house no. 115 in Segunbagicha. The house, built during the British era, was located just a street away from Kazi Motaher Hossain's Kazi Manzil. Tia, the granddaughter [daughter's daughter] of Kazi Motaher Hossain, was a friend of Sheikh Hasina. That house no longer exists. Currently, the building of Gazi TV stands there," shared Tuku Sa'ad.
Ayub Khan declared military rule in 1958. Then, on 12 October that year, Bangabandhu was arrested, and his family was told to evacuate within three days.
Later on, Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib rented a house owned by a police officer next to the grounds of the boys' school for Tk200 per month in the Siddheshwari area. However, they had to vacate the house soon afterwards due to threats from government agencies.
Subsequently, through the efforts of Begum Sufia Kamal, they rented House No. 76 in Segunbagicha for Tk300 per month. It is worth noting that the Mujib family resided in the house, which is now exactly where Gazi TV stands, until two or three years before 1971.
Other notable residents
The list of other notable people who resided in Segunbagicha includes the Rabindra Sangeet artiste Zahidur Rahim, the first Muslim woman doctor of the subcontinent Zohra Kazi, the renowned poet Ashraf Mahmud, the chief engineer MA Jabbar, the artiste Barin Majumdar, the Dhaka College principal Ashkar Ali, the educator and writer Qazi Motaher Hossain, and many others.
Notably, Hossain's son, Qazi Anwar Hossain, the founder of Seba Prakashani, and daughter, Sanjida Khatun, prominent Rabindra Sangeet artist and the founder of Chhayanaut, also lived in their blue-painted house in Segunbagicha.
Meanwhile, even though most Anglo-Indians of Dhaka lived in Moghbazar's Dilu Road, there were four or five Anglo-Indian families in Segunbagicha as well.
The D'Cruzzi family used to live in the building which now houses Sargam, the only regular monthly magazine on music in the country. Mr D'Cruzzi was French and Mrs D'Cruz was a Burmese-Indian.
"We used to call her Black Memsaheb. Mr. D'Cruzzi was very smart, with a fringe-cut beard, and Mrs D'Cruzzi was always seen wearing a gown. Josephine Wills, the founder of the Wills Little Flower School, took in Mrs DiCruzzi when Mr D'Cruzzi died," Delwar Ramiz recalled.
The firsts in Dhaka
Interestingly, Segunbagicha also had the city's first zoo, music college and Chinese restaurant.
The place where the Supreme Court now stands was a small zoo. Later it was moved to Mirpur. This zoo is mentioned in a memoir by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
She wrote, "We lived in a house in Segunbagicha. Ramna Park was being built then. I used to walk to the park from that house at No. 76 Segunbagicha. There was a small zoo there. There were some animals in it, including a few deer, peacocks."
The Shilpakala Academy we see today was not always like this. Instead, there was a two-story building surrounding a large open field.
Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, visited Dhaka once and brought a moon rock with him. Young men and women used to queue up outside the Shilpakala Academy to catch a glimpse of it.
The current structure of the Shilpakala Academy was built in the late 1990s.
Just opposite Shilpakala Academy was the Music College, now No. 28 Segunbagicha. The Music College building was once the girls' hostel of Kamrunnesa School. It was a girls' hostel till 1966-67, then Barin Majumder (Bappa Majumder's father) started this music college here.
Every month, various cultural festivals were hosted there. In the morning, following the Fajr Azan, the sound of tabla and tanpura emanated from different rooms, accompanied by melodious voices.
From 1962, Quazi Rawnak Hossain, the editor of Sargam, started living in Segunbagan. He told us that this college was under the occupation of the Pakistani Army in 1971.
On the top of the building, on the third floor, there were two or three brick houses. The Pakistani forces used to bring girls and keep them in that house.
Some surrounding places of Segunbagicha would also be used as Pakistani army's concentration camp and torture cell in 1971.
Although Chu Ching Chao is recognised as the first Chinese restaurant in Dhaka, Tutu Sa'ad said that Cafe China was even older than that.
"I remember, the two-storied building was probably around 55-56. Chinese on the ground floor and the owner's house above. The Chinese came to this country and opened this restaurant," Tutu Sa'ad said.
Besides, the same family used to make shoes. These Chinese people used to trade shoes in this country and one of them opened this restaurant. The thing I still remember about Cafe China is that the smell of Shefali flowers and Kamini flowers would come to my nose at night.
An elite neighbourhood
During the Pakistan period, Segunbagan also emerged as the newspaper and magazine hub of Dhaka.
In the 1960s, Qazi Anwar Hossain established Segunbagan Press at his home. Seba Prokashoni's Seba was derived as the acronym of Segunbagan. Later they also introduced their own monthly magazine called Rahashya Patrika.
The first national daily newspaper, 'Banglar Bani,' originated in 1969 from here, founded by Hafez Habibur Rahman and Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni. Lalana, a monthly magazine aimed at women readers, also began in the mid-sixties but ceased publication after independence.
Segunbagan and Wari were considered elite neighbourhoods in Dhaka during that time. The well-planned streets of today's Segunbagicha still reflect its prestigious status. The area was known for its focus on education, culture, and orderliness.
According to Quazi Rownak, the emphasis was primarily on academic pursuits, with leisure time spent on activities like reading, singing, or engaging in cultural activities rather than idle pastimes.
"This emphasis on education and culture set Segunbagan apart from other neighbourhoods," believes Quazi Rownak.
How Segunbagicha evolved into a commercial hub
The transformation of Segunbagicha from an elite residential area to a bustling commercial hub is a story of rapid urbanisation and shifting priorities. In the 50s and 60s, Segunbagicha was home to only about 15-16 houses, but today, a single complex (the Amin Mohammad Foundation) alone boasts 78 flats.
In the past, horse carts and rickshaws were the primary modes of transport, with only a handful of vehicles passing through the area even after independence. Now, the streets are constantly congested with traffic.
Overall, the neighbourhood, which was once like a nifty mofussil town, has now evolved into a bustling centre of government, private offices and courts.
Delwar Ramiz, noting its status as one of Dhaka's most meticulously planned areas under the District Commissioner's purview, believes the government "didn't really want to leave the place."
So, first came the National Board of Revenue (NBR). And then the commercialisation gained momentum since the mid-60s, and particularly after independence in the 70s. The playground was repurposed as the AGB (Accountant General of Bangladesh) office.
Subsequently, some residents began renting out their properties to commercial establishments. Even the Sargam building, initially constructed as a residential complex, also transitioned into a commercial facility over time.
In the late '90s, a new trend emerged, as old residential houses began to be handed over to development companies. Since 2000, some more significant changes have occurred, with the arrival of offices such as the Anti-Corruption Commission, National Security Intelligence, and Customs.
Today, nearly all the buildings in the area formerly known as "Segunbagichar Oi Para" have been converted into commercial properties.
Out of the original 15-16 families, only two to three families remain in the area. The majority have either migrated abroad or relocated to areas like Gulshan and Banani.
However, with government and private offices shifting towards Agargaon, there has lately been a noticeable shift back towards residential development in the area.
But will Segunbagicha ever regain its long-lost glory? It appears unlikely at this point.
