Let the flower bloom!!

Shubhadeep Mitra

To my mom and dad* and

Soumen and Sarajit

*Actually, I am in this world because of them. If I wouldn’t have been born, this book wouldn’t have been written.

Acknowledgements

Firstly, thanks to my mom, dad and classmates who performed these events in reality that had helped me to write.

Special thanks to Soumen Maity and Sarajit Das – the two great supporters of creation.

Thanks to Mr. Nirmalya Mukherjee for taking the excruciating pain to read the entire script and edit it.

Thanks to Mr. Anwar Ali for his exclusive photographic skills where he has actually proved the fact that a donkey can be turned into a horse.

Thanks to Maqsood Sir for designing the illustration cover for me.

Thanks to Mr. Mrityunjoy Chatterjee, Principal of NSHM Institute of Media and Communication for his support and encouragement.

Thanks to Krishnendu Sir, Gautam Sir and Jaydeep Sir for motivating me throughout my work.

Thanks to my teachers - Rajkumar Sir, Gopal Sir, Soujanya Ma’am, Sheerin Ma’am, Jhuma Ma’am, Sayani Ma’am, Lalima Ma’am, Radhika Ma’am, Brinda Ma’am and Anisha Ma’am for their support.

I am thankful to Shayak Ghosh, Saurav Ghosh, Nayan Ghosh, Vikash Kr. Sinha, Prashant, Shivam and Soumodip Banerjee for giving me a constant support.

Thanks to Sohani Paul, Sayan Bose, Apapbidhya, Tina, Tanaya, Santu, Paras, Sohini Pradhan, Arnab Sarkar, Sunanda, Utsav, Sucheta, Christopher, Piyasa, Neha, Nikhil (Nuku), Rudra da, Debarati, Priya Sharma, Pratik Sharma, Pratik Jain, Debajyoti, Saikat, Milon, Debmalyo Adhya and Priyanka Singh for encouraging me.

The credit also goes to all my English teachers who have been teaching me this subject over the last fifteen years.

Thanks to all my readers (I am thanking you guys before hand) because I know it will only be dependent on you whether my efforts will turn into a success.

Silent Warrior Certain emotions of mine, they

Tend to speak louder than words. But, to express them, I’m unable,

I am a silent warrior. I fight, I loose and I fight again-

My heavy heart, Oh! My love, Why aren’t you just tearing it apart?

- Shubhadeep Mitra

Prologue "We don't love qualities,

we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects

as well as of their qualities." Jacques Maritain

Being a boy from an orthodox Bengali family and deviating from the general concept of studying engineering and medical studies and landing up studying a professional course like under-graduate business administration, that too from a private institution, is indeed a curse and a great obstacle for the progress and settlement of the boy for his future.

“What will he do by studying this?” “Why is he just wasting money?” “He is simply nothing more than a spoiled brat.” This is what certain intellectuals keep buzzing around my ears. There is no career, according to them.

It’s just that the boy is wasting time and the hard-earned money of his parents. As I listen to these words, I feel like smiling and yet sometimes, these words hurt me a lot. Sometimes it seems, a rifle has been fired pointing towards my heart and the bullet slowly kissing the cardiac muscles and the adrenaline rushing all across my body and pain erupting from the wound and warm blood oozing out from it as if the crimson fluid has been really tired of staying inside me. At the same time, I am helpless because I am jobless with only one or two tuitions with a monthly earning of around thousand bucks and students, it’s like shouting at a donkey to turn it into a horse.

This is my life now and above all, the biggest mistake that I have done is that I have fallen in love with a girl who is a year junior to me. Sometimes, I try to sound a bit philosophical and say that human beings have a tendency to fall in love but I have risen in it. I do not know why but people generally make a joke of my philosophies except for my girl friend off course. She supports me but everyone knows that we two are the only people in both our families who accept our love and looks for a lovely future ahead. The truth is that I do not consider falling in love as a mistake but around me, the same intellectuals say that it’s the greatest mistake of my life. Intellectuals here strictly refer to the family members of mine and not my beloved friends and hard-working colleagues. My friends see my love as something which must lead to marriage-the so-called eternal bonding between a boy and a girl with the main intentions of making both of them a sort of ‘Prisoners of love.’

1

I am Tintin, a boy of twenty years and after spending twelve long years in school, I finally came to study under-graduate business administration in a reputed private institute in Kolkata. That was one and a half years back. It was really a bad news for my family because they all wanted me to be an engineer or a doctor but I thought it was better to break their delicate hearts and do something new which no one in my family had done before. So, I got admitted into the institute and started doing well in my studies. I crossed three semesters and am now in the fourth.

I go to the institute regularly and I am never late for my classes. Punctuality is always at its acme and I personally feel that as an upcoming manager, I have to give prime importance to time. Actually the seeds of punctuality were planted into my heart by our coordinator on the very first day of my college due to his long start-of-the-term speech. The truth is I feel doing classes regularly was easier than listening to his long speeches. All my classmates heard the speech but it failed to motivate them.

In a few cases, it seemed as if the seeds fell into a hard ground and failed to germinate as they preferred to bunk classes and visit the shopping-malls, not to buy but to spend time with friends. Some go for movies and others, though they are in college, will not attend the class. They sit for the entire day in the tea-shop just opposite the college and have tea and cigarettes the entire day and chat with topics which have no link between them. Like, they will start off with politics and suddenly compare a veteran politician to a famous hero. Then even some of them say that there are people in their locality who plays better cricket than the little

master Sachin Tendulkar. It’s great to listen to these boys and to tell the truth, during the first two semesters, I also spent the entire breaks sipping tea and listening to the chit-chats of the crowd.

Only a handful of students did regular classes and the poor coordinator, he had to run after all the students asking them to do classes as he felt that without doing classes, it was impossible for the students to score good marks in the exam. He failed to realize the fact that most of them had private tuitions at home. He preferred running after them as may be he felt that it would prove the world what a serious teacher he was but the coordinator is helpful. He is indeed a good person and he likes me a lot. He motivated me but later on, I realized that there are no other students whom he can motivate as they have ears which fail to receive the coordinator’s sound waves.

From the start, I was very friendly with all. I talked with them, I sat beside them but there was one boy called Sam who won my heart. He and I became good friends within a very short span of time. Life was good till then as I never allowed my professional and personal life to clash. Sam was actually from a business background and his main intention of studying this course was to join the family business to expand it. Besides doing my classes, I was also into plenty of constructive co-curricular work which I enjoyed a lot. All my subject teachers possessed a liking for me as they felt that this boy has a future. Now to tell the truth, everyone has a future. I am no one exceptional. All my hard work-attending regular classes, listening to the long and boring lectures of the professors and resisting myself from going to the ultra-modern shopping malls along with the motivations of my coordinator made me score wonderful marks in my semester exams but then, the biggest outcome of my success in the semester exams was that Sam and I became the best friends.

The particular reason behind this was that both of us sat behind one another during the exam. So as everyone can understand, the exam was basically a combined effort and after all, being management students, we must always learn to work in groups. We must learn the methods of distribution of work and Sam and I distributed the entire syllabus between us and the portions he knew well were studied by him and the portions I knew properly were done by me. In this way, we dominated the entire batch. Moreover, Sam and my friendship was a balanced combination of power and brains. We participated in all the events and were doing well in our course.

Sam thinks that I am different from others. I do not know why he thinks like that. After all, I have two eyes, two ears, one nose and one mouth and I am sure I have only a single brain. Yet, I am different. At first, it seemed to me as if I have a tail only visible to Sam or horns but then one fine day, when I asked him why he thought that I am different from others, he gave a very philosophical answer that I am a creative person with ideas effective enough to make an elephant dance. After all, Sam is the only person who dances to my ideas.

My family members, as I had started off with college, found it really difficult to interact with me and I made matters easy for them because I never tried to talk. They felt that I was a defeated warrior but I was actually a dormant volcano waiting to explode to prove my worth amidst a mass of worthless fools. The only persons at home who support me are my parents-my mom and dad. They just keep on telling me that you have to do something.

Now, when someone tells me that I have to do something, I find it really confusing. The range of ‘something’ starts from a beggar and in my case, may end upto a rock star. Jokes apart, yes, my parents want me to have a lovely career in the corporate world. They love me a lot and I cannot betray them. With loads of responsibilities and always aiming to be a good human being blended with the revengeful attitude, Tintin always wants to be at the top. Sam wants to be with him and he wants to be with Sam. So, the solution is very simple, both Tintin and Sam share a complimentary relationship where one cannot exist without the other and our parents and our coordinator acts as catalysts. They do not take part in the reaction themselves but steadies the process. In one word, these people ‘motivate’ us.

2 The first semester was very good and I became a seven pointer in my institute. It was really nice and

my dad was very happy. My life was becoming somewhat boring and it was then that it changed. Every girls in my college thought that Tintin suffers from a lady-phobia and plenty of them liked me but I just saw them as

my friends and romance, after all, is not a one-way traffic. I wanted to do well in my studies and wait for the appropriate girl. I wished God to write a love-story for me which no one has read before.

With the start of the second semester, Sam was madly in search of a girl friend for me and throughout the first two semesters, he kept on saying, “Bro, you must have a girl friend. What is this? There are so many beautiful girls around you and plenty of them have a liking for you, why don’t you reciprocate?”

I just smiled at him and said, “Don’t worry dear. Just hold on. Let the appropriate time come and everything will happen automatically.”

Sam was once again very philosophical and said that the future is made by us and we must not waste time. According to him, not falling in love is wastage of time. Very funny as it is, I followed my own principle. It was easier and better and the main intention of all these were life had to run smoothly. After all, it is my life. I never preferred a rough track. After the passage of time, Sam lost hope and he started concentrating in his studies and work.

At the middle of our second semester, we became very popular in the college as we were indeed true to our work and tried hard to do well and above all, people could rely on us. To tell the truth, I never wanted to be popular within the institute because I was all aware of the circumstances that would follow. Where ever you go, there would be at least a student of your college who will recognize you amidst the crowd and stop you to chat and once again, being a management student, I was very much aware of the importance of time and I considered this as wastage of time. Any politics and people will want you to be on their side due to the presence of a classical concept in their mind-‘If you have the famous guys on your side, all battles can be won.’

At last, we were helpless as we couldn’t resist ourselves from doing the extra-curricular works and performing well in the semester exams. So we became famous and the result was as we had predicted. There were two groups-one, who looked upto our friendship and wanted to be a part of it and the other which had pessimists who thought it was better to criticize than to do some thing creative. The aim of their life was to spoil our work by shouting against us and they thought, doing destructive works will turn them into heroes but it only reflected their jealousy over us. The truth, after all, was that we really did not care. The more they shouted, the more we encouraged them to shout. They didn’t understand and kept on shouting as we kept on doing our work.

A sort of silent warriors, as we were, Sam and I kept on with our work. When the works were done, what I disliked the most was that these people enjoyed the fruits. Sam had a different explanation to this. He felt that those fruits would lead to indigestion and he, thus, encouraged them to have more.

We were very happy and life was really nice for both of us until one day, I came to know that Sam was in love with a girl called Sathi. She was not in our college but then, that day; it just slipped out of his tongue. Actually, he told me again that day, “See this is the last time I am asking you, will you fall in love?”

Seeing me smile, he became angry and said, “I am not joking. Did you get my point?” “Yes. I got it,” I said. “I am not joking dear. It’s just that time is not yet ripe for me to fall in it. You go

ahead. Why don’t you fall in it? First you do and I will follow.” He was really furious this time and frowning his face, he spoke out, “Fuck! Who said I am not in love?”

and then he realized what a great mistake he has done. The fact was that emperors lost their empires due to uncontrollable rage and here it was only a little man called Sam trying to shout so as to hide the truth. In other words, he was basically trying hard to do something next to impossible. I could not believe my ears heard about the romance of a boy who was my friend. I had been thinking throughout that Sam and I are two fellows who will love but would never fall in it and then to make matters worse, I said, “Okay that’s great! Hope you be happy with her. Come let’s go to class.”

Sam was very angry on me and this time, instead of shouting at me, he became very emotional and said, “How can you say me like that? We have so much in common and we are the best friends and you have to love someone.”

It seemed to me that when your best friend is in love, you also need to do the same. So odd, isn’t it? However, who knew that God had listened to our conversation and had understood the importance of friendship as stated by the great Sam and had already started writing a love story for me?

Inspite of all these, I just drew a few conclusions that Sam was in love and above all, he was true about his friendship towards me. I was very happy and amidst all the happiness, I did not realize when the second semester came to an end and I was happy to complete the first year of my college but then, I was waiting for the result because I had to keep upto the expectations of my dad.

3

The results, yes, they came out as they had to come out and though it disappointed plenty of students, it did not disappoint Sam and me as we both did well. Infact, I became a seven pointer again and above all, my dad was happy. I was happy because I made my dad happy. As a seven pointer in the class, I stood third but a group of students in my class felt that I was their sole competitor. It was so disgusting to see them fighting a long lost battle. Even some of them spoke, “Why do you study so much?” They were so foolish that they never understood that I never studied so much. I just did my regular classes and never kept anything pending for tomorrow.

The results came out with the start of the third semester but one thing that was sad was that we did not have our coordinator’s class in this semester but the good news was that he still remained our coordinator. As always, he came and gave his first start-of-the-term speech in his patent language called ‘Beng-lish’ that is, a combination of Bengali and English which had similar reactions from the crowd. Half slept and half nodded their heads and sir found it easier to concentrate harder on only two students-Sam and me to establish his facts. Classes started off and I was back in form and started studying hard once again.

Amidst all the classes, the main excitement at the start of the third semester was the arrival of the first years in the institute. There were so much planning being done and everyone kept on asking the teachers the particular date when the new guys would step into the institute. Some were planning about the fresher’s party to be of great fun and others felt that how would they introduce themselves to the juniors especially the girls. Sam kept on saying, “Now, where will you run?” and he started praying God to send some girl with powers special enough to attract Tintin. I knew the best I could do was to avoid him. So, I kept silent and just smiled vaguely whenever he spoke such words. It was easier to concentrate in my studies than to go on a ‘girl-search’ across the first-years. Search for romance can make a simple life complex. Moreover, the greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure. So, I was a sort of afraid of getting rejected.

The students in our class looked upto the introductory session which, they had prior intentions of turning into a ragging session. (Strictly, here ragging does not refer to physical assaults, but jokes which are really non-veg enough to satisfy a guy’s sexual instincts or music which are pre-inserted with slangs. These are for the boys and for the girls, there are easier topics. After all, it has to be easier for the girls or how will the seniors attract them?) Some of them even looked up to organize the fresher’s welcome party because in our time, there was no fresher’s welcome due to certain problems between the seniors and someone had to start.

Sam and I was the supporter of this group consisting of constructive thinkers. We were also interested in putting up a fresher’s welcome and Sam was interested in finding a partner for me too. We were counting the days and finally, the official date of the arrival of the new comers was announced. Just one week was left and our joy knew no bounds. Then, behind every joy there has to be something sad that will follow.

The saddest part was that after three days, all the notice boards flashed a notice perfectly signed by the campus director strictly stating that ragging is an act of criminal offence and that any student found involving in it would be punishable by law. Along with the notice was attached a document from the Supreme Court. The notice broke the delicate hearts of plenty of our students. All around the college, students started discussing about the unexpected notice and their discussions reflected a suppressed fear. If any junior went and complained to the authorities regarding the authentic testosterone – rechargeable jokes and stuffs, they would indeed be in trouble but then, nothing could stop them. Everything was planned and we just counted the days.

Our soft skills in-charge called me one day to her office when only two days were left for the new guys to arrive and asked me to do her a favour. It was more of a demand than a request. Getting a positive nod from me, she said that you will go to each class and say the juniors how important soft skills classes are for the management students. They must attend the classes and the teacher wanted me to give the new comers a

demo of how fluent I am in English with all the credit going to the college for providing the students with the soft skills classes. The truth was that everyone in a management institute tries hard to speak in English. So, automatically, we learn the language and acquire efficiency and fluency. After all, practice makes a man perfect.

I decided to keep silent but then, communication being incomplete without a proper feedback; I had to give her a positive reply. I felt as if I was an advertising agent of the institute. As I was about to leave her office, the teacher told me, “Do not go alone. Take Sam along with you. Both of you can do it. All the best!” Sam laughed at me as I narrated him the entire conversation with the teacher but we knew that we had to go to the junior classes and narrate the importance of the soft-skills classes.

The biggest step towards success within the premises of the institute is ‘Plan and Proceed.’ So, the great Sam and I started planning of how to attain success in the assigned task without making a joke of ourselves. Now only one day was left and we were very happy but at the same time, we were a bit confused of how to put up that demo before the freshers.

The long-awaited countdown had started and we all waited anxiously for the arrival of our freshers. Who knew that God had already heard Sam and the girl whom Tintin would love was on her way to the institute? Well, at least I never expected this.

4

Completely wrapping ourselves in formals, as we entered college that day, all around us the posters flashed- ‘Welcome Freshers’ and lots of anxious first years were waiting at the gate and at the reception. Some of them were alone while a few of them were standing with their parents who were equally anxious. Some of them were trying to make new friends by forcing a ‘Hi’ out of their dry throats. It seemed as if they were about to enter a place which was more or less hell and from where there was no possibility of returning.

I noticed a few boys whose eyes were searching here and there so as to catch a quick glance of all the pretty girls and were fighting with their hearts as to whom they would propose. As always, there were a few idiots too, who, as usual, would first find it really difficult to cope with the college life but then would ultimately fall prey before Darwin’s principle-‘Survival of the fittest’ and would at last change themselves. The saddest part as well as the fact is that most of these boys turn bad as they have a tendency to follow the wrong path.

Sam was standing beside me and was continuously staring at the girls and passing comments and was deriving a great pleasure out of his work. I was thinking of running to my class so that the teachers would not be able to find us. If they found us, I was well aware of the circumstances that would follow. They would assign us with some boring work which would in turn spoil our mood for the entire day. I told Sam about my intentions but he completely ignored my warnings and said, “We do not get such opportunities often. We must utilize it.”

As soon as he finished his words, I felt a tap on my back. I looked back and received one of the greatest shocks of my life. Standing right in front of me, wearing a South-Indian silk sari and exposing a smiling face was none other but the great dictator of our institute whom I could easily place next to the legend-Adolf Hitler. She was none other than our soft skills in-charge standing with a parchment in her hand and looking directly at Sam and me. “Oh dear! I was searching for both of you,” she said.

Again with a similar tone that sounded more of a demand than a request, she said, “Come on guys. Take this list and as soon as the freshers come into the class for their induction programme, get it signed by them beside their respective names of BBA and BSCM. Give the other papers of BCA to Savy and Suchi and the other list of Media to Rohit.” Saying her words and not waiting to listen to our reply, she turned back and headed off towards her office. Everything happened all of a sudden and before we realised the entire thing, she was gone.

Thus, we were stuck. We had to wait at the main entrance of the hall. It was ten in the morning. The bell rang and the freshers stepped inside the building. Several seniors were standing at the main entrance and showed the first years the way and Sam and I along with Savy, Suchi and Rohit stood like fools holding the parchments in our hand and seeing the names of complete strangers. The first years felt that we were

someone really important as we were holding a list of their names and the formals added flavours to their thoughts.

The induction programme started with a long speech by the campus director who gave equal trace on attending regular classes, punctuality and performance. The speech was really motivating and we could understand by the facial expression of the freshers that they were enjoying the speech and were feeling that this is exactly what a management college should be like. The speech went on for around forty-five minutes and the seniors present inside the hall were already half asleep but it did not affect the director. He was a man who was mainly concerned about his goals. So, it had no effect on him. Here, his main aim was to make the new guys well aware of the fact that they were studying in a prestigious institution and he did not care what others did or commented but to be true, we did not have the guts to pass comments as he spoke.

As soon as the speech got over, they were introduced to their coordinators and their subject teachers and the best part was that none of the teachers gave lectures. They just introduced themselves making it clear that ‘our lectures are costly … come to the class and only then can you listen to it.’ With this, the induction programme came to an end but it led to the start of the pre-planned introduction session.

We could understand that all the seniors were eagerly waiting outside the room for the induction programme to get over. As soon as it was over we quickly got the papers signed by the students and then Rohit took the Media students to a separate room, Savy and Suchi took the BCA guys to another and in the hall, Sam and I was left with the BBA and BSCM guys. It was more like a ‘Divide and Rule Policy’ adopted by us. In terms of management, one can define it as the distribution of work to increase efficiency and productivity.

As the division was completed, all the seniors entered the hall like gallant warriors entering an arena. Most of the first years had a tensed expression yet a few of them pretended to be as cool as a cucumber. We asked them to sit quietly and to minimize chaos, one of the seniors called Prat shouted out over the microphone. His voice struck like thunder and within seconds, every one became quiet. I gave a small pat on his shoulder to encourage him.

When all were settled, everyone was asked to come one-by-one over to the microphone and introduce themselves. Some of them spoke well while a few others were tensed. To them, it seemed public-speaking was the most difficult task they had ever approached in their life. We enjoyed the session a lot as it was a mixture of tension, people stammering in front of the microphone and a few girls who were so nervous, that any time, they could burst into tears.

With the end of the introduction session, once again each of them were called up and they were asked to do as instructed by the seniors like cracking non-veg jokes, singing songs pre-inserted with slangs, shouting out multiplication tables where the numbers were replaced by the sounds of various animals especially those with four legs and so on. It was very enjoyable and a moment to be stored in our hard-disks for ever.

Like this, we had a great time that day and after all this, Sam and I really forgot the stress of the boring work assigned to us by our soft skills in-charge. Now, the main thing before us was the arrangement of a fresher’s welcome party and from next day, the work started off on a full swing.

5

The third semester classes were going on well and in between, we had meetings for the arranging of the fresher’s welcome. Sam and I were actively taking part in the arrangements and were a part of the core team members. Our seniors were also with us. Most of the meetings were in the canteen where every food was a sort of Indianised to match the taste of the students. Work was well distributed and it included collecting money from the students, booking of a proper air-conditioned venue, printing attractive banners, leaflets and passes, collecting advertisements, ordering refreshments and above all, putting up a proper cultural-programme for the new-comers. We had also planned to put up a competition for the first-years and a modeling contest too and we had to order for attractive prizes to present the winners.

Moreover, after every event in the college there has to be a band performance. So, we were also in search of a band that would perform for us at a standard rate. The search was on and the work was on too. We had to miss a few classes as the meetings had to be done. There was yet another serious problem. As I

said before, our batch did not receive a fresher’s welcome and most of the students of our batch did not want to participate in the event so as to protest.

They were indeed true to their thoughts but then they failed to realize that at least someone had to start or there would never be a fresher’s party in our institute. Every day we went to their classes and gave long lectures and sometimes our seniors went too. Some of them understood the fact and yet a few of them failed to realize and thought that it was better to stick to their own concepts. Each student except the first years had to pay fifty bucks and though plenty of students thought like us, the others refused to pay. We were constantly searching for ways to make these people understand but then our efforts were fruitless.

We just had one thing in mind that any way the programme has to be done. So, we started collecting the money and in the end, we were really happy as we had enough money. We had our ways to handle those who did not pay the amount as it was decided that passes would only be given to the students who paid and we had to make sure that no passes were leaked out. The date was finalized and our seniors and Sam booked the ‘Uttam Manch’ as the venue for the programme and then well designed passes were printed too.

Our campus-director wanted an air-conditioned hall as it was summer and it was terribly hot in Kolkata. This hall is air-conditioned with proper seating arrangements and has been named after the veteran actor Uttam Kumar who had once ruled the Bengali film industry with his numerous hits and his romantic image that had mesmerized the eyes of the audience for ages. Well, at least the Government found a proper way to pay homage to the legend!

Sam came and told me that it was great and we just need a proper sound system and lights to have some thing well-balanced. So both of us went to the seniors and we requested them that we need a proper sound and lights to make the show entertaining and they listened to us and Deba who was the head gave us a positive reply.

“I will look into it,” he said seriously and after two days, we heard that we were indeed being provided with a proper sound and lights and those, we will definitely enjoy a lot. There was another group who was looking after the arrangements of the cultural programme and it consisted of Sushan, Syco, Savy and Suchi. They were busy selecting students for performing.

Let me tell you all about another classical truth that exists within the premises of an institute. If there is a programme to be organized, one will suddenly find that everyone can dance and sing and there has to be an audition. There are people who never sang or danced in their life before but once they hear about a programme, they turn so enthusiastic that they all want to take part and that is next to impossible because time is a factor. So every time, an audition occurs and there teachers and senior students take the initiative to select those who can really perform well. There were many students who came for the audition and as usual, most made a joke of themselves. Our teachers and seniors smiled and laughed as they told them blankly that they were not selected. Luckily, I got selected in the audition and I was happy.

Then another problem was that from the first years, we had to select ‘Mr. Fresher and Miss Fresher’ at the end of the freshers welcome party. For this, there had to be a competition and when it was announced in the classes of the first-years, all wanted to participate following the classical concept I had already narrated earlier. There had to be an audition for this too. We thus gave its responsibilities to one of the reputed local radio-stations who had wanted to conduct a workshop with the first-years. They were happy too and it was decided that they would select the participants for the event. So, in this way we would remain impartial to the crowd and none would blame the organizing committee.

The preparations were on and the biggest problem that we faced was the collection of the advertisements but to tell the truth, we indeed got them but we wanted a bit more. The prizes for the winners were also bought. Around two weeks and a half were left and all went well. The distribution of passes started off and the more the funds came in, the more we turned excited. We also decided to keep security to make the programme run smoothly and for this, Prat went and selected students whom he felt were equally as strong as he is. After the selection was done and Prat stood with his group of muscle-men, for a fraction of a second, it seemed to me as if I was standing in an arena from where there was no return except as a lifeless form.

After a few days, the people from radio visited our institute and they had their own ways of selecting the participants for ‘Power House’ which was the competition for selecting the Mr. Fresher and Miss Fresher. It was indeed interesting as they were asked to do a couple of things like singing and give a public speech on topics which were indeed different.

Everything was done and we were ready with our arrangements. The main thing that was left was the rehearsal. Only one week was left and we fixed up a date for the start of the rehearsal and we were also busy making the last moment preparations like buying flowers and making the banners and posters ready for the show. After all these, there was another problem that evolved which I had never expected.

6

“If you have no power to change it, you have no right to criticize it”

As the rehearsals started off, I went for them too. I was singing a Bengali number and people started commenting that it will never turn into a success.

“Are you mad?” asked a boy at the rehearsals one fine morning. It seemed to them that since most of the audience does not understand the Bengali language, the song would become a flop. They never understood the fact that there were also Bengali listeners. Moreover, everyone was singing in Hindi. So I thought that I would perform in Bengali as it would at least bring about some variation. What is life if we cannot do things differently?

Now who has the time to make these fools understand? I, thus, thought that it was better to concentrate on my song than to listen to the comments. After all, in a way I was challenged as I had to sing in Bengali and prove them. A person like me wants changes and I, thus, stuck to my own theory. Sam was the only person among the students who supported me and I have already told before that the only elephant that dances to my ideas is Sam. Jokes apart, Sam told me, “Do not worry! I am telling you that only your song will become a hit.”

Sam came upto me and said, amidst all the problems, that he saw a girl in the first year’s media batch and according to him, she looked great and that she was a perfect match for me too. Listening to his words, I said rudely due to the burden of the troubles on me, “What can I do? You go and see her more.”

He became quiet but something more gets processed in your brains when you are silent. So that evening, when I had completely forgotten about the entire thing and was coming down the stairs with Sam, I saw a girl coming up. Sam also saw her and his excitement knew no bounds. “This is the girl. This is her,” he said very excitedly.

There was no doubt that the girl was pretty but I replied to Sam, “Come on, she looks more like my sister than my girl friend.” Sam was really angry and shouted out of anger, “Beware dear, you will never know when this sister will turn into your wife.”

Besides this there was another problem that occurred. Sushan had a band of his own in the college which comprised of four other boys from his class. Sushan, Sam and I, though Sam and I were junior to him, had a good rapport. Someone felt jealous of this and went one day to Sushan and said that Tintin is complaining to everyone that since Sushan is his senior and has a band of his own, he can do whatever he wanted. The person also did not forget to add spice to it and said that I have also complained that it was Sushan who had given strict orders that I will only be given a chance to sing just one song.

I did not know that all these had happened until one afternoon, Sam and I were standing in the corridor of the first floor. Sushan was passing by and I saw that he did not even look at me. I was surprised. Where ever he met me before, he at least said ‘hi’. Sam also had no idea as to what was happening.

So I went forward and stopped him and asked, “Hey Sushan, what’s wrong with you?” He looked at me with rage in his eyes and simply said, “You are my junior. Do not forget that. Try to

stay within your limits.” I was shocked as this sort of behavior from Sushan was really not expected. After telling these words, he marched off. We kept on wandering what was the reason behind this rudeness and then Sam and I came to a decision that ‘You can never force someone to talk unless he wants to talk himself.’ So we gave up searching for the reasons behind Sushan misbehaving with me.

Rehearsals went on well and one day, when only five days were left for the show, one of the band members of Sushan named Ishan came upto me and said, “What have you said to Sushan?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “I was just standing with Sam and he was passing by. We asked him what was wrong and he misbehaved with me and marched away.”

Then, Raj told me the reasons which had flowed down to Sushan’s eardrums as a result of which his behaviour deviated from the general trend to turn negative towards us. So we told Raj that we do not know who said but we haven’t told anyone like that. Raj smiled and nodding his head he said, “I know you haven’t said but it’s no use as Sushan wouldn’t understand and is not ready to listen to any explanations.”

These words really made us smile because Sam and I were in no mood to go to him and explain but we did not want to spoil the friendship. I do not understand why people listen to things and start dancing without analyzing the entire matter. Same was with Sushan. Someone went and told him something about me and he did not analyze the entire matter and drew out conclusions. I was sad because of his misbehavior.

So, that evening when he was sitting in the canteen, Sam and I went to him and inspite of his furious glances, we explained him what had happened. “I have said nothing like that to anyone,” I told him and after giving plenty of other explanations and with the usage of emotional words, the ice finally melted.

“Okay,” he said, finally turning emotional. “Let’s be friends again.” We were still his friends and there was no need to tell the last few words but we kept quiet as when emotions get flooded, you must allow it to flow or it has a tendency to turn suffocating for both the speaker and the listener. So, at last everything was settled and we were approaching towards the end of the rehearsals. Only two days were left for the show.

So on Saturday morning, we had our final rehearsal. I never knew that the great Almighty had already answered to Sam and that girl whom we had met on the stairs and whom Sam expected to turn into my wife from sister, was also a participant for the Power House and was also present for the rehearsal.

7

Every participant was present for the last rehearsal on Saturday morning. All the passes had been distributed and Sam and I were made the logistic in-charge. It was the most difficult task as we had to arrange for every raw materials required for putting up the show. Everyone sat in a classroom and it was being headed by Syco, Rohit, Savy, Sushan and a few other teachers.

As soon as I entered, Sam said excitedly, “Hey see. That girl is here.” I smiled and Sam again cursed me by using his same old words that I just need time and I will get an

answer. I thought to myself as what would time answer me. It would just convert someone whom I do not know and just said that she was like my sister into my wife. So great, isn’t it? Not even girl friend, directly a wife. I really felt the entire thing very funny and stupid. I had no intentions of making Sam angrier and just told him, trying hard to change the topic that we can concentrate on our rehearsal ahead.

I went and sang my song when my turn came and got a lovely response from the crowd of students who had been waiting anxiously for their turn to come. As I sat beside Sam, I looked at that girl. She was busy fidgeting with her cell-phone and for a fraction of a second, I felt as if she looked like an actress from the movie ‘Chak De India!’

It was a movie that had hit the theatres a couple of months back and was a King Khan starrer. The movie, a super hit, was based upon the hockey world cup that the women’s hockey team had won and there was a character in the movie called ‘Komal Chautala’ who portrayed the character of a player in that team. This girl looked exactly like her – same hair style, same looks and off course, same height. I had seen her before but then, it was never in such a detailed way.

Moreover, it seemed to me that she was completely enveloped in a world of her own where none was allowed to enter. The truth was I did not know why I was looking at her and doing so much analyzing on her but I was really helpless as my heart was controlling my mind and this is exactly the point where we have to give up. I had to do as my heart desired. She looked at me for once and it seemed to me her mobile was out of signal for a while. As I was turning my face away, she had a stern expression and for me, it was like ‘God save me!’

Again, after a short period of time, she was back with her work – fidgeting with the cell-phone. She was so confident that she was not at all discussing with anyone about her song. She was least interested, it seemed. For her, performing for the fresher’s party was just another day-to-day work. Well, I waited for her turn to come as there was an internal urge that I had to listen to her performance and I was really lucky enough that I did not have to wait long.

She was actually singing a duet with another girl from her batch. It was a ‘Rabindra Sangeet’ – song composed by the noble laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore that she was singing. The song was also one of my favourite. They were actually singing with a karaoke and the music was put on. Oh God! What a horrible performance it was. Both the singers started off in different octaves and though she was singing in perfect tune, the girl who was her partner, started late and as a result, the whole song was out of scale.

Our English teacher was sitting there and she stopped the entire performance and asked them to start over once again. “Darling there is nothing to feel tensed. Feel comfortable,” she told them. They took their time and started off with their singing again but there was no such improvement. Actually there was no improvement at all. Sam whispered in my ears, “What a mess!” Saying this, he left as if he had better things to do in life than listen to such nonsense.

Our English teacher, at last, when she found that it was of no use, called both of them and asked them the reasons for not being able to perform properly. The girl, whom Sam had cursed about turning directly into my wife, stepped ahead and began explaining. She felt that if she spoke in English, the pole-strength of her explanations would automatically increase. I felt that she was actually making a joke of herself. Our English teacher was listening quietly to her explanations with an expressionless face and I could not resist myself anymore and spoke out, “Hey, I guess you can come down to your vernacular!”

Our teacher looked at me sternly but she was well-accustomed with my comments in class and she felt it better not to comment any more but the person to whom this comment was indicated was furious and I guess she had never been commented like this before and she got the flavour of comments that were passed in colleges. The stern expression on her face blended with the melancholy of her disability to perform well was indeed sad but then my heart suddenly wanted to follow a dark route and I felt it really enjoying. At least, I could go and tell Sam that I had commented on the girl whom he felt had a future with me and I just couldn’t wait to do it.

As soon as the rehearsal was over and she was ready to leave, I tried to console her and said that the best way to improve was to sit and listen to the song over and over again and practice with her friend. She looked at me and said furiously, “Please mind your own business.” I smiled and thought it was better to leave than to speak to her. You can take the horse to the pond but you cannot make it drink water unless it wants to drink on its own.

These were my last words with her and like a gallant warrior, unable to accept defeat, she marched off. I gazed at her departure and as I was about to think something about her, Sam came and said that Deba had called for a final meeting with the core team members and we had to hurry.

8

“Rain rain, go away come again another day.”

The countdown was finally over. Unfortunately, it started raining torrentially. Our programme was supposed to start from five in the evening. Those who were a part of the organizing committee reached there early. We were really tensed that many students would not be able to come and that the hall will not be full. Sam and Ashu were sent to buy flowers and they kept on calling that the streets have been water-logged and it was impossible to return.

Deba, being an MBA student felt that ‘nothing is impossible’ and he kept on giving motivational speeches over the phone and at last, he realised that he forgot to tell them what they had been wanting to hear for a long time. Actually, these words of Sam and Ashu were only meant for seeking permission so that they could return to the venue in a cab. Deba was a bit late to understand and then finally, he said, “I can understand. You guys take a cab from there and return. I will pay you. Hope you are happy!”

I was wearing a lovely suit that day and while I was leaving home, my mom did not forget to ask, “Are you going to marry?”

We had some work in the venue like putting up of the banners and advertisements, making the lists ready and so on. I, thus, had to open my coat and keep it in the green room. The boys’ green room was also taken by the girls and we couldn’t help. Somehow, we managed to get a small room beside the original boys’ green room and we thought of utilizing resources. Thus, it became our green room. All the work was done but we were waiting for the crowd.

At four, inspite of the heavy shower, students came. Barriers fail to arise when something is desired from the core of the heart. It was really awesome to see the first years. They were very enthusiastic and it was indeed great to see them in their colourful outfits. At the gate, Prat stood with his security – ‘A group of Men in Black.’ They checked each and everyone for their passes and it was also a rule that no one was allowed to carry cigarettes inside the hall. The most surprising thing was that no one carried them. The teachers also came. The great personalities – Sam and Ashu also returned with the flowers. As Sam came and saw me, he said, “Stay cool. Your programme will be a great success.”

At first I was standing at the gate watching Prat and his team. There was wonderful coordination among the members. Then I went to the green room and was sitting there for some time and then, as soon as I came out from there to see the crowd, the soft skills in-charge caught me and made a joke out of my outfit. “Have you come for a management meeting?” she asked. I tried hard to smile but it was of no use. As usual, she did not wait for my answer and thus, I thought it was safer to go back to the green room and sit.

The programme started off exactly at five with the speeches of the three principals of the three different streams and the lighting of the lamp by the chief guest. Then there was the ‘Saraswati Bandana’ and ‘Ganesh Bandana.’ It was followed by the first round of the ‘Power House.’ The anchors of the event did a great job as their words encouraged the crowd and turned them more enthusiastic. They cheered a lot and it was wonderful. Then there were other performers who danced and sang and it was going on well. The applaud from the crowd was really huge and the participants were also enjoying their performances but everyone was not upto the mark. The audience was really supportive and this gave the performers an additional advantage.

To tell the truth, as I sat there for a moment, my heart took me to that girl and I asked myself where she was. I saw my heart asking me back the same question. To tell the truth, I did not want to think about her but I was helpless. This is the problem that occurs with the human beings when the heart controls the mind. At that moment, Savy came and told me that our English teacher was calling me. I was searching for Sam but he was nowhere to be found.

So, I went to her alone. She was standing beside the girls’ green room and beside her, that girl was standing. I was stunned and asked myself, “Oh God! What is this happening?” She was looking excellent in a black salwar that she was wearing but I thought it was better to ignore her. So, I walked over to ma’am and she just told me, “See when you go upto the stage to perform, please smile. I do not want to see that serious image of yours.”

I just nodded and said, “Ma’am, do not worry. Today you will see another person.” From the side, that girl kept on watching me and then, the moment I finished talking to the teacher and was about to leave, she called me from back. I looked back to check if my ears made a mistake but no, it hadn’t.

There was no way to return. In these cases, when you respond to someone’s call, that too of a girl, you have to stop and listen to what she says. Actually, life has really mysterious theories which lack explanations. It’s just that you have to follow them. Well, I also followed one such theory. “Yes, are you calling me?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Why, can’t I call you?” I replied, “Off course you can.” “Are you the same person who insulted me last day?” “Oh! Yes it was me.” She looked a bit surprised. Trying hard to hide her surprised state from me, she said, “I can’t believe it.

You have changed so much! I will tell you the truth, you are just looking awesome!”

I was stunned again. “Thank you,” I said. There is yet another theory that came into play. As soon as a verbal conversation starts off in this

fashion, you have to carry it on as even if you do not want so, your heart will suddenly turn naughty and will prevent you from quitting. My heart was naughtier that day and it had no intentions of quitting the conversation. Instead, it took me to a dream land. Well, I was ready to talk to her more when the anchors announced my name. The relief was that before my performance, they wanted to announce the results of the ‘Power House.’

I was so engrossed in talking to her that I had completely forgotten about my performance. As soon as I heard my name being announced, I came back to reality and started searching for Sam because I had to keep my cell with him before going on to the stage.

9

God is also naughty. He could have listened to Sam but not like this. Every time, Sam had stayed with me but today, he was nowhere to be found. I went on searching for him but it was of no use. Then I realized that the situation was not being controlled by me. It was not in my hand. There was only one person now in front of me whom I could give my cell as others were busy with their own work (mainly chatting and criticizing). She was happy because she got selected in the first round of the ‘Power House.’

I couldn’t help and asked her out, “Will you please do me a favour?” “Sure,” she said. “Please keep my cell with you for a while. As soon as my performance is over, I will take it.” “Okay you can keep it with me,” she said. “It’s not an issue. All the best! People were saying your song

will not be a hit. I don’t think so. It will be a great success.” These words were like an additional boost and I had never expected this from her but there is indeed no such rule that unexpected things will not happen. In this case, I really felt great that it happened.

“Thank you so much,” I said. As I looked into her eyes, someone inside me whispered that I can rely upon her. I kept my cell with

her as my heart suggested me and within seconds, as soon as my name was announced, I walked into the stage. The crowd greeted me with a huge applaud and my performance started off well with an introduction about the song.

I will not boast about myself a lot but the fact is that, the ears of the crowd feasted over my tunes and clapped all through the performance but the biggest success was that I was the only participant who made the audience sing along with me. I left the stage with the audience requesting me to sing again and shouting out their hearts but I was unable to keep their request as it was pre-decided that no performance could be repeated as we had to save time.

Above all, I knew I had won the challenge. I knew I had mesmerized the crowd with a Bengali song. I knew people loved and enjoyed the performance. As I came back stage, all started hugging me and patting me. A few of the first-years clicked my photo.

Plenty of the students said that I was looking great amidst the laser and blue and red lights and the smoke. It was great to be hugged by the teachers and Deba just uttered two words, “You rock!” I became more famous, this time as a singer and a complete performer.

I saw someone peeping at me from behind the curtains and it was none other but the great Sam with a broad smile across his face. He ran to me saying, “See I told you your song will be a hit!” We hugged one another as being management students, like we know how to distribute work; we know how to share its fruits. It was great and I forgot that I was actually angry on this boy because I had been searching for him throughout and there was no hint of him before my performance. This is what friendship is. It has no place for fights. The biggest strength of a true friendship is the ability of its participants to forget. Yes, we have to forget as it is an art that increases the internal bond but the most surprising thing was that Sam did not forget his duties.

He asked me, “Where did you keep your cell?” I had completely forgotten about it but had never expected him to ask this question yet he did. God,

as I have said He is very naughty, had more surprises in store for me. As soon as he asked the question, there

was a tap on my back. I turned around to receive yet another shock of my life. That girl was standing there. I never expected this. She said, “Wow, what a performance it was!”

Somehow I forced a smile and replied, “Thank you so much.” “You forgot something,” she said. I started fumbling as I never wanted her to return my cell in front of Sam as I was aware of his

reactions but then, she did exactly what I didn’t want her to do. Protruding her palms with my cell on its top, she said, “Hey! Your phone.”

Oh God! What was this happening? As soon as Sam saw it, his eyes widened and he started coughing and he felt it was better to leave than to stand as a spectator and witness the blossom of romance.

As soon as he left, I felt better and thanking her, took my cell but then something happened yet again. Our fingers touched and we looked into each other’s eyes. Words failed to erupt and silence took the lead role. Yes, silence speaks more than words. We kept on looking for a few seconds and the bond had developed. From inside, there rose an internal desire to talk. I wanted to speak. Someone from inside me kept on shouting ‘Tintin speak or you will miss this opportunity.’

May be, she had similar reactions and she started the conversation again. “What is your name?” she asked.

As I said, she also told her name. She was not Komal Chautala but Namy. “Nice name,” I said as she kept on gazing at me as a result of which I started feeling a bit

uncomfortable. The conversation proceeded well. We discussed about our class, our aim in life, our family and many

other topics. Time was passing on well. We were standing at the back stage and people were working around us but it seemed we had enveloped ourselves into a world of our own. I did not want to come out of it. Her eyes, as she kept on staring at me, were like two dazzling black pearls. The most surprising thing was that nobody disturbed us.

As she told me about herself, I felt her words spinning a cocoon around me and I was slowly getting lost amidst its cozy surrounding. She kept on saying and I kept on listening. We had no track of the programme. Then the winners of the ‘Power House’ were announced. She did not win but she was so sporting that she completely ignored it and continued talking with me.

She kept on saying, “I can’t believe you are the same person who insulted me last day. How have you changed so much?” At first, whenever she asked me this question, I smiled but this time she expected an answer. Thus, I explained, “See, I am not that person you saw last day. It was not me. This is what I am originally but I have a tendency of hiding my original form amidst my jokes and comments. I tend to be like a dormant volcano who still remembers that he has to explode. I told you my family does not support my education except my mom and dad. So I have a lot to do, you know. I liked you a lot as your life has a lot of similarities with me. Students have always felt that that I have suffered from a girl-phobia and there was another group of girls who thought that I am a gay as I am always with Sam and I do not speak to girls.”

Listening to my words with attention, I never knew or understood what conclusions she was drawing out from them but as soon as I mentioned the word ‘gay,’ all her attention disappeared and a broad smile replaced it which ultimately turned into laughter and she laughed as if she hadn’t laughed for ages. Then, she cracked an unexpected joke, “Wow! You are really sexy enough to attract both sexes” and started laughing again. I started liking her because she smiled at me and meant it.

I said to myself, “God, this is the girl I want. This is the madness I want. I am insane and she is crazy too.”

We kept on laughing and how dazzling was her beauty that my eyes buffeted over it but then, it was time for her to perform and she had to get ready. “Please watch my programme,” she said. “We will talk again after the performance.” I wished her an ‘all the best’ and she was off.

10

Her performance, as it started off, was better than the rehearsals. This time there was no blunder from her side but then her partner, another girl from her batch, committed similar mistakes. Theories went

wrong again. Who says, ‘People learn from their mistakes?’ May be people learn from their faults but her associate was an exception to the rule. The crowd did not tell anything because it is a fact that Rabindra Sangeet will only attract a selected group of listeners which our auditorium lacked as most of the students did not understand Bengali but I personally liked Namy’s style of singing.

When she came back stage, she displayed her careless attitude once again. Nobody commented over her performance and she also did not want to know. I spoke the truth, “See, I liked your style of singing but I think you could have selected someone with whom you would have been more comfortable. Your partner was not at all good.”

I expected a ‘thank-you’ from her but instead she replied, “This is the reason why you are the only boy in the college whom I liked.”

I couldn’t derive any reason from her reply and seeing me puzzled, she asked again, “What’s wrong with you?”

“I can’t understand what you said - the reason behind me being the only boy you liked.” “Oh! That’s because you are straight forward and I like people like you who speak out their heart

whenever they want and in whichever way they want,” she replied. Suddenly, God wanted to be naughtier and hunger became his weapon. “I am hungry,” she said. “Can we go and have some food?” This was another question I was really afraid of because one of the most idiotic medical practitioners,

after my recovery from the terrible, yet boring jaundice, had completely forbidden me from eating junk. I told her the reason behind avoiding junk food and requested her to go and have her food. She did not want to go alone but then, I made up a story.

“Dear, please go and have your food because I have to go for some last minute work because the band performance will start off,” I said. “We will sit and watch the band performance together after that.”

Actually, my intention was to meet Sam. As she left, she held my finger and I felt a pull. There was again a splurge of adrenaline as she looked back and smiled and was gone. I took a few more seconds to uncoil and then slowly walked towards the end of the auditorium only to find that everyone was standing there and having food.

Once again, people started congratulating me and Sam came out from amidst them with a food packet and gave it to me. “So sister becomes wife?” he asked.

I kept quiet as he kept on smiling. Sam knew that I will not eat the food but he felt that not taking the food packet would lead to the increase of profit of the institute. We had paid so much to the institute for the course and he considered this as an additional advantage of utilizing the money spent. He was so over flown with the concepts that prevails within the institute that he completely forgot the fact that we had all paid fifty bucks for this packet. Well, nothing gets wasted. I took the sweet from the packet and as I handed it to Sam, there were other mouths waiting there to satisfy themselves. Hardly a few minutes passed and my fifty bucks had been utilized.

We entered the auditorium again. It was lit and we could see the guest band members standing on stage and setting up their instruments. Again, as I turned back, Sam was gone. What was this happening? God, it seemed to me, had never been so mischievous before.

Suddenly, Sayantani, a second year student from BHM, came running to me. I felt as if something serious had happened and indeed, something serious did happen. May be it was not so serious for others, but for me it was really important.

“You know, that girl in black with whom you were talking is madly in search of you. She came to me and asked me to call you. She is there at the front row,” Sayantani said without a pause.

“Okay,” I said and after walking a few steps slowly to show Sayantani that I was least interested, I sprinted towards the front corner where there were only two seats. There she was standing looking here and there. As soon as she saw me, she exploded in joy, “Come, I have kept a sit for you. Where have you been so long? I was waiting for you.”

“Sorry,” I said slowly and sat down beside her. The auditorium became dark. The music started off with the introduction of the band. The band performed slow, soft English tracks which purified the

atmosphere and once again, romance flourished. Slowly, I kept my palm on hers and she looked at me straight into my eyes. The band started playing a soft, romantic number and it was great. We couldn’t move. Nothing was going into my ears. Really, I felt the entire thing so heavenly that it seemed I wouldn’t regret if someone came and said that it is due to this flourishing of love that I have missed such a wonderful band performance.

All of a sudden someone poked in my ribs from the side. As I turned, I saw my classmates standing there. I turned back and a few of them were sitting behind us too. Everyone had a smile on their faces. There was Tathagata, Prat, Sam and Avijit who were standing. Behind me, on the seats were Tina, Santu, Tanaya and a few others. It took me only seconds to understand that it was Sam who had spread the news.

It seemed as if all wanted to witness the love bloom out of its bud. She understood and kept on asking me whether these people were my classmates. “What will they tell you tomorrow?” she asked.

I turned philosophical with my answer and said, “I think we must not do things which we have to hide from others. I don’t care what they think.”

My answer satisfied her and as the programme came to an end, we got up to leave. Reaching the stair case, we stood there and I knew it would be really difficult to part because though we haven’t proposed each other, we could see love in each other’s eyes. On the stair case, as we stood, she asked, “Don’t you have anything more to say me?”

I never expected this question but as it had been asked, I had to give the young damsel another satisfying answer. “Oh yes! I forgot to take your mobile number,” I said.

“Wow! Nice way to avoid your duty,” she said and dictated her number. I gave her mine too. It was late. Most of the people were leaving. It was time to go home. We wished each other a good bye. The man who always says goodbye is waiting for something to happen. We had to move on inspite of the intense desire of both the hearts to stay back.

11

“Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.”

Rose Franken As I was coming home that day, I received an SMS stating:

“Hey friend, thanx for ur support & company. Miss

u. Meet u soon. Gd nite. Tk care. Reply. Waiting for it.”

I replied to it: “Dear I am missing u 2. Yes Will meet soon. Thanx for

making my evening so spcl. Gd nite. Sweet drmz. Tk cre :)”

I couldn’t sleep that night. I kept on cherishing the moments of my success and several thoughts also evolved within the confinements of my grey matter. I turned nocturnal to converse with my heart who desperately wanted to speak to me too. “See, above all you guys need to be very good friends of one another,” it said.

I felt the words true. Yes, my heart preached the perfect words. Friendship is the origin of every relation. It is irrespective of caste, religion and sexual discriminations. It is a faith. It is a bond or an attachment of hearts. I said to myself, “First, let us be friends. Like Sam and me – as we are friends, Namy should also be my friend. Before we love each other, we must come closer to each other’s hearts. We must understand one another. We must feel for each other. We should walk and work together. We must support one another in times of need. We must share the success too.”

The preaching of my heart made me realise certain truths. The night seemed to be so long. I wished it was longer. I wanted to converse with my heart more. I wanted to run back to Namy though I knew it was

impossible. I understood why my intellectual friends said that love is so refined it turns more addictive than liquor.

Several saints and philosophers had tried to find the meaning of ‘love’ throughout their lives and just before their soul departed, they surrendered that their whole life had been spent fruitless in search of its true meaning and here it was Tintin, a silent warrior, combating with his heart to derive what ‘love’ meant.

I remembered those hostel days when one day, in class, one of our teachers told the entire class, “There is a difference between life and love. Life is a journey with a destiny but love is not. It is a journey without a destination. We just have to move on and on by an endless road. No one knows where it leads.”

We were too young then to understand the true meaning of these words but that day, I understood what he had meant. It was highly nostalgic to journey back to those fun days where we had learnt a lot of realities. I remembered those teachers who taught us so many facts and the extreme nostalgia made my lachrymal glands ooze. Tears trickled down my eyes. I said to myself, “Oh Namy! It is you who made me go back to those days where learning was a fun, where we were taught to create and above all, where we were taught to love. Each day had new experiences in store for us. Moreover, it was there that we learnt that ‘it is easier to destroy than to create’ and that all the credit is given to the creators and the destroyers are criticized.”

As the tears rolled on and on, somewhere inside me, was blossoming the seeds of an intense delight. I wanted to sob more and amidst all these, I never realized when the first rays of dawn penetrated through the window panes and fell on my eyes. I could not wait to go back to college.

The entire night, I had been sleepless and my eyes had turned scarlet but nothing mattered to me anymore. I looked at the watch. It was seven in the morning. I started studying for some time after getting fresh as I felt that the best way to forget things is to involve the brain in doing some work and I had no other work but to study.

At nine, I got ready and left for college. On my way, I called her up but then she did not pick up the call. I kept on calling but then there was no reply. I became afraid. I reached the institute only to hear that all classes have been called off for that day. I thought it was better to go to Soro’s room where he stayed as a paying guest. Soro was actually from Siliguri (a place in the North Eastern region of India) and was my class mate. He had come from there to study in our institute. After Sam, he was also a good friend of mine. Whenever there were no classes, Soro’s room turned out to be our favourite hang-out zone. We chatted and enjoyed. There were three other boys – Dev, Mil and Raj.

As I went to their room, I got another shock of my life. I found Soro brushing his teeth on the tap across the road. He was wearing a vest and a torn trouser. As soon as he saw me, he greeted me with joy and said that something terrible had occurred last night. He asked me to go up to the room and see what had happened.

I followed Soro upto his room. He opened the lock and as I was about to step in, I paused. Oh God! What is this? There was water all around. The three musketeers - Dev, Mil and Raj were fast asleep and above all, all around the room there was a pungent smell of strong alcohol. I peeped into the toilet and what I saw there was again something I had not expected. The sink had been shattered to pieces. I just stood there and to me, it seemed that there had been an earthquake a few minutes ago.

Soro smiled and said, “Want to listen what had happened?” Then, without waiting for my answer, he started narrating the story. He said, “Last night, after your performance, we came out of the hall and it was my birthday too. We were so engrossed into your song that all of us wanted to enjoy. We started walking and from a wine shop, we purchased the drinks. We drank on the road and Mil and Raj were completely out of senses. We started singing your song on the road as we walked back home. A few of the drinks were left and Dev and I had it after we returned. Mil went to the toilet and broke the sink and the tap. The water over-flowed. Now, there is no water in the tank. These guys are still snoozing. God knows, when they will wake up? I am waiting for the landlord to come down and shout. Why did you sing like that?”

I had only one answer to give him after listening to such a wonderful narration. I told him, “United we stand, divided we fall.” This was a sort of life I led with my friends before though we never compromised with our studies but Namy modified it. All of a sudden I remembered I had to call my sweet, little darling.

12

“Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep.”

Fran Lebowitz I called her up again and this time she disconnected the line. I was about to feel bad when she called

up. I responded immediately to her call. After wishing each other a good morning, she started off by saying, “Why have you come to college? You did not know that there is no class today? Well, I was calling you last night to convey the message but your cell was switched off. You should have enjoyed a lovely sleep at home.”

To this I said, “Dear, I couldn’t sleep the entire night and you took me to a dream land where I talked to my heart, recollected my old hostel days and searched for philosophical answers in order to find the true meaning of ‘love’.”

“Same over here,” she said. “What do you think; I wake up so late in the morning? I could not sleep the entire night too and since today is a holiday, I thought of sleeping some more. Then I saw your missed calls on the display and called you back.”

Both of us laughed a lot after this and then she spoke again, “You know, we must be acquainted with one another.” Yes, it was true that we had to know about one another. We had to be on familiar terms with each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We had to learn about our families. We had to locate similarities and allow our thoughts to match too. So, I thought of telling her about me first and once I finished she also told me about herself. I will not hide the conversation from the readers but let’s tell it in a different way. Rather than describing our telephonic conversation, I think it will be wiser to tell the readers about what we learnt about one another from the chat.

Tintin’s life, family, friends et cetera As said earlier, I told Namy the same words that I was born into an orthodox Bengali family where

quitting engineering and medical studies and landing up studying a professional course like undergraduate business administration was treated as a curse. None other except my mom and dad could accept my studies and thus, all the other members of my family started criticizing me but I possessed ears which failed to receive those sound waves and thus it had no effect on me. I know only my parents – mom and dad and no one else because they are the only persons who have supported me all throughout my life. Whatever I am doing is only for them. Dad trusts me a lot. He relies on me. He works very hard for me. He wants me to do well and above all, grow upto a good human being. Under all circumstances, I can never betray him and I have to make him proud.

I joke, I comment but behind all these, the original Tintin remains hidden in a subdued world of ‘Banalata Sen’ where he dreams, he feels, he cries and he turns emotional and starts playing with his own sentiment and sometimes creates verses, songs and sings too. It is this boy who also listens to the timeless tunes of Tagore and keeps on weeping all alone. Next moment, he listens to the legend, Johnny Cash that transforms his heart into a revolutionist. When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.

I told her about my education and even discussed about my hostel days where I learnt to be different from others. I told her about my dreams of studying abroad and becoming a successful researcher or a brilliant professor. I told her about my position in class. I told her about the competitions I face due to certain students of my class. They are so foolish that they fail to understand that I do not study a lot. I just study regularly. I told her about how my teachers like me and about Sam being the only elephant dancing to my weird ideas. I told her about my motto in life, ‘Nothing is Impossible’.

This is Tintin who lives on this earth for a cause as he has to do something. God has sent everyone for a cause and it is highly idiotic to waste the precious gift of God – ‘life’. Moreover, I think that there is really a credit in creating because it is easier to destroy and above all the greatest strength of mine is that I understand the values of time, a true friendship and love. I am also happy as I am able to study a course which I really love from the core of my heart.

Namy’s life, family, friends et cetera After listening to me, Namy said that her life has a lot of similarities with mine. She was born into a

family which was similarly orthodox and they never wanted her to study media. As she came from a business background, her dad desperately wanted her to study business management and take up the family business in future but her little heart wanted something else. She had to fight with her dad, rebel against his intense desire and ultimately, winning the battle, she had landed up in our institute to study her heart’s desire.

Her original house is in Ranaghat (a town in West Bengal) but in order to study, she stays all alone in Salt Lake at Kolkata. Her mom seldom visits her. She dreams of becoming a journalist but the truth is that her life lacked ‘love’. She was desperately in search of it. There had been plenty of ups and downs in her life. There was one particular person who had given her false hopes, wooed her and then when time came, had ditched her and this resulted into an excruciating pain which the little heart could not tolerate any more. This really had a dreadful effect on her health and for the last two years, she had turned into a schizophrenic and had to undergo severe treatments that had terrific side effects. Moreover, her creativity had been lost. She forgot to smile and tragedy clouded her heart.

Somehow, before joining college, she wanted to give up her past and look ahead and she terribly wanted support to come out of that hell that had cloaked her all along the last two years. She wanted her life to be harmonious, peaceful and pleasant. She only had her mom on her side but she was also busy with the business. She was walking all alone along the road of life and she wanted someone to walk by her. Above all, she also dreamt of being a true human being.

13 Conclusions drawn by Namy

After listening to the entire conversation, Namy concluded, “You are really great. Your ideologies are so different from others. You are so ambitious yet so kind, happy and respectful. You are so creative. You are just awesome. I like you a lot.”

She liked my voice and that she had always waited for a friend like me and it was great and that she could not wait to see me again. Moreover, all her desires had matched. She found every want of hers in me. She had always dreamt of a person who will be creative, who will be a bit mad and imaginative but will always speak out his heart.

Besides this, she also added, “Your eyes are really great. Your appearance, attitude, the way you walk, talk and those naughty, amorous glances of yours are really addictive. I guess how beautiful your parents look that you got such expressive eyes and a brilliant figure.”

After this, she directly started comparing the similarities of our lives. Yes, we both have suffered a lot. There have been real ups and downs. We both were looking ahead for the future with lots of hopes and expectations but we were walking unaccompanied along the road of life. We must now walk together, stand beside one another both in times of sadness and delight.

Conclusions drawn by Tintin Now, when she had concluded, she also expected to listen to my deductions and I did not make her

wait any longer. As soon as she was over, I started off. “You are good too and I also like you a lot. Dear, you are so pretty and stylish and well, I do not understand how it was possible for that devilish character to torture a delicate heart. Does that person has a heart of his own or is it only crammed up with rocks?”

She listened to me with complete attention as I continued, “Do not worry. Now I am there. No one can harm you. You are so talented that you just need someone to love and support you and everything will be fine. The world has disturbed you so long and now it is your turn to show them. I mean like me, now you have to explode so as to prove your worth amidst a mass of worthless fools. We have been fighting alone but now since the fight will continue, let us unite and fight. Let us show these people what we can do and dominate them entirely.”

I was flowing with emotions and I knew these words of mine had emerged from the heart and am true. I knew these words had an additional effect on her. She wanted to fight again properly. She did not want to see the battle as ‘long lost’ any more but someone from within her whispered that after getting tortured for

so long, now it was her turn to take revenge. Amidst all these, I deciphered that she had a very revengeful and diplomatic attitude and then I realized that it was not her fault but the conditions that she had been throughout had converted her into such a being. I thought it was better not to tell her all these as it was my first telephonic conversation with her and kept silent regarding these issues. Like I said, Tintin understands the value of time, I knew this much that it was better to wait for the appropriate time to arrive and then I would tell her about this and struggle hard to mend it. I felt that it had become my task to modify this childish and appealing damsel.

Outcome of the conclusions drawn The outcome of all these conclusions was something which I could not even think of a few days back

but again it happened as it had to happen. We became the best friends of one another. Friendship is something which has no confinements. Best friends never feel that they are couples, they have no parameters of love and they are true to one another. Moreover, the purity of love is maintained through it and there is no place for lust.

We decided to walk along with one another and share every moment too. In times of pain, we decided to cry together and during moments of joy, we agreed to smile together and share the success too. We decided to move forward though we were aware of the obstacles ahead. This was only because we felt that love is the greatest weapon on earth that had capabilities of conquering every obstruction.

She said, “I am very happy that you are planning to go abroad. I promise you the year you go, I will follow you the next year. I will certainly work hard for that. No matter what troubles arise, I will overcome those. Please go and settle abroad and take me out of this hell.”

Initially, these words of hers hurt me a lot as I possessed an intense liking for Kolkata which has given me an endless love and has responded well to my creations. I had always intended to go and study abroad but I never had intentions to settle there. I always wanted to return to the City of Joy inspite of its countless dirt, heavy traffic, busy markets and tremendous pollution. The only obsession of this city is its nostalgia – the old yet immortal coffee house which still carries footmarks of those great personalities who had once visited there, the Trincas – Bar and Restaurant standing upright amidst the busy Park Street where all the great singers of now had once sang out their hearts and entering there, still has capabilities to take an individual back to those days where western blues, jazz and rock n’ roll had ruled with efficient hands playing both acoustic and electric instruments and so on. Moreover, the people of this city are really friendly and fun-loving and they know how to adore and revere.

Once again, I did not tell her anything about my thoughts. I knew time will give her all the answers. So, I thought to wait as I had no intention of spoiling the mood of my sweet little darling. As an outflow of extreme emotions can lead to huge devastations, it also has capabilities of raising an individual. I wanted her to rise as it is very easy to fall.

Well, philosophies aside, I just wanted to be her friend though it was a mutual desire. We became very good friends of one another. Then, as the conversation was coming to an end, we realised that we had to meet each other tomorrow. Another twenty hours and our desires would turn into reality. The countdown had already started.

As she kept down the line, I said to myself, “At last, I got someone who wants to walk with me and support me. I promise you that I will also change your life. There will be only an intense joy. We will definitely share every moment. No more troubles, we will only dream and work hard for a lovely future ahead.”

14

“To give service to a single heart by a single act is better than

a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” Mahatma Gandhi

Soro, Dev, Mil and Raj kept on listening to our conversation and these four guys were indeed matured enough to derive conclusions. They initially started blushing but then becoming very inquisitive, they asked what was going on. Raj was still undergoing a hangover from the whisky he had drunk last night. Somehow, I

changed the topic by pointing to the flooded floor and saying, “Hey guys, who will clean this mess? Come let us do it together and then, we can chat.”

With water all around, the five of us joined hands to dehydrate the floor and then cleaned the toilet that was filled with shattered pieces of ceramic. Then, we sat down in the room and each of us lit a cigarette that marked the start of a chatting session. We chatted the entire day about various topics, we sang, we joked and we laughed. Soro put on some trendy dance numbers in his laptop and it turned the atmosphere very entertaining though the four individuals had a constant fear inlaid deep in their hearts that any moment, the land lord would appear on their door and greet them with a lovely scolding but alcohol ensures that the mind is without fear and so they were not in any mood to disturb this delightful enjoyment of ours.

The whole day was so nice and I really enjoyed their company but then I was missing my darling a lot. I delved into my heart again and it welcomed me as if it had been waiting for so long to have a chat with me.

“Will I propose this lovely lady?” I asked. It frowned at me and carelessly declared, “Come on Tintin, do not be so childish. You know well that if

you do not do it now, you will miss an opportunity. She is made for you. All will be fine. Do not worry. You know the best way to discover yourself is to provide yourself in the service of others. Fool! Go and donate yourself to her service.”

“What will happen if she tells a direct ‘no’?” I asked as the philosophy that ‘the greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure’ struck me as I again felt an overriding fear of getting rejected.

This highly irritated my dear heart and it started shouting at me in rage, “Idiot, she is meant for you. The God, whom you call naughty, has sent her for you. She will never reject you, never. Love her dear and she will have to love you back since you may be an idiot to me but to the world, you are an asset that they will store eternally.”

“I need sometime,” I said. “No, you don’t.” “What is the need to hurry?” “Donkey, yes you need to hurry. She is eagerly waiting for someone to love her.” “Okay, let’s see.” “There is no need to see. You will propose her tomorrow or I will call up a strike within you and will

not speak to you. What sort of an upcoming manager are you that you do not have the guts to take up prompt decisions? Please be confident and do it,” saying these, my revolutionary heart became silent and threw me wildly into reality.

Soro prepared authentic tea for all of us and with another cigarette, the drink was really rejuvenating. I called up Sam to ask if he would come but he was not in Kolkata. He had gone to his village to sign some legal documents as his dad was ill and was not returning till tomorrow. So, I thought of leaving but Soro and his mates were in no mood to allow me to go. So, I had to stay back for some more time.

Luckily, the land lord did not come down. May be, he did not notice yet that there was no water in the tanks. Well, how was that possible? There were other tenants too. Didn’t they realize that the entire tanks were empty? When I asked Soro about these, he simply roared into laughter.

Ultimately, controlling it, he explained, “This is where we are lucky mate. Out of the five families that reside here, three are out of station. So only the land lord is here excluding us and he is a bachelor. He returns home late at night and sleeps till afternoon. So, maybe if you go upstairs and bang on his door, you will be greeted with deafening snores. Let that non-sense wake up and then he will come.”

This time, even I could not control my laughter and laughing aloud, I said, “Oh God! Superb. You guys are great.”

It was Raj’s turn to show some skills this time and after recovering from the hang over, he brought out a packet of chips from his trunk. This small packet was so well hidden that at first instance, when he opened his trunk and began searching for it, I felt as if he was in search of some long lost treasure.

Mil, on the other hand, felt that he should also do something or he would be criticized later. He never wanted it but who knew that the young lad had such an amazing surprise in store for us. He went to his bedroom and from the far end of the cupboard; he took out three pints of premium vodka that really turned

us speechless. Seeing us shocked, he produced a very satisfying narration that while returning to Kolkata from home, he had filched the bottles from his grandfather’s store.

This is the reason why sometimes I feel that God is not always naughty. God sometimes does try to the uttermost those whom he wishes to bless. He feels a lot for the poor hearts too and indeed, He assists a lot in properly channelizing these minute sources that leads to a massive enjoyment. The drink was served and accompanying it with crunchy chips and cigarettes, every sip felt as if it had special powers to turn the mind fearless but then the saddest part was that the quantity was very less to turn us into fearless souls. As a whole, the day spent was really nice and we relished a lot. To add colours to our enjoyment, as I was about to start off with a song, there was a loud bang on the door. We all spoke out together, “Oh God! Here the bustard arrives.”

We hid the bottles and other accessories under the bed and when we peeped through the key-hole, the land lord stood there and Soro returned into the room to open the back door. It was the door we used to escape when ever any external force arrived to obstruct our fun. Where law exists, there are also channels to flee from it.

So, bidding them good bye and being well aware of the scolding that would follow, I left quietly. The best part was that I did not have to come face to face with the land lord as Sam had once narrated me the circumstances he had faced when the land lord came to the room to find him sitting there as an outsider. Well ‘all’s well that ends well’ and ultimately, amidst all these tensions, I enjoyed a lot. Now, I just looked forward to see my sweet, little darling again. My heart wanted to see her more than me.

15

Back in college the following day, I waited for her to come. Her class was just beside mine. She came exactly at twenty minutes to ten and as she was about to enter her class, she saw me. So happy, she was to see me that she cried out, “Oh dear! You were waiting for me?”

“Yes,” I said. She was wearing a wonderful olive salwar and black leg-ins and looked exactly like an imminent

journalist. There was a broad smile across her face and it was great to see that. “Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live,” my heart spoke philosophically.

I knew my philosophical heart would suddenly turn revolutionary and so I thought it was better not to listen to it now. I knew she would be having her classes and I requested her if we could go to the canteen in the break.

“Come on dear! You do not have to request me. I was also eagerly waiting to see you and have a talk with you,” she replied. It satisfied my desires a lot.

“Okay,” I said. “I will meet you in the break and then we can stroll down together. I also have a lot to tell you darling. Take care.” Saying this, I ran to my class as I saw my coordinator approaching to address the class. For the first time, in my entire college days, I felt that I was only physically present in the class. My heart and mind deviated somewhere else – to the next class, to be more precise. If this had happened a few days back, I would have indeed not allowed it and would have taken preventions to control but that day, I did not oppose. Wings sprouted out from both ends of my heart and mind and the two little birds flew in the same directions.

During the break, I met her again. She was standing in front of her class and spoke out in joy, “Oh! You finally came. I have been waiting for you so long. My classes got over early.”

I had to apologize for being late but then I explained her that we had financial accounting classes where we were actually solving some extensive sums though we knew well that our efforts were turning fruitless. In case of this subject – Financial Accounts, certain sparkling brains in my class had laid a new stunning hypothesis – ‘The more you concentrate in solving these sums, the more will be the number of mistakes you commit.’

We had no intentions to dissipate time and so we first proceeded to the canteen. It was great to walk by her side. As we reached there, we sat down and ordered tea as it was the only item in the menu that did

not require being Indianised. As we sat down, we again gazed into each other’s eyes. I felt my heart banging heavily and then, it started shouting, “Do it, donkey. Just do it.”

“See Namy,” I told her. “I really have something very important to tell you. I do not know how you would react but then I cannot hide it from you anymore. My heart is killing me and if I do not tell you now, it has threatened to go on a strike and would not interact with me anymore.”

There was an impish grin across her face and she said, “Okay! You can tell me. I will not mind. We are friends and we have already promised not to hide anything from each other.”

“Yes,” I said. Overflowing with emotions, I continued softly, “You are right. After learning so much about you, dear I was really depressed and I want you to thrive in joy again. I cannot allow you to suffer anymore. Your delicate heart must cherish every moment of life. Will you please allow me to love you? I promise you I will never allow you to be disappointed. Intense ecstasies will envelope us. We will walk together along the road of life. Please, will you let me love you dear?”

I did not know what effect these words had on her but she turned silent. Time never forgets to stop and it moved on. I tried to talk but I felt short of words. I could not understand how I did exactly what my heart wanted me to do. My heart started talking to me again, “See Tintin, you have done it. I told you that you can do it. Now I see you as a perfect manager who has the ability to take up prompt decisions.” These congratulations of the heart highly irritated me.

“Come on,” I said irritated. “What will happen if she rejects me? What will I do when all my dreams will be shattered? What will happen if she gets up now and simply walk away?”

“She will not do like that,” replied my heart confidently. As soon as it finished its words, she spoke out, “I think we should go to class. It’s time.”

Oh God! What was this? I never expected her to reply like this. I shouted at my heart, “See, I told you she will never accept me. Now for following your stupid suggestion, I will have to regret throughout my life for losing a good pal. To tell the truth, your suggestions are like the irksome pimple that always has a tendency to sprout out at the inappropriate time.”

“Yes, let’s go to the class,” I told her. She was so silent suddenly that I literally became afraid to tell some thing more. Quietly, we moved on. Though the destination was indeed our respective class rooms, I felt it would have been better if I could have gone to the Howrah Bridge and jumped down into the fast flowing river that carelessly flowed below. We took the lift instead of the stairs and I felt as if my sweet, little darling did not want to be with me anymore. She wanted to go back to her class fast and thus, it seemed as if she too felt that it was better to use the lift instead of the stairs.

The lift casually moved up as the two individuals stood inside quietly. It was really so suffocating and claustrophobic that I constantly felt when the fourth floor would arrive. Well, at last, it arrived as it had to arrive at the desired destiny. As the sliding doors slid open, we walked out and proceeded towards the class. As we approached her class, she came to an abrupt halt and looking straight into my eyes, she started off, “Hey Tintin, you told me something right?”

“Yes,” I replied. “Don’t you want an answer from me?” “Oh yes!” “It seems as if your words were only a statement and not a question.” “No dear. Actually, I am having a constant fear – the fear of getting rejected.” Hearing these terrific philosophical verses of mine, she roared into laughter. “Why will I reject you?”

she asked. Seeing a faint ray of hope amidst the dark clouds that had enveloped me a few minutes back, I asked,

“What do you mean?” “Very simple,” she responded. “Tintin, I have been waiting so long for a man like you. You came to my

life and I shall treasure you like we treasure a precious diamond in the secret vaults. Love you too.” Was I hearing perfectly? Oh yes! I was hearing perfect. What else could I demand? It was so great to

listen to her. It was an honour for me. I felt as if air was blowing into my lungs again. My heart started

thumping on my chest as I kept on thanking her. As the emotion was about to reach to a greater extent, I saw our teacher nearing our class.

“Bye darling. Meet you after the class. Love you forever,” I said excitedly and ran to my class. “Same to you,” she shouted behind me. I sat in my class and my dear heart started talking to me again. It had no intentions to allow me to

concentrate in my studies. “See, I told you to do as I say,” it said. “Sorry,” I said, “For behaving badly with you.” I never knew my heart could be as generous as it said, “It is okay. There is no need to be sorry. Go and

enjoy with her.” At least, I was happy because the girls who felt that I was a ‘gay’ would not think like that anymore

and this, as it satisfied me, it made me grin too.

16 “People say that ours

was a love at first sight! But, to me it seems

it was love at first shock!” Days passed on and on and we did not know how we crossed a month of our authentic relation. Namy

and I were definitely in love with one another but at the same time, we were very good friends. Each moment had new experiences in store for one another. The basic thing was that we enjoyed each other’s company and our thoughts matched. Though she was very modern, she also liked to spend her leisure time listening to the timeless tunes of Tagore and somehow, she got lost as every lyric penetrated her heart and touched her pure soul. A heart has to be pure to extract the true flavours of the master’s creations.

Both of us understood the values of a true friendship and we respected it. The best thing was that though Namy was junior to me, she did not have many problems to adjust. Moreover, she went on well with my group. Sam and Soro also became her friends within a very short period of time. A few of her class mates also became my friends.

Then, when she was in her class, students came and praised her a lot about me. She came to me one day and said, “See Tintin, students in my class, especially a few of the girls came and said what a charming voice you have and some were even talking about the brilliant personality you possess. I really felt so proud.”

This is my Namy. She enjoys with me, cries and smiles with me. Then, amidst all these, when we sat beside on another, we started making future plans and one afternoon, when we had no class and were sitting at the tea shop, I raised a topic which I knew was completely unexpected.

I asked her, “Darling have you told your parents about our relation?” “No,” she said completely taken aback. “When are you planning to tell?” “I do not know.” “Have you said?” “No,” I gave her a short, quick reply. “When are you planning to declare?” I did not even think for a second and replied, “Today.” “What? Are you crazy?” she asked. It was highly entertaining to see her expressions that were actually

a result of a state of an utmost shock. “Come on darling, we must not do things that we have to hide from others. We have not committed a

crime. It is just that we have loved one another,” I said to make her understand my philosophies but she was least interested.

“No, you will not tell now. First, let it mature.” “Okay,” I said to cool her down. “I will think about this when I return home. Now, let us have some

tea.”

We ordered for tea and we sat gazing at each other’s eyes. We were sitting opposite each other and then, I held her soft little hand from across the table. Our love had evolved from an intense friendship and thus, petty fights made it more intense as both of us knew the art of ‘forgive and forget’.

That evening, I returned home and was continuously thinking whether I should tell my parents though I was well aware of their reactions. Both of them, my mom and dad had gone out somewhere. I kept on fighting with my own instincts and I thought it was better to ask my heart once again. After the terrific incident that had occurred last month, it had turned into a very treasured pal of mine.

The moment I knocked, it replied very casually, “Hi Tintin! Any problems occurred again? As usual, you remember me only when you face a problem.”

“Yes,” I said softly. “Do not insult me, please!” “Come on, tell me. May be I can help you again. I guess you are ready to do whatever I tell you these

days.” “Yes.” “That is great. Surrender yourself before me once and you will not regret it later. So, be free enough

to tell me what has gone wrong.” Being silent for a while, I spoke out, “See, I am planning to confess my ‘sudden blossom of an intense

love’ before my parents.” “So do it, what are you waiting for?” it suggested me thoughtlessly. “What are you saying?” I asked, completely stunned, after listening to such a careless reply. This time turning more casual, it said, “Dear, this time you do not have to do anything. I will make you

do the entire stuff. You will just be a droning puppet today.” Saying these final words, it completely turned silent.

I could not make head or tail of these comments. I kept on thrashing over and over again but it had no intentions to reply me back. Seeing this, I lost hope and remained sitting on my sofa. Only a few seconds passed and there was suddenly an internal urge to call Namy.

It was too late in the evening. My parents would arrive any moment and I had no desire to call her at this odd hour. I really started regretting why I told her that I would declare it to my parents today and moreover, why did I tell my heart? I knew it was the work of my naughty heart. What would I do if they came to know about this and they craft an issue out of this? Well, I realised that nothing could be done as my heart was controlling my mind again. All the exquisite charisma that I had possessed in the morning had been defused.

As seconds passed, the internal urge to call the pretty damsel began to rise and ultimately, a few moments later, I had taken the cell phone in my hand and was searching through the name list for her number. I got it and eventually, unaware of what would happen, I pressed the call button.

After three long and tedious rings, she picked up the call and spoke in a familiar sweet voice, “Tintin, I do not know why but today I was expecting your call so badly. Thank you so much for calling.”

“Yes,” I said well aware that it was actually being spoken by my heart. We went on talking and finally, turned emotional. I started weeping. I had no intentions to do so but

the mischievous heart made my glands ooze. Even she started crying. I did not know what was happening but I was sure that we loved each other a lot. The moment the tears were turning uncontrollable, the door bell made a monotonous ring. My parents had returned.

17

“The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.”

John Vance Cheney I was in no mood to open the door but then my heart requested me, “Please open the door.” To me, it seemed as if it was more of an order than a request. She was still on the line and seeing me

suddenly turning quiet, she kept on asking, “What happened? Why are you not replying?”

“My parents have come back,” I said quietly as the door bell rang again and my dad’s heavy voice asked inquisitively, “What is wrong with you? Why are you not opening the door?”

I could not reply. She sensed that something was going wrong and saying that we would meet tomorrow, she disconnected the line. I wiped my eyes, and I realised that it had been long that my parents had been waiting outside anxiously. My heart encouraged me scornfully, “Go ahead darling. Open the door.”

I had no other option and I went straight towards the door, turned the metal knob and opened the door. I realised that I had done some terrific faults. I forgot to switch off my cell and the marks of tears were also visible all across my pale cheeks. What was my heart upto?

It has really been impossible for me to hide things from my dad. That day was nothing exceptional. As soon as he entered the house and stepped into the dining space, he noticed the marks on my face and the mobile peeping from within my hands.

In his similar heavy tone, he asked, “What is wrong with you? Why are you crying? Were you talking to somebody? Is there any awful news?” My mom also stood beside my dad with a similar inquisitive look across her face.

So many questions, all at once, literally suffocated me but my heart had no effect. Very casually, it said, “Tintin, stay silent. Don’t utter a single word.” Moreover, management had also taught me, “To be a good speaker, one has to be a good listener.”

I had intended to tell everything to my dad but the added pressure of the authentic philosophies of my heart and the preaching of management’s theory made me silent. This intense silence of mine highly irritated my dear dad. “Why are you not replying?” he asked.

These words carried enough intensity to make me weep again. I broke into tears again and then suddenly my heart shouted out via my mouth, “Dad, I am in love with a girl.” Though my heart had initially shouted out the words, as they erupted from my mouth, it had luckily got blended with emotions.

My dad’s first question after receiving the greatest shock of his life was, “So, you were calling that girl?”

“Yes.” “Why are you crying?” “No it was just a bit of emotion.” “How long have you been with her?” my dad ultimately asked the question which I did not want him

to ask but then, I had to give him a satisfying reply. “For a month,” I replied. As the conversation came to an end, I felt as if my heart had thrown me into reality again. This was

because I had a sensation within me that it was not my heart anymore who spoke. It was I who was speaking now.

My mom was literally shocked too and had completely turned speechless. We were all silent for a while and then my mom, out of rage, shouted out at me, “No, I will not allow this.”

Dad took control of the entire situation. He requested my mom to calm down and began his monotonous yet thoughtful explanations, “Tintin you are growing up and you are matured enough to take your own decisions. Well, I want to speak to the girl.”

“Sure,” I replied and called up Namy for the second time in the evening. As the call connected, the sweet little voice spoke ‘hello’ again but it was filled with tension. One thing

that I have to surrender is that I have hidden plenty of thoughts from various people but there are two persons living on this planet from whom ‘hiding my thoughts’ is absolutely an impossible task. One is off course my dad and the other is Namy. This time, too, I found it impossible to hide from her and at last, she understood what had happened.

Turning inquisitive, she asked me, “Is anything wrong dear?” “No,” I gave a short reply. “Dad wants to speak to you.” I knew she had received the greatest shock of her life. In an astonished state, she shrieked out,

“Tintin, why have you told him? What will he tell me? I repeatedly told you time is not yet ripe for us to tell our parents.”

“Nothing,” I said. “Do not worry. He just wants to speak to you.” I handed over the cell phone to my dad and for a fraction of a second, I felt my hands tremble. My dad

took the cell, cleared his throat and spoke out, “Hi, are you Namy?” “Yes,” she said. I knew she was nervous but then what could I do? “So, is Tintin your friend?” “Yes.” My dad had turned the loud speaker on so that my mom and I could listen to her words. Oh God! She

started praising me. I was wrong. My darling was not at all nervous. She was speaking so confidently to my dad. “Uncle,”

she said, “You know you should be really proud of your son. He is so nice and kind and above all, he is a true human being. He has the ability to speak out his heart. I am really proud to have someone like him in my life.”

As the conversation proceeded, my mom simply sat between us as a silent spectator. After listening to her, my dad asked, “Can we meet tomorrow before the college starts?”

“Sure. I will be glad to meet you.” “Okay take care. See you tomorrow.” I could not believe that my dad neither shouted nor scolded and remained as cool as a cucumber.

Well, he is already an established manager and he knows how to deal with problems efficiently. My dad passed me the phone. This time, I made no mistake. I first turned the loud speaker off and

then said softly, “Okay, good night. Take care. Meet you tomorrow.” “It was really great talking to your dad. Sure, we will meet tomorrow. Good night honey,” saying these

last romantic lines to rise my moaning spirit, she kept down the call. Switching off my cell, I sat on the soft couch silently beside my dad. My mom was still entirely

speechless. Dad cleaned his throat again and started off once more in his usual heavy but soothing tone with main intentions of explaining me certain theories that he felt I did not know. Actually, one never grows up before his parents. You may be an adult to the world, but you still have to be the little child of your parents. They will never allow you to grow up but as always, there are exceptions to this rule too. Namy and I were in the general category.

The clock struck ten when my dad began his explanations. He said, “Tintin, it is great that she is your friend. First understand her, wait for a while before you take up prompt decisions and after all, as I have said, you are matured enough to take up your own decisions, I will not have any influence to stop you but it will be you who will lament later. So, I will just suggest you to think for the future and then do whatever you want.”

As soon as he was over, my mom started yawning. My years started buzzing after listening to his speech but at the same time, I felt that he was right and had actually spoken the perfect words. Well, suddenly he called out to mom, “Will you not arrange for dinner? It is late. I need to wake up early tomorrow because I have to go to the gym.”

18 As we sat down for dinner, my heart called out to me, “Hey Tintin, you got the result for following my

suggestions. I told you nothing will happen. You have not committed a crime. You have just loved a girl who desperately wanted to be loved by a good human being.”

I guess this is why people generally say to ‘Speak out your heart’. As my heart spoke itself out, I really felt relaxed. I was in no mood to discuss about Namy with my parents anymore. I just wanted to derive pleasure from the dinner, satisfy my tummy and go off to sleep but who knew that certain announcements of my dad would not allow me to sleep that entire night. I never knew that my dad had so many more surprises in store for me. He had already surprised me once that evening by his conversation with Namy and the way he took control of the entire situation including my mom’s anger. I was really satisfied but oh God! He had several more to exhibit.

As I took a bite of the exquisite chicken that my mom had cooked for dinner, my dad announced, “Tintin, I have something really important to tell you and you have grown up and time is indeed ripe for you to know this.”

Oh God! He had started again. Well, I had to listen to him and so, all the concentration shifted from the delicious chicken to his philosophical verbal expressions. Like I have done before, this time also I will narrate what I learnt from the surprising declarations of dad instead of writing the entire verbal conversation. This is only because my main intentions are to save time and the energy of my readers as once again, being a hard core management student; I know how to give prime importance to time. Why don’t you understand that the importance of time is exactly what we have been learning since we entered this college?

Dad, Love, Marriage and my Mom "Grief can take care of itself,

but to get the full value of joy,

you must have somebody

to divide it with."

Mark Twain “Tintin,” my dad continued, “I have been waiting for a long time to tell you about this and ultimately,

I think today I should tell you. Actually your mom and I had a love marriage. We went against the society’s desire and thought of marrying one another because we knew we would be very happy with each other and our heart also possessed identical thoughts. I got your mom to share my joy and derived satisfaction being with one another.”

What was my dad telling? My ears and heart were in disagreement whether they were listening to the accurate thing. Dad had paused for a while so as to breathe in some fresh air as he had been talking continuously without a pause. After that little break, he continued, “There were people around me who criticized our relation but it had no effect on me. Your mom was happy with me. She had dreams of living a happy life with me and I dreamt of turning her dreams into reality. People from both our families opposed but our love was so intense that we came across every obstruction and at last, we married. Now see, we are so happy and there is no place for agony. The basic truth behind all these is that we have been friends more than lovers.” I really became emotional and speechless. This information was really a surprise for me but more than that, it turned me emotional. An untainted heart always has a tendency to turn emotional when certain passionate waves strike.

Seeing me turn emotional, dad continued, “See dear, please do not be emotional. Try to face the world as it is. It is harsh. There are numerous obstacles too. Nobody wants to see you doing well. Loving someone is not a crime but be daring and face those obstacles as they come. If you be emotional, there will be none to soothe you but there will be plenty of people waiting to see your decline. Do not exhibit your weakness to the world. Prove the world that you are here for a cause. Grow upto a good human being one day so that a dad can tell his son to be like you. Stand as an instance before the world and let others follow you.”

My dad’s words had a great effect on me. Really, after listening to all these, I had no regrets for not being able to enjoy the delicious chicken. Yes, I have, long ago, seen how hard my dad had worked. Step by step, he had risen to the top and has stood as an example before everyone and has proved all those who had once criticized him. He has indeed set a standard for himself and all the youth in our family possessed a desire to be like him. To tell the truth, I want to be exactly like him. I do not want to go above him. Not everyone is good in academics. My dad had always been a mediocre student but then he is true to his work. He is really hard working and above all, he too understands the importance of time. He has earned a lot but then, he knows the procedures of maintaining a fine balance between expenses and savings. I have seen myself the amount of admiration and love he receives from his colleagues and subordinates. Above all, he is a happy man with a happy family and I am really proud to be a part of it.

“Eat your food,” he said. “The chicken is waiting to get inside you. It is turning cold and will now seem tasteless. Enjoy the food. Aren’t the walls of your stomach kicking you?”

“Yes,” I said softly. This is my dad who is highly strict with his principles but at the same time, knows the procedures of enjoyment too. I started eating the food. I had learnt a great lesson today which my heart wished to preserve forever. He did not tell me anything more. We finished our dinner and at around quarter past eleven, we turned off the lights. I knew I was actually going to bed so as to spend another sleepless night.

Tintin and his sleepless night “There are no gains without pains.”

Benjamin Franklin How could I sleep with my young heart piled up with so many brilliant age old philosophies? There

was an intense desire to analyse the words of my dear dad. Moreover, I thought how dad would react after seeing Namy for the first time the following morning. Someone from within me said that he would definitely like her. He had to like her because Namy is exactly like me.

Time passed on as the seconds ticked away. I kept on thinking about dad. I said to myself, “Yes, it has only been possible for him because he was born to create. This is the society where we reside who always intends to destroy. It never wants to witness something fine. Why do we take birth then after going through so many complex procedures? Why can’t the surgeons understand the fact that the child kicks on the walls of it’s mother’s womb not to come out from it but to protest that we are actually importing it into a tumult instead of tranquility?”

As these thoughts surrounded me, I could not control my sobs. Tears trickled down and I wanted to shed more tears. I thought of Namy. There are no problems between us. Infact, whenever we are together, we enjoy each other’s company. When we are away from each other, we recollect and cherish those wonderful moments, we had spent together. We talk over the phone, we sms and above all, we do not hide anything from one another.

With the constant secretion of my lachrymal glands, I vowed not to hurt my cute little beloved ever. I wanted her to live in harmony. Besides this, like my dad had done for my mom, I too wanted to do the same for her. I wanted her to dream and I dreamt of turning all her dreams into reality. I wanted her to be happy.

Well, with the analyzing of all these thoughts, I did not realise when the prolonged darkness faded into light. Another night had been spent sleepless but I really did not care. It was the first rays of light that marked the start of a new day but then, for me it led to the start of new tensions. My dad was actually going to meet Namy that morning. Now, when I look back to that day, I think I was actually a bit more tensed than it was required. How would I predict that my dad would actually like her and there would be no issues? Pleasant surprises do not come often, but still it seldom comes. One just has to wait a bit for it.

19

My dad and I reached college exactly at twenty minutes to ten and finding that she had not yet arrived, I called her up. She was stuck in a traffic jam by the nursing home situated near our institute. Thus, she was nearby. My dad was wearing a lovely suit and tall, dark and handsome as he is, he was looking superb.

We parked our car and waited near the canteen. She arrived after around six minutes. Though I was suffering from a constant fear, I could not move my eyes from her. She was looking so appealing in the azure salwar that she was wearing. As she walked towards us, my dad asked, “Is this your friend?”

“Yes.” As she reached us, I wished her a very good morning and said, “Hi darling, hope you are well!” This word, ‘darling’ was audible to my dad and he looked at me completely surprised. I knew he would

start off again with some philosophies but I did not want that. Time was running out. We had to reach our class by ten. I had no intentions of wasting time too. So, I introduced them to one another.

“Dad, this is Namy,” I said and then eyes straight to Namy, I told her, “He is my dad.” Like an orthodox Bengali girl, she was about to touch the feet of my dad who was equally modern in

his approach. To keep upto his contemporary approach, he stopped her mid-way. This led to the initial launch of their conversation.

“Uncle, you have been waiting for so long for me?” she asked trying hard to exhibit a bit of enthusiasm. “The traffic was really terrible in front of the hospital.” This apologetic tone of hers had an intense effect on my dad.

“It’s okay dear,” he said.

My dad wanted to talk to her separately and so, I had to sit back in the car. They walked towards the canteen and I could see my dad talking to her. What could I do? I, as usual a poor fellow, did not have the guts to go and demand a place between them. As I sat, I turned on the radio. There was an evergreen song – 2441139 being broadcasted from the local Bengali station. The song had been composed by Anjan Dutta – a living legend who possessed guts to alter the course of Bengali melody. The song describes through a telephonic conversation, the prolonged wait of a lad for his lover where he says the girl that he has ultimately found a job and is ready to marry her. The girl, on the other hand, is actually getting married to another person and he recollects those romantic moments they had spent together and requests her not to do so. Here, it was me – a jobless fellow waiting to be reunited with his beloved.

“Oh God! How long would I have to wait?” Well, God was really great to me this time. After seven or eight minutes, she returned with my dad. “You can go to your class,” my dad told me. I came out of the car. Dad did not tell me anything. He just went and sat inside the car. Namy was

standing beside me. Was something wrong? Didn’t he like her? I was tensed. Namy was smiling a bit but it was more or less fake. What could I do? To add to my tensions, my dad seriously wished both of us good-bye and left. We were stationed in that place for a fraction of a second and then Namy broke the silence.

“Great my hero! What a heroic deed you have done!” she asked. “Why?” I asked hoping to obtain a few answers from her. “Do you know what your dad said?” “No.” “He said he is happy to see me. He wants me to do well in my studies and grow upto a good human

being.” Seeing a faint ray of hope, I turned more inquisitive and asked, “What else did he say?” “He wants us to be initially friends and to know each other better.” “Okay,” I said. “What else?” “He said when time will come, we can love.” These words were enough to make me breathe again. “Why were you so serious when my dad was leaving?” I asked. “Just like that. I thought of giving you a bit of shock,” she replied with a mischievous smirk on her face. “Why was dad so serious before he was leaving?” It was after this question of mine that she told me the truth. Actually, my dad and Namy wanted to

surprise me. They had pre-decided to give me a shock. This is my dad who waits for opportunities to turn mischievous and Namy, she is completely crazy. I thanked God. At least, the sleepless night had really turned productive in the morning.

We were already around ten minutes late for our class. Romance can turn the mind really desperate. We did not care for being late to that particular class. We slowly walked together upto our class. We took the stairs instead of the lift as we wanted to spend some more time together. We held our hands and moved up and ultimately were back in class. Their professor had already come to their class but there was no teacher in our class. She quickly planted a kiss on my cheek and throwing me into my dreams, she went to her class.

We had no class in the first period as the teacher was absent. Sam was standing there at the door. He asked, “Will you come to the lab with me?”

“Yes, sure.” Sam and I walked to the lab. He had done the assignment that had been given to us by our course

coordinator and wanted me to do some modifications for him. Actually, Sam always remains unsatisfied with his academics unless I make modifications. As we turned on the central processing unit, I found that I was only physically present in the lab. My mind was somewhere else. I tried hard to bring it back but my efforts became fruitless.

I had to help Sam and somehow, when he plugged the removable drive into the CPU, I saw the entire thing he had done. There were some alterations to be made as it was a MS PowerPoint presentation and the use of his colours in the slides had really turned the text invisible. A few points were uncovered too. He sat

beside me to notice his faults and then, when all the alterations had been made and his assignment was ultimately ready, we went to the tea shop to have tea and to catch a quick smoke. The combination of tea and cigarette really serves as an energy booster for the students. The flavour of tea and nicotine sums up to nourish and satisfy our taste glands.

As we were returning back to college, dad called me up and in a very serious tone, he asked, “Did you get the shock?”

“Oh! Yes,” I said. “Where are you now?” “Walking back to my class.” “Where is Namy?” “She is in her class. We did not have the first period. So I went to sip tea with Sam.” “Okay. Bye. I am going to Park Street. Call you later,” he said. “She is good but first is your career.

Make a proper one and then do whatever you want.” Saying these last words, he hung the line. We went back to our class. Namy was standing there as her class was over. There was still five

minutes left for the next class to start. “We will have a lovely future ahead,” she said completely enveloping the set of words with emotions. “Yes. I promise.” We were not in favour of ‘Public Display of Affection’ as certain teachers, when they saw us sitting on

the stair case holding hands, had really thought that it was against the ethical laws of an educational institution and had commented. We had no desire to damage our reputation or after these words, a kiss or a cuddle was mandatory. This is the problem of becoming famous within the institute. Once you are good in your studies as well as extra-curricular activities, people will know you and above all, if you have a girl friend too, the poor girl will also turn popular and will also have to share the sufferings with you.

Well, cherishing these moments, we went to attend the next class.

20 Metamorphosis – the transformation to ‘Tintin’

Readers might be thinking for so long whether this work of mine is a romantic remake of the famous adventure comic hero ‘Tintin’. May be his dog has passed away and he himself has turned into a beast, wildly in search for romance. No! Not at all. I am really not interested in making remakes but one thing is certain that the comic hero ‘Tintin’ has complete rights to demand credit.

The story goes back when lying down in the operation theatre, uterine contractions took place and my mom felt an extreme need to bear down and push. This had ultimately resulted in flexion, internal rotation, extension, external rotation and crowning and the first sign of my little head appeared. There were other complex medical procedures and ultimately, after several minutes, I was laid down beside my mom on the hospital bed completely wrapped in a sterilized white towel. There were plenty of spectators watching me from all around the bed. They were all very excited and everyone congratulated my mom for giving birth to a boy. What a cheap mentality these people possessed! What would have these fools done if I wasn’t born as a male? They never understand the fact that gender inequality is a curse and a great obstacle for the progress of mankind.

After a few days, when I returned home, my grandfather wanted to award me a nick name. He was a great fan of the comic hero ‘Tintin’ and had loads of them on his book shelves. The interesting thing was that this person, though an orthodox Bengali, was a great fan of western literature – novels, theatres, movies, music, comics and so on. I remember my dad saying once that if someone offered him an eastern composition and a western and asked him to select between the two, he would have definitely preferred the western.

Well, who knew that this fascination of my grandfather towards the comic hero would have an impact on me? Things always have a tendency not to happen according to plans. At last, he named me Tintin. As I grew up, everyone in my family called me by this name but in my professional field, nobody knew that I had such a fantastic name.

At home, my cousins teased me a lot. “Where is your Snowy?” they asked. Luckily, my intellectual grandfather passed away or I would have indeed taken revenge over him for giving me this awful name.

Snowy was actually the cute little puppy the comic hero – Tintin had. Well, if I would have pointed to anyone of my cousins as an answer to this question, I would have easily referred them to the four legged man’s best friend. Then, I really had no intention to turn matters worse. Actually, when I entered into my professional field, I would be happy as at least, I could console myself by saying that nobody knew this name and I was safe. Happiness does not last long.

Everyone called me by my actual name in the institute. Even Namy, initially, called me by my professional name until one fine morning, she realized that my actual name was too long for her to pronounce.

“Don’t you have a smaller name, I mean a nick name?” she asked as we sat in the library reading the newspaper.

“Yes.” “So, why don’t you tell me that?” “Why?” I thought she would ask me why I am turning so inquisitive and if she did not have the rights to ask my

nick name but then, she stated the reason for wanting to know my nick name. “Well, your name is so long and highly professional. It really becomes difficult sometimes to

pronounce it.” “Oh!” I exclaimed. “We are not professional, isn’t it?” “Off course not.” “So tell me your name.” It was more of a demand than a request. “Tintin,” I gave her a short quick reply. She started smiling. “Sweet name. From today, I will call you Tintin,” she said ultimately controlling

her laugh. Now, how could I change the thoughts of a pre-decided mind? I knew the results before. I knew,

seeing her, everyone will call me by that name and I had to face similar questions again. As soon as I was thinking about these outcomes, she asked, “Well dear Tintin, where is your Snowy?” “I do not know,” I replied back angrily. “Why are you getting angry?” she asked with a blend of apology in her tone. “I told you the name to call me lovingly and not to tease me. Seeing you, everyone will start calling me

by that name and will tease me like you did just now. At home, everyone teases me too. This is the only reason why I do not want people to know this name of mine,” I explained.

“Darling, I am sorry.” This is reality. When a girl turns her tone apologetic, you have to forgive her even if she commits a

murder. If it’s the case of your lover, you are bound to forgive and forget. So, my case was nothing exceptional. So, I had to forgive my darling because I could never tolerate her melancholy which has complete capability to turn into tears within a few seconds.

“It’s okay,” I said. As soon as she heard these two words, all her sorrows disappeared and a sweet smile replaced it and

holding me tightly, she hugged. Indeed, this hug was an added incentive. Management says that providing incentives to workers increases their desire to work. Yes, this is true because these hugs really turn us romantic and the desire to love one another grows accordingly.

She started calling me Tintin from that day and slowly, it spread among the other students too. Wherever I went, people began calling me Tintin. A few of them even cracked the same joke to tease me – ‘Where is your Snowy?’ but then I got used to it.

The truth was that I really started feeling nice whenever my sweetheart called me by this name. Time made me adjust to that awful name. In this way, I got transformed into Tintin. So, my grandpa had given me

the name and it was publicized by my great Namy within the premises of the institute and after a few weeks, I felt that people considered me equal to the comic hero.

21 From the day my dad met Namy, every evening there was a lecture session at home. He returned

from work and after I finished teaching my student, he called me to the dining room where I had to sit beside him on the couch and listen to his hard-core philosophies. What he said was actually right but then, what was most irritating was that the stock of his philosophies was coming to an end and he kept on repeating the older ones. Sometimes, I felt that he always had an intense desire to be a philosophy teacher but then, ultimately landed up to become an Area Sales Manager in a multinational pharmaceutical house.

He kept on passing a slogan – ‘Be friends first and then love’. This was really a confusing philosophy because if there is no love, how can friendship transpire? Love and friendship are the two faces of the same penny. As a result, at one point there was a clash between the views of my dad and me. I had no intentions to hurt him as he always feels for me and supports me. So, I thought it wise to hide these thoughts from my dad. At one point, I realized that he was completely in favour of this relationship. A person, in favour of creation, always looks to the positive side of everything.

Mom, on the other hand, felt that this relation will have an adverse effect on my studies. According to her, time is not yet ripe for me to fall in love. So, she kept on buzzing around my ears, “Tintin, first make your career and then do whatever you desire. Nobody will stop you. Mark my words. No one will stop you. You can then love or marry whoever you want.” It was so funny. My mom could not favour my love on one hand and on the other; she was talking about my marriage. Being the only son of my parents, I realized later that my mom wanted to find a proper girl for me but then what could I do? Behind all these, the truth was that none of them criticized this relation. They just expressed their thoughts and gave suggestions which they felt would create wonders if followed. Everyone has the right to do that.

Arranged marriages, to me, are like forcing a boy and a girl, completely unknown to one another, to go round the fire seven times and ultimately declaring them as husband and wife. Having sex with someone completely unknown may be very adventurous for some but to me it is something really disgusting. A boy and a girl, how is it possible for them to respond to each other just by knowing themselves for a couple of weeks or a month. When will the people learn that both the genders have to know one another for a long period of time, they must understand each other and reciprocate each other’s feelings before getting married?

This is the reason why people remain unhappy because after that so-called adventure on bed, they reproduce and ultimately, loose interest for their partners. The entire thing gets messed up at the finale. How can a relation exist if it does not have love as its base? Love has to be present at every echelons of a relation.

Why were my dad and mom happy with one another? The answer is very simple because they saw love in each other’s eyes and then, it turned into friendship followed by the sprouting of faith which ultimately, forced them to go against the society and get married. So the base was actually ‘love’. It was the initiator and the society enjoyed the results. It was so shameless that it did not even think once that whom it has criticized one day, have grown into something admirable and they simply sat and admired. Thus, I feel that love marriage should be encouraged to restore peace and harmony among the couples and to ensure that at least, people can live with someone whom they want and not with whom others demand.

My parents had no intentions to separate Namy and me. We wanted to be lovers first and then friends but our parents wanted us to be friends first and then turn lovers. I was madly in search of the reasons behind such thoughts of my dad and then, finally one evening, I came to know the reasons behind the evolution of such thoughts in his grey matter.

Dad and I were alone. Mom had gone for shopping. We were sitting and sipping tea in the dining room when my father suddenly asked me, “Tintin, do you think that I am against your relation with Namy?”

“No,” I replied quietly. “You are right.” What was he saying? Was he drunk? No, he was not. He had just returned home from work and was

relaxing on the couch and sipping tea. Was his cup magical that the tea when poured into it had suddenly

turned into alcohol? Jokes apart, it was nothing like that. Once again, he was desperately trying hard to speak out his heart and who knew that I was just about to decipher some more stunning secrets that evening.

“Tintin, you know why I tend to behave with you in this manner?” he asked. Actually, from the day he had met the sweet little damsel, he had been continuously making me

aware that this matter must not be disclosed before anyone else in the family. I was, initially, a sort of rebelling against him as I felt that why should I hide things. As a youth with an intense desire to change the views of the world, I wanted to be true about my romance and I really did not care what others would feel about it but then, the reasons he gave me were enough to force me to deviate my thoughts and think differently. I mean, as his explanations penetrated into my grey matter, my heart had no other options but to follow it.

“No,” I replied again. “Well, I am actually afraid.” My dad was afraid. Did I have to believe this? Turning inquisitive, I asked, “Why?” “Actually the society has made me afraid. It is so disgusting that it does not want to see anything

flourish. Whenever something goes on the right track, it always has the tendency to spoil the happening and makes it impossible to bloom.”

“I know all these,” I murmured though it was loud enough for my dad to hear. He ignored me completely and continued, “Look at what happened when I wanted to marry your

mom. We wanted to marry each other but then, there were members in our family who never wanted the two souls to unite. We had to undergo so many obstacles but then we were true to one another and there was trust that led to the blossom of our love. This has made me afraid as I really do not want your relation to be criticized. I really do not want those impure hearts to disturb this untainted relation.”

“What about mom? She does not accept it too,” I asked because I felt that it was right time to do so as he was in the perfect mood to disclose the happenings.

Finding this question very amusing, he said, “You know, your mom is also as afraid as I am because she has suffered a lot herself. The way people had behaved with her was really terrible. So, she does not want Namy to suffer. She wants you to be happy. She wants you to have a career first and then she will accept her. She will do accept both of you.”

He was speaking a complete reality. How could I ignore it? He himself has faced such situations in his life. After listening to his entire conversation, I became quiet as there were no proper words I could use to reply him back. No way, I could allow people to spoil our relation. None has the right to do so. So, ultimately I followed my dad’s advice. I knew this man has grown up facing troubles and fighting them throughout and my heart suggested me to follow his guidance.

So, from then on, I stopped speaking to Namy in front of my other family members. The most surprising thing was that she also stopped doing so. She had only told about our relation to a very few selected and trusted members of her family – her sister, mom, auntie and a few others. Her sister Rini had spoken to me once and though completely different from her sister, she was good. Her mom sent me a sms stating that she wanted us to rise in this relation. Her dad did not know about this and it was Namy who did not want him to know because somewhere or the other her dad was not at all liberal. In my home, it was only known to my parents as I thought it was safer to follow dad’s principles this time. The world would know only when the proper time arrived. I felt the truth of the statement that it is indeed better working with tried and trusted formulas than taking risks which is indeed a sure way of digging one’s own grave.

So, Namy and I decided that we would proceed step by step through tried and trusted implementation of romance in becoming the ‘Prisoners of Love’. We had no intentions to dig our own grave.

22 The transformation from old Tintin to the new form

“Change always comes bearing gifts.” Price Pritchett

Till the start of the third semester, I was good in my studies but the way I looked towards life was not at all good, yet I felt that it was the best. As said before, a free period meant a lot to me. When some students (These students strictly does not refer to the book worms of my class who think that if they spent their free time reading in the library, they would be able to defeat me in the semesters. Why don’t they understand that we do not study so much? Can a false solo effort defeat a true combined effort?) spent their free time orkutting, joking, commenting, girl watching and so on, I really felt that I had better works to do – something more mature and more creative. We do something with a desire or an intention to satisfy ourselves. Somehow, these activities of the crowd really did not satisfy me. I found these things really unproductive.

My group – Sam, Soro and I, during our free classes sat on the terrace and smoked. This energized and stimulated our brain cells a lot before our next class. Moreover, if Sankho and a few other crazy music lovers met us on the terrace and if they too had a free period, we would definitely start off with a song that would turn the mood on.

When a group of nicotine intoxicated fools starts singing, there is no particular time to stop. It starts with some classic country numbers of Eagles and has the tendency to flow down to the romantic compositions of Anjan Dutta where our hearts get blended with the essence of infatuation. Who says that one has to be in love to sing romantic melodies? If there was a guitar too, we did not stop until the next class started off.

Well, if there were consecutive free classes, we went to our favourite hang-out zone – Soro's room. There were updated laptops, cigarettes and alcohol available all the time. A peg or two was enough to satisfy these young hearts. Whatever happened, we had this in mind that we had to return to the institute to attend our classes.

This was my life before Namy walked in. I thought of continuing this when one day, as we sat in the coffee shop, Namy told me that she did not like this at all.

“Tintin, I do not like this life of yours,” she said with a similar emotion blended voice. “Why?” “It does not suit your personality. You are so talented and handsome. People should run behind you

to talk to you. Why do you talk to everyone?” What was she saying? I became quiet and started thinking. Well, she was not speaking nonsense. She

was right. Why should I talk to everyone? She continued, “Teachers like you so much. You have such an excellent academic career and

moreover, you must not do all these things like smoking here and there, drinking and singing where ever you want. Believe me; it does not suit your personality at all.” Saying these, she held my hand. I gazed at her eyes and was lost. I was ready to do whatever she demanded from me.

“So what do you want me to do?” I asked. “I want you to change. I want you to be a refined individual. You are like that uncut diamond now. You

have to polish yourself and I will help you to do it.” “Sure,” I said. “I will do as you say. I promise.” My eyes became wet and she gave me a tight hug as

the incentive she generally gives me for following her words. As said earlier, Tintin dominated the entire institute except Namy. Before her, I felt great to remain defeated and I had no regret for that. I had surrendered myself entirely before her and whatever she wished was like a command for me.

Who says promises are made to be broken? If so, how did I keep my promise? From the following day, I changed. This change was not temporary. It was a permanent one. The first thing was that I stopped talking to everyone. I had a few selected friends who had stood beside me in times of need – Soro and Sam. I just spoke to them. I stopped smoking on the terrace. I quitted alcohol completely. My dressing style improved. I changed my hair-style from the complete hippy look to that of a decent business school student. My expressions had changed. I turned firm and polite in my approach and became refined. With this, the new Tintin sprouted out leaving the old dirt behind.

She helped me a lot. Yes, she did. She stood by me in times of need and the moments I wanted to sing out of my heart, she sat beside me and listened to whatever I sang. She commented on them and continuously said, “Tintin, one day you will become very famous. The whole world will know you. I will always wait for you. If you feel lonely, just think Namy is there. I am yours, completely yours.”

Who says Tintin cannot cry? Well, my friends had once commented that I am too cold in my expressions. Some even asked, “How do you manage to sing and write when you are such an expressionless person?” They were really very foolish to understand the fact that nothing creative is possible if you are not emotional.

As said earlier, I did not want people to see my inner thoughts. So, I felt better to remain all by myself in my subdued world. Why should I permit people to enter into my innermost corners? Why would I allow them to discover my thoughts and then, make a joke out of it? Most of the people around me are too non-intellectual to understand what occurs within the premises of an intellectual soul. I just started smiling with Namy and I cried with her too. Love can make a pure heart smile and cry at the same time.

At first, I was finding difficulty in my present form but then, with the passage of time, I adjusted well to it. People started liking me more. My fan club increased. Students, within the institute, looked upto me as they had an intense desire to be like me but the truth is two individuals can never be exactly similar. You can never be like anyone. You have to be different somehow or the other.

So, when they asked me, “How can we be like you?” I just told them the truth and explained, “Please do not be like me. I have to spend sleepless nights thinking and this makes me deviate from the reality. I get lost. Neither can one be like me nor can I be like one. Please be as you are and cultivate what God has given you. God has given you all certain gifts and do something with them and gift all its fruits to God. We are like seeds that have all the capacity to germinate. It just depends on the type of soil we get. Everyone is talented. Education makes the soil fertile.”

Human life runs its course in the metamorphosis between receiving and giving. We receive elements from God and we gift the fruits back to Him after cultivating. After this change of mine, I was happy because I made my sweet heart happy but at the same time, it was really shocking for some of my dear friends. I really did not care. Like every business is started with the main intentions of earning profit, every work is done with the main intentions to derive satisfaction and above all, I was satisfied.

The desire to prove myself before the world became more intense with this change and I became more focused in my academics. I have to do something. I have to win this war.

23

The reactions of my intimate friends after witnessing this change Seeing this sudden change in me, Sam was the first one to ask about it. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “Why have you suddenly turned so quiet these days? It is really

not suiting you.” “Oh really!” I replied softly. “Yes.” “It’s just like that. I just wanted to change and so, I changed. What is the use talking to every single

person?” “Okay but you have stopped singing here and there. You have stopped consuming liquor and you have

reduced smoking. The other day when I asked you to go with me to Soro's room to have a drink, you did not come and told me that you have some work.”

“Well, yes I had some work,” I said. What was he saying? Did he see me sitting with Namy in the coffee house? His next words confirmed my assumptions.

“So, sitting with Namy in the coffee house was your work? You know Tintin; you are avoiding everyone these days.”

“Yes, I am avoiding everyone these days. I do not want to talk to everyone but how did you come to know that I was sitting in the coffee house with Namy?”

“Ghosh came and told me,” he said.

“Ghosh!” I exclaimed. “Yes,” he replied. “He had heard our conversation in the class. You went out after telling me that you

have some work. I did not go alone and was sitting in the class when suddenly, he turned up. He came to me and said that Tintin just now told you that he had some work. Yes, he is doing a great work by quietly sitting in the coffee house holding the hands of Namy.”

Listening to these, I did not feel bad about Ghosh. I just thought to myself as to what a childish character he is. When will he grow up?

I told Sam, “See, you will always be my friend. It’s just that what I have done in the past does not suit my personality. I have to do something good and great.”

Sam asked, “Did Namy tell you anything?” “Yes, she wanted me to change.” “Okay, then it’s okay. Yes, Tintin you should change.” Saying these, he broke out into laughter. I

followed. This is what friendship is. There should be no ego clashes. There should always be love. Really Ghosh’s work had no effect on us. Actually, he had made a joke of himself. A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. Here, I walked out of the world but he stayed with me and wanted to walk out with me too.

Besides Sam, there were a few others who turned very inquisitive to know what was wrong with me. Soro was one of them. Actually, once you are popular in the institute and you undergo a change in your image, plenty will notice. It is not their fault. It is actually your own fault that you have changed yourself. The human eye generally takes time to adapt to changes.

Soro asked me one morning, “Hey Tintin, what is wrong with you? You are not coming to our room anymore.”

“Just like that,” I replied. “Don’t worry. I will go. It is just that I am pissed off with work.” The next moment, he told me something that really confused me. “I heard you have changed yourself

a lot because Namy wanted you to change.” This statement really turned me mute. Silence is a great weapon if properly utilized.

Well, as I turned silent and was fighting whether to protest or forget, he continued, “Well, it is really great to see you change. You are so different from us. You should make a new route for us to follow.”

“Come on,” I said. “It is nothing like that.” These words of mine irritated him a lot. He said, “Tintin, I am praising you for this. The entire credit

goes to Namy for changing you. You know everyone does not get as you have got. You both are lucky to get one another. Look at us; we cannot change ourselves because we do not have someone to tell us. We do not have someone who would point us out the wrong that we do.”

I was so happy to listen to these words from Soro that I could find no way of replying him back. Though I kept quiet, there were certain thoughts being analyzed within my heart. Yes, Soro is also a true friend of mine after Sam. At a certain point, all the three of us – Sam, Soro and I thought in the same way. We all believed in true love. We possessed the capability to respect love. We believed in changes. As stated by the great martyr Gandhiji that one himself has to be the change that one wishes to see in this world, I changed myself as I wanted the world to change. The world should be free of troubles. All must be happy. Why can’t we tolerate others’ success if we are not successful ourselves? Soro and Sam, when they saw this change, initially were shocked but then they encouraged it, praised it and ultimately exhibited desires to follow this change.

As usual, there was another group who did not like this change of mine. They did their regular work – criticize. Some said, “Look he does not know how to communicate. He thinks himself a hero. It’s great that he has stopped talking to us.”

Some of them who knew that they would have problems if I did not converse with them, said, “How long will you avoid us?”

Others completely started ignoring me. I could not spend the free time in class anymore. I always wanted to be either with Namy or Sam and Soro. It was becoming very difficult to cope with the rest of the

class. I had developed an entire world around me, a new world where there was an infinite joy in staying alone. New ideas and concepts marched in. I turned more creative.

I had done plenty of musical shows but this change made me realize that I have greater potentials and I can do something much better through which all will remember. So, I thought of doing something completely new which none in my family could ever think of. Thus, all wanted me to be an engineer or a doctor and I took up management studies and finally, I felt an internal urge to become an author.

24

Life moves on and on. It passes on as each second ticks away. I had once felt that I would go abroad, study and then, return back to my motherland. Readers might be thinking that I suffer from the terrible home sickness that increases an urge to return home from where ever you are. One can be anywhere in the world but when this disease strikes, you have no other option but to return to the point from where your journey had once started.

No, it is not that. I wanted to come back to my native land because I wanted to gain knowledge from the west and utilize it in the east. Reversing the brain drain was actually a key priority for me. So, the day when Namy had asked me to go abroad and take her along with me the following year and settle there, I really felt bad.

“How could I leave Kolkata and go away forever?” I thought. That day, I did not tell her anything because I felt that an outflow of extreme emotions can lead to

huge devastations. She had told me about these desires the following day after our ‘Fresher’s Party’ when we were having a telephonic conversation and I thought it was better not to tell her anything that day because I feared that my outflow of emotions due to intense love for Kolkata would have devastating effects on our relation which, offcourse, I never wanted.

Well, after that situations began to change around me in such a way that I started thinking it was better I did not tell her anything that day. It was due to the evolution of certain events that my intentions to work for the east changed completely. Infact, it faded away.

Firstly, people within the institute, who had stopped talking to me, started criticizing my relation with Namy which turned me mad and furious. Namy wanted me to be quiet. She wanted me to ignore this. I tried hard to control myself but then, everything has a limit. So one day, I exploded.

It was a Friday morning when Sam, Soro, Namy and I were sitting in the coffee house sipping tea and gossiping. I was sitting with Namy on one side and Sam and Soro were sitting on the other. Actually, we were having a free period. There was another group of students sitting behind us in the coffeehouse too. Most of them were from the computer stream.

Suddenly, one of them passed out a comment at Namy and me, “What a couple, what a couple!” As I turned silent and looked back, Namy held my hand tightly as she knew the circumstances that

would follow. She did not want me to fight. I looked back to see that the comment was actually passed by Pran. He was a student of our batch studying in BCA. As our eyes came into contact, he started smiling and said pointing to Sam and Soro, “What are those two monkeys doing there?”

I could not tolerate any more. Pran had crossed his limits. Namy tried to stop me but her efforts were fruitless. All three of us – Sam, Soro and I got up from our chairs and walked towards him. He was still smiling like a chimpanzee. His friends were also smiling and encouraging him. I walked upto him and he said scornfully, “I am so afraid of you guys.”

Neither I nor my friends had any intention of wasting our energy talking to him. I held his shirt, pulled him forward and slapped him hard across his face. The sound echoed through the entire shop. Namy shouted out in fear from the back. The shop owner, a lady, she came forward to stop me. As I left him, Sam and Soro slapped him harder too. All the events took place in such a short span of time that Pran did not have the time to react.

None of his friends had come forward to help him. This is the general trend of the common students. All the unity remains when there is no external disturbance. As soon as a greater force protests, the unity collapses.

As we were returning to our seat, I shouted out clearly so that my words were audible to his friends too, “Do not comment in the future. Next time, you will suffer more. Look, you call these boys your friend, isn’t it? Nobody came to help you but it was these idiots who had been encouraging you to comment. Yes, Namy and I love each other. First learn to respect love and then you will also have a relation like us. Please do not do like this.”

I returned to my seat with Sam and Soro. There were tears in Namy’s eyes. I was shocked. “Why are you crying darling?” I asked after sitting down beside her. “Have I done something wrong?

See, I couldn’t control myself. I cannot tolerate people insulting you. Please do not cry.” Well, Namy always has a tendency to give me a pleasant surprise. As she was crying, she held me

tightly in her arms and whispered in my ears, “Tintin, today I understand how much you love and respect me. I have always been waiting for a man like you. I love you Tintin.”

“Love you too,” I whispered. This was just a small example why I ultimately wanted to follow Namy’s desire of going abroad and

settling there. There were other incidents too. Students came to me and directly challenged me, “Tintin, you are only good in one or two subjects and not an all-rounder like us. Let’s see, how you beat us in the exam?”

The fact was that I had already beaten these people in the first year exams. The biggest joke was that they still wanted me to prove. I kept on asking myself if these people were fools or were they jealous? Namy and Sam felt that they were jealous while Soro felt that they were actually fools. Whatever they were, what could I do? Why were they continuously after me? I think the biggest mistake that I have done was to take part in this race.

I kept on saying Namy, “Darling, why am I studying so much? Believe me; I have no intention to compete with anyone. It seems, these days that I am not studying to learn something new but to compete against certain fools.”

After consoling me for a long time, one fine Monday morning, she turned very strict with her reply. “Tintin,” she said, “You are studying for your mom, dad and me and above all, you are studying for yourself. Please, prove these fools. I support you dear. You will have to compete with these fools and you have to be a winner. You have the complete potential to do it.”

Ultimately, when I could not tolerate this anymore, I finally said what I had wanted to tell her for a long time. We were taking a walk down the corridor when I finally asked, “Namy, do you remember you told me something on the next day after our fresher’s party?”

She was casual as she had no idea of the surprise I was about to give her. Well, with a complete relaxed tone, she replied, “We have told so many things to one another that day. How will I remember which particular thing you are talking about?”

“I am talking about the one where you said that you want me to go abroad and settle there and take you out from this hell.”

“Oh yes!” she said. “I remember. Please do so Tintin. Please take me out of this hell.” “I will do it. I can’t stay here anymore.” “Why?” she asked inquisitively. “The only reason is that I cannot adopt myself to the working conditions here.” “Yes, you are right. This working condition is not for you and me. Here, people learn not to implement

but to compete.” “Well darling, I just want to tell you something which I have wanted to tell you for a long time.

Actually, the day when you told me to settle abroad, I felt bad.” She was surprised to hear this. “Why?” she asked. “The reason was very childish. It was because of my intense love for this city and its nostalgia that I

had always thought of studying abroad and then returning back to Kolkata and working here. I really had no intention to settle there.”

“Okay,” she said softly. I continued, “So, the day you told me about this desire of yours, I was a sort of angry on you but then I

did not tell you anything as I felt I would hurt you and I really had no intention of doing that.”

“So kind of you,” she said. “Today I feel that I really did something great by controlling my mouth from speaking out against your

desire.” “So my hero, what have you planned ultimately?” she asked. “Aah! To go abroad, take you along and settle there.” The completion of this sentence earned me an

incentive from my sweet little darling once again which I always wait for. “You go Tintin and I promise you I will follow you next year. I will study as hard as it requires,” she

promised. Well, after the metamorphosis, I really began finding it too hard to cope with the surrounding. Yet, I

kept on fighting. Plato had once said that ‘only the dead have seen the end of war’ but I have desires to live. I want to see this war end. At last, I want to emerge as a winner.

25

Why should I love someone who does not know how to reciprocate? Why should I work for a society that does not know the procedures of complementing? Why does the society always believe in destruction? Doesn’t it ever have an urge to create? Why is it so shameless that it enjoys the fruits of an individual whom it had, once upon a time, criticized?

As usual, we can take the pony to the pond but we cannot make it drink unless it wants to drink on its own. We can posses a desire to change but we can only do so if it wants to change itself. Moreover, I have changed myself for my own good. This transformation had been for the betterment of mine. Why should the society earn benefits from it?

The road of life had once seemed to be very long but then when I started walking with Namy, I felt that it was not so. We have held each other’s hand and have started walking. We are still walking. There are obstacles on the path. They come and go whenever they want.

We try hard to win over these obstacles but the truth is, if we can’t win those obstacles, we tend to deviate from our track a bit. We tend to go round these obstacles through these deviations and then we return to our original path again as ultimately, that is the only way to reach the destination. Both of us have planned to travel abroad and settle there.

Infact, the basic need is to be happy. We want to be happy with one another. We want to love and be loved. Where there are criticisms, we want to establish the art of appraisal. Everyone must support creation and protest against destruction. Why should we destroy? Well, some intellectuals might say that ‘unless we destroy, we cannot create’. So absurd, isn’t it? The truth is we are only destroying. Where are we creating? Once we destroy, we must create in an ample amount so that all can simply visualize the creations and the destruction gets suppressed.

It is not that everyone is in favour of destruction around me. My mom and dad are in favour of creation. They have created a bond – a bond of love where they have been happy. They have been satisfied. Though in favour of creation, they are afraid, because though they have emerged winners, at a certain point, the society was against them. It had criticized but then, love is the greatest weapon on earth. They won all the battles. Moreover, through their love, they have not made their life long. They have turned it into something ‘big’. In this process, they have learnt how to respect all the creativity that occurs around them and more over, they know the procedures to protect these creations. After all, every relation is an act of intense creativity.

Look at my friends! Sam and Soro, they are all in favour of creation, friendship and love. Both of them are happy to see Namy and me together. They go all around the institute and advertise, “Look at Tintin and Namy! Look they are happy with each other. Please do not criticize it. Let us all be like them.”

Some listened to them while a few others called them fools. Well, I support such fools who favour creation. It’s better to support these fools than to support intelligent men who opposes this art. The truth is when we unite; no one in the institute can dominate us. Sam, Soro and I – we understand each other, we can combine our strength and the fact is that the combination of these strengths suppresses our weakness.

Yet, there are people who think their main pleasure in life is derived through criticizing our efforts. Why are these people jealous? Why can’t they be a part of this friendship? We have never said that we would

not allow them to join hands with us. We want everyone to come along and join hands with us so that this bond increases. We want each and everyone to participate in this movement of ours. Why can’t you guys understand if joining hands, three little men had the power to dominate, what would have been the result if we all had the desire to come ahead? I think it’s a regret to call themselves management students since they do not know the procedures of working in a team.

So, the biggest question that arises in my mind is that what do these guys do in class? Don’t they pay attention to the lectures? Poor teachers, they undergo terrific stress shouting every hour trying to teach the theories of management, their vocal chords endure extreme torture and yet, these guys only listen, take notes and hand-outs to pass in the semesters. Guys, management is a subject where there are plenty of scopes to apply. It is actually an insult to the subject if you do not know the procedures of applying.

Some think that they will apply this earned knowledge once they step into the corporate boundaries but the truth ‘practice makes a man perfect’ still prevails. We need to practice a lot before marching into the corporate and the best place of applying our bookish knowledge is in our personal life. How will we manage others if we cannot manage ourselves?

Management lies everywhere. It is there in politics, sports, organizations and whatever we can think of. Every political party that turns out to be successful, every winning sports team and every successful organization have only one common thing as their base besides polished talents. It is none other than an effective management team. This is the key to success.

If we delve into our personal lives, every stable relation has one thing in common. It is just that the two individuals can manage one another. They possess excellent skills to handle each other. Whenever there is any clash, they know the art of forgiving and forgetting. They know how to come back to their original form. Every anger and melancholy is a temporary appearance. They come, they go yet, the individuals move on forever.

Let us all forget what we have done in the past. Let us all make a new start. Let us all join our hands and work together to dominate the entire world. Let us love and be loved. Let us all work towards creating and let us all preserve these creations. Let us look forward to every relation. I feel everyone will be happy and every relation will reach an extent. The society is actually a reflection of ‘us’. So, why can’t we do something good so that the reflection would not be dark? Why should we discriminate? Let us all look forward. Come on guys! We can do it. Well, we have to do it.

Epilogue

Days are passing by. Tintin is walking with Namy. Namy is walking with him. They are walking together. They are holding each other’s hand. The road of life is long but their life has turned ‘big’. They are smiling, weeping, singing and sometimes even fighting. They have crossed plenty of milestones. There are plenty of them ahead too but they really do not care as they know how to overcome them.

The society has somehow stopped criticizing but not entirely. Tintin and Namy do not care and are least concerned. They just want to move on and on. They do not want to stop. They have forgotten their harassing past. They want to look and move forward. When hungry, it is love that keeps them alive.

Sometimes, Sam and Soro are also walking with them. Sometimes, they are not. Yet, their motto is same. They support creativity. Tintin has got a few more supporters like Ghosh, Prat and so on. They are all moving forward with him. They have changed. They have started accepting creativity and at the same time, are encouraging others to do the same.

Every relation, every work that we do is basically like a flower and if not disturbed, it has all the capacities to bloom. Tintin feels great that he had quitted engineering. He dreams of becoming a professor as well as an author and a good human being. Namy feels great that she did not take up business studies and dreams of becoming a famous journalist and a good human being too. They want to be together and they have promised to remain one. They think ‘promises are not made to be broken’. Besides all these, Tintin, as he is walking with Namy, is shouting at the world pleading all, “Please, let the flower bloom!”

About the author:-

The author, Shubhadeep Mitra, is an ex-student of Ram Krishna Mission Vidhyapith, Deoghar and National Gem’s

Higher Secondary School, Kolkata and is presently a Student of BBA (H) in NSHM College of Management and

Technology, Kolkata. He is now in his fifth semester and is famous within the institute for his unique blend of humour

and creativity. He is also a poet, a lyricist and a singer. He thinks personally that to achieve success, one has to do

things in a different way.