She Won't Reveal 7

She Won’t Reveal (7)

Nidhu Bhusan Das

Anu is an exquisite mix of the Orient and the Occident, Nature and Civilization, the Rural and the Urban, the Folk and the Literary, with the first option of each binary dominating her character. By the way, she told me the other day she’s traditional in respect of family, won’t tend to be radical and an iconoclast. Perhaps, that’s why she’s now a recluse. When she cannot accept certain things like parental neglect and prevarication on the part of the lover, she maintains silence as a way of protest. She’s strong enough in this posture. Outwardly, she’s western in dress code, formality and behaviour, but her intrinsic quality and value lies in her Indianness.

As I was sneezing, punctuated by coughing when in conversation, she went inside and came with a bowl of hot milk and a bottle of pure honey. She poured a spoonful of honey into the milk and asked me to sip the hot mixture. I smiled and followed her instruction. She said,” Mr. Bose, whenever you’ve such irritation/ailment, it’s better to have this for relief and cure.”

“Why don’t you suggest allopathic?” I asked.

“This is Indian, tested for centuries,” she was prompt.

“We urbanites usually are unaware of such cure.”

“This is folk medicine, Ayurvedic, you can say.”

“Your parents are doctors.”

“Thamma would never allow their treatment. She’s always for Aurvedic system of medicine.”

“So, you’ve unflinching faith in the system.”

“Because it’s found infallible insofar as I’m concerned.”

Meanwhile, she called in Prafullada and told him to get the juice of tulsi (Ocimum Tenuiflorum / Ocimum Sanctum) and honey for me next morning. She told him to take that to my hotel early in the morning for me to drink before breakfast. She said this is an infallible medicine for cold.

She’s Indian in different other ways. It’s really strange a convent educated girl bred in urban upper class culture could remain uninfluenced by the western ways. Not that she’s unaware of and unaccustomed to that culture. The fact’s she’s a staunch follower of her thamma, and is comfortable being oriental in thought and outlook. She’s for reasonable synthesis of the orient and the occident, with the orient having primacy. From her school days, Anu is a lover of music, both eastern and western. She learnt the art in earnest. While in Kolkata and Delhi she participated in concerts, including solos to the applause of the audience. She knows the nitty-gritty of the western classical music, but is anchored in the Indian classical tradition. She won standing ovations in Delhi and Kolkata for her sonatas in which she rendered Tagore and Nazrul into lofty music.

When asked, she fluently poured out her knowledge of the two music systems and the fusion of the two the Indian maestro like Pundit Ravi Shankar has made possible in style. She said when western music has its foundation on Do,Re,Mi,Fa,So,La,Te  Indian music is based on Sa,Re,Ga,Ma,Pa,Dha,Ni. Even Indian music has 12 notes like its western counterpart. Western music has Jamming while in Indian music there is Jugalbandi.Main instruments of western music are piano, violin, clarinet, cello, oboe, guitar (it came much later). Indian music depends on sitar,harmonium,violin,tanpura, tabla,mridangam, santoor and hawan guitar (newly introduced) . Western music has as themes romance, passion, and anger, and lust, harmonization while Indian music deals with peace, tranquility, romance, passion and melancholia. Indian music uses a different type of notation technique since its style and pattern cannot be expressed well in western sheet music form.

I understand Anu is fond of the study of parapsychology and paranormal. In her beautiful study I found two of her book shelves stacked with journals and books on parapsychology. Besides, Bengali books like Bhooter Galpa(Story of Ghosts),Maratmak Sob Bhooter Galpa( Serious Stories About Ghosts), Bhoyankar Bhautik Galpa(Horrific Ghost Story),Bhayanak Bhautik Kahini(Awful Ghostly Story),Bhayankar Bhautik Galpasamuha(A Collection of Terrible Ghostly Stories) and Bhautik O Rahasyamoy Galpa( Ghostly and Mysterious Stories) found place of pride in the shelves. Journals and books on planchette are also in place. As I showed interest in the collection, Anu turned enthusiastic. She began to talk on the Ghost in Hamlet, Witches in Macbeth, and Ariel in The Tempest and the Fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Not that she’s an avid reader of Shakespeare. She says,” I haven’t read Shakespeare much but am aware of the supernatural entities in his works.”

“Do you believe?” I asked.

“Is there a reason to disbelieve?” she questioned and continued,” You see the role of the Ghost in Hamlet. He told his son, the Prince of Denmark, how his younger brother Claudius had gotten him killed and usurped his throne and the bed. But for this intelligence, Hamlet won’t know the secret and understand why his mother hastily shared the bed with his uncle. Think how the witches provoke and bolster Macbeth to get rid of King Duncan to become the king of Scotland, how Ariel under command of   Prospero helps the banished duke in having sweet revenge on his conspirator-brother and his accomplices. The fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream show how the incorporeal entities have the same emotion of love, sense of fun and aptitude for indulging in conspiracy as those of humans.”

“I’m a student of philosophy,” I said to counter her belief, perhaps for the first time under her spell,” and cannot think positive about the supernatural entities.”  She has the mettle and won’t track back, and said,”Mr. Bose, Hamlet and his friend Horatio were students of philosophy. They studied classical philosophy which combined ethics, logic and natural science. Yet Hamlet had to accept the veracity of the Ghost.” To illustrate her point Anu quoted Hamlet as saying:

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in our philosophy.”

She continued:” Mr. Bose Hamlet and his friend Horatio studied Philosophy at the famous Wittenberg University wherefrom Martin Luther launched the protest movement against Papacy of Rome, and the campaign later on came to be known as Protestant Movement.”

 I understand she is versatile and can think and analyze independently. In the absence of Nilu, she is relatively eloquent and apt to verbalize her thought. She said she’s a believer. Yes, she’s a big room for worship on the ground floor like we find in an average Hindu home. She worships one hour in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening when the fragrance of burning incense blows out of the room. Prafullada informed, on occasions she spends the whole night worshipping. She distributes food offered to the god among those in the house and neighbours. This is her regular practice, said Prafullada, beaming.She’s a real mother, he noted spontaneously.

”I’m a theist,” she said, categorically.

“I understand,” I said, astonished at her honesty.

“Also a rationalist,” she continued.

It’s puzzling. Theism and rationalism are thought and projected to be antonyms. How the two could have a synthesis in her, I thought, seriously.

“There’s no essential contradiction between the two,” she said and went on to explain,” the contradiction is between superstition and rationalism. Religion has its own rationale, and those who use religion to exploit the innocence and ignorance of people distort its tenets, create superstitions. But superstitions shouldn’t be confused with religion and spiritualism.”

She’s a post-graduate in computer science and also studied parapsychology. She told me frankly,” People around take me to be immersed in spiritualism, and, perhaps, don’t know or cannot believe I know computer application.” She herself is aware, I guess, that spiritualism and parapsychology are dominant in her thought and practice. Twists and turns in life and the memory of her thamma, named after the consort of ancient Indian sage Vashista, made her turn to spiritualism. Vashista was one of the seven great sages who dedicated his entire life to the welfare of the world. He believed divine and individual efforts were essential for achieving anything in the world. Anu is like that, said Prafullada.She prays for the welfare of all and takes care of all people around, be they colleagues or neighbours,interacts with all and sundry.Prafullada in his mid-fifties is a confirmed bachelor. He doesn’t know why he has chosen the life of celibacy, understands it keeps him hasslefree.Anu tells him,” It’s better to think of the Immanent and the merger of the individual soul with the Infinite. Love and mating causes sorrow and makes the mind narrow. Let’s transcend the mundane and temporal. The soul is eternal. Love between spouses rooted in corporal pleasure and temporal considerations, cannot lead to joy as it cannot be selfless.”

“Mr. Bose, do you have a love experience?”Anu asked, unhesitant.

“Nilu is ambitious,” said impulsively.

She smiled meaningfully and said,” Is it? Why have you named Nilu? Is she etched in your mind?”

Caught, I felt ashamed and laboriously said,” Not exactly.”

“She’s a good girl, worldly-wise.“

“Quite unlike you.”

“But you may trek well with her.”

“You mean I’m ambitious and pragmatic?”

“That may be your interpretation, Mr. Bose,” she said promptly.

No doubt, Anu has learnt the art of reading mind. My lapse confirmed her I am infatuated to Nilu.Does she know Nilu met me at the hotel? She hasn’t given any hints. However, it’s clear she has assessed me. I’m like any other Kolkatans who retreat to Himalayan resorts for a break from monotonous routine in urban cacophony.Nilu likes to migrate to glittering life in a mega city. Thus we’ve a commonality. I don’t know who would win Nilu, Jerry or I. I understand she’ll go with him who can help fulfill her dream and ambition. She’ll be back from Shillong tomorrow. She telephoned me this morning and said,” Bose, I’ve many things to tell you. You’ll be happy, dear!” ( continued on 28 March 2014)