DEAR. DEPARTED | Part 2.

Contd.....

The story told by the Assamese family.

Ex. Sgt. Nath was a gazette officer under govt. of Assam and well settled in Guwahati. Nath and his family started from Guwahati to go to Kanyakumari and on return to see Kerala and other places, for the first time in life. He carried a huge rollator family travel bag, in which he kept Rs.40000/ underneath the clothes, which the family did not know. He put the bag in a safe corner of the AC compartment and carried some pocket money and the family railway ticket with him. He, being confident to manage himself, did not share any information about money, ticket, or other choked-out plans to the family, who were also not interested to bear such responsibilities and wanted to at ease.

In Bhuvaneswar, when the train started, the family was under the impression that Nath might have got in the train in some other compartment, and so waited for half an hour to speak out. Meanwhile, the train had traveled 100kms. Naturally, they became panicky and decided to get down to the next station. But the co..passengers were cooperative and advised them to remain there and get down only in Trivandrum, next to next day. There was a person among them, named Rajan, who told them that he was to go to Trivandrum and assured them that they should not worry and his wife would come to the railway station in the car to pick him and they could stay at his home comfortably till Nath comes. The family agreed as he appeared to honest. Throughout the two days journey, he was very generous to spend on food and snacks. He kept on telling them not to have any hesitation and to consider him as a brother. In two days they had full faith in him. The train reached Trivandrum at 1.30 AM. He took them outside and said, "My wife had to go to her house urgently as her mother was sick and so did not come. "Let us go by taxi. Nothing to worry, my servant will be there, she will make food for you." Our elderly Indian women can smell dangers soon, especially, in the case of their daughters. They declined the offer and withdrew from going with him, although the innocent daughters trusted him with his loveable approach. He got annoyed in their stand, scolded them with bad words terribly, and warned them that they would land in danger. The women said nothing and decided to pass the night on the platform. When they were moving towards the lady's waiting room, he knew that they won't come with him, he shouted with a bad word, "You give me back the money I spent for you for two days."The mother replied that they would give back double the amount when they meet Mr. Nath. as they had Rajan's phone number. Just imagine the irony of fate to suffer this humiliation, as they did not know there were 40000 rupees safely kept in the huge rollator bag they were carrying. They did not know where Rajan had vanished when they went deep into the lady's waiting room. Anyone who has common sense can guess his wicked motive. This is the situation we met in the lady's waiting room, where they were sitting lost in the turmoil. We took them to our house while on the way we saw Rajan roaming on the platform, maybe with the hope of taking them with him in the morning. In my house also they were timid and fearful in the given room till they saw my equally aged two daughters who came into their company.

The next day I called their journey friend Mr. Rajan on the number he shared with them. I intended to inform him that the ladies were in a safe zone because he warned them they would land in danger. I gave the phone to the ladies to speak to him for confirmation. The moment he heard their voice, he started shouting which I could overhear. He said, " You are thankless, no shame to eat my money for two days" She replied, " We will send you the double amount. We have your contact number. Further, I do not know what had happened.

Don't you need to know about Mr. Nath?

Nath arrived at my hospital gate and called me at 1 pm the next to next day. I went to the gate, where he identified me with the color of my shirt, which I told him on phone. He came and hugged me and burst into tears. I took him home as it was our lunch break time. He looked in the shabby dress, which he was wearing for two-three days and traveling, sitting sometimes on the floor in passenger trains. He took short distance passenger trains one by one which was a foolish choice. If he had caught the next day's direct Guwahati Express from Bhubaneswar, he could have come earlier with reservation. But the poor man in the fuss, thought of catching the same train, in some station on the way to Trivandrum and thus could join his family. It is not surprising if you become mad when you are perplexed.

We reached home which is only two kilometers away from the hospital. His wife and children did not know about his arrival and so they were in their rooms on the first floor. I deliberately kept it to be a surprise. I pushed him to that room and closed the door as I knew that some loud emotional explosion may take place among them to ventilate the pressurized agonies of both parties, forgetting all surroundings.

The room was opened after one hour. Mr. Nath had a ceremonial bath and got refreshed. He came out in a glamourous dress followed by his family. We had a sumptuous lunch with some Assam special, which I knew from Dibrugarh villages. The family expressed their disappointment for depending on Rajan and others keeping 40000 rupees in the huge bag, they were carried throughout the journey. The communication gap !! The so-called Rajan has been understood to be a fraud in many aspects when I enquired later.

I took a half-day leave and in the evening, we sent them off in a Tata Sumo, tourist taxi to Kanyakumari, from where they went to many pilgrim shrines in South India and returned. Our two and their two four daughters got married and are in their thirties having two children, keeping good contact from east to south and south to east.

(There is a famous book, titled, "Dear departed" by Stanely Houghton, with some similar story element. Hence, that title is given for this anecdote. (a real experience in life)

Thank you