Some Fiction, Some Truth; A series (Short Stories)

Fair and Handsome???

I boarded a train to Jamshedpur from Howrah. I and my husband were returning from Chennai. We had separate seats in the same compartment. Our co- passengers were a couple in their 30s (a Marathi couple) and another aged couple may be in their 60s (they were Bengali settled in Mumbai). The Bengali bhodrolok was a retired personnel who worked in the ordinance factory.

As the journey resumed the Bengali bhodrolok forcefully had an introduction with me. With due respect I told him I am a so-called writer, as in until you are a name in such creative fields, the best of the best sellers in the market no one really  cares about who you are and what you write. But he seemed delighted to know about my passion, my profession. He kept on saying creativity in any form should not be judged by monetary gains and such people are special and God-gifted. I just smiled back in return. He resumed his questionnaire, right from when did I get married to what I was doing in Jamshedpur and who was the guy, coming in between and checking out if everything was right with me! The Bhodrolok was actually referring to Kunal; my husband. Kunal stayed back there for a few minutes and then again went back to his seat. When I told the gentleman about Kunal being my husband, his expression was ridiculous. And the comment that he made thereafter left me stunned;

"Such a black man and such a white wife."

I was shocked, my mind went blank, was short of words. And to add to it, the so-called white Marathi couple were laughing at it. The Bengali bhodrolok then added a nonsensical joke.

"I have a friend just like her husband and his wife is very fair and we used to have fun as in they will be having zebra crossing like kids." I felt like slapping that man. I  was fearing that God forbid, Kunal does not come in now. I do not want him to listen to such idiotic stuff. I knew how much that will hurt him. As we were nearing Tatanagar, and were getting ready with our luggage, I went towards that man and softly said to him, 

"With all due respect sir, I assumed a certain degree of respect for you after knowing your professional background and your friendly nature. But I must say that, at the most you are just a literate idiot who has not been educated enough and who is still lagging a couple of centuries back where colour of the skin was seen as deterrent in society..."

Anyway, time came to de-board...

Some Fiction, Some Truth; A Series (Short Stories)

THE MORNING WALK

I had a regular habit of going for morning walks. Although I used to have my share of fast food. I could not resist burgers, pizzas, papri chaats, etc if someone offered them. To neutralise the ill-effects of these to some extent, morning walks are a must for me. One fine day while returning after my rounds, I met a dida (grandmother referred to in Bengali) at quarter no Z-42 sitting near her gate. She  was so graceful that I could not help smiling and staring at her. She made me remember my dida and I could not help talking to her. She was delighted that someone of our age who generally are considered one of the insensitive genre in today's world had some time to talk to an old lady. We chatted for an hour and then I left, reassuring her that I would come back the next day to see her.

The very next day I was returning from morning walk through the same route and found no one and the door was closed. It was the same thing the day after. So, I decided to check out. Some one finally opened the door after two three knocks. I asked him if he was Debasish Choudhury and he nodded in affirmative. He generously asked about my identity and I told him that I know your mother, Shudha Choudhury. I just met her two three days back and I could not complete my sentence, I noticed her photo garlanded, hanging on the wall. Debasish was like; what the hell are you saying madam, she has expired two years back. I had nothing else to say but to eat my words.Now Debasish began to suspect my identity, and with very difficulty I convinced him that I belong to a respectable family and I stay a kilometre or so away in the X-type quarters. I was allowed to go.

But I could not understand anything. The incident left me confused and disturbed. The next day I went through the  same way and as usual did not find anyone. The house was locked. I returned home after my walk and as usual took bath. My mother woke me up. Oh! No, that was just a dream, but quite a scary one.

As usual the next day I went for my morning walk through that route the vision of which I had last night. Yes a road as such existed in reality and can you believe it there was an official accommodation; Z-42 and there was an old lady standing at the gate. I did not go further for any query...I just walked away...

Why do we love to hate???

1^st guy: Eating a dosa??? Do you know kannada?

2^nd guy: No I don’t...

1^st guy: What the hell? How dare you live in Bangalore?

2^nd guy: what has that do with living in Bangalore?

dishum...dooshom...dishum...dooshom...

end of the scene...

Imagine something of this sort happening to you... (dosa has been included as an example)

well wait, this is not any typical Bollywood movie hero and villain fighting each other. This happened a few months back in some food outlet in Bangalore. Some local guys allegedly thrashed a native from the Northeast India for daring to eat Kannada food without knowing to speak Kannada. This is just one of the series of such incidents that keep on cornering the natives from the Northeast. In the above alleged incident a Manipuri guy got beaten. A few days after; two guys from Nagaland were beaten in Gurgaon by some locals with cricket bats and hockey sticks. And the irony of the situation is such incidents keep on doing the rounds in the news for some time with some assurances from the administration that action will be taken and finally are buried alive. Till date I have not been able to find out any possible solid reasoning behind such incidents. Why are our natives targeted? Why are we made to feel like an outsider? Why anyone is in fact targeted and victimised? Are not we enough Indians as you? Just because we look alike the Mongoloid race you have the right to brutally assault us and call us by different names... the people from Bihar are victimised every now and then in Maharashtra and referred to as an outsider in his own country; which is just another feather in the cap. Now if Bengalis begin patenting for example; the roshogolla, or the Ilish  (the Hilsha fish) that it is their birth right to eat fish and you have to know Bengali if you are having fish...Isn’t that hilarious? It is...

Whenever I read about any such news I literally thank God for my physical features because by birth am a Bengali from the north eastern part of India, and I don’t look alike as the people from Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland etc. Yes I have that sense of guilt and shame within me for my thoughts but at the end of the day I just cannot help it. Even I had my share of some stupidity that reflects from people’s faces whenever they hear about my native place; Assam. Some are like, does Assam even exist on our map and some are like does Assam exist on this earth or am I from some other planet. Aah wait, you cannot even react because you may be insulted publicly for their ignorance for not knowing the map of India or may be thrashed brutally blah blah... You have to explain patiently that one of the metros; Kolkata which is in West Bengal in the eastern part of India has Assam as one of the neighbouring states of W.B... Then you get an assurance from some uninformed stupid that you are an Indian. The day won’t be far when we will need passport and visa to travel even within our country.  Why it has been so? Why do we love to hate??? Why cannot we love to love? Why there is hatred for anyone and everyone? Love is the one and only feeling that triumphs over all. Learn to love and see the difference, at the end of the day you will sleep peacefully.

Just for reference:

http://www.firstpost.com/india/bangalore-manipuri-student-attacked-for-not-speaking-in-kannada-3-arrested-1757917.html

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/northeast-student-attacked-in-bangalore-allegedly-for-not-speaking-kannada-607174

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/newdelhi/hate-crime-in-delhi-2-northeast-men-attacked/article1-1275955.aspx

The Reminiscence of Mahalaya...

On this auspicious morning of Mahalaya (the coming of Devi Durga on earth), I woke up at 4, following my age old ritual, since the  time I am able to recollect. Yes, since school days it has become a habit to get up around 4 on this morning and listen to the broadcast of All India Radio that was still quite popular during the late 90s...although the use of radio was slowly but gradually coming to a halt after decades and decades of its innumerable usage, from daily news to live commentary of cricket matches, including the immortal broadcast of India's first emphatic world cup win in the 1983 cricket world cup.           Those days tv sets were a rarity and the majority were glued to their radio sets and listening was all could be enjoyed...still there was a different delight, a different excitement to all these. I remember my Bhaiyya (my grandfather) getting up early and exactly on time and gearing up, to listen to the Mahalaya programme, tuning his very possessive Philips radio. And I remember waking up a few minutes after Bhaiyya turned the programme on...Shri Birendra Krishna Bhadra's immortal voice used to give goosebumps, although I could hardly decipher the meaning of the mantras chanted then, but the voice itself used to give jitters and yes it still does...yes with the advent of new technology, devices our daily lives had drastically changed and yes am a part of that change, but  the old charm sometimes seems to be missing. Even today I woke up early and like every year tuned into my tv and viewed several Bangla channels.  But honestly there was something missing and guess what technology came into my rescue. I logged into internet and had my share of the Mahalaya chanted in the eternal voice of the legendary voice of Shri Birendra Krishna Bhadra in you tube...yes may be in today's date using Internet is no big deal but surely a decade ago or so I would never imagined the radio being replaced by You tube to this extent that I would be using this someday to listen to the Mahalaya programme...

"Om Sarvomangallo Shivey Sharvartha Shadikey
Sharney thrambakey gauri narayani nomosthuthey..."