She Won't Reveal 51

          She Won’t Reveal (51)

                      Nidhu Bhusan Das

                It’s Sunday. The sun is up, resplendent. The morning is cool, and abuzz with tribal beneficiaries of the welfare schemes of Anu, their Didi (elder sister) whom they’re missing for some time, and eager to see her addressing them from Kolkata via web conference half-an-hour from now. A neon-sign draped with silk below the first floor roof on the front wall of the bungalow names the Charity and defines its mission.A giant screen is set up for the people to see their didi and her parents talking on the Charity to be inaugurated.

            Back in Arunima, Anu and her parents are excited as they’re rehearsing how they would speak to the people away in Amlarem.The entire episode has been scripted by Anu. They’ve gone through several satisfactory mock tests. 15 minutes from 10, Sujata telephoned Anu to be ready and relaxed for the programme. The people begin to chant “Didi Didi” in chorus as the giant screen before them has come to life and they see Anu sitting on the sofa flanked by her mom on the left and papa on the right, all beaming. Anu begins with khublei, khasi for Good Morning. A thunderous clap follows, as after a pause Anu continues,” I’m, believe me, always with you. Now with my mom and papa, and you aren’t less dear to me. Our family is with you from today. My Thammi, I told you about her. She lives in me, I in her. She breathed in me her spirit of conscientiousness and love transcendental. I’ll live with it and outlive it. I’ll reach you when you need me as Thammi reaches me. Please remember, Here is your Didi awake and when asleep.” She, as it were, sings her dirge in the epitaphial statement.

              Now Anu tells the audience,” Please listen to my papa” and motioned to Dr. Anirban.He’s frail yet inspired enough to relate to the people his dear daughter loves.Dr.Anirban’s never been an  articulate talker. He’s a good listener and this quality has helped him to be a successful doctor. He listens more than he talks. The patients feel satisfied, and a few words he utters give them psychological boost. He often tells this when at dinner and breakfast the doctor couple discusses their day to day professional experiences. Both of them love their profession and are happy they can serve the ailing people when they come to them for relief, feeling helpless. In fact, both the doctors religiously follow and creatively apply professional ethics, quite rare for decades in West Bengal.

“Good Morning, friends! Happy to be with you. We seek your participation in our project. It’s your project and your effort could make it meaningful. My daughter loves you and is always with you, heart and soul. My brother Prof Sanyal and our Mom Sujata are there now to inaugurate the facility. We are so happy back here that you’re with them at this auspicious moment. We shall visit you in a month or so.” The doctor smiled all through, a smile he lost, leading to his cardiac attack. The crowd in front of the giant screen murmured,” He looks and sounds God!”Anupama waves hands to the crowd with a lingering smile as the conference ends.

                 Prof Sanyal draws the cover off the neon sign declaring the Charity open. Again a thunderous clap follows. People help themselves with sweetmeat kept aplenty for the occasion. The gathering is gay and optimist. Their belief that the Didi is with them for ever is reinforced today. There has been a lot of speculation that she has left them contrary to her stance and commitment. Now they are assured. Prof Sanyal and Sujata look to it that no one is left without having the sweet. The people are wonderfully disciplined. The professor is face to face with a new reality – he sees that the innocent tribal people are more disciplined and docile than the urban gentry, contrary to the popular belief among the privileged people. Anu with her power of keen observation has understood this. People continue to stay in and around the bungalow premises long after the inauguration is over. The place has got back its life and lustre with the virtual presence of Anu, the soul of the house and the adjacent areas of which it has been the source of hope and service. The people have seen how the abandoned bungalow came alive when Anu entered it and began to live in it.

                      At lunch, the daughter and the parents feel a new life flowing in them.Dr. Arindam regrets that he had never been to the bungalow and whishes to visit it right tomorrow.Anupama supports him and looks to Anu for her approval. She picks up the phone and makes a video call to Sujata: “Dear, papa wants to reach you tomorrow.”

“Why not! He must. Everyone will be happy. People will welcome you all. You don’t know how much they feel for you.”

“He’ll talk to you,” Anu handed over the phone to Arindam.

“Hello uncle, you’re right. People here are ready to welcome you. Catch the morning flight tomorrow.”

“Where’s my borther, your son?”

“Son, please talk to uncle, they’re willing to come tomorrow,” Sujata handed over the telephone.

“Hello Sanyal, do you feel we should come tomorrow?”

“It’ll be a great joy for us and for everybody over here. You don’t know how great people over here will feel.” Words spread like wild fire that the family of Didi comes tomorrow.

                  When they arrive in the late afternoon, the garden is sunny and the area rocks with people gathered to welcome their dear ones back home with their folk music and dance. It’s for them an occasion for celebrations. While her parents interact with the admiring people, Anu hugs the flowers and the plants in tenderness. Prafullada and Angshu hear her talking to these adornments of Nature:” You’re life and love real, and also the people who aren’t detached from Nature, these common folks. Love resides here. Love is feeling, not thought. My parents have it. I have come to understand at last. Here’s joy for us all.Prafullada, you’re happy because you know it.Angshu, I’m your Maa, ain’t I?” She enfolds them and the flowers smile. She realizes,” This is fulfillment.”

                 She sits on the garden chair and looks on. The birds are agog. The rhythm of Thlumuwi waterfall audible here is regaling. (Let’s end).

               

She Won't Reveal 50

          She Won’t Reveal (50)

                      Nidhu Bhusan Das

                Sujata’s at tea in the garden with her son, Prafullada and Angshu.It’s a cheerful Tea Party, a prelude to the inauguration of the Charity tomorrow morning preceded by a videoconference by Dr. Arindam.

“The morning’s going to be sunny, sure,”Prof Sanyal’s optimist.

“Yes, a new sun will rise,” hoped Sujata.

“I’m so happy, maa!”

“And that’s reflected in the entire house, son.”

“We’ve to arrange for the videoconference, the screens, etc.”

“That’ll be done after tea. I’ve already called a software provider. He’s expected anytime.”

“That’s like my maa,”the professor beamed.

“Son, meanwhile, I’ve something…important to share with you.”

“Please tell, anything serious?”

“May we go upstairs?”

“Well, let’s.”

They went up. Sujata asked Prafullada to take the operator to the drawing room when he comes.

“That bitch messaged,” Sujata whispered to the professor back in the room.

“Who!”Prof Sanyal parsed his lips in anguish.

“Anuradha, the serpent Anu pampered to her perils.”

“What’s the message?”

“She asked me to know about her parents after the temblor in North Bengal today.”

“What do you think, should you reply?”

“Think I shouldn’t.”

“Let’s forget. She could talk to them, or to friends back in the home town, couldn’t she?”

“Yes, this is none of our business.”

This is the moment, thought Sujata, to try to understand why girls, including she, behave in the way they do. She doesn’t know about Anuradha as much as she knows about Anu.She opted out of her relation with Arup and kept the reason to her. One can only guess the reason(s).”True, Anu played a role in Arup’s marriage with Mita, a common friend of both and the fact’s that she still believes and says Arup’s her true friend and well-wisher. Is it that she opted out because she knew she lived with a killer…? Okay, let me discuss it with my son,”Sujata decided.

She looked out into the garden through the window, thought a few moments and smiled at the beauty of the dusk over the green patch which could well be the arbour for Anu and Arup had they been in the bungalow in their honeymoon.Arup instead  had his honeymoon with Mita in Manali.

She turned back and said,” Son, one more thing I’d like to share.”

“Please, maa,”said the professor, entreatingly.

“Anu has the killer leukemia.”

“What! Who told you?” the professor blared out as if he couldn’t come to terms with what he’d just heard.

“It’s diagnosed when we were at college.”

“Are you sure the diagnosis was correct?”

“There’s a lot of moaning and wailing in their house after the diagnosis. Uncle and auntie were so upset. Her thammi was there to console and comfort them all.”

“Was it for this her affair with Arup terminated?”

“Not outrightly.It continued till Arup left for the USA for medical study. She told me he would remind her to take medicine at the appointed time twice a day.”

“Was it for this he left the country… say to forget, to be out of sight?”

“May be or mayn’t be. She still believes he’s her well-wisher.”

“Were they in communication, even then?”

“No, so far I know. She’s upset and determined to forget.”

“Then why’ve you said she played a role in his marriage?”

“Maybe, for a sweet revenge.”

“Revenge! How?”

“Mita carried while they married. Arup didn’t father the child. Also, Mita lost her right leg in an accident with her lover Sandeep who’s the architect of the child.”

“But you said Anu still believes Arup’s her well-wisher.”

“Perhaps she loves to phantasize. She’d two suicide attempts after the break-up, you know.”

“How the attempts failed?”

“Her Thammi saved her. The grand old lady who’s still her guide and saviour in absentia.”

“Why did she opt for the North-east?”

“For peace… peace of mind, son. Arup fondly called her Putul at school and college. At the university he changed into Pinky” said Sujata with a long sigh.

“This is significant, Maa, very significant!” Professor Sanyal pointed out.

“How! We never thought that way, not even Anu.”

“I don’t know about the preference of Arup.Anyhow it suits the behaviour of Anu.”

“Suits her behaviour!”

“Yes. When you carry the name it means you don't like to let others know your true feelings. We don’t know the true feelings of Anu, do we?”

“Perhaps not. Perhaps she’s a mystery. Yet she’s loveable.”

“Now, hopefully, she’s reunited with her parents and is set to play the guardian in the family. She repents she misunderstood them and will now on recompense.”

“Let it be so, son. Her parents are so good.”

Prafullada came and told them it’s time for dinner and said he’s awaiting the auspicious moment when the charity would be inaugurated and he would be able to see Anu and her parents speaking.” Auntie’s so good!” he exclaimed sincerely remembering her sojourn here.” She’s also so sad,” thought Sujata. “The video man came and said he would make everything ready by 9 in the morning,” informed the gardener.( continued on 19th June 2015)

She Won't Reveal 49

          She Won’t Reveal (49)

                      Nidhu Bhusan Das

                Professor Sanyal reached Anu’s bungalow before sunset.Prafullada and Angshu were in the garden awaiting the arrival of the wise man who had informed them by telephone before his hurried departure. The garden looked great with April flowers smiling in the late afternoon. The tranquil face of the professor was inspiring for the duo that has spent anxious moments in the absence of Anu.The lushness of the flowers made them feel Anu’s papa would recover and get back his health soon. They didn’t lose hope. The arrival of the professor erased doubts, if any, in the mind of the two. They took the professor into the guest room next to Anu’s.He called Sujata and said,”Maa, I’m in the bungalow. The garden hasn’t lost its lustre.Prafulla and Angshu are confident. The weather’s fine, comfortable.They didn’t come today- Jerry and Nilu.”

“Okay son, I hope to join you in the afternoon tomorrow. I’m coming with the plan for launching the activities of the Charity immediately in consultation with you. Anu and her parents are keen about it and depend on us,”Sujata informed.

                “Anu’s at the still point. She’s clear and well-ordered thought and is capable of taking reasonable decision. She’s decided no more dithering and looking back, it’s time to go ahead, love for people-in-need is superior to the love for an individual which is personal in essence and cannot help one know oneself. She cannot and shouldn’t ignore the sterling love of her parents and their desire to help the underprivileged. She wouldn’t let her past hinder her journey into the future which holds possibilities beyond the selfish love and friendship which yields only disaster and saps human potential to transcend the mundane. She’d been stuck in a quagmire for a long time. Now she’s free to go beyond. She’ll channel her energy through the Charity conceptualized and concretized by her parents,”Sujata understood.

                “Uncle my son and I will start in earnest and immediately the activities of the Charity only if Anu’s also 100% earnest to go with and sustain her efforts. We wouldn’t like to keep you and auntie engaged in and concerned about it round the clock. She should take care of it whole time, and you’d be the guiding force,” said Sujata in the dinner meeting at Arunima without mincing words.

“I’ve no pull-back any more, am in it heart and soul. The Charity’s the younger child of my parents, and I feel, sincerely, it’s my sacred duty as the elder one to nurture and grow it, make it stronger and stronger,” Anu committed.

                “My son reached the bungalow in the twilight and found everything encouraging. Nothing wrong. Prafullada and Angshu are happy to work for the Charity, Sujata reported. The three faces beamed, and Dr. Arindam’s so happy that he would like to talk to Prof. Sanyal:”Auntie I wish I could talk to your son now.” Sujata smiled and made a call,” Son, uncle, Anu’s papa, would like to talk to you.”

“Please give him, he’s so generous,”Prof. Sanyal’s eager.

“Hello, Arindam speaking. So happy to talk. We’re grateful you’ve been empathetic to my daughter.”

“Rather I should be grateful to you that I could have so nice an auntie, and you’re her father,” Prof.Sanyal turned emotional and his tone’s wet.

“Is’t?” Dr. Arindam went monosyllabic, unable to believe.

“Is wonderful, has gone through a lot of experience, experimented with herself, and, perhaps, resolute now,” the professor explained.

“Let it be so, my dear friend,”Arindam sighed, and unaware, struck an emotional chord. The doctor had been lonely clutching the air since long. The contact with the peer made him emotional and optimist. He found in him a person who could be his emotional prop.

“The garden here is lovely and lively and bears the spirit of auntie. A real paradise where we may retreat to tide over hard times,” suggested the wise professor.

“I’m so happy that it’s going to be the launching pad of our effort to be rooted in the sacred life represented by the children of God – they’re the poor people,” the doctor sought to be spiritually true as Sujata looked at his glistening eyes.

“True, very true,” supported the professor, and continued, overwhelmed,”dream comes true. You’ve the dream, your daughter could dream, and we share your dream. Here’s life, we live in dream. Dream sustains life, creates and recreates life.

“Recreates…life!”

”You shared dream with Anupama and you two created Anu and now your dream-child recreates her.”

“You and your maa Sujata have a role in the recreation. The phinix has risen, let’s hope so, and you’ve helped,” the doctor’s grateful.

25 April 2015 was a fateful day in Nepal and North Bengal. A temblor 7.9 in the Richter scale shook.Anuradha’s in Srinagar, Kashmir with Maqbool in the family. Her parents didn’t know her whereabouts. The TV news shattered her. She began to cry Maqbool and her moms-in-law tried to solace her.

“Would you talk to them?”Maqbool asked, his tone wet.

“How can I?” she said, sobbing from behind the long veil.

“Let me call them by phone,”Maqbool suggested.

“No, please not,” she said with a snap.

“Okay then, let’s go recite the Koran.”

She rose, obedient to his suggestion. She’s learned certain verses of the holy Koran and prays five times a day with her moms-in-law. They’ve come to love her as she’s become devout Muslin after conversion following the official marriage according to the tenets of Islam. Her family name now is Amina.She’s happy being with Maqbool and in the family.

Sujata left for Guwahati by air at 10 a.m. before the earthquake which also shook Kolkata. She reached Amlarem in the afternoon. On the way to Amlarem from Guwahati she received an SMS from Anuradha who requested her to know about her parents back in Jalpaiguri which was hit by an earthquake.Sujata’s hesitant as she didn’t know the parents of the girl who’s eloped. Sujata thought she would talk to her son and act according to his advice. (to be continued on 28 May 2015)