My Best Friend : (5) Dedicated to my late Bhagne-cum-friend, Honorable District Magistrate & Session Judge, Shubhra Shankar Bhatta.
Part – V
Like A Whiff of Fresh Air
The person/s who is/are beside you when you are going through hard days or times, is/are said to be your true friends. One incident involving Shubho readily comes to mind.
I was counting the last few months of my stay in The Happiness Country called Bhutan. My younger daughter who had seen a dip in her performance after the departure of her Mom and sister, the two people close to her heart, finally got admitted to Calcutta Public School, Anandapur in Class-IX. Her overall performance in the new school was far from satisfactory and to make matters worse, she fell a prey to Dengue by the start of the new academic session. She missed school for over a month and we all were doubtful if she would be able to sit for the Boards at all.
When misfortune comes, it rarely comes alone. Anushka had her first harrowing experience with boys at around this time. Things could have ended up real bad for her. One day, I got so fed up, so frustrated with her that I was yelling at her, when Shubho and Sis turned up. I told Shubho about her problem. Shubho acted more mature like the father of two daughters should and spoke endearingly to my daughter.
“Baba, tomar Baba teacher, Dada Judge, jibane emon kichhu korona, jate amader matha nichu hoye jai…” ( Dear, your father is a teacher, brother, Judge. Never ever do anything in life that brings them down….) I liked the way Shubho talked to my daughter as if not a brother but a father was talking sense into her head at that time.
Being his Mama, I rarely said anything good about him in front of him. It must have hurt him a lot but he never kept those stray incidents of disagreement between us in mind. He was always level-headed and rarely, if ever, lost his cool!
Let me share another incident in this context. That night, I paid a visit to Bardi at the complex where she was staying with Shubho at that time. My brother, Khokonda was also present at that time.Shubho had been invited with his family to a marriage party. As Shubho was leaving, turning to me, he made a request to be with Bardi till his return. He didn’t want his Ma to be alone in that spacious rented apartment of his. Soon after Subho and his had family left, Khokonda and I spent some time with Bardi before Khokonda had to leave as well. It was already dark outside and my brother was kind of night-blind. Besides, he had to go far to Garia to get back to his residence.
That night, I spent a lot of time learning about Life and my close people from Bardi. Bardi was an extremely intelligent woman. She was also very popular not only with her siblings and their spouses but also with others at 41, Deblane. She never discussed other people, let alone our siblings, with me. After, Bardi had cleared some doubts, I decided to put forward an opinion. I told Bardi that from amongst our brothers and sisters, Shubho was most fond of this brother. Bardi knew her sons inside out. She shook her head to refute my claim first before embarking on something like :
“Na, Bappa. Tor ei dharona bhul. Subho amar bhai-bonder modhye tokei sab theke bhalo base….” ( You’re wrong again, Bappa. Shubho loves you the most among all my siblings.)
I had been detached from Subho in the years prior to that evening spent in Bardi’s company. Naturally, it was hard for me to believe Bardi’s words. On asking her again, Bardi, came out with : Toke, o tokei sab theke besi bhalobase. ( He loves YOU the most.) I can tell you now why I felt over the moon on hearing Bardi’s say in the matter.
I have lived a very ordinary life. Didn’t earn enough to really think of doing anything for others. Even then, at the end of the day, if some people love/d me, I must have done something good in my previous life. A character like my late bhagne, Shubho, is hard to find these days. Once he is around, it is very difficult even for the most gloomy-faced people like “Yours truly” to keep up with such an appearance. By pulling others legs, cracking the most raw and indecent jokes imaginable, Shubho will bring the house down, very often making people break into peels of laughter, holding their sides due to a prolonged bout of laughing.
Though he was the first person to remind others that unlike his two brothers, he didn’t stay at Deblane for long, Shubho loved his Mamabari, the kind of love I have rarely seen in my other nephews and nieces. That’s the reason, if anyone with any connections with 41, Deblane, found himself in a legal entanglement, Shubho would always be the first to help.
I remember the time when I couldn’t book a return ticket to Hasimara. Even tickets in the AC Bus from Kolkata to Shiliguri had been booked long ago. When Shubho came to know about my predicament, on coming to 41, he led me in his car to Sealdah Station. It was around 7 in the evening. I thought that Shubho was wasting our time. Shubho though, least perturbed, led me personally up the staircases to the Railways Superintendent of Police’s Room on the top floor.
The man was personally known to Subho. He made us sit down on the chairs opposite, asked the office boy to fetch us some tea, called one of his assistants while talking to us, sitting on a chair across the table. Within minutes, this assistant was back with the ticket issued in my name. It was issued on the VIP quota. My bhagne couldn’t have been anything less than a VVIP and the Railways Police Super made it quite clear.
I will conclude today’s writing with how he went out of his way to be helpful to me. Once I had some documents to be verified by a First Class Gazetted Officer. I requested Shubho. I was even prepared to go to his office at Salt Lake, knowing how busy he was and reluctant to take advantage of our relationship at the same time. He asked me to stay put. On his way back from office, he dropped by. I was surprised to find him signing and putting his seal almost on every page.Where one would suffice, he must have used at least 10-12!
On enquiry, he told me that he was making sure that I faced no problem with the authorities!
Shubho’s loss has been an irreparable loss for all of us. Amidst all the mediocrity and mundaneness that I find myself surrounded with, Shubho was a whiff of fresh air. I consider myself lucky to have been blessed with such a bhagne.
To be concluded in the next.
