At the end of the dinner they came out of the restaurant and walked hand in hand along the entire stretch of the walk-way, seemingly contented that their first romantic outing went smoothly. Nevertheless, they had to withstand the glare and close scrutiny of the people around. Whatever they did or did not do during that encounter raised their eyebrows for free-mixing of the unmarried couple of their age was still an anathema.
As they came to the end of the walk-way, Keka said, “We have to get going now. Otherwise, my mother would start worrying.”
Rana concurred that Keka’s mother had reasons to be worried, her daughter being only a sixteen year old female. He told her that he himself was a twenty year old male and a graduate at that, even then his grandma Rajani would worry if he did not return home by nine in the evening.
On the way back home Keka said, “Many thanks for choosing the strand on our first dating and for being so caring toward me. I’ll remember this day forever.”
Rana said, “Pleasure is mine. From the next day you choose the venue. For me your company is more important, venue is secondary.”
Coming close to her residence, Keka said, “Don’t just run away. Please come at least to the drawing room. Let me call my mother. Say hello to her before leaving.”
Rana said, “No, no, I will not leave you on the street. I will hand you over hale and hearty to your mother. Otherwise, she will not trust me any more.”
Keka smiled and said, “You sound like my grandpa. He will appreciate it when he comes to know your sense of responsibility from my mother.”
They went in. Rana waited in the drawing room. Little later Keka came back with her mother. Rana exchanged pleasantries with Mita. She said she was very glad to see two happy faces. Rana then asked her permission to leave and said he would be back next Friday as usual.
In one of these romantic encounters Rana told Keka that he liked her name very much.
He said, “Keka, if you would recall, on the very first day we went riding I told you that I loved your name. That was true from my heart. Your name is short, crisp, romantic and meaningful.” She was exceedingly happy to hear that. Then Rana asked her, “Keka, do you know the meaning of your name?
Keka said, “It did not really strike me and I never asked anyone. So I do not know the meaning.”
Rana then elaborated to her, “Keka is actually the intonation of voice of our national bird peacock, indicating its romantic feeling toward the rain cloud.” He explained further, “The beautiful and unusually romantic bird peacock is mostly seen in Delhi and the adjoining states of Haryana and Rajasthan. The male peacocks are more beautiful and romantic than the female ones. Their plumage is longer and more colorful and they use this asset cleverly when courting the female peacocks.
Anyway, the district of Delhi and the states of Haryana and Rajasthan are in the arid regions of the country; the rainfall is few and far between. Especially, the landscape of Rajasthan is dominated by the Desert Thar. The precipitation there is next to nothing. As a result, the earth remains parched almost always and every living creature is perennially thirsty. But once in a blue moon when rain is in sight and the peacock sees the dark rain clouds on the horizon, its joy knows no bound. In its delightful ecstasy it opens up its exquisitely colorful plumes fully in the shape of a rainbow as if to lure the rain bearing clouds to come closer to it to drench the landscape and not simply fly away. Simultaneously, it emits a particular musical expression or tone resembling the sound ‘Keka,’ conveying its romantic feelings and begins dancing to the rhythm of that intonation. The music itself is not as melodious as that of the songbird nightingale or cuckoo, but the entire sequence of sights and sounds is what is breathtaking. It defies any language to describe the intense communication between a bird and the nature. As I have mentioned before, the male peacocks especially go berserk with the same song and dance sequence while courting the female peacocks. It seems that the peacock can impart a lesson or two in applied romance to human beings.”
Keka appeared to be spellbound by the tale of her apparently simple and innocuous name. She listened to it as intently as a child listens to the fairy tales. At the end she said, “Wow, you know so much! You are a good teacher.” Then, perhaps to assuage Rana’s feelings she said, “I like your name too.”
Rana said, “My name makes no sense. ‘Ranadhir’ means one who is calm and composed in war. Just by being calm and composed no one can win a war.”
Keka laughed to her heart’s content, but did not say anything. She understood very well that Rana was trying to boost up her ego at the cost of his own, like the male peacock.
And that exactly is the nature of love. It always strives to hold the object of love on a higher pedestal to play on its ego and derive immense pleasure out of it.
Keka’s birthday was at hand. She became a fully blown seventeen. Her vivacious beauty made her look like all of her seventeen years. Luckily, that year her birthday fell on a Saturday. As such, their weekly get-together on Friday remained uninterrupted and they celebrated the occasion on two consecutive days. With Keka’s concurrence, Rana decided to observe her birthday exclusively between the two of them on Friday evening. Among the gifts that Rana gave her was a painting of her that he painted himself from a photo snapped in Darjeeling. To begin with, when she received all other gifts except the painting, she was overwhelmed with emotion for that was the first time that she received something other than roses from her beau. What woman would not love to see her gifts immediately? She asked Rana as soon as she received them, Can I open the wrappers?”
Rana answered, “Of course, they are now yours. You can do whatever you like with them.” She opened the gifts and appeared to be very pleased with them. She said, “You have wonderful taste. How did you know these were my favorites?”
He said, “I am glad that you liked them. When I meet people I keep my eyes and ears open. I want to know in the first place what their likes and dislikes are, so that I do not do anything that displeases them.” He smiled at her.
She smiled back and said, “Well, I can see that here.”
Rana then said with a little emotion, “To me all these gifts are just fine. They can be bought and sold in the market with money. But the one I am about to give you now cannot be found in the market, nor can be bought with money. This one is very special. This can come only from the core of one’s heart.” Saying this he handed over the packet to her.
Keka asked with lot of curiosity, “What is it?”
Rana said with a smile, “You cannot see it unless you open it.”
She opened the wrapper very cautiously and took the picture in her hand. Her facial color changed and her usually expressive eyes became larger. She said, “Wow, this is beautiful! But you never told me that you could paint!”
He responded gleefully, “How can I blow my own trumpet? Rather, I thought of giving you a pleasant surprise. I am delighted that you like it. Now you can blow the trumpet for me.”
She said, “Many thanks for taking so much pain for me. I will put it up on the wall over my study table so that I can always see it and remember you.”
Rana said, “That would be my pleasure too. Whenever I go to your room I will be able to see not only your picture reminding me of Darjeeling, but my artwork too.”
Little later Rana asked, “Keka, I have to ask your permission for a small thing only because today is such a special day for you and me.”
She asked. “What is it?”
Rana asked, “Can I kiss your beautiful cheeks?”
Keka nodded her approval shyly. Rana gently kissed her cheeks and said, “Very happy birthday to you.”
Keka blushed and said, “You are a naughty boy and getting naughtier day by day.
Rana said, “It is better to be naughty than lifeless, isn’t it?”
She smiled and said, “You are very clever too.”
He quipped, “Would you be happy if your beau is a stupid?”
Keka laughed and said, “I am
sorry, I’ll not be able to keep up with you.”
Rest of the evening went by in fun and frolic; in a light and jovial atmosphere. On their way home they both agreed that it was one of the most enjoyable evenings of their lives.
Rana got admission to the M.A. class in Economics, but kept his options open for a good job offer. As conscientious as he was, never for a day was he forgetful that his father retired and money was not easy to come by like before. He also took a private teaching job to pay for his own expenses.
Keka’s High School final exam was approaching fast. So her academic activities also increased considerably. However, nothing disturbed their weekly rendezvous. On the contrary, Keka’s mother Mita requested him to coach Keka whenever possible on the subjects she was not up to the mark. Rana said to himself, Coaching Keka? He would coach her 24-hours a day if needed. Mita did not have to coax him further to coach her daughter. There is a saying in Latin, “If you get a space to sit down, don’t just sit, you lie down.” That was exactly what happened to Rana. From then onwards Keka’s need for help kept on increasing by leaps and bounds. Consequently, Rana’s visit to Keka’s home also became too frequent and each visit too long for every mother’s comfort. However, Mita never uttered a word about it.
In a couple of months Rana got a job with a medium sized engineering firm. His specific job requirement was to develop an easy-to-understand Management Information System and prepare Management Reports for Senior Management and Board Meetings. He found the job to be pretty interesting and responsible. He put his heart and soul into it and gave up the university classes. He began his project at the department level to streamline their reporting requirements and devised simplified reporting forms to the delight of the Board members. To reward him for all the improvements that he made in a relatively short period of time, the Board approved his promotion as MIS Manager with substantial pay increase after just about six months on the job. Coinciding with his promotion and raise approached the month long autumn festival season. With all the extra money at his disposal he bought generous gifts for his grandma Rajani and his parents. He also bought exquisite gifts for his sweetheart Keka and her mother Mita. It was expected that Keka would be happy to receive her gifts. However, Mita was also enormously appreciative of his good gesture to acknowledge the supporting role that she was playing behind his courtship with Keka.
In about a year, things were getting a little discouraging at work. As the Manager of the company’s information department it was crystal clear to him that the company was losing market share against general economic trend. The company was expecting a few high value businesses. When they did not materialize, the board decided to lay off 20% of the workforce. Though he himself was not affected by the staff reduction, it was prudent to think about the future. Even otherwise, it was out and out a family owned company. There were stumbling blocks on the way up. He, therefore, kept looking around for a challenging opportunity elsewhere.
It did not take long for the opportunity to knock at the door. In a few weeks Rana saw a news item in a local English daily that American Inter-Continental Bank was going to expand its operations in Calcutta and as a part of that process would open another branch at the southern end of the business district shortly. Rana went and saw the designated Manager of the upcoming branch. He told Rana that all their recruitments were centralized in their main office and he should go and see the Operations Manager. He, however, talked to Rana for a while and appeared to be satisfied about his qualifications. He then wrote a nice hand-written note to the Operations Manager (OM). Rana went to see the OM on a Wednesday without an appointment, but took that note with him.
Those days it used to be considered a height of impudence to seek an interview with a senior officer without an appointment. One of the secretaries on the platform asked him if he had an appointment. He replied to the negative but introduced himself and explained that he went to the upcoming branch and the Manager there advised him to see the OM at the Main Office. He also gave her the note from the new Branch Manager. She called the OM’s secretary on the internal phone system. Rana did not hear what they spoke but she asked him to take his seat, saying that the OM would call him in a few minutes.
In about ten minutes the OM’s secretary came down and guided him to his office upstairs. He realized later that OM’s office was located at a vantage point on the second floor from where he could see Rana but Rana could not see him. OM interviewed him for about forty minutes and said, “The Executive Trainee position that you are looking for is not available at this time. However, we are in the process of installing our first generation computers. I think you could be a valuable member of our inaugural Computer Team. If you agree to accept this position now, I can extend you the opportunity to undergo the interview process for the next Executive Trainee Program. You have to trust my word on that. I can’t give my promise to you in writing.
Rana liked the OM. It was just the sixth sense. He thought the OM was sincere and could be trusted on his words. He agreed to accept the computer position and be a part of one of the premier banks in the world. OM accepted his application and said, “I can’t confirm the date of appointment as yet. Please keep calling me every week. As soon as the computers are delivered at our premises, I will appoint you.”
So Rana kept calling him every Wednesday. The OM kept him advised on the status of the arrival of the computers. On the fourth week the OM said matter-of-factly, “I have just signed your appointment letter. I am sure you will get it before the weekend. Congratulations. Please come and join us on Monday.”
It was almost dramatic. Rana was thrilled, so did Keka and friends and family of both. In the context of time, it was well-nigh impossible to think that one could walk into one of the largest corporations in the world and walk out with a handsome job.
The fortunes of Rana and Keka were moving concurrently. She got her admission to the college and he obtained his new job simultaneously. It all happened just about six weeks before the autumn festival season. It was hard to believe that another year passed away at the blink of an eye.
And that is what the River of Life is. It does not have a moment to pause. It flows incessantly from the past to the future. Present does not exist. Present is an illusion of mind. It prevails only as the figment of imagination. The River of Life is a symphony of time, space and mind. The span of time in terms of days, months and years is constant. Space is the function of time and velocity. Velocity is determined by the degree of growth and progress in a specific period of time. The seeds of growth and progress lie in the mind, which is the greatest gift of our Creator to His greatest creation mankind. It is the interactions of the aspirations and the contentments, emanating from the depth of mind that makes the River of Life so fascinating. Mind is immeasurably elastic. It can travel faster than lightning, traversing ten universes like ours in matters of seconds. It can create a zillion castles in the air in the fraction of a second. The same mind can also be slower than deadwood creating nothing but filth and slime. Mind is always in a state of flux, swinging like a pendulum between aspirations and contentments. When the aspiration is in high gear, the creativity thrives. The activity is multiplied. The banks of the River of life cannot contain the volume of the creative juice. The velocity of growth and progress increases manifold. Time seems to be in short supply. Days appear to be whizzing past. On the other side of the spectrum, when abundance drives the mind to a comfort zone and the mind is contented with the pleasure of plenty, the aspirations take soulful refuge in hibernation. The River of Life becomes slender and slim. Time appears to be slower and longer. Days do not seem to pass by. However, the River of Life carries with it both the aspirations and contentments along with all their progressions and regressions on its relentless journey toward its endless destiny, the ever escaping Eternity.
Keka and Rana were floating on the waves of aspirations. They came a long way from the time they had been thrust on each other at the whirlpool of the River of Life. They no l
onger had any restrictions with regard to the frequency and duration of their dating, which at long last earned freedom from the parental watch. They obtained enormous credits by not abusing the limited liberty given to them at the beginning of their journey together. Keka became a student of Loreto College, the most prestigious and glamorous college for women. Her college was not very far from his work. As a result, it was much easier for them to plan and coordinate their activities. Sometimes, they would have lunch together. Some other times, Rana would pick her up on his way back from work. Often times, they would go to the strand for their favorite riverside walk and have snacks or dinner at the Riverfront Café. So life became hectic, but full of fun and pleasure.
Days seemed to be gliding past merrily. But life would not be colorful and spicy without interesting episodes strewn around its path. Rana brought an important piece of news from his work. He thought it would be welcomed by everyone wishing him well. But for once he was proved wrong. His OM advised him that a new Executive Development Program would be announced soon. But in view of his excellent on the job performance, the Senior Country Management decided not to put him through the entry level Executive Development Program. Rather he had been chosen to go to the Bank’s training center in Delhi for Executive Skills Training to be attended by the senior officers of the bank of the entire Asia-Pacific Region. The training would be for three months effective the first Monday of November. OM gave him further impetus by saying that on completion of the training he would be promoted as a Departmental Manager. There was nothing negative in this information. Everything was indicative of his rising stock in the company despite his youth.
At first, Keka became very happy hearing the information, almost ecstatic. Subsequently, however, the possessive side of her character got the better of her. It made her brood over the reality that Rana would be staying alone a thousand miles away for three long months. Keka would be out of his sight and out of his mind. He would come across many other young women and forget her. The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became. She began crying intermittently, she could not sleep and she would not eat. Rana was in a quandary, her family non-plussed. Her parents and grandparent began working on her mind. They said Rana had no choice but to go for the training because it was his company’s policy to give opportunities to its employees for their development and growth in the company. Mita said that she had to live without Keka’s father for four years when he had gone to England to be a Barrister. Ramnath said that her grandmother had to live alone at their ancestral home at Burdwan for four years while he was studying law in Calcutta and only when he could set up his law practice successfully, he brought her to Calcutta. He added that success in life was not easy to come by and it needed sacrifice on the part of everyone. Rana said it would not be easy for him also to navigate three months without seeing her. But nothing convinced her. She remained virtually in a coma.
A Bend in the River of Life Page 10
