My Sis: Through My Eyes (30)
Chapter 30 (Lest I Don’t Get to Tell You This.)
I was talking to Sis yesterday when she paid a visit to Deblane for the weekend. During our conversation, the talk of my late nephew Chandan Guha cropped up. She was talking about how Chandan, who had started his career with Reliance Group of Industries, Mumbai, switched jobs like one changes one’s napkin! Sis told me, in that connection, that our late nephew told her once that what mattered to him most while in service, was job satisfaction. Let me put in a word or two about Chandan Guha here. I will never forget the day he came over to 41 Deblane and sitting on the steps of the Bank of India, he told me about his campus interview at JU. He had just passed out of J.U as an Electrical Engineer at that time, having secured his B.Tech degree as a topper. Listening to him talk about the interview, I felt like I was going through The Editorial of The Statesman, the most popular English daily in those days. Chandan had impeccable English. I had hardly heard a better speaker since then!
Now, Chandan didn’t stay with a company if he was not satisfied with its work ethics, culture, environment, perks or whatever. My Sis has kept our late nephew’s words in mind while looking for a job. In the last six years, she has worked for five organizations. Her work ethics or principle is simple, if she likes the environment, the ambience, the people and so on, she will not mind working for the Institute or organization. But she wouldn’t take a moment to relinquish her job if she doesn’t get any satisfaction out of it.
In the last 1 year since she took over as the Sr. Caregiver at JIMS, Sis has made her presence felt within a very short span of time. One gets to hear about a lot of doctors, the MBBS inmates of the hostel and others like one Rohit, Polo, Runa – from Sis quite frequently these days. Life may not have been a bed of roses for her but it hasn’t dented her pride and self-belief yet.
Of late, I have been thinking about my siblings, some other relatives, friends a lot, and I can say, without the least bit of hesitation that among all of them, I feel most grateful to Sis. Being her youngest brother, I often take advantage of her. I quarrel a lot with her as well. The subjects of my quarrels (‘my quarrels’ because she doesn’t quarrel any more. She has changed for the better since she left her sasuraal in 2012) often revolve round some other siblings.
Last time out of sheer ingratitude, I told her that other than Barda and Mejdi and another brother and her (I mentioned my brother-in-law instead), I have no reasons to be grateful to others. That was childish on my part, of course! Sis summed up my feelings of repentance later by stating :
“I know I haven’t done much, I can’t do anything for others, how can I complain of not receiving any favours from others then..?”
On hindsight, I realized that starting from my eldest Sis to my other siblings down to Sis, I have reasons to be grateful to all of them. But without being biased, I can state that no one has helped me more. I even yelled at her last time, doubting her intentions behind helping me financially, bringing all those eatables and all, she kept quiet. I must have appeared as the most ungrateful creature to her at that time. This is the thing with us human beings, we try to forget the favours done to us by others as best and as soon as we can!
Today, while trying to see her off at the bus stand, all on a sudden, I was reminded of those days of my youth. I’d accompany Sis to her in-laws’ after she was done with her daily trip to Deblane for discharging her duties to Ma. After some weeks, she wouldn’t let me accompany her and get into a running bus abruptly, crying out from inside that she’s in a hurry as she had some urgent work to be done at Maniktala Market.
I believed her till one day, after she had boarded a crowded bus in a similar manner, I got detained at the bus stand. Now one can easily see the people getting into or off a bus at the next bus stand, that is, Ananda Palit Bus Stand from the bus stand at Deblane.
I stood at the Deblane Bus Stand and was about to step back home when on looking up towards Ananda Palit, I thought I saw what looked like the silhouette of Sis getting off the bus there! Why did she get off there? Her departing words were that she didn’t want me to accompany her as she had work to do at Maniktala, I learnt a great lesson that memorable night. Sis didn’t want to trouble her youngest brother a wee bit!
This scenario revisited me when I went out to the bus stand on the other side of CIT Road to see her off today. I suggested that we walk towards Park Circus as buses were few and far between during the first phase of Unlocking. Even when a bus turned up after hours, there was no guarantee that you might board that bus! As Sis and I were heading towards Padmapukur Bus Stand, an empty 240 bus caught up with us from behind. Without giving me a chance, Sis plunged into it, vehemently turning down my desire to accompany her till Park Circus Maidan. She cried out from inside, ” Don’t worry. I’ll let you know once I get to JIMS.”
This is my Sis for you. All her life, she has tried not to trouble people. She knew she might have to wait for the bus from JIMS to pick her up. She didn’t want her brother to waste his time waiting like that! The person she loved, sadly (she still loves him the most) didn’t realize that! He is older. He should have acted more mature.
We live in an age when male chauvinism is being a thing of the past. We have started re-evaluating the women’s role in our lives. We have started talking of women equality, empowerment and such. I was deeply touched when my wife and I were watching the episode of a serial called “Pyar Ka Dard” few nights back. The protagonist Aditya wondered aloud, while taking the dish from the proffered hands of his granny, why Pankhuri, his wife, couldn’t be the first to have a bite! This is what 21st century has propagated and achieved. Today a woman is as capable, as qualified, as competent and confident as any male counterpart can possibly be! I took my bro-in-law to be as advanced for his age as Adi was.
Talking about Adi, there is another striking quality about this all good-intending person. He saved his parents’ marriage from the scrambles and reunited them. I have been extremely disappointed in my niece, whom I loved a lot. I am doubtful if I will have anything to do with her in the days to come, Whether I’ll have some regrets as a result, is what I need to find out in the years roll by.
I will conclude with why I feel so very grateful to Sis. Some of my siblings have helped me with finances. While some others have toiled hard far me. My late Mejdi might have helped me both financially and physically. (I remember how she had me admitted in Vidyasagar College) after my HS result was out. I had fared miserably in the exam and I could only get admission in the college as the Principal was a close friend of Mejdi. I can also think of a bro who helped me to the best he was capable of but he had no steady job, to be honest!
No other sibling has helped me like Sis has, and in this regard, she has made even my bro-in-law take a back seat! In the last one year and a half, when the chips were down and I’d reasons to worry, Sis has been there for me as always.
My Ma was right that no one can love me like my Sis has. At a time, when Life has stopped being valuable and lost all meanings and purposes, I would wind up by entreating God to grant every bro a sister like mine.
The world will be a place of Love, Laughter, Bliss and Peace then. God bless my Sis.
