If I was to be granted a wish, I would try to turn back the clock and make it a habit of writing about all the events of my  life, be it significant or insignificant, on a daily basis, in the best way possible. Because our life is not entirely our own and the true meaning of life lies in offering it for the benefit of others.

Let me pen about what happened last Sunday. I was sound asleep in bed with my daughters, when, at around 4.15 am, i was awakened by the nagging ring of my mobile. It was my wife, Jaya, calling from Kolkata. She, in a very restrained voice informed me about the demise of her mother, my mother-in-law, who after a prolonged ailment finally bade farewell to this beautiful world at 2.15 am. My wife also advised me not to come down to Kolkata at once as that would amount to lots of problems and there was no point really keeping the dead body for us for long. Besides, our eldest daughter, Akanksha, was supposed to take her weekly test the following day. These weekly tests are very important as a certain percentage of the marks one secures in the tests is added to the CA (Continuing Assessment) marks and sent up to BCSEA as the internal assessment marks of a student for a particular academic year.

There was a time when I cared a lot about positions and results. I only thought highly about the toppers. But not anymore. A great change has come over me in the last two decades or so. I have come across all sorts of students and based on my association with them, come to the conclusion that it is not always the toppers, who turn out to be the best of us human beings.

So right after breakfast, as I informed my daughters about the death of their grandma, it was Akanksha, who suggested that we go down and try lending a hand to her grandpa. That sounded sensible to me and no sooner did we hit upon the idea than we were packing up for our hastily arranged trip to Kolkata. I had, by then, already made a couple of calls to my Principal and the Principal of Tsimalakha Lower Secondary School for leave and approval for my daughters as well as myself.

While I was getting dressed, I realized that I had spent whatever little money I had had with me on shopping earlier in the day. I had only Ngultrum 121/- at my disposal! My daughters promptly came to my rescue by offering me ngultrum 220/- and 50/- respectively. I was really not all that worried and decided to withdraw some money from my ATM on the way.

We went down to the Zero Point in a flash and did not have to wait for eternity for a lift. We found a vehicle coming and stopping near us. On enquiry, the young chap behind the wheel told me that he was headed for Phuentsholing and had no problem giving us a lift. I asked him how much I’d have to pay him. To which, he replied nonchalantly, “Your wish. Sir.” As I persisted with him, he finally said,”OK, give me 200/-“ I couldn’t believe my ears and pointing to my daughters, I asked him again if that amount was for all three of us!

The youngster, called Nav Raj smiled at me and off we went down to Phuentsholing. But for a minor hiccup when the hind tyre got punctured, we could have reached down earlier. Anyways, we got there at around 2.30 and we still had nearly 2 hours to catch the train from Hasimara. On coming out of the gate, I waved at the waiting auto-taxi and spoke to him about my predicament. Accordingly, he halted near the Axis Bank ATM, but I got back to the auto again having found from outside two men literally fighting with the machine. I also requested him to stop his vehicle near the SBI ATM at old Hasimara. He did as bid and I ran like the wind to withdraw the much-needed money from my account. But I was in no luck even with the help of the security guard. Disheartened, I got back to the auto with worry writ large all over my whole persona!

By the time I’d paid him, I was left with only ngultrum 101/-! I did not even have enough money to buy the ticket, neither for NJP nor for Alipurduar! In the meanwhile, 13150 Kanchan Kanya Express, our preferred train, was slowly moving into the platform and was gone within no time, to our utter dismay.

I could not even rue my luck as we hurried out of the station to look for any vehicle going towards Alipurduar. It was only then that I thought of calling my wife and informing her about my pathetic plight. As I did not have the money, I thought of talking of paying the driver on our arrival at the place. Luckily, we found a Maruti 800 going that way. The driver was reasonable in asking Rs.40/- per head. That was fine with me, but I would only pay him after reaching Alipur and making the withdrawal.

The journey to Alipurduar was uneventful. The driver finally dropped us near Chowpatti, infront of another Axis Bank ATM. Though I had my doubts, I decided to try my luck once more and ran across to the ATM. But I must have run out of luck by then and was greeted with the same message again: Sorry, unable to process your request.

I had no other option but to pay Rs.20/- less to the driver and was left with a note of one ngultrum in my purse! The next moment, I along with my daughters, was rushing towards to the SBI ATM on the opposite direction, a little above Hotel Sri Krishna. As the turn of events or ill-luck would have it, it was closed with the shutter down. When I asked one of the men sitting nearby, he told me that there was no money in the ATM and also asked me to proceed to the other ATM a little way up, near the taxi stand.

Contd on pg 2/-

Have Faith And Love Living.

I felt sorry for my daughters and decided not to torture them any further. So I left them near the Shopping Complex and then whirled back to the ATM a little way above the railway track, as if our whole survival depended on it! I am beginning to forget most of the journey down to Kolkata already, but one thing I’ll remember for a long, long time to come. I’ll remember it for ages as I shared it with many of my relatives back home. Having left my daughters behind as if I did not care much for them, I cried out for help to the my late mother, time and again. Sounds a bit hard to believe especially for someone of my age, but it is true.

The treatment meted out at the ATM there was no different from the way I had been treated at the other ATMs all day long. Bewildered, battered and broken, I was thinking of pawning my wrist-watch, when I chanced upon the man seated and gossiping near the first SBI ATM. My last hope, I approached him apprehensively and enlightened him with a detailed account of my poor predicament. My mother-in-law was no more. I was penniless and had to go down to Kolkata, with my two daughters, to attend the last rites. The man, surprisingly, believed me and furtively pushed me to the shutter, uplifting it a little and forcing me forward in the process! He also followed me in, requesting me to do it fast. “If others see us, I’ll be in trouble.” He also asked me not to withdraw more than Rs. 1000/- as there was not much in the ATM>

Now last year I was told by one of my Indian colleagues, Mr. Alex, that nowadays every time you try to withdraw some money, whether Rs. 100/- or Rs. 10,000/- using your visa card issued from Bhutan, Rs. 125/- will be debited from your account in Bhutan as charges. Keeping that in mind, I tried at first to withdraw Rs. 10,000/- from the ATM at a go, despite the constant reminder of the person behind me.  Nothing doing. Next time, I punched in Rs. 5000/- with the same result. I was getting extremely befuddled and reaching the end of my tether. With the man constantly urging me to press in Rs. 1000/- from the back, I did his bidding and surprise of surprises, the cash came out of the hole like the prodigal son returning home in that popular parable of The Bible! At the man’s request, I repeated the action for a second time and got richer by Rs. 1000/- more at a time when money seemed to be the sole purpose of my existence in this world! Hugely relieved, I ran back to my daughters, having remembered my manners just in the nick of time not to forget to thank my benefactor!

I started receiving calls from my people back home in the meantime. My better half phoned me to ask if she should deposit some money in my account then and there. My nephew and best friend till date, who holds a very prestigious post in NJP, having learnt about my dilemma, was the next in line. He asked me how much I wanted and talked about arranging a vehicle for me from Alipurduar itself. My sister also called me sounding genuinely worried over the phone. I calmed all of them and retraced our steps to Pagla Babar Hotel for our meal, having starved my daughters for the best part of the day! Even the owner was cooperative and went out of his way to try to help us. At his suggestion, we decided to spend the night at Kanchan Jungha Hotel near New Alipur Station in order to catch the first train at 4 O’Clock early in the morning.

As we boarded the Sealdaha-bound train and took our seats with the help of the TC, I did not fail invariably to thank our protective deities and my late Ma. Otherwise, who would have thought, let alone believed, of us leaving Tshimalakha for Kolkata with a paltry sum of Ngultrum 391/- in my pocket?