By the time I woke up, it was about 10:00 a.m. Aunty has still not reached the hospital. Uncle was sitting on the couch and was having a cup of coffee. He offered me one too. I decided to get my doubts cleared from Uncle, about who Geeta really is, and especially about Abhinu too.
I asked uncle "Sir if you don't mind, can I ask you something?"
Uncle replied, "Of course you can?"
"Who is Abhinu Banerjee?" I asked.
It felt like uncle was not ready for the question I just asked him.
He replied "Abhinu is my brother-In-Law's son. A few years ago, he was stationed in Purulia and was martyred at the hands of Naxalite"
As I was about to ask about Geeta, Vikash came to me and told me to come with him.
I asked, "What happened?"
He didn't utter a single word and dragged me out of the hospital into his car.
I asked, "Are we going somewhere?"
He replied "Yes. We are going to the Bokaro steel city. There is a Chanchalini Maa temple.(another
form of mother Parvati). This is a very old temple and it is said that if you wish for anything from the bottom of your heart in this temple, God fulfills them. And once we are back, Babul da has asked us to come by his place, we will need to go somewhere"
I asked, "Did he say where we are going?"
He replied, "No, he only said it concerns Geeta."
I have never visited a temple before in my life. As a matter of fact, I don't even go to Church. Not even for our Sunday Mass. I have seen Monika and Dad visit church every Sunday religiously, but I never felt the need or urge to visit any abode of God. My parents think I am an atheist.
However, in the current context, the thought about Geeta's current state and deep down a part of me feeling responsible for her condition, made me forego my atheist nature. I was willing to put my faith in God if it meant that there is even a small 0.001% chance of her waking up.
I told Vikash that I need to inform Mom about this and he replied that he has already informed her and she says that if going there would help me find my trust in God, she is absolutely fine with it.
I tried getting a nap on the Beemer. Vikash told me that the journey will take about 2 hours so if I wanted to take some rest, I can go ahead. As usual, it was Joy and Sanjoy Dada who was on the driving seat.
Even though my mind could not help but worry about Geeta, the comfort of his car soon put me to sleep for the next two hours. When I woke up we have reached the temple.
The temple is located in a hillock Chanchal Pahad (Pahad means hill in Hindi). It was known for hot springs in the past. Though the springs have dried up now, the temple is still popular for Hindu ceremonies. We had to climb about 300 steps to reach the temple and by the time we reached the top, we were very exhausted.
I told Vikash "I am not aware of the rules that need to be followed while entering the temple."
He replied, "Just follow whatever I do and everything will be all right."
As we entered the temple, I found there was a priest who was sitting right next to the diety. We went to a nearby vendor who was selling some plates which were decorated with some flowers and coconut. There were two small packets one of them contained vermillion and the other contained sandalwood.
Vikas told me "We will have to offer these flowers to the deity in the temple. It is believed that if you wish anything to the diety from the core of your heart with true faith and belief, the goddess would grant your wishes."
I have never wished for anything in my life. Whatever I had wanted, I worked for them and I got them without ever asking but today it was different, it was not for me. As I was offering my prayers there is only one thing that ran through my mind.
"Oh!!! God, I know I have been an atheist all my life. I have never visited a Church or a Temple ever in my life. I never felt the need to visit a place of god but today I am feeling very helpless. Its someone I met about a week back and I feel that her family is not treating her well. Something happened and they had to admit her to the hospital and now she is in a coma. I just want her to get well. God, I am sorry if I am not praying correctly but I don't know how to pray. If there is anything wrong with my prayers please forgive me. I trust you to grant the well being of a good human being who has always been true and good her whole life and has been a true believer of You."
Vikash who was standing next to me was done with his prayers and was admiring the way I kept my hands folded and bowed towards the deity of the temple. He looked at me and asked, "Are you sure you have never visited a place of God before."
I looked at him and replied, "Of course, I have never been to any place of God."
We didn't utter another word and left the temple. As we were returning to Purulia I saw a church on the way. I asked Joy to stop to offer prayers there as well.
By the time we were back in Purulia, it was three o'clock. I had a good 4-hour nap. It was a good enough rest to help me be awake the whole night.
Vikas dropped Joy and Sonjoy da at their residence, and as per instructions of Master da, we went to his place.
As we reached Babul da's place, we saw him talking to a lady.
"Meet Miss Maanya Sengupta. She has been a very good friend of mine. We have been friends since school. Once we completed our studies, I took part in the Movement, and she joined the Civil Services." said Master daa.
I shook hands with her and said "It's nice meeting you Ma'am"
Miss Sengupta replied with a smile "Wow... I am already liking him. This is the first time someone has called me Ma'am. You really know how to pick friends Babul." She looked at Babul da and gave a smile.
Vikash replied "Dada, do you mind telling us, why have you called us?"
Master da looked at Miss Sengupta and replied "We were about to go and meet the child's teacher and wanted to convince her to quit. I wanted to ask if you guys want to come."
Vikash replied, "Of course dada, I would love to come with you."
"Be aware, what is going to happen might not be good. What we are going to do might not be right so I want you guys to be absolutely sure if you want to come," replied Master da.
I was a bit nervous and excited too about what master daa was saying since I knew master da had a shady past and I am getting a chance to see him in action.
It took us 20 minutes to reach the teacher's place. I got down from the Beemer and opened the gates to the house to let the car in.
Miss Sengupta asked us to not participate and just watch and let Babul da and her do the talking. We followed them to the door. When Miss Sengupta rang the doorbell, a middle-aged lady came and opened the door.
"Do I know you? If you have come for donations, then you can leave. I don't like to entertain people like you who don't like to work, and beg for money" said the lady.
The welcoming words the lady uttered was unacceptable and I wanted to give her a piece of my mind.
Master daa replied "Oh... No-No-No... It's not that... we just want to talk to you about something else. It's regarding one of your students Mrs. Das."
The lady smiled and replied, "Oh... ok... I am sorry... Please come in."
As we went, Master da and Miss Sengupta sat on a twin sharing sofa and Mrs. Das sat on another sofa which was placed right next to it. I and Vikash pulled up chairs that were placed under the dining table and sat there.
Mrs. Das asked "Ok, so which student of mine you wanted to talk about?
"It's that Banerjee family's daughter" replied Miss. Sengupta.
"O-o... that freak weirdo? what about her?"
I saw the look on Master da's face when she said that those words about Geeta. I was so angry that I wanted to punch her right in the face when she uttered that word.
Master daa calmly replied "She is your student, you shouldn't be using such words about your student. In earlier days, the teacher's position was always placed above the parents and teachers like you... YOU DONT DESERVE TO BE CALLED A TEACHER... YOU ARE A DISGRACE..."
"HOW DARE YOU... you come to my place and abuse me" replied Mrs. Das in an angry tone.
Miss Sengupta replied in a composed tone "Please pardon him. He didn't mean any such thing. We just wanted to discuss something. Please listen to us."
Mrs. Das replied, "What is it that you want to know?"
"We want you to stop mentoring Geeta. We don't want you to be teaching her or be near her anymore." Said Miss Sengupta.
Mrs. Das stood up and shouted "Who are you guys?... why should I listen to you?... get up... get out of my house right now... Before I call the cops."
Master da suddenly stood up and shouted at her: "SHUT UP and sit down... we are trying to ask you politely... and we were hoping you would comply too..."
I decided not to intervene because I started to get a strange feeling that things were about to turn very nasty. We knew about the anger issues of master daa... and when he gets angry things never go well. Especially since 5 years ago when master da lost his only son in a road accident near Alipur, he was not the same person anymore.
Miss Sengupta started talking to Master da "It seems like things are not going as expected. I thought she would listen to us and not reply. She is threatening to call the police. Babul, do you know what happens to those people who the police suspect they have connections with the bad elements of the society." She turned around and looked at me and Vikash and said, "Do you guys know, what happens?"
"We have no Idea ma'am" Vikash and I replied.
"Are you threatening me?" Mrs. Das asked.
"Am I? Do you think I am threatening you? I wouldn't dare threaten you." looking at Master da Miss Sengupta asked, "Am I threatening her?"
Master da replied. "Noooo..."
Miss Sengupta got up, placed her hands on the 2 arms of the sofa, looked straight into the eyes of Mrs. Das and said "Right now, we are just asking you politely to leave Geeta alone. I want you to go to the hospital today or latest by tomorrow evening, and check if she is all right, later when the child is out of coma, we want you to take Babul with you, tell Mrs. Banerjee, that you are being transferred to Kolkata and that Babul will be taking care of the child's studies from now on."
Wow, for once I thought Master daa had issues, but it seems like she is 1 step ahead of him.
It felt like Mrs. Das was not a person who would break so easily, and she replied "I am doing no such thing. The Banerjee's are paying me hefty money to teach that freak. Why should I let such an opportunity go out of hand?"
This was the last straw, I have had it.
I yelled at her, "LOOK, LADY, IF YOU DONT STOP CURSING THAT CHILD, I AM GOING TO FORGET THAT YOU ARE A WOMAN"
Master daa looked at me said, "Be calm, we are handling this."
Master Daa looked at Miss Sengupta and said "Maanya, She is not giving me any choice, I will leave it to you. If you want me to call, I can do it now."
I was not sure what just happened. I saw Miss Sengupta took out a brand new mobile phone from her bag and gave it to Master Daa. He took out a SIM card from his pocket, dialed a number and called up someone.
Mrs. Das kept asking whom he was calling and the only reply she got was, "You will know soon."
After the call, Miss Sengupta shook hands with Mrs. Das and went about introducing us to her. As Mrs. Das was distracted, I could see master da hiding the mobile phone inside her couch.
As we were about to leave, Master daa looked at her and said "I hope you will think about our offer once again" and exited the house.
I was in a dilemma about what just happened. I tried asking them and their reply was "Mrs. Das
will be convinced on a couple of hours that our Geeta needs a new teacher."
We got into the car totally confused about what just happened and left her home.
Was it just me, or is Vikash confused too? His face clearly showed signs that he was confused. But I was also sure that if we asked them they were not going to reveal to us what they just did, at least not now.