Why good people had to suffer so much pain in life?

One beautiful middle aged lady standing at the check-in counter of domestic airlines at Delhi airport was shouting in her full voice and demanding a boarding pass for Kolkata flight. There were many people at the check-in counter who were also waiting for the boarding pass. But this particular lady was someone special and her very loud and thick voice attracted the attention of everyone standing in the nearby area.

As expected she came out with a boarding pass and turned towards the security check. The moment I saw her face, I realized that she was looking like my childhood friend Miss Sutopa Mukherjee. But Sutopadi used to be very fair, slim, thin and looked very beautiful. This lady, though resembling like Sutopadi but was very fat and heavy. In spite of her bulky figure, she was still looking very beautiful specially her face, which was very attractive, glowing and shining. Hesitatingly, after giving much thought, I could muster courage to call her by her name “Sutopadi”. She immediately turned back towards me; first stared with her very big and beautiful eyes, gave a deep look at me with a very sharp glaze and then cried with her usual loud voice “Are Channa, tumi ekhane?” (Charan, how come you are here) and I said “I live here at Gurgaon” and she came running towards me and hugged me with the same affection, intensity and warmness, which she always used to have for me during our childhood days. Now, no doubt was left that she was my very own Sutopadi, a very caring, lovable and a nice human being.

We together went towards the security check and she started talking non-stop and her questions and queries never stopped till we both boarded our respective flights. I was going to Mumbai and she was flying back home to Kolkata that night.

She got married to an engineer, who was employed in a private firm. Since he was also involved in local politics he had to leave his job and now was working full time for his party in north Bengal. Sutopadi is working as a professor of Political Science in a Graduate College at Behala besides she is also holding a portfolio of Counsellor in her area and doing a great job. She has been blessed with a son who has gone for higher studies abroad but never returned and now was working in a multinational company in London after completing his studies.

Today evening she was flying back home after attending two days seminar at Delhi. Everything sounded very normal and soothing in the beginning, but one thing was disturbing me since the beginning of our conversation and I didn’t know why she was not behaving her normal self. I knew her from my childhood days. She was very aggressive, bold, dynamic, extrovert and a very out spoken person. She never used to hesitate in her conversation and we sometimes used to warn her also about her this frankness, because being a female she must not talk so openly and frankly with people, but she never used listen to our advice as she was never afraid of anything and her pet answer used to be “It’s my style”.

Today, she discussed about everything except her married life and somehow I was getting the feel that she was not comfortable talking about her personal life with me or may be she was not yet ready to discuss with me about her married life. I felt something was wrong some where and I couldn’t stop thinking about that aspect of her life anymore.

Suddenly, the Kolkota flight departure announcement came and she got up from her seat and said “I have to go, we will talk on phone, please be in touch”. Meanwhile, we exchanged our visiting cards and also noted down each others mobile numbers; but somehow, I could not control myself anymore and finally with lot of courage I asked her about her husband and as was expected she turned-back, looked into my eyes, which were filled in with so much of pain that she could speak but her tears did not support her and started rolling out uninterruptedly without any fear unfolding the dark secrets of her life, standing at the airport that night.

Although she was expecting something like this to happen since long but she was trying to behave normally till the end. Somehow my last question deeply moved her, she could not control herself any more and she bursted out abrutly and her eyes filled in with tears pouring out slowly the bitter truth of her life that “O amar shonge aar thake naa” (He no more stays with me), holding both my hands tightly near the departure zone.

Her eyes were filled with tears and her pain was so severe that she could not control herself and started crying loudly like a little child; she again hugged me and whispered in my ears “I am sorry Charan, that’s why I could not discuss about him, jano, O amke shob shomoe jalae” (his memories always gives me immense pain) and said at the end, “Bhalo theko, jogajog rakhabe, kamon” (take care of yourself and be in touch, alright).

She left me alone at the airport wondering about her life. She is all alone in this world, separated from her husband and far away from her only son; but still living her life as if nothing has happened, it’s really our great, Sutopadi.

She has gone, but I don’t know when and how I had started crying and I realized that my eyes were also filled with tears. I was thinking about her pain and have realized one thing clearly that the pain is the same for everyone but the tears were so godly that made me so calm, quiet and comfortable within few minutes, as if her pain had become my pain and the tears of pain which were earlier coming out from her eyes were now flowing from my eyes.

At the end, I pray to God Almighty to bless her and always take care of her. And tonight during my night-prayer, I will ask my Lord, why good people, like Sutopadi, had to suffer so much of pain in life?

With Prayers
Gurcharan