09/12/2019
Chapter - XXII (When Dreams Get Shattered 2):
Sushil then got up, cupping his mouth and sat down along with the other three, Naresh, Mahesh and Dwijen on the giant bed. Naresh moved a little to the side of the bed to make room for him. Bidesh looked keenly at the other four. His distance with his father, over the years had widened, but for some reason, he didn't like the idea of a room being permitted to be constructed by the other parties at the expense of his father, Jash.
"Why Dijuda? How can you talk like that? Does Baba mean so little to you?" Standing behind his brother's chair, Adarsh, the youngest of the Bhattacharyyas present in the room, screamed out. He was livid. Bidesh turned his head at him as did the ofhers and looked back at the four maharathis next. He got up slowly then. There was no point trying to persuade the floor when the decision had already been made, he realized. This was a betrayal he was not going to forget easily.
As Adarsh came trotting down the stairs following his eldest brother, a very popular song of Hemanta Mukherjee wafted through the air:
Mago, bhabna keno?
Amra tomar shantripriyo, shanto chhele,
Tabu shatru eley astra hante dhorte jani,
Tomar bhoi nei ma, amra, protibad kortey Naniβ¦
(Why do year fear, dear Mother? We are, by and large,your peace-loving, peaceful sons. But we know how to hold the fort, in case the enemies come attacking. Don't you be afraid, Mom, we know how to protest.)
When they came down to Jash's room, Jash had just woken up from his midday siesta. One look at his sons and he knew that they had brought him bad news.
"Kire, ki holo? Raji holo ora sabai?" (What happened? Did they all agree?)
Bidesh shook his head. Jash Bhattacharyya, didn't raise his folded hands that day to his forehead as he was in the habit of doing. He looked more towards the clear, blue sky through the open window on the left.
"They will approve the construction if you are willing to leave the house, Baba," Bidesh stated less emotionally.
For the first time, both the brothers and Anjali, who had come up and joined them by then, on her way back from college, saw Jash bend his head in shame.
For a blinking minute, the mind of Jash Bhattacharyya flashed back to the day when Nara, the youngest of his siblings, was born, the day he got admitted in the Presidency College, the day he set out for college as a Lecturer, suited-booted, carrying a black leather bag in his hand. Then Nara offering only Sati, amongst his three sisters-in-law, an expensive sari after marriage when Chandidas agreed to, somewhat reluctantly, take him back to Deblane 14. He could also see fondly how happy he was when "Barka", that is Sushil, performed well in the Matriculation, how, despite the opposition of a few, including some of his own sons, he entrusted Barka with the task of reclaiming the repatriation benefits for their ancestral properties in Bangladesh? Jash also thought about Diju or Dwijen, was it not only last year that he had come frequently to him asking for his opinions regarding his (Diju's) first book? Did he also not ask him (Jash) to write The Preface for the book? Thinking of the book, he looked straight at the showcase in front. Along with all those brand new Penguine paperback publications of the works of Chekov, Dostoyevsky, Hardy and a host of other great writers, he had kept lined up on the top shelf, the copy of Diju's book, the copy Diju had gifted him the day he got his personal copies of the book delivered at home. Finally, Jash thought about the boy, no, he was a grown-up now with his own family - Mahesh! Perhaps the closest of all those nephews. The scenes of Mahesh excitedly sharing with him the story of their victory in a Cricket friendly, Mahesh coming down to the baitakkhana to touch his feet before going off to PNB on the first day of his banking career, him becoming a proud papa on the birth of his first child - all these scenes flashed through his mind as he looked up at his son again.
" Don't you worry, Baba." Adarsh who had taken his father's great humiliation to heart, exclaimed with a lot of passion, " We'll find a way of paying them back for this."
Jash broke into a smile, despite the utter pain and emptiness in her heart at that time, he could still crack a joke with his sons like he was fond of doing.
"So, what is the verdict on Jash Bhattacharyya? Does he stay in or go out?" He asked them teasingly as all five, including Anjali, smiled through one of the most traumatic periods of Jash's family.
Only Time ould say if the proposal to have Jash Bhattacharyya removed from Deblane 14, was going to sour relations among the extended families of late pundit Chandidas in the years ahead.
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On a golden afternoon Mr. Braja Kishore Mandal, the proprietor of Biswabani Prakashani, a reputed publisher with his publication house in College Street in Central Calcutta, called on Jash. He had heard of Chandidas Bhattacharyya's lifelong endeavours for translating the greatest epic of all times, The Mahabharata, and he was interested in reprinting the new versions of the works of the great pundit. He had already done a market research and found out that some big names of the "Who's Who" of the celebrities of Bengal, were keen to have a copy or copies of the book. Brajo Kishore wanted to know if Jash would be interested in having the books written by his late father, reprinted.
Jash, as straight as always, informed Brajo Kishore that the idea of reprinting his late father's book sounded good. But he needed to consult his brother or the surviving members of his late brothers' families. Brajo Kishore then scheduled a date for meeting the heirs of Chandidas Bhattacharyya in connection with the republication of his translatory works of the great epic. After long, Deblane 14 came alive with the news of the republication.
Consequently, Braja Kishore paid a visit to the historic house on a glinting evening. Jash, his brother, Naresh, Sushil on behalf of late Shish Bhattacharyya, the inseparable pair, Mahesh and Dwijen, were all present during the meeting in the baitakkhana. An agreement was signed amongst the surviving heirs of Chandidas and the first canto of the epic translatory works of Chandidas was decided to be brought out in the first week of August. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the scheduled launch got delayed and the first canto came to be launched in September, coinciding with The Durga Puja.
A few weeks before The Puja, Braja Kishore, who had already grown very fond of this former Principal, came to meet him at Deblane 14, with his family that included his wife and daughter. The next day he rang up Jash to inform him that they were going ahead with the rescheduled date of the launch of the first canto and would Josh Babu believe it that the first two subscribers were none other than two stalwarts of Bengal, Ms.Aparna Sen, a film diva and Mr. Satyajit Roy, whose first movie "Pather Panchami" was creating ripples around the world, having just won the Golden Lotus for The Best Film at the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival?
When Biswabani paid the first instalment of the royalties to all four direct heirs or the survivors of late Chandidas Bhattacharyya, there were scenes of absolute rejoicings and jubilation at Deblane 14. Sweets were distributed and people hugged each other as if the house had won a great victory.
Good times, unfortunately, do not last for long. It was not long before Jash Bhattacharyya was to be faced with what must rank as the greatest low of his life.
