I was returning to Delhi after attending Bhog-ceremony (Prayer Meeting) of my mother-in-law at Jamshedpur. I was supposed to board Puri-New Delhi Neelanchal Express train from Tata Nagar station at 8:PM but the train was running late by half an hour. By the time it reached station it was 9: PM and I rushed towards AC-II tier coach to board the said train. Since I had booked my ticket the day before by Tatkaal (Under urgent booking) I got the side-lower berth, which made me sick, simply because during the day time you can’t sleep on the lower berth, reason being the same seat would be shared by the person who has been assigned the side upper berth; but the person who got side upper berth could sleep throughout the journey without any interruption.
Meanwhile, the train left Tatanagar and was crossing Chandil station when suddenly an old Lady approached me to exchange her upper berth with my side-lower berth; due to her joint pain she was unable to climb the upper berth. I was left with no option but to offer my seat to the old lady and I made her sit on my berth. I simply picked my handbag and shifted to her upper berth leaving my lower birth seat for her. Since I was not feeling sleepy, I decided to sit on the lower berth (Which was still not occupied) and started reading my book. I had hardly read few pages when again I was approached by the same old lady and this time she offered me a plastic plate full of sweets and fruits. She also offered me a small bottle of mineral water. I was almost in a dilemma and was totally confused as what to do next, whether to refuse it or accept?
Before I could respond and/or express my views, she gave me one more plastic bowl full of sweet-curd; she told me in her soft voice to start eating my dinner. I wished I could eat so much of sweets in a day but very politely returned both items to her with thanks. She did not like my gesture and asked me to wait; and then took out two cheese sandwiches, packet of chocolate cream biscuits, two tomato ketchup pouches and handed over these items on another plate. Meanwhile, she instructed me to sit down beside her on her seat and start eating my food immediately without any-more argument or refusal. Simultaneously, she also started eating her dinner. Suddenly, she remembered something and immediately kept her food-tray on the seat, took out another plastic box from her bag and started preparing her injection which she was supposed to take before her meals. She must be a Diabetic patient and that’s why she was taking this insulin injection. But then how come she was eating so much of sweets, and fruits were anybody’s guess.
I was left with no option but to eat my dinner along with my co-passenger who was no more a stranger to me. During our dinner, she told me her part of the story without any hesitation as if I were no more a stranger but a very close relative whom she was meeting after a long interval. She came to attend a house warming party at her relatives place in Jamshedpur where her older son’s in-laws were living and she was going back to meet her daughter who was living alone in Delhi. She was having two grown up kids; older son was a big heart surgeon settled in Kolkata and her daughter was younger to him, who was working as a Neurologist in a private hospital in Delhi. Hence, the old lady would be staying for a few months with her daughter, who was a divorcee.
She keeps travelling between Delhi and Kolkata and very rare she visits Jamshedpur, She had been an extensively travelling woman because her husband was working for an MNC in Kolkata as a Director (Exports) and both had travelled around the world several times. But now she does not enjoy travelling alone at all. It was almost eleven o'clock at night but she was still talking and she had also not allowed me to move away from her seat. I asked her very politely if she was feeling sleepy but she replied negatively. She hardly sleeps at night, because she goes to the toilet several times at night; hence she was unable to get a peaceful sleep at night.
She must be around seventy years old, very fair looking lady with a very tall and bulky physique. She lost her husband when she was around forty years or so. Her daughter could not have a successful married life due to high ambitions and strong ego clash between the two personalities. Both were very successful Doctors in their respective fields but her husband was not from such a rich family whereas she was from a filthy rich family and came from elite society. One fine day he left India along with one of his Punjabi Doctor friend who was working with him as his colleague. They both got settled in Ontario City of Canada as permanent resident. Their only daughter was studying in the United States and was doing her Master’s in Gynaecology.
Since then her daughter had decided to live alone, never to get married again in this lifetime and dedicated her entire life to the medical profession. But somehow the old lady was not convinced with her daughter’s decision and she was repeatedly requesting her daughter to give marriage one more chance. So she came to Jamshedpur with one hidden agenda to see one prospective and suitable match for her daughter also. Everything was fine except that the boy was not from a Bengali Brahmin family whereas they were much respected Brahmin family of Burdwan District of West Bengal.
The prospective groom was a Bengali gentleman belonged to the Kaystha community of Krishna Nagar town of West Bengal. He was working as a Chief Medical Officer in a private hospital. Although married at an early age, their marriage could not last even for one year and both had decided to separate amicably. Since then he was living with his old parents at Jamshedpur. And by chance he happened to be the next door neighbour of her son’s in-law’s place in Jamshedpur.
Everything was fine and the prospective groom was also ready to shift to Delhi if the need be but still she was not fully convinced with this proposal and wanted some more time to think about it. Although her relatives had arranged their personal meeting on Skype yesterday and both seemed satisfied with the first interaction. But the old lady was not very happy with her daughter’s approach. She took all the personal details of the prospective groom for horoscope matching and further consultation with her family priest.
It was two o'clock at night as we entered Gaya junction. The old lady wanted to drink tea at this hour of night, but the tea available on the platform was with sugar. Therefore, I rushed to the pantry along with a small Thermos on Platform number one and requested the waiter for hot water (Tea bags and milk powder pouches were available with us) so that I could make tea for the old lady. The old lady added two sugar free tablets in her cup of tea and gave me lots of blessings. After that I said goodnight to her and went to my upper berth for sleep.
I woke up around eight in the morning. I saw the old lady was sitting on the lower berth below my seat and sipping her cup of tea. I got down from my berth first touched her feet in respect and then proceeded towards wash room. I came back and sat down along with her and spoke to her in Bengali language whether she had a good night sleep at night? She was so shocked to see me talking to her in Bengali which made her stand still and she was almost silent for few seconds. Actually, last night we were communicating in English and Hindi language only. Then, she started laughing uninterruptedly and became very happy to listen to my Bengali-pronunciation. I gave her my brief introduction and my family connection with Bengal which made me more Bengali than a Punjabi. I was born and brought up at Kolkata and after finishing my studies I worked in Kolkata for many years. Thereafter, first I shifted to Jamshedpur and later at Gurgaon for serving my employers.
After having our break-fast, we again sat down together and started discussing about Bengali literature. I realized the old lady was a voracious reader of Bengali fictions and she had read all the top most Bengali Authors right from: - Ashapurna Devi, Ashotosh Mukherjee, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Bibhuti Bhushan Mukhopadhyay, Bimal Mitra, Budhadev Guha, Bimal Kar, Chanakya Sen, Mahasweta Devi, Narayan Sanyal, Rabindernath Tagore, Sharat Chandra, Shankar, Samresh Basu/ Kaalkoot, Sunil Gangaopadhyay, Shailesh Dey, Tara Shankar Bandhopadhyay and many more. She was wondering how come I have read these books. I told her that after attending my Morning College, I used to spend the whole day in the National Library, Kokata where I used to read, Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Oriya, Malayali and Marathi literatures (Most of the books were available In Hindi translation also).
Thereafter, she kept quiet and meanwhile I also started reading my book. The right time for arrival of this train at New Delhi station was eight pm but the train was running two hours late. Therefore we were expected to reach New Delhi station after 10 PM at night. By the time we entered the platform no. 12 of New Delhi station it was 11:30 PM at night. At this late hour, I could not get Metro train for Gurgaon; similarly she too could not get a Metro train for Noida, where her daughter lived. I enquired whether her daughter would be coming to station to pick her up. The lady said “no” and started walking towards the staircase along with her trolley and shoulder bag.
I interrupted her in between and requested her to come along with me to my house so that I could drop her the next morning at her Noida home. She did not agree with me and rather insisted to go to Noida in pre-paid taxi. I could not allow her to go alone at that hour of night. Therefore, I made her round to come along with me in a Taxi; that will go to her Noida home first and after dropping her I will proceed towards my home at Gurgaon and to this arrangement she consented happily.
We reached her daughter’s flat at sector 18, Noida at about 1 o-clock night. The flat was on the tenth floor of a high-rise building; with the second call bell, a beautiful lady of middle-age opened the door and I was literally very shocked to see Mrs. Sutopa Majumdar standing at the door. I knew pretty well that she could not recognize me; even then she invited me to come inside, have a cup of coffee and then proceed towards Gurgaon. I simply asked her pardon and got myself excused on the pretext of getting late and after making the old lady comfortable, I left for my residence.
While sitting in the taxi, I was wondering that world was so small and in-spite of so many crowds around, sometimes we bump into those people we have never thought of meeting even in our wildest dreams but our destiny has its own plans. Mrs. Sutopa Majumdar’s ex-husband was married to my first cousin (Punjabi Doctor) who was now settled in Canada. As a matter of fact my sister has discussed about her husband’s ex-wife several times in the past; whom that old lady was cursing throughout her journey in the train.
With Prayers
Gurcharan
