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?
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