I always enjoy speaking to Sourav, my neighbour and a sweet brother who recently came back from USA and trying to settle down in India. Yesterday we were discussing about acquaintance that became a part of life. Not always that we keep in touch with them but the memories of meeting a stranger and knowing that person is simply great.
This reminds me of those people I met in a train, a plane, in a meeting or just while walking down the road. I remember when I was in my sixth standard and we had a new telephone connection. Our greatest fun and excitement was to dial an unknown number and start irritating the person on the line. These days it may sound odd to kids ... but that was a great past time for us. One fine day I called up a number and a boy with a sweet voice picked up the number.. Hello! And then without waiting for my answer, he just kept on saying how good it is to hear someone's voice in the telephone. I was completely awestruck by his voice and the way he started talking to me. I felt he must be someone of my age or probably a person from tenth standard (that was the class of ultimate maturity for a sixth standard boy those days). We discussed a lot, about favourite food, favourite games, favourite teacher and even favourite girl. We also discussed how bad the parents are and they know nothing but scolding their kids. It became almost a daily routine for me to speak to him. I used to call him Bibek and we became great friend. This continues for almost 3 years.
1990, I was in my tenth standard, the pinnacle of success and where only wise man can reach (but unfortunately by that time I also came to know that getting into tenth standard is not really the end of study). It was the saptami night of Durga Puja, when Priyanka came with an old man claiming to be his uncle. The man was in his mid 60 wearing a dhoti and Paanjabi. Priyanka was my childhood dream girl. I desperately wanted to speak to her but that uncle was so irritating he was just not letting me impress his niece. Finally I got a chance to talk to Priyanka and then she introduced me to her uncle. A familiar voice greeted me as "Hello Bandhu, Kamon aacho?" How can it be possible ... Why on earth do I have to stand in front of him... as the other day only I spoke to him over telephone and complained about Priyanka's uncle and how irritating he is.. I was at a total loss of word to find Bibek Das standing in front of me.. my soul mate who knows all my secrets in life even that I read a Debonair Magazine few days back... oh My God!!
Bibek Das became a real good friend and till the time he was alive we often used to meet. He was writing a book on the History of Uluberia, the place I belong to. One fine day I remember he send me an SOS .. I just came back from Bombay and my mother anxiously asked me to go and meet Mr. Das. I found my friend in a new Avatar. He had become thinner and having a long white beard. I asked him why? He said, in his childhood his friend used to call him the Bernard Shaw of Uluberia. Although he refused to accept that title but somehow in his mind he used to really feel like Shaw. Now he felt that the time is almost over and before he passed away he wanted to keep a beard like Bernard Shaw. But he was so pissed off with himself as he found he looked more like Rahmat Ali than Bernard Shaw with the beard. By the way Rahmat Ali was a local rickshaw puller. Anyway the SOS was sent to me for a different reason, he asked me to make a portrait of him. He said that Priyanka is too busy with her life and he doesn't have too many people to look after him (he was unmarried) so he wanted to invite friends and throw a great party before he dies to celebrate his Shradh (the ritual we perform when a person expires). And he actually did that.
I have rarely seen such a happy person. He was always happy. He left a great career of a busy lawyer in UK before coming back to India. It happened one fine morning, over a cup of tea he relaised that he is missing the Bengali news paper over tea so he came back to India. People of Uluberia never saw him wearing anything else than a clean white Dhoti and Paanjabi. He passed away in 2001 and unfortunately I was not there ... but Priyanka told me that he was really happy even in his last few days.
