My leaves were coming to an end. I had another week left before I had to report back to school. So I decided I better not waste any more time and finish up the journal. It was nearing 5:30 a.m. but it felt like sleep was nowhere in the cards for me. Being a Friday, I knew that the Banerjee daughters had school and Uncle had told me that he has asked aunty to go for work since she has already taken a lot of leaves.
Vikash had also not stayed for the night, he told me that he has got some work to do, and will be back early in the morning.
I wanted to have some tea, to make sure I don't fall asleep and went to the cafeteria even though my past experience tells me that the hospital tea would only help ruin my taste buds.
By the time I had my tea and came back it was 7:00 a.m. As I entered the room, I was welcomed by the sight of Monika and Vikash standing next to Geeta.
Monika was clutching Geeta's right hand and saying "Sweety, I know I was not able to protect you even though, I promised you that I will do all I can to safeguard you. Remember, it's our battle, the battle of the 3 Musketeers. remember our motto "All For One And One For All". No matter how life gets difficult for us, we will always find a way to overcome it and win. We promise to remain friends and take care of one another till eternity. How can you leave your Porthos alone?"
I stepped near Monika and hugged her with one arm. She has been crying and Uncle who was sitting nearby stood up and approached Monika.
He replied "Monika sweety, our Geeta will not lose a battle that easily. She is a fighter. she will have to wake up, if not for me, then for you, or the 3 men who are counting on her to wake up."
I kept thinking who are the 3 men uncle was talking about and deduced he was surely talking about Me, Vikash and Master da of whom we have spoken to him earlier.
I looked at Vikash and found that he was holding something in his hands. He told me that last night he went all the way to Kolkata to visit the Kalighat temple to offer prayers for the well being of Geeta. He took out a red-colored thread and tied it around Geeta's wrist.
Vikash replied, "When all hopes are lost, Devi Ma's eternal blessing always works."
Saying this he took leave and said that he will drop Monika home and return back later.
After they left, I started reading the journal once again with the hope that I won't fall asleep.
14th June 1992
Today was a Sunday. there was nothing much to do except lazing around. During the course of these 6 months, Aarohi, Monika and I became the best of buddies. Monika had a sleepover at our place last night because she wanted to celebrate her best friend's selection. I went to the room and found that Aarohi was a little bit sad. I tried to ask her what was the matter and she told me that she misses her mom. I was not sure what she meant and then I came to know from Monika that Aarohi was uncle's younger brother's daughter and that she had lost both her parents in an accident and since then uncle had been taking care of her. Even though aunty loves her more than her own daughters and Aarohi too prefers calling her mom out of respect, raising someone else's child can sometimes be a burden, especially when that child is proving themselves better than her own children. Monika also said that all the family members had congratulated her, even granny called up last night to wish her. She is the same granny who kept pestering aunty for a male heir. However, till now aunty had not congratulated her on her achievement. I didn't know what to reply to Aarohi's dilemma and kept quiet. We finally ended up playing basketball for the rest of the day.
**** Abhinu writes that for the next few days they played a total of 9 matches against Jalpaiguri, Bankura, and Hoogly which they won. ****
8th July 1992
Today's match was against Birbhum District. To date, we had a really good winning streak going on. In all the excitement during these matches, we have lost count of the total number of matches we played. According to our coach sir, he says that we have won the second-highest number of matches in the tournament. Kalimpong has been in the lead. However, the best part was that ours is the only school where 3 players had been approached by SAI for scholarship Sunaina, Aarohi and Taposh Dada, This was a feat which sir was really proud of. Just like most of the days, I was on the bench. The match started and the first half really felt like a one-sided match. Our team's performance was below par. During the second half, sir's strategy was that I, Taposh dada and Arjun would play and Sunaina, Grihamani, and Sai will be sitting. The strategy was simple, The team will pass the ball and Aarohi and I will score. By now we have become experts in scoring from long distance and sir wanted to use this to the team's advantage. His strategy worked, we scored in the final minutes and won.
9th July 1992
We didn't have any matches today. We continued attending classes as usual. During the third period, our principal called me to his room. It was unusual for principal sir to call me in his room as normally it were the troublesome kids who were called to the principal's office to have their punishments meted out and I was absolutely certain that I had not committed any mischief today. As I entered his room, he asked me to take a seat. There was a man who was sitting on a couch. Principal sir told me that he has called my uncle and that he needs to discuss something regarding my future. After some time uncle came to the principal's office. Principal sir introduced uncle to the man who was sitting on the couch, and then I came to know that he is a sports agent and I have been selected for a scholarship to play basketball too. It was the happiest moment of my life. Uncle told the man that he is happy but he will have to talk to my dad since he is in the army and is currently in a field posting. Uncle looked at me and raised his thumbs up and gave me his happiest smile. As I went back to the class, I decided to break the news in a different manner. I had my head down, pretending to look sad and entered the class. Everyone kept asking me what happened and I maintained a sad face throughout the period. During the period Adler started a rumor that I have been scolded by the principal because I injured someone during our last match who had to be admitted to the hospital. I wanted to share my good news with my 2 best friends first so I jotted in a piece of paper that I have been selected for the state team and was about to hand the chit to Monika when Sasmal sir caught me. He called me to his desk and wanted me to read what was written in the paper. I told sir that it was nothing but he kept insisting in a sarcastic tone that if it is a joke then I should share the humor with the whole class. I finally gave in and announced to the class that I have also been selected by S.A.I. The whole class got excited and could not curb their joy since we were the only class with 2 players selected for the state team.
**** HA HA HA... that was funny... very well played... I never knew DPS had such well trained students. I continued reading through the journal when I found that there were no entries after 14th July 1992
I don't seem to remember any pages missing from the journal. ****
I was deep in thought wondering about the missing pages/days when I saw Master da, Miss Sengupta, Koushik, and Vikash entering the hospital. Vikash introduced Master da to Mr. Banerjee.
"Hello Uncle, remember the other day I told you about someone, who is a better choice to be Geeta's teacher, he is the one, I was talking about," said Vikash.
Uncle shook his hands and replied "I have heard a lot about you from these boys. Thank you for agreeing to help my child."
Master da replied "My profession is teaching, and I can assure you I am pretty good at what I do. Don't worry. I promise you your child will be in good hands."
Uncle replied Master da "My family has not been kind to this child and because of my work I cannot spend ample time with my children, at least I know that with you around, someone is there to take care of my baby."
As he was talking with Master da, I witnessed a curious look on master dada's face as every now and then Uncle kept looking at the door.
"Is everything alright Mr. Banerjee?" asked Babul da.
Mr. Banerjee replied, "I felt like I saw someone, someone I know the past."
"I beg your pardon" replied Babul da.
Without saying another word Mr. Banerjee walked to the door, looked at Miss Sengupta and asked: "Am I thinking it correct, are you the same person whom I am thinking about right now?"
Miss Sengupta smiled and replied, "Whom are you thinking about?"
Uncle replied "Jadavpur Police station, 29th January 1995, Addl. Superintendent of Police Maanya Sengupta, 4 police officers were transferred and the Officer Incharge was suspended because of taking bribe and creating a false police report against an 8-year-old. You were the Officer who supervised the case."
Miss Sengupta smiled and said, "Wow... you remembered me from that incident?"
I saw the shocked looks on Master da and Vikash's face too upon discovering that she is a cop. For few seconds I thought master da was aware of the fact that she was a cop but it was clear from the shocked look on Master da's face that we have just come to know of a secret which only Mr. Banerjee and Miss Sengupta knew about.
She asked the 5 of us to get into the room and started narrating the incident Uncle mentioned.
"On the evening of 22nd December 1993, Mr. Banerjee came to meet me at my residence and told me that his brother in law's child has been in an incident and as a result has been rusticated from school."
"There has been a police report registered against the child and now no school is ready to take the child in. I told him that there is nothing I can do. If someone is a criminal he/she deserved to be punished,"
"Mr. Banerjee then told me that the child is just 8 years old and had lost someone very dear. An 8-year-old definitely deserves a second chance."
"I felt bad and decided to investigate and see if I could dig something up which could help clear the child's name."
"Upon investigating further, I came to know that this incident occurred when the kid retaliated to being bullied by another student in school. The extent to which this child was bullied was clear from my investigation and made me question whether justice was really served. While talking to the principal of the school, I discovered something, which I knew was better off hidden and instead cleared the child of all the charges and suspended the investigating officer for 5 years instead."
I asked her what was her findings. She looked at Mr. Banerjee and replied "What I am about to say, you will not like it. I hate to break this to you and burst your bubble."
Mr. Banerjee replied "I have seen and experienced enough in my lifetime to be awarded hell, I have seen the death of my favorite child, I have lost all hopes of survival in this world. I am only alive because I promised to take care of this child 'pointing towards Geeta' till my last breath. I am no longer afraid of the truth."
"Very well then if you insist. Don't blame me that I didn't warn you," replied Miss Sengupta.
"After the incident, the other student was sent to the hospital. The police officer assigned to the case had requested the parents of the other child not to press charges because that would mean ruining the life of an 8-year-old child."
"The parents of the other child understood that and decided not to press charges. However, things went sideways, when the 8-year old's aunt decided to teach a lesson in anger management and made a deal with the cops to keep the child in a juvenile detention center for 24 hours."
"I dug deeper to find out who that aunt was and when I came to know about her, I couldn't believe it. I enquired everyone involved in the case and every time my investigation pointed to that one person."
Master Da suddenly interrupted and replied, "I can bet that the person you are referring to is none other than Mrs. Banerjee herself."
"Yes you are right, the very person who bribed and conspired to put the 8 yr old kid behind bars was none other than Mrs. Banerjee, the child's beloved guardian," replied Miss Sengupta.
Mr. Banerjee couldn't believe what he just heard, and dropped to the floor. He was holding his forehead with his right hand and bawling, "Oo! God... what have I done to deserve all these. I have never hurt a soul in my life, I took care of 2 children when there was no one to take care of them and in return, this happens to me. Where is the justice?"
I knew this kind of thing would kill a man if he was alive, Master da and I bowed down and helped uncle sit on the chair next to Geeta.
Master da started, "Mr. Banerjee, I can feel what you are going through right now, but you need to stay strong, for the sake of that child." pointing towards Geeta.
As we were trying to calm Mr. Banerjee down, an unexpected miracle happened. Koushik shouted, "I think I saw her hand move."
All of us looked towards Geeta and suddenly we heard her sweet gentle voice after this torturous period of 9 days. The first words she mumbled were, "I love you Porthos. One for all, All for One"
Vikash came out of the room and started shouting for the doctor...
TO BE CONTINUED...