THE WEEKLY COLUMN – ‘The Week That Went By’ / आठवड्यातील घडामोडी THE FIRST WEEK:

THE WEEKLY COLUMN – ‘The Week That Went By’ / आठवड्यातील घडामोडी

THE FIRST WEEK:

The other day I had this bright idea (a wacky one, you may call), a thought that occurred during the weekend, precisely on Saturday, that just went by – A thought- to write a weekly FB column, a column for my Face Book friends, and to make it a regular feature on my time line at that.

“And for a Saturday, a few stray thoughts and a few general observations and a few points of view (all my own work)”, is how Behram Contractor, the ´Busybee´ would begin his column ‘Round and About’ in Afternoon Despatch & Courier. And he would always conclude in this manner, “And this final point of view”. I definitely write about my take on Busybee some other time.

So the title could not be ‘Stray thoughts / काही क्षणिक विचार’ and then I decided on: The Week That Went By / आठवड्यातील घडामोडी. It has nothing to do with that hilarious show on TV- ‘The Week That Wasn’t!’ Why, don’t tell me you haven’t watched it as yet ! The Week That Wasn't with Cyrus Broacha TV Show on CNN IBN, Live every Saturday at 10.30 pm and repeated on Sundays as well. Somehow I missed out on Kunal and company last Saturday and on Sunday there was no ‘The Week That Wasn’t’ this time and that ‘Wasn’t My Choice’ either.  So I am not going to dwell on ‘The Week That Wasn’t’ in  ‘The Week That Went By’ / आठवड्यातील घडामोडी. May be I shall, some other week. तर गेल्या आठद्यातील घडामोडींचा घेऊया आढावा. Yeah, let’s do some round and about of the week that went by.

SSC results were out and I had a good reason to be happy, though one of my acquaintances expressed her apprehension and anxiety (with passing percentage being  90+ and the first ranker securing 99.4%, who would not become numb or बधिर and comparing these results with those of our times we would have been  placed in the category ‘Malnourished’ or  ‘कुपोषित’ and for that matter, even the top rankers would have stood in ‘ Below the poverty line’)  in this manner:

१० वी ला सध्या मुलांना पडत असलेले मार्क बघून …,,, बधीरच व्ह्यायला होतंय ….इथे ९० % मार्क वाला मध्यम वर्गीय ८५ % मार्क वाला गरीब ८० % मार्क वाला दारिद्र्य रेषेखालचाच वाटायला लागलाय …………। नशीब आपण पूर्वीच पास झालो …। नाहीतर सध्या च्या मार्काच्या तुलनेत … '' कुपोषित '' सदरा खालीच आपली गणती झाली असती …!

But with me it was a different story. It so happened that--- I received a call from an acquaintance of mine, a businessman and philanthropist who was (still is) in New Jersey (though has a name, I shall not reveal it here because I do not know how private a person he is and may not like to be generally identified and neither shall I reveal the name of his nephew). He spoke about his nephew and requested me to help him out. Subsequently, he sent me this email on 1^st March, 2015:

Dear Vinay sir,

I greatly appreciate your help!
I will take care of charges/ fees.
Please make sure that __B___ is available every day , please push him a bit( I am requesting this to u because, I know that , ONLY you can handle such case)
I know that ___B__is stubborn and not very cooperative, but I do not want to give hope on him because he is still,  a kid and he lost his father 3 years ago and his mom is busy 9am-9pm earning their daily bread. 
There are millions of kids like him in India, who need help......
But If I ignore my own cousin's son then, how can I reach out to the kids whom, I have never known or met?

I apologize for making your rush  and push you thus.

Once again thanks a lot for helping me out.
Best Regards,
 RC

The help he sought was a tough task of teaching a boy, his nephew,  Algebra and Geometry and prepare him for his SSC exams and that too in just 5 days during the exams, the whole one year portion in 5 days. So I would go to his residence at Wadala(slum), daily from 7^th to 11^th March. For 4 to 5 hours on each day I taught him Mathematics, from the basics. He was literally at zero level not only in maths but also in English, in spite studying in English medium school (that’s RTI for you, everyone promoted and no detention up to IX). It was extremely difficult to start from the scratch but not impossible. It was also a learning experience for me, going to those slums in Wadala. I accepted the challenge.

Around 3 p.m. the taxi dropped me at Baktar Ali Naka and located the Sagar Bar (don’t get any idea), where the boy was supposed to meet me. He took me through the congested area guiding me through the narrow lanes lined by those one or two storey  shanties avoiding oncoming vehicles, hawkers and pits. Finally we reached his house after covering the distance in 25- 30 minutes. The door opened outside, only the right one while the left one remained closed. As I walked in I realized the reason, behind the left door was an iron ladder leading up to the loft, and I was able to walk in turning sideways and I walked into their kitchen cum his study. He made sit on a small wooden stool, spread open the folding wooden table and he sat opposite me on a pile of cushions. On his left was the refrigerator which could hardly be opened as he was blocking it. Immediately to his right was the Fully Automatic washing machine and which was touching the kitchen platform, and to my left was a rack with utensils. So I began to teach him. So I taught him for those five days, 3 days of Algebra and the remaining 2 for Geometry. SSC results were declared. I was waiting for his phone call. I had his seat number, I knew his name. But ‘mother’s name’ was the on line requirement. His mom was ---gita or ---geeta, but with right permutation and combination   I got it right.  He had passed securing 52 % and so had I. It was all worth it – my  pain and struggle. I was apprehensive. It was only possible because of his efforts and our prayers.

So we old timers were certainly not ‘Malnourished’ or  ‘कुपोषित’ but we were ‘Well-balanced’ or ‘संतुलित’.

Just as I was happy for the boy, I was also equally happy for this man – Mr. Avinash Chaugule, 50 year old peon from Mantralaya, ultimately cleared his SSC on 28^th attempt  (And two guys from our building gave up after some attempts, one of them appeared as many as 21 times and when he failed at the 21^st attempt he ran away from home and was finally traced in the Army recruitment queue and the other guy gave up when appeared with his son, who passed but the father failed. I admire Mr. Avinash’s perseverance. During these three decades the curriculum had changed several times, so it must have been very tough for him. Cheers to you, young man!

Then there was this boy, who got 35 % in each subject. It must be record of some sort. Then a private Gujarati school in Nalasopara earned the dubious distinction of being the only school in the entire Mumbai region to get 0 % result at SSC.

But for Nauman Sabuwala the celebration of his success at SSC (with 65 %) ended tragically, when a AudiQ3 driven by a drunk top – notch corporate lawyer collided with taxi they were travelling back home.   Two people were killed, his father and the taxi driver. Very sad indeed! My sympathies to them!

While these were stories of happiness and sadness, there was this chilling story, a horror story straight from Alfred Hitchcock. A scene reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho confronted city police shortly after they had questioned Partha De, 44, following the discovery of his 77-year-old father, Arabindo’s burnt body in the bathtub at their south Calcutta home on the previous night.While investigating Arabindo's death, the police officers found her skeleton covered with a blanket on a single bed in a bedroom that the siblings shared, with the air-conditioner on at full blast. Grimy teddy bears were arrayed on the bed's headboard. Strewn around were plastic tiffin boxes, the food in them "rotten long ago", from which the brother "fed" his dead sister, Debjani, every night. It seems she had died of starvation sometime last December. The skeletons of the family's two pet Labradors lay on the floor - they had apparently died in August and September. In the month of May, Partha had thrown a birthday party at the house, with at least a dozen relatives and friends attending. Mukti De, Partha's 70-year-old aunt who lives next door in the same compound, shuddered at the thought that she had had lunch separated by a wall from her niece's skeleton. None of the invitees smelt the stench. It seems after the death of  Partha's mother due to cancer, the family became reclusive. Why did the neighbours or relatives not ask questions when they did not see Debjani or the dogs for months? No one, not even the dogs, ever came out of the house. Occasionally, neibours would   hear a piano, which they thought was being played by Debjani, but today they know that were old records his father played. Officers said Partha's grandfather Gadadhar De had bought the property from a British owner over 80 years ago. The house is in an upscale locality near several well-known schools, and the police commissioner's residence is a five-minute walk away

Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins) became a part of cinematic history when Alfred Hitchcock released his genre-bending film, Psycho, in 1960. Bates, a motel owner in small town America, would take care of the skeleton of his long-dead mother for years. Partha De of Kolkata is not much different, who took care of her elder sister Debjani’s decomposed body for six months.

Thus the first week had been a blend of happiness, sadness and horror. But it ended on a good note - it has started raining, giving us respite from the oppressive and sweltering heat.

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Vinay Trilokekar