Unseen Reality
==================================================Uddalak Banerjee
The date was 20th december ,2011. I was going by an auto to my maternal uncles house. I boarded the auto at thakurpukur and moved towards taratala. The behala metro was under construction on the highway so a portion of the highway was blocked by sheds. The construction work was going on for a long a time now. The auto walah started the conversation by saying,” Now a days the prices of houses and flats are getting costlier by the day because the new metro project is on . Inflation of prices of the food items is also going higher and higher.And at this rate soon ordinary people who earn less than than 20000 a month will soon have to go towards the village to make a living.”
I said,”yes true.My parents have already started to say that they would shift to villages after retirement. Houses in kolkata are becoming costlier and costlier.”
There were 3 passengers present in the auto and as per new kolkata police norms only 4 were allowed to board an auto in the thakurpur to taratala lane.It was about 4 o clock. The streets were not yet full. Buses and autos were moving at great pace.
One of the passenger broke in the conversation saying,”Now a days even in villages life style has become costlier. THe older day structure of closely linked families are no longer there. The prices of vegetables are nearly same now in villages. Aloo is 20 rs kilo ..and so on”
I said,” BUt atleast life style is slow in the villages so it gives people some time to themselves. In the cities mostly people are running. Life at kolkata is still slow but in other metros life is really really really fast. Unless u run with it u will lose out.”
The auto puller agreed and said,”life at raichak has become so costly now. Even pailan has become developed more than central kolkata. Development has taken place at a brisk pace. To live life now one needs to go to some village and make a living there.”
I said,” i think gangasagar can be a good place”
The passengers and the auto puller broke down in peels of laughter. But deep within they were quite concerned too.
Soon Behala came and even at 4 pm it had enough of vehicles plying on the road that it took me around 30 minutes to pass the region.The dense traffic in kolkata is indeed very nauseous.Tons of buses,loris , autos in particular make movement in the roads very difficult.As night descends traffic becomes more and more dense.
Soon as we reached ajanta there was a near accident with our auto by another speeding auto. It was mere bunificience of God that it got averted . All though a few words were exchanged by both the autopullers the incident did not go out of hand as both were in a hurry to make yet another trip. The co passengers visibly annoyed were bad mouthing the other auto puller and even went to the extent of saying that it is autos that have been the prime reason for road accidents.
Visibly shaken auto puller finally restarted the engine and without any further delay we too moved towards the taratala more. Now there was about 15 people were standing . It was understood by one and all that some accident has taken place. But the face of the person who has been hit was not seen. It was kind of shock for me too as my mother too take this path to office everyday. I quickly came down from the auto to get a closer view.
There was a lot of running around going on. One person was saying to the lady who was falling there with her head raptured that ,” look at me look at me.. do you want anyone to be called? Is there any phone number with you.”
The old lady was barely able to speak and was constantly looking upwards towards the sky and trying to tell something.
Someone standing nearby had some water with him . She came close to her and said,” Do you want to drink water? “
The others were saying,” call someone take her to hospital”.” but there may be a police case...”,” where are her relatives..”, “aree see the phone ..there must be someone give a call..”,” how will i know who her relatives are?”,”did anybody note the number of the auto who did this?” ,” police needs to be called..only they can take her to hospital”,” aree..it will be too late..she is barely breathing”
I looked at her eyes. They were blinking. She wanted to say something. The saliva from her mouth was dropping down. She wanted somebody to hear what she was saying perhaps for the final time. I had never seen someone die like this before. I did not know what to do . While my senses were saying to leave the scene and go to my maternal house for police would be coming soon and it is better to stay away from police in most cases.
I waited there for sometime and knew not what to do. The woman was gasping and i too was feeling really bad. But as i kept looking around me . Most people were not even looking at it they were busy discussing their own life only a few have assembled to have a look . IT was deeply touching and i was feeling helpless too that i was not being able to chip in with some contribution of my own. I wanted to take her to the hospital. In the moment of indecision and amidst the state of utter despair. I was forced to be a mute witness to the dire anxiety of the woman who was constantly shivering and people were shouting loud that “maybe the athma was leaving the body”
IT was deeply disconcerting to think that while coming out of her home she might not have thought of this. She might have had children ,grand children. They could not even know that their mother,grand mother was dying like this.IT might be that just like my mother and father she might have all her life told her children to eat in time,sleep in time, do all the right things and study hard. Now that she is going and with the skull so raptured she might be thinking of the days that have gone by . The skies above perhaps was calling her as she was slithering in pain.Maybe she was willing to see her son for one last time.The one whom she had brought up with intense care.
The reality of life lay in the very fact that the time that is spent with the near and loved ones is pristine.The time never comes back . IT is once in a life time and that life time which no one knows will end when and where. Images remain as one dies with a lasting aspiration to see the one whom he or she loved. To see the expression in her face to see the longing in which lies reflected the time span of ones life with a sense that he/she will do everything in his/her right to save him/her.Yet this reality often gets overlapped by skyscrappers and mad race for name and fame and often hijacks the very fundamental feeling of life which seeks peace,love and belonging.
I pray and hope that through this article that inspite of no relationship with the affected individual who that day lay helpless in the street get lasting peace in heavenly abode.I dont know whether others will ever remember her or not . But still i believe that may she finds peace and eternal harmony.Amen!
=====================================================================
==================================================Uddalak Banerjee
The date was 20th december ,2011. I was going by an auto to my maternal uncles house. I boarded the auto at thakurpukur and moved towards taratala. The behala metro was under construction on the highway so a portion of the highway was blocked by sheds. The construction work was going on for a long a time now. The auto walah started the conversation by saying,” Now a days the prices of houses and flats are getting costlier by the day because the new metro project is on . Inflation of prices of the food items is also going higher and higher.And at this rate soon ordinary people who earn less than than 20000 a month will soon have to go towards the village to make a living.”
I said,”yes true.My parents have already started to say that they would shift to villages after retirement. Houses in kolkata are becoming costlier and costlier.”
There were 3 passengers present in the auto and as per new kolkata police norms only 4 were allowed to board an auto in the thakurpur to taratala lane.It was about 4 o clock. The streets were not yet full. Buses and autos were moving at great pace.
One of the passenger broke in the conversation saying,”Now a days even in villages life style has become costlier. THe older day structure of closely linked families are no longer there. The prices of vegetables are nearly same now in villages. Aloo is 20 rs kilo ..and so on”
I said,” BUt atleast life style is slow in the villages so it gives people some time to themselves. In the cities mostly people are running. Life at kolkata is still slow but in other metros life is really really really fast. Unless u run with it u will lose out.”
The auto puller agreed and said,”life at raichak has become so costly now. Even pailan has become developed more than central kolkata. Development has taken place at a brisk pace. To live life now one needs to go to some village and make a living there.”
I said,” i think gangasagar can be a good place”
The passengers and the auto puller broke down in peels of laughter. But deep within they were quite concerned too.
Soon Behala came and even at 4 pm it had enough of vehicles plying on the road that it took me around 30 minutes to pass the region.The dense traffic in kolkata is indeed very nauseous.Tons of buses,loris , autos in particular make movement in the roads very difficult.As night descends traffic becomes more and more dense.
Soon as we reached ajanta there was a near accident with our auto by another speeding auto. It was mere bunificience of God that it got averted . All though a few words were exchanged by both the autopullers the incident did not go out of hand as both were in a hurry to make yet another trip. The co passengers visibly annoyed were bad mouthing the other auto puller and even went to the extent of saying that it is autos that have been the prime reason for road accidents.
Visibly shaken auto puller finally restarted the engine and without any further delay we too moved towards the taratala more. Now there was about 15 people were standing . It was understood by one and all that some accident has taken place. But the face of the person who has been hit was not seen. It was kind of shock for me too as my mother too take this path to office everyday. I quickly came down from the auto to get a closer view.
There was a lot of running around going on. One person was saying to the lady who was falling there with her head raptured that ,” look at me look at me.. do you want anyone to be called? Is there any phone number with you.”
The old lady was barely able to speak and was constantly looking upwards towards the sky and trying to tell something.
Someone standing nearby had some water with him . She came close to her and said,” Do you want to drink water? “
The others were saying,” call someone take her to hospital”.” but there may be a police case...”,” where are her relatives..”, “aree see the phone ..there must be someone give a call..”,” how will i know who her relatives are?”,”did anybody note the number of the auto who did this?” ,” police needs to be called..only they can take her to hospital”,” aree..it will be too late..she is barely breathing”
I looked at her eyes. They were blinking. She wanted to say something. The saliva from her mouth was dropping down. She wanted somebody to hear what she was saying perhaps for the final time. I had never seen someone die like this before. I did not know what to do . While my senses were saying to leave the scene and go to my maternal house for police would be coming soon and it is better to stay away from police in most cases.
I waited there for sometime and knew not what to do. The woman was gasping and i too was feeling really bad. But as i kept looking around me . Most people were not even looking at it they were busy discussing their own life only a few have assembled to have a look . IT was deeply touching and i was feeling helpless too that i was not being able to chip in with some contribution of my own. I wanted to take her to the hospital. In the moment of indecision and amidst the state of utter despair. I was forced to be a mute witness to the dire anxiety of the woman who was constantly shivering and people were shouting loud that “maybe the athma was leaving the body”
IT was deeply disconcerting to think that while coming out of her home she might not have thought of this. She might have had children ,grand children. They could not even know that their mother,grand mother was dying like this.IT might be that just like my mother and father she might have all her life told her children to eat in time,sleep in time, do all the right things and study hard. Now that she is going and with the skull so raptured she might be thinking of the days that have gone by . The skies above perhaps was calling her as she was slithering in pain.Maybe she was willing to see her son for one last time.The one whom she had brought up with intense care.
The reality of life lay in the very fact that the time that is spent with the near and loved ones is pristine.The time never comes back . IT is once in a life time and that life time which no one knows will end when and where. Images remain as one dies with a lasting aspiration to see the one whom he or she loved. To see the expression in her face to see the longing in which lies reflected the time span of ones life with a sense that he/she will do everything in his/her right to save him/her.Yet this reality often gets overlapped by skyscrappers and mad race for name and fame and often hijacks the very fundamental feeling of life which seeks peace,love and belonging.
I pray and hope that through this article that inspite of no relationship with the affected individual who that day lay helpless in the street get lasting peace in heavenly abode.I dont know whether others will ever remember her or not . But still i believe that may she finds peace and eternal harmony.Amen!
=====================================================================
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