Part 4 : Fiction in Series 'Rebel is a middle name' :::: Chapter 2 Righting Wrongs (continued..)

 Part 4 

Chapter 2 Righting Wrongs (continued..)

For Hiren Bhadra also, life was refusing to be normal since journalist Singdha Chatterjee came, interviewed him and left. His thoughts also went wild. Little did he realise what his wife Parul was thinking otherwise. Apparently, she was unhappy...all her life; and he was responsible for that; - hence it is presumed he was the 'happy one'. 

But is that so? Can happiness and unhappiness be compartmentalised in such divides?

Snap: Manisha Borkotoky, Assam 

Could things be compartmentalised so easily? What about his youthhood? 

Parul knows his manhood, his career and his giant strides fetching money and running amid 'promotions' in Milestones, but was it so smooth and easy always?

Hiren Bhadra like every man knew how to be introvert and rather when to be introvert. 

So things were in check; and his unhappiness was unknown to many. But those unhappy moments are not unknown to Hiren himself. It's not that he has come up the ladder so easily, in a careless journey.

Could he take 'revenge' on those who hurt him? Lost in himself, he would do his morning walk. 

Both his brothers-in-law or their wives would get up late. They preferred morning walk a little late on the lush green lawn in the house compound itself. Hiren preferred outside the 'walls' of in-law's house. It was more of a psychological freedom.

But he would return on time dutifully to ensure Parul does her morning ablutions and bath on time.

Then he would join his wife and others for breakfast. Bengali Jol Khabar. The gathering would be with cheerful talks generally and someone cracking some jokes on the other joyfully. Or someone would pose a question based on the day's morning news headlines. If nothing else, even the weather conditions.

One Bengali - a philosopher, two Bengali - debate about a third person or a lofty subject. Three Bengalis- a trade union and a Kali Baari. Here they were six -- three couples! So, a lot more actions !

But before all these, say for 40-50 minutes, Hiren Bhadra would have private moments.    

But what were those moments? Like most normal ways of thinking, Hiren too had a sense of nostalgia for the past. 

The struggle of memory against forgetting is one of the foremost struggles. Who would hold the monopoly of the business of keeping memories alive? That's history. Some facts, some half-baked facts and some concoction.

part 3 : Rebel is a middle name

Human life is also half concoction and half facts. At least this was the case with Hiren Bhadra's life. In part, he enjoyed the somewhat mystery attached to his life. His wife Parul would often say - "lok ta chiro kaal hi khub chapa theke gelo (Oh, my husband has always been like this, very introvert)".

Does the introverted nature of a man come all by birth - or that's inherently? 

Yours truly, Story Teller

On certain days, Hiren recalled his school days. His friends in the nearby town of Durgapur - Asansol.

The place was known mainly for railways and some government departments and nearby coal mines and their staff. The township was dusty and hot in summer. Once near Bihar border, now it is adjacent to the state of Jharkhand. 

Many years later, Hiren Bhadra realised, people here were quite simple compared to life people live in Kolkata - the Calcutta.

At times, his school days memories would take him to days of cricket in dusty ground in front of the Durga temple playground. When he was thirteen probably, his classmate Jhantu got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

Those were painful days no doubt. Jhantu got wild when Hiren and others started teasing him for missing a catch. That cost them the friendly match.

Those were 'teen' years. He had developed a liking for a neighbourhood girl friend. 

The concept of 'girl friend' was still innocuous. Even neighbours would not doubt that every boy and girl talking to each other would mean romance or physical attraction. 

Some or rather most of it could be for exchanging notes and what happened in the classroom, or which teacher they should prefer for tuition in the next academic year..Amid these, came Hiren Bhadra's friendship with Pearl Vasunathan. 

They were non-Bengali, but Pearl's father was in railways and hence they were in Asansol. Hiren and Pearl made friends pretty fast.

Friends need not be all alike, the friendship between Pearl and Hiren slowly grew up like that. 

The differences were sharp contrasts; and these contrasts worked as if complementary to each other. Hence,there was a near perfect balance.  

But slowly the words spread that they were also meeting often just for the sake of meeting. On their part, both Hiren and Pearl enjoyed moral and mental satisfaction. But the society was more moralistic. 

They wanted to hazard a few wild guesses on expected lines.

Why should a boy and a girl grow so intimate with each other ? 

Why should a Bengali boy have such a close friendship with a Madrasi girl? "Eto mela mesha keno (Why so many of these meetings)"?

Guesses made room for rumour mongering and slowly some spicy gossips. Two teenagers were now punching bags.

Of the two, Pearl was more brave, courageous to face the truth and throw up the question - 'so what'.

The problem was with Hiren. A coward. He would be more often hit by emotions. He would be entirely clueless about what was happening to him. 

How would his parents respond ? What would others say? Will he be right, if he takes a stand otherwise?

Some of these queries would only pile up. 

"Go to sleep", his inner voice would echo too. "A coward cannot be a rebel, you are wasting time".

Hiren Bhadra would be passive. 

He would soon find himself handicapped by the inability to debate the moral questions. He would soon close the debate as well.

Part 1 of the story: Fiction in Series

On the other hand, Pearl was a picture in contrast.

She always wanted to see herself as a worthy friend for Hiren. The first meeting was interesting but not quite romantic in a traditional sense. Pearl knew Hiren stood awestruck; unable to take his eyes off Pearl's radiant face veiled partly by her long well kept hair. They were dark and threw up an aroma of coconut.

 Hiren must have noticed her smile with a twinkle in her eyes.  Friendship grew up, romance or love in that sense was far off. They enjoyed talking to each other, discuss study materials, and at times would wonder how would the career grow up amid long spells of load-shedding, and so much of joblessness.

As a young boy, Hiren kept track of things going around in Asansol, in Burdwan district and also in his state, West Bengal. Pearl too was a good student, but compared to Hiren, she has seen many parts of India. Hiren knew he was only a strictly 'made in Asansol' variety though on two holidays for Puja he has been to his aunt's house at Ranchi.

Hiren would often think about the relastionship between them at odd evening hours, sometime even post-dinner. 
He would often sit in silence on the blue sofa cum bed. He would lay in silence till sleep finally overcome him. Probably there would be some pain at heart and as he woke up from the slumber, he knew the 'pain' too would wake up with him. The thought would linger. 

But there would be good moments too. If he had passed about 2 hours with Pearl and they discussed study things in certain details, he would be quite happy.

At times, even a smile flickered across his face at the very thought of being a good friend to Pearl.

Interacting with her gave him utter confidence and joy. All these were like 'writing' stories for a possible TV serial or a fictional story.  

It was a case of ventilating one’s idea -- a bit too early though.

Story telling – Hiren thought was often like 'cooking up' the plot and creating characters! Such protagonists had certain stories and attractions for Hiren no doubt.

But Hiren was again shy or too practical. What do I gain by writing stories?, he would often playfully tell Pearl.

Instead, Pearl was a lover of fiction. She inherited this from her mother, Pearl would tell Hiren many months later.

Pearl would give an emotive but yet a practical spin to the entire thinking process.

Needless to add, the art of story telling has been part of the Indian culture in the form of fables and tales. 

Pearl said her grand mom, back home in south India, would tell them about the farmer’s sons being taught a lesson by their ailing father and convincing them that to toil the soil to harvest gold subsequently.

So narrating a ‘story’ seemed to be both – easy and tough, Pearl used to say. "I love fiction, but for career, I would prefer civic, constitutions or political science," Pearl would share what's in her mind.

Of course, human mind is often unpredictable. Best of friends would vow never to talk to each other or so!

But in life, Pearl once told Hiren Bhadra that there is another challenge – the need to strike a right chord with all emotions inside a man!

In the library once they discovered a book by V S Naipaul.

The root of fictional writing with the social inquiry has been established in India too. Pearl would say, now there’s a distinct Indian pattern of writings both in English and other vernacular languages. 

Hiren liked the way Pearl spoke intensely on certain matters. But he knew Pearl as a young girl and his friend. Pearl would however be often dictated by 'heart' rather than the powerful tool called the 'mind'. In his case of course it was all about relationship but being pragmatic; and that the 'mind' should be respected. 

Part 2: Rebel is a middle name

to be continued/-