Chapter 1
Fleeing from life
"Wow" was the sound that came out spontaneously from my mouth. I was stunned by the beauty of the place. My maternal uncle, whom I depended completely in buying the property, had told me that I wouldn't be dissatisfied. The small bungalow in the backdrop of beautiful mountainous range looked like a masterpiece painted by a heavenly artist. Adding to the beauty was the thin white stream of a local river, which was not more than 200 meter from the bungalow. There were few hamlets here and there, but not a single one near my house. The environment was pristine, and the lush greenery was so soothing to the eye that I thought I could look at it for hours without batting an eyelid.
"Are you sure you can stay in this desolate place, where even a ghost would not dare to come in fear of being killed by loneliness?"
My maternal uncle, Nandu mama, might have been instrumental in my acquiring this property, but from the very beginning he had been constantly raising questions about my staying here. It was true that the nearest hamlet, where a few tribal people lived, was 1 km away from this bungalow, and the small market place was 2 km away from here. Thankfully, the place was well connected by road, and the bungalow had a garage to park my sturdy Tata Sumo. There was electricity connection, but it didn't stay for more than 12 hours in a day, Nandu mama had informed me.
"Why should I feel lonely? You have appointed Bahadur for cooking and doing household chores." I tried to ward off Nandu mama's fears.
"Haha haha!" Nandu mama burst into laughter.
"That grumpy old fellow? He hardly talks. No luck if you count him as a company!"
"See Mama, I don't need any company. Had I been in search of that, I wouldn't have come here."
"Huh! I know you are acting like an absconder. But let me tell the truth my dear nephew. This is not the proper way to deal with problems in life. Instead of running like a fugitive, why don't you face the challenges like a brave man?"
"Oh mama ji, not again! I am very tired now, need to freshen myself."
I desperately tried to change the topic. It's true that for the last 10 years, I had not lived a moment in peace. In my professional life, it had been a story of grand success, but my personal life had been simply disastrous. Disgusted by steady torrents of problems in my personal life, I decided to quit the job, and flee from my house. This place was more than 200 km from my house. I could not directly buy the property, as it belonged to a tribal. So, unofficially I purchased it.
"We are done Saab!" Exhausted by the unpacking job, Bahadur, who was aided by 3 other tribal men, was breathing heavily. Short in stature, wrinkled face resembling a typical Nepali old man, he was around 55 years of age.
"Come early tomorrow!" Mama gave them a 500 rupees note as tip for the work. He would stay with me this night before going back to Kolkata tomorrow.
Chapter 2
That foul smell
My grandparents and maternal uncles lived in Basirhat. Every time I visited there, I became disgusted with their prejudices, and lack of scientific attitude. They believed in all kind of rubbish in the world: Gods, ghosts, bad omens, black magic to name a few. If someone sneezed while you were leaving from house, it was considered a bad omen. The remedy was more interesting: you had to return, and then restart. Let me give one more hilarious example of my relative's foolishness. If a domestic lizard made sound three times like "tic tic tic" while you were talking, your uttered words would become true! I used to laugh my heart out at those illogical prejudices. Because of my arrogance and my propensity to quote scientific laws, they gave me an epithet "mini-Newton". As I grew up, I transformed into a mini-Hitler from a mini-Newton. Previously, I had laughed, but later on I began to excoriate them with chosen invectives.
When I took my girlfriend, whom I desired to make my life partner, to my rented house for the first time, the first thing she said made my blood boil.
"This is very ominous."
Trying to maintain my cool, I enquired, "What do find ominous here?"
Taking out the handkerchief, and putting it on her nose, she angrily said, "Can't you get the fetid smell? Do you eat dried fish?"
"Are you mad? I never eat dried fish".
Having said so, I also realized that indeed a very foul smell was coming from inside. I became very ashamed that the first time I took my girlfriend-cum-colleague to my house, and she was greeted with such an ugly smell! I quickly went inside, and tried to find where the foul smell was coming from. Meanwhile, Sara, my girlfriend, opened all the windows of the house.
I came back, and apologised to her, "Sorry, I searched hard, but couldn't find anything from where the smell is emanating."
She said, " If you don't mind, may I go inside"?
It was a small 2 bedroom rented flat. Besides two bedrooms, there was a small dining space, a small kitchen, and a small toilet. The veranda was at the entrance, where I tied a rope for drying my apparels. My landlord didn't live in Joynagar, my then place of posting. I had paid him 6 months rent in advance. I had been living here for the last 3 months, but never experienced any foul smell. So, I, too, was very curious, and immediately nodded my head in affirmation.
Sara checked the dustbin first. But it had only peels of some vegetables. Then she went to the kitchen, and then to the bathroom.
"No it's not coming from inside. What's outside?" She enquired impatiently. I could see big frowns on her face. The foul smell hadn't diminished a bit. In fact it had increased. I was flabbergasted to the core. Here in this mofussil area, there was no good restaurant, where I could take my girlfriend for a candle night dinner. That's why I arranged some delicious dinner for her at home. I thought of an enjoyable romantic evening. But the smell seemed to have dampened everything.
"Road on the eastern side, houses on western and southern side, and a pond and bamboo field on the northern side", I tried to quench her inquisitiveness.
"What's that Akshar? Who is standing there?" She shrieked.
To be continued
Picture taken form the Internet
Fleeing from life
"Wow" was the sound that came out spontaneously from my mouth. I was stunned by the beauty of the place. My maternal uncle, whom I depended completely in buying the property, had told me that I wouldn't be dissatisfied. The small bungalow in the backdrop of beautiful mountainous range looked like a masterpiece painted by a heavenly artist. Adding to the beauty was the thin white stream of a local river, which was not more than 200 meter from the bungalow. There were few hamlets here and there, but not a single one near my house. The environment was pristine, and the lush greenery was so soothing to the eye that I thought I could look at it for hours without batting an eyelid.
"Are you sure you can stay in this desolate place, where even a ghost would not dare to come in fear of being killed by loneliness?"
My maternal uncle, Nandu mama, might have been instrumental in my acquiring this property, but from the very beginning he had been constantly raising questions about my staying here. It was true that the nearest hamlet, where a few tribal people lived, was 1 km away from this bungalow, and the small market place was 2 km away from here. Thankfully, the place was well connected by road, and the bungalow had a garage to park my sturdy Tata Sumo. There was electricity connection, but it didn't stay for more than 12 hours in a day, Nandu mama had informed me.
"Why should I feel lonely? You have appointed Bahadur for cooking and doing household chores." I tried to ward off Nandu mama's fears.
"Haha haha!" Nandu mama burst into laughter.
"That grumpy old fellow? He hardly talks. No luck if you count him as a company!"
"See Mama, I don't need any company. Had I been in search of that, I wouldn't have come here."
"Huh! I know you are acting like an absconder. But let me tell the truth my dear nephew. This is not the proper way to deal with problems in life. Instead of running like a fugitive, why don't you face the challenges like a brave man?"
"Oh mama ji, not again! I am very tired now, need to freshen myself."
I desperately tried to change the topic. It's true that for the last 10 years, I had not lived a moment in peace. In my professional life, it had been a story of grand success, but my personal life had been simply disastrous. Disgusted by steady torrents of problems in my personal life, I decided to quit the job, and flee from my house. This place was more than 200 km from my house. I could not directly buy the property, as it belonged to a tribal. So, unofficially I purchased it.
"We are done Saab!" Exhausted by the unpacking job, Bahadur, who was aided by 3 other tribal men, was breathing heavily. Short in stature, wrinkled face resembling a typical Nepali old man, he was around 55 years of age.
"Come early tomorrow!" Mama gave them a 500 rupees note as tip for the work. He would stay with me this night before going back to Kolkata tomorrow.
Chapter 2
That foul smell
My grandparents and maternal uncles lived in Basirhat. Every time I visited there, I became disgusted with their prejudices, and lack of scientific attitude. They believed in all kind of rubbish in the world: Gods, ghosts, bad omens, black magic to name a few. If someone sneezed while you were leaving from house, it was considered a bad omen. The remedy was more interesting: you had to return, and then restart. Let me give one more hilarious example of my relative's foolishness. If a domestic lizard made sound three times like "tic tic tic" while you were talking, your uttered words would become true! I used to laugh my heart out at those illogical prejudices. Because of my arrogance and my propensity to quote scientific laws, they gave me an epithet "mini-Newton". As I grew up, I transformed into a mini-Hitler from a mini-Newton. Previously, I had laughed, but later on I began to excoriate them with chosen invectives.
When I took my girlfriend, whom I desired to make my life partner, to my rented house for the first time, the first thing she said made my blood boil.
"This is very ominous."
Trying to maintain my cool, I enquired, "What do find ominous here?"
Taking out the handkerchief, and putting it on her nose, she angrily said, "Can't you get the fetid smell? Do you eat dried fish?"
"Are you mad? I never eat dried fish".
Having said so, I also realized that indeed a very foul smell was coming from inside. I became very ashamed that the first time I took my girlfriend-cum-colleague to my house, and she was greeted with such an ugly smell! I quickly went inside, and tried to find where the foul smell was coming from. Meanwhile, Sara, my girlfriend, opened all the windows of the house.
I came back, and apologised to her, "Sorry, I searched hard, but couldn't find anything from where the smell is emanating."
She said, " If you don't mind, may I go inside"?
It was a small 2 bedroom rented flat. Besides two bedrooms, there was a small dining space, a small kitchen, and a small toilet. The veranda was at the entrance, where I tied a rope for drying my apparels. My landlord didn't live in Joynagar, my then place of posting. I had paid him 6 months rent in advance. I had been living here for the last 3 months, but never experienced any foul smell. So, I, too, was very curious, and immediately nodded my head in affirmation.
Sara checked the dustbin first. But it had only peels of some vegetables. Then she went to the kitchen, and then to the bathroom.
"No it's not coming from inside. What's outside?" She enquired impatiently. I could see big frowns on her face. The foul smell hadn't diminished a bit. In fact it had increased. I was flabbergasted to the core. Here in this mofussil area, there was no good restaurant, where I could take my girlfriend for a candle night dinner. That's why I arranged some delicious dinner for her at home. I thought of an enjoyable romantic evening. But the smell seemed to have dampened everything.
"Road on the eastern side, houses on western and southern side, and a pond and bamboo field on the northern side", I tried to quench her inquisitiveness.
"What's that Akshar? Who is standing there?" She shrieked.
To be continued
Picture taken form the Internet
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