My Sis: Through My Eyes (28)
Chapter – 28 ( The Healing Power of Love)
Everyday while talking to my Sis over the phone in the morning, I keep requesting her to write about her experience at the BPK. The writer in me can detect the rich materials for a novel there. Sis is least bothered.
“Where do I have the time. Bappa? Some days I retire to bed at 2.. Let me come to the point – a senior teacher here wanted to know if you’re willing to relocate to Durgapur for a Warden’s job?”
I shake my head at the other end and say to myself, what a loss to the World of Bengali Literature! The love that the inmates of the Central Government Training Centre are showering on him is what we, humans, craze, crave for all our life. For a minute I close my eyes and pray to The One above to empower me to write at least a fair bit about it in a nutshell for a chapter of my novel.
These days Sis doesn’t take the usual dinner any more. The students keep bringing all kinds of things – fruits, sweets, eggs and even u. They have somehow got wind of her fondness for paan, the beetle nut leaves since the day she went out to a temple along with some teachers and students. At the end of a happy meal that to us, would seem very petty, after she had ordered a paan from a nearby shop, a student saw her relishing it ( though she kept telling me that the relishing part was completely the student’s imagination). Paans haven’t stopped coming since then. A good human being, Sis is naturally overwhelmed with the students’ love.
I feel in my bones that justice is being done to one, who has tried to discharge all her duties to all things earthly in the best possible manner. You may ask me, how can I be so sure? I am because I am lucky to have observed her for decades from close quarters, in the true sense of the term.
The other day she got woken up by a noise in the wee hours of the morning. Scurrying out, on enquiry Sis found out the cause of the trouble. The bathroom doer had the latch missing for the last few days. So, as it happens in teal life as well as the movies, the inmates started hanging out a towel on the door to Indicate that loo was already occupied. That morning while a junior was in with the towel hanging on the closed door, a senior inmate in a hurry for the morning ablutions, banged the door. This led to a big trouble. Anyway, Sis’s presence brought a temporary relief to what was going to be a stormy problem later in the day.
As Sis had to go out in the evening, to withdraw money from the ATM near the Girls’ Hostel, some 2 kilometres away from BPK , she was a little late getting back to the Boys’ Hostel. (Here too you have a story of love being showered on Sis. How someone got worried about her late return, how someone suggested she get back with a reliable driver as it was getting dark with the way long, and finally how she reached back to the hostel, by courtesy of a van-driver, known to her.)
Anyway, when she reached the hotel, there was literally a mayhem in the BPK. She was told that a student was nearly killed. She called for a meeting with the inmates, warning them at first not to try to take things in their hands. In another meeting with both the students and the teachers the next morning, her intention was to stem the tide. But some troublemakers acted smart while talking about the incident to a teacher in the class later on in the day and made a mountain of what could easily have been a mere molehill. Things worsened from then on. Sis, finally had to intervene again to let everyone know that if every time she went out, things at the BPK became riotous, she would never be able to step out of the hostel in peace any more. Love took over once more and has been reigning supreme at the BPK since then.
As Sis got emotional and I could sense the attempt of swallowing the tear in her voice, I knew I had to give it to her. For siblings do not flatter each other over trivial. But this was not only a tale of heroism and extraordinary courage, but also a tale of the Healing power of Love
“You deserve it all. You know, listening to you, I was reminded time and again of the only time I was appointed as a Warden at JHS. It was towards the end of November, when Mr. Chandra Monger, the previous Warden resigned. The Principal, Mr. Pena Dawa, handed me the responsibility. And what a responsibility it proved to be! There were sleepless nights. Boys doing drugs and gang fights and what not. So, as soon as the next academic session began, I tendered in my resignation meekly. Principal Sir must have got wind of my incapability as well. He didn’t force me to continue.” I halted to take a break before going on, ” You have this great leadership quality, Sis, and the indomitable spirit. You deserve all the love, admiration and accolades. I can never be firm and strict like you. I wish I could though. I can never lay a hand on a st—–.”
Sis cut me short by saying that she can never think of SPANKING a boy in her wildest dreams. She had another fantastic story to tell before concluding with:
“You know, Bappa, I’s just like you, not strict at all. But the past ten years have taught me a lot and toughened me up. I can do my job more confidently now than ever before.”
Before hanging up, I made the same request to Sis again to write about the tid-bits of the happenings in the training centre. If they appeal to me, there is no reason why they should not touch an average reader’s heart.
As I hang up my android, I felt extremely proud of my Sis. This unassuming lady indeed has nerves of steel. In her place, I would have worried sick thinking about the mosquitoes, the snakes, the incessant problem of power cuts and not so quick-fix generators, not to mention the possibility of a room in the hostel being haunted as well! God bless my Sis and her kind.
