Bechuda on line

Bechuda on line ……………………….. I always remember my late PA.S N Bose for making my life comfortable in Kolkata during my six years stint in BHEL, Eastern Region office starting from October,1994 to November 2000. He was like friend, philosopher and guide to me. In case of any odd requirement outside office I used to rely on him. Many times on his own initiative he would bring some interesting character to me, he knew about my diverse interest. It was he who brought renowned artists like Yogesh Dutta for mime, Lopamudra Mitra, Srikanta Acharya etc for music. He had wide network of acquaintances. It was sometimes in October 1995 just after Durga Pujas I was sitting in my chamber in Chatterjee International when Bose entered with a gentleman of 50 something in ordinary bush shirt and trousers. I was not busy at that particular moment, Bose knew that. “Sir, meet Bechuda.” Both of them walked towards the guest chairs in front of my table. I invited them to sit down and smilingly looked at Bose for further introduction. “Sir, remember 21st September?” Bose mischievously asked. “ Oh yes, how can I forget? I got a ring from my nephew Pappu that Lord Ganesh’s idol is drinking milk in the city. I asked you to check with people you know.” “Yes, I gave ring to this Bechuda and he told me it was true and he was busy in doing brisk business in milk. I brought him to you for that. He does not run regular business but when opportunity comes then he makes a business of that for a short time, rest he will tell you.” Bechuda just shrugged his shoulder and said, “ I don’t want to get stuck in any fixed business but I make enough to feed my family. The moment I heard about Ganesh drinking milk my sixth sense told it was a business opportunity. I rushed to all milk vendors and purchased their stock. I did not have that much money so I took loan. Then I ran around to purchase big idols of Ganesh. By afternoon time I had hired people who put Ganesh idols below trees at prominent places along with milk stalls, in the meanwhile all the house wives were madly searching for idol of Ganesh and milk. This news of drinking milk has spread like wild fire. Yes, I made good money then.” “Oh!That was smart!” I said. “Tell him about your new idea.” Bose nudged him. “ I have noticed that many people have purchased vacuum cleaners from Eureka Forbes with the idea that they will vacuum clean their house thoroughly. In reality it did not happen, it was used for a few month and now lying idle in most of the households, we are not like first world people where they do all cleaning extra by these type of gadgets. We get cheap maid servants to carry out mopping and cleaning.” “Yes, I too have purchased one but lying idle now.” “I have two ideas. One I will train up some unemployed youth of my area to operate these cleaners and then they would go door to door offer their services for a price in operating the idle vacuum cleaners of that household. The second idea is that I would offer to purchase those vacuum cleaners which of course I will get at a much reduced price and then offer to offices for cleaning their premises. That is the reason why I have come to you.” “Yes,why not? You send your proposal I will examine. I may advise my site offices to use your agency.” After that we talked about various subjects and left my office promising to send the proposal. 

 Many years have passed , I retired from BHEL,Bhopal and settled in Kolkata. While doing some shopping in Vijaygarh market noticed an eatery named “ Bechudar cabin”. I walked in curiously, yes it was the same Bechuda but like me had aged. He recognized me immediately, came forward and invited me to sit with him. I informed him that I have retired and stay in Golf Green. ‘Excellent, you stay nearby only.” He said. “ I noticed your name so came in thinking whether it is you or someone else. I am happy to meet you after such a long time. You must be knowing that Bose is no more.” “Yes, very unfortunate, I attended his funeral.” “By the way you said you don’t do regular business but here I find you are running a restaurant.” “Have you seen any menu board here?” I looked around, did not find any. Then I looked at the cliental and the items they were eating. The items were just anything from ordinary rice dal to biryani. Even noticed some people were having choicest sweet but there was no visible sweet displayed. I was baffled and asked him to explain. “This double storey building is my ancestral property. When the government allowed us to run business establishment from the ground floor then I got this idea of running an unique restaurant.” “Unique?” I asked. “Ok, tell me when you walked down the road then did you feel like eating item what you saw in those shabby joints?” “Yes, I was feeling like eating Moghlai from Abar Khabo, but it was so crowded inside and I was to stand on the road to eat.” He called a helping hand ,gave him some money and wrote something on a paper. That boy hurriedly went out. After 10 minutes he came back with a plate covered by another plate. Bechuda kept the plate in front of me and removed the covering plate, it was a Moghlai paratha . Bechuda signaled me to eat. I relished eating hot Moghlai in a decent environment; I was ready to pay double the price. I understood his business model. There is no kitchen in that cabin, some microwave and heating gadgets. There are clean utensils, cutleries, filtered water arrangement. Everything else is outsourced. “The street food is my menu. My clients are well off people of this area. Lot of flats has come up so the number is swelling. You can visit my webpage where the names of all the food joints which are not upmarket type around this area are listed. You can book your time and order chosen item. My people will take care of that. The cost of course will be higher than what you would have paid on direct purchase but then these people don’t much bother about that. They are happy that they are enjoying those simple foods made for ordinary folks. My cabin is antithesis of branded restaurants. I have made arrangement with those small eateries to use fresh cooking oil for my client; I pay them extra for that.” I was impressed; it was a novel idea of a business with minimum investment. “ Slowly it has become like a club, most of them fix time and menu after discussing with each other. I have also allotted time slot to each such group for a cost of course.” He said with a wink. “It means you have priority customers?” I got warmed up to the subject. “Yes, something like that. My neighbor who is my friend has offered to let out his ground floor in case if I want to expand.” “ Why don’t you contact poor household to engage the housewives to cook food in their houses which you can offer to your clients. You can purchase the ingredients so that they don’t have to invest. If the housewives are ready to cook larger quantity then you can pay for their helper, the housewife can supervise in her own house.” “Yes, it might work. Let me talk to the local counselor because he can help me to identify the needy.”

The companion

 Kaushikbabu was in slumber in front of his TV in the drawing room, his caregiver a woman from the agency had gone out. He was running temperature since two days but he was sure it was not Covid as he had no related symptoms like not able to smell, body pain etc. He was 85 years old and a widower, his wife died 6 years back, his only son who had not married was a marine biologist was in Alaska. Whenever his son would give ring via WhatsApp, he would see his laboratory in snow clad mountain and lake. He often jokingly ask Bikash his son, “How is your Ice station Zebra?” Alister Maclean was one of his favorite writers. As such, he was fond of spy thrillers, James Bond was his favorite character. While watching TV, mostly spy movies he would assume the role of the spy. While not watching TV he would construct a spy story in his mind where he would be outwitting the spy of the enemy country. He as a spy would imagine playing roulette in some casino. In real life, he first visited a casino was in Kathmandu hotel, Soaltee , those days in 60s that was the nearest Casino of course at a later stage he visited casino in Schiphol airport of Amsterdam. As he had visited most of the cities of Europe so in his imaginary incidences he either would be riding bike in Amsterdam or would chase through the narrow lanes of Paris. That day also he was daydreaming about his adventure in Red Square, Moscow when the front door opened. He was not wearing his specs, a blurred figure wrapped in white from head to toe entered. He could make out the person was not his caregiver but someone else. “Mr.Bose you have Corona and I have come to take care of you. I am in PP kit so you are not able to see my face. I have asked your caregiver to go home. I have collected her mobile number and when you become alright I will give call to her.”’ Kaushik Bose was still in half sleep condition and spy chasing mode, he lifted his right hand in a way as though he was holding a Walter PPK revolver and shot an imaginary bullet at the intruder by making a sound, “Bang”. The PP clad intruder played along and feigned to have got hit, slowly crumbled down with sound “Ah”. Kaushik Babu by this time was fully awake tried to understand the situation. As such in his house the costliest thing was a 40 inches LED TV. His son had donated all his mother’s ornaments to Ramkrishna Mission. Most of his money was tied up in various term deposits which were fetching him monthly interest enough to run his monthly expenditure including the maintenance charges of the society. So he was not perturbed with the new situation of the intruder, there was nothing to lose. “I will take care of you, I have brought fresh vegetables , fish and egg. I will be here till you become well.’’ “But I don’t have Covid !” “Yes, you have, here is the RTPCR, I have emailed a copy to the society office so that this flat could be quarantined. Tomorrow sanitary people from municipality would come for sanitizing the flat and the corridor in front. Now no one would come near the flat from this complex.’ Kaushikbabu realized that he was a captive but he was liking the situation and wanted to play along.In his imaginery situations he had been in tight corner many times and came out successfuly from such situations. It was evening already so that guy who informed that he can be called as Tinu had removed his PP kit and prepared tea for Kaushikbabu.Kaushikbabu could see that Tinu was a youngman of thirty years or so age. Tinu helped him to get up and go to bathroom for freshening up. Tinu asked him what kind of food he would like to have for dinner. Kaushikbabu generally ate one chapatti and a lightly cooked subzi with less masala. Tinu in the meanwhile informed him that he need not be scared as he was not really a care giver but wants to spend a fortnight in his house. He had no bad intention but he would do all those things what that caregiving woman was doing. For Kaushik Babu it was a change from that dull woman to this educated youth. Tinu knew his routine so put him to bed by 10 PM after allowing him to watch his favorite OTT platform Netflix. He watched a spy thriller as usual and Tinu too joined him. While watching TV Kaushikbabu kept talking about James Bond when Tinu informed him that he liked Jason Bourne. First time after a long time Kaushikbabu got a good sleep even with the unknown young man in the flat. He could hear Tinu talking to someone through his mobile , with that low volume conversation wafting from the adjoining drawing room, he fell asleep. That singsong sound acted as a lullaby to him. At midnight, he could feel Tinu entered his room to check. Next day morning Tinu helped him to bathroom and was there whenever he needed. Kaushikbabu was not interested in latest news so Tinu did not force him to watch any news channel. Kaushikbabu wanted to discuss about books and was surprised to find that Tinu was well read. Tinu’s favorite character was Sarat Chandra’s Devdas but Kaushik Babu liked Srikanta. Before James Bond appeared in 60s Kaushik Babu would imagine himself to be Srikanta who moved from place to place with an overnight sling bag. In Srikanta’s gypsy like life women played important role. In case of Devdas too women played important role. Both of them got into analyzing each of the characters. Kaushikbabu had collection of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s books, Tinu would read loudly from those books for him.For the first ime Kaushikbabu realized the importance of mental fodder which he was not getting since his wife died and his son took the oversea assignment. Somedays they would discuss about Hitchcock movies , Hrithik Ghatak or Guru Dutt"s movies. Tinu was fond of the writings of Samaresh Majumdar and he loved Kaal Bela,Moushalkal. Kaushikbabu had read those books and slowly he was getting the idea of who Tinu was. Tinu was no criminal he deduced; his reading detective books helped him to asses Tinu. He had showed least interest about his bank balance rather he was spending money to get vegetables through Big basket. They would leave the commodity at the society gate and Dilip , the sweeper would pick those up and keep outside the flat. As such, the 80 odd occupants of the flats would rarely come out because of fear of Corona. A close group of 10 families who originally came in 1988 would keep in touch with each other. Kaushik Babu did not fall in that coterie, so he was more or less isolated. No one could know that someone had entered wearing PP kit and had not gone out. Kaushik Babu smiled to himself while analyzing the typical situation where he was virtually in captive condition but the neighbors were not aware of it. It was a typical situation in big metros where neighbors rarely keep information about others, as they were too busy in balancing their own complex life. Added to that Covid had created a situation with lock down thrown in where most of the people were scared to step out of the sanctuary of their house. Honestly, Kaushik Babu was feeling free because his mind could imagine various other things away from his imagination of him being a deadly spy with license to kill. He knew someday Tinu would leave him but until then he wanted to have more time with him. He knew it was Stockholm syndrome as hostage he had developed a special bond with the captor. Tinu also started becoming fond of the old lonely man. He scanned the net to pick up interesting facts to share with Kaushik Babu. The intelligent questions raised by Kaushik Babu forced him to brush-up his own knowledge. He knew his time was slowly getting over and had to leave for the next mission. After a fortnight Kaushik Babu found a letter on his bed in the morning. ‘Uncle, I had to leave though I wanted to spend more time with you. Your caregiver will come today. I have kept fresh vegetable, egg for her to cook. Please take care. I may come some day when everything becomes normal. Tinu Kaushik Babu heard the door open and the woman Ritu come in. He was in mental shock as though he had lost some close relative. That slice of life what Tinu gave him would not come back. He wanted Tinu to visit him regularly but didn’t know how to contact him. He wished Tinu all well in his mission which he knew would not be successful, many bright boys of Bengal dreamt for such change of society but the materialistic world has buried those idealistic thoughts.

. Note; The books mentioned Kaal Bel and Moushalkal written by Samaresh Majumdar were about Naxal movement in Bengal.

Management by magic

The subordinates go rushing to a boss who can resolve their problem. What is that extra any boss is having over his subordinates? It is the designation and that gives power over the individuals but it does not enable him with the problem resolving knowledge.
Once it becomes known that the boss does not solve the problem, rather becomes a part of the problem then subordinates stop dealing the problems. Then the problem becomes a tool for blame game. This starts the all time favourite “not me, he” syndrome in the organization. Some smart operators even pick up external agencies to pass on the blame.
This is the tale of a company which got its new CEO.
The old CEO while handing over the charge to the new CEO gave a sealed envelope to the incoming CEO with an advice to open that after he left the organization.
The new CEO without demur opened the envelope after the departure of the old CEO.He found three advises written on a slip of paper.
1. During your first year blame every failure to me.
2. In the second year comprise a committee to look into the problems.
3. If the problems still persist it is time for you to go and pass on this slip to your successor, good luck to you.
That is one way of looking at the situation in hand. My potion is to follow the basic principles of Magic ,avoid taking responsibility and enjoy life.
1. Sleight
2. Illusion
3. Escape
4. Diversion or misdirection
5. Ventriloquism
Let us examine the above from the management point of view.

SLEIGHT
This is the magic performed by two hands, like card and coin tricks, jugglery, vanishing objects of size smaller than the palm etc.
The organization consists of people, departments, office space and the facilities to juggle. The trick is now to shake all of these four ingredients in such a manner so that the participating individuals don’t know whether they are the audience or the participants. By this method every one is kept on toe. They are kept guessing about their future. Though the modern management gurus may differ as the accountability is not fixed.Dont bother about that as at the end of the day it is your ass which is on the string and you are accountable to the stakeholder and the corporate bosses.
Just imagine the fun when an individual walks in his office next day and finds someone else is occupying his seat. A situation may arise when the individuals will stop availing leave and also will leave the office late. They don’t want to loose their coveted place. Having created this uncertain situation by sleight of your hand, now use them as you like. They are now under your spell.So, your magic has worked. The problems will not travel to you; you are now free to work on your personal agenda.

ILLUSION

The illusionist plays with the mind. The illusion is all about creating diversion. Even by doing routine you can create the illusion of non existence. In Africa, the tribes make themselves invisible by standing still at one place, thus they merge with the environment.
Similarly a leader has to produce the effect of invisibility. This will create a fear psychosis in the mind of people working under you. You are omnipresent, something like ORWELLIAN situation as described in the book 1984,”The big brother is watching you”. For creating this illusion you have to play with the mind of the people. You have to closely study their body language, use of words and facial expressions. You may have to conduct some mock trials. Like drop a word with one person and wait for it to reappear from some other place. Your side kicks have to be smart as your invisibility will depend on their intelligence. Once you have set this system in motion then you will notice that the people will not know whether you are in the office or outside the office. The work will go on as you are omnipresent now. That is the ultimate illusion. Now you can relax and pursue your personal agenda.

ESCAPE

The escape artists can escape from any situation. They are handcuffed and put in a box but still they manage to escape. Houdini was the best escape magician. The secrets of escape are the special handcuffs having clasps, the boxes having sliding bottoms etc.
As explained earlier in the article you can work for a change of place the moment you are in a tight position. But that will be treated as running away. The question is to escape and reappear. One wants to escape responsibility .The best method of escaping responsibility is to feign busy. To keep oneself busy without responsibility is a difficult proposition. For this type of situation my suggestion has been to encourage holding regular meetings for all kind of subjects under the sun. These meetings are your weapon of escape, like the secret clasps in the handcuff. You calibrate the meeting in urgent or non urgent category as per the prevailing situation which you want to escape. I have found that the Indian managers are past master in this meeting methodology. Whenever a serious situation arises immediately form a committee and then ask the committee to fix up meeting. Though you may know the solution but why volunteer your neck, let the committee hold its endless meetings. Thus you escape the responsibility.
Two important decisions of the meeting will always be made by you. These are menu and venue. By using your ingenuity in these you can make the corporate life exciting. Sometimes the venue can be shifted to a hill station as well. The people will love you. When the meeting is on then pose as though you have received an important call on your cell phone and then excuse yourself out to your chamber. Now the situation is like this, for rest of the world you are in a serious meeting, for those attending the meeting you are attending an urgent call. So you have neatly escaped and now you are free to follow your own personal agenda.

Diversion or misdirection

Magicians keep on chattering endlessly and do lot of hand movements. They are also constantly moving on the stage. The attention of the audience is riveted to the talk and movement but assistants are not watched closely. In most of the tricks the assistants play active role. If there is fire on the stage or sudden illumination then attentions will be diverted towards that.
Let us say that a customer has been dumped on you, you have to now come out of this ticklish situation. As you are a modern manager so you must have read “The seven Habits of highly effective people” by Steffen Covey. Your customer is a modern guy so he must have also read the same book. Now the trick will be how to put him in your shoes (reverse of 7 habits), you start diversion by talking about your woes and he will walk into the trap and will start sympathizing with you and thus he will try to put himself in your shoes as per the book. You have successfully reversed the situation and go on talking about your problem so that there will be hardly any time left for him to talk about his problem. This diversion trick is useful for one to one situation.
Now if there is a generic kind of administrative problem then how to deal. Again use misdirection. Engage one of those high flying management companies (preferably MNC) to examine the organizational problem and give recommendation. This is my personal favorite as this gives you a chance to hone your management technique and at the same time the subordinates are awed. Those boys in black with matching tie, lap top talking gibberish in clipped voice known as management jargon will make your people scurry for cover. Hold regular communication meetings and unleash these men in black on your unsuspecting subordinates. So the game of “catch me if you can” start, you are now free to pursue your own agenda.

Ventriloquism

This is a science of throwing sound. A magician holds a doll and the doll talks. You see the doll, the lip of the magician does not move but you get the impression that as though the doll is talking. As you are watching the doll so you don’t see the movement of the vocal cord of the magician.
This is a very useful method for you to use. You form a close coterie, they become you. Now these side kicks of yours will do all dirty job in order to remain close to you. Sometimes they are known as “his master’s voice”, so you have now multiple puppets to disseminate your thoughts. As each member of the coterie will try to prove that they are influential so now rest of the people will be watching them and not you. So you have used ventriloquism effectively and isolated yourself apparently though you are in absolute control like a puppeteer.
As per the Indian philosophy everything is MAYA, you simply spread the Mayajal.Indian philosophy believes in the theory of moment, every moment it is changing, no two moments are same. The past is a memory and the future is imagination, so the life is in reality an illusion. What you are doing is just trying to be a true Indian by shedding all responsibilities and striving to achieve Moksha.
Many of the senior officials have been switching their role successfully between Yogi and Bhogi by following my potion. My good friend NRY has successfully used Sleight of hand and mesmerized all his subordinates, Tipu uses the Escape potion for shifting responsibility and I know of a director who used to use Diversion or misdirection in order to avoid taking any decision. The readers are free to use my suggested magic formulae by acknowledging the source.

NOte: This article i wrote by observing some of the dodgy managers in Public and Private sectors. My advise is to take responsibility and imbibe trust .

Thus a Sadhu was born

Thus a sadhu was born ………………….. Baren was returning from his work in the evening. The dark cloud was hanging on the rice field, the zig zag lightning often was flashing. Baren could feel the static in the air. His body hair was charged, he was feeling as though he is a human battery carrying charge with him. He was wearing a rubber sole shoe so the charge was not discharging to the ground. The feeling was funny, as per science, he was full of electron on his synthetic cloth and hair. He was hesitating with his cycle to go any further towards his house in the village because of that eerie atmosphere. He had heard many stories during his childhood about ghosts coming out in such weather. Lucky that it was not raining yet, he was not carrying his umbrella. The blinding flashes of the lightning was scary, he could see lightning strikes on the field. As a precaution, he avoided standing below any tree, as a science graduate he knew that lightning would strike the tallest structure or tree. He was keeping a safe distance from the trees as if the lightning strikes a tree then the heavy current will fan out in the ground, if he stood near such lightning struck tree then he would get shock from the ground because of the rush of that current.He was transfixed by that celestial show. Suddenly he heard an ear splitting sound when a big ball of dazzling light fell on a mound, which was within his visibility range. He was scared , like a magic the dark cloud cleared and the thunder stopped. He could see the reddish sky to the west where sun was setting. The refracted light of the setting sun created a magical atmosphere around him; he heaved a sigh of relief. He cautiously approached the mound where the fireball had fallen. To his surprise, he discovered that it was no lightning strike as there was no sign of any burn instead there was a round object which had impacted the ground with such a force that it had formed a cavity in the earth. The object was lying in the ditch; it was of a size of football. Some invisible force was pulling him towards the round object. The handle of the cycle turned toward the object and started taking him towards the object. First he was scared as he thought some demonic force is pulling him but then he thought that there is no such thing as ghost or demon. He did not resist and reached the object by getting down from the cycle. His cycle flew towards the object, and got stuck on it. But as he was going nearer to the object he was feeling a repulsive force, still he kept on walking towards object as he had to retrieve his cycle . Suddenly he felt himself levitating. He spread his hands to balance so that he can stay vertical.

A group of people who were passing by watched with awe the miracle of a person levitating in the air in that diffused sun light of setting sun. They all ran towards Baren ,who was still suspended in the air. He acted nonchalant as though it’s nothing. Those villagers took him to be a yogi with supernatural power. They ran to the nearest village, a big crowd gathered around to witness the miracle. Baren with a beatific smile started blessing the crowd and thought to himself that it was time for him to leave that shitty work in the shop and cash on this godsend chance to become a spiritual guru. He addressed the people, “ I am happy that I could demonstrate my yogic power to you all. ‘’ The crowd was spellbound by the show of supernatural power , they requested ,”Sir you please climb down and come to our Kali temple, there is a guest room where you can stay as long as you want.” Baren replied, “I will come back after a week and spend some time with you all.”’ Somehow he managed to climb down. In the dark, the villagers could not make out that while getting down he had to more or less eject himself from that invisible force. He decided to sharpen his knowledge of magic mostly sleight of hand and study some medicine book for easy remedy. Also he would have to brush up Ramayana and Mahabharata for discourses. He had French cut beard but now it had to grow full. But first within those 7 days he had to make arrangement of a spherical container for that diamagnetic object. After getting down he removed his rubber sole shoes and thus literarily grounded himself, all accumulated negative charge in his body got discharged. Then how come the cycle is positively charged! He had been negatively charged peddling the cycle so the cycle must have got opposite charge,that was what he derived. That extraterrestrial object was negative diamagnetic he reasoned.Baren thought that his first priority would be to get in touch with Babulal so that he could garner help from Samaranand for his journey to Sadhudom or may be Samaranad himself would be interested to seize the oppertunity to become Sadhu. The crowd in the dark could not see his face so he can switch place with Samaranad and he could be the side kick like Babulal. Note: Though Baren used his knowledge of Physics to explain the invisible force as magnetic but can the repulsive magnetic force be strong enough to hold his weight? Chances are it to be some antigravity phenomena associated with that strange globe. I am Samaranand and heard the above story from Babulal. I could have made the journey to find out more about the terresterial object but because of Lockdown could not go. In the meanwhile I have to organize a Geiger Counter to make certain that strange object is not radioactive!

My mobile under attack

My mobile under attack Since the time I got my first mobile way back in 1996 I added a source of new trouble to my life. To start with, my first mobile, which was bulky for my pocket so mostly I used to leave it on my office desk, practically my mobile, was used as a cordless phone. This story of my not carrying mobile on my body went on until 2003 when I retired from BHEL. After my retirement in 2003, the age of smartphone with Blackberry started, which became a kind of status symbol. I too owned one which was basic one given by the company with which I am associated now. It was with keypad, I switched to a swanky one by exchanging the basic one but it was not that smart as the latest one, good for messaging with roller for navigating instead of keypad. The roller had issues and I got that checked n number of times. In 2008, Android operating system was launched. First, I owned a Nokia set but it had recurring problem with the hardware so I switched to Samsung Note. I discovered that all these mobiles last only for 2 years trouble free then frequent freezing of the set start, I would pull out the battery and then reinsert the same, and the mobile would start working. So I reconciled with the fact that I have to change my smartphone every 2 years. I am seized with new type of trouble now. There have been two attempts from hackers on my phone to access my bank account, which of course I could dodge. But this call which I received last week is quite unnerving. Generally, I do not lift unknown number but somehow that day I attended the call. There was no sound initially but then I heard my own voice at the other end. I was giving direction to the delivery boy of Swiggy about the location of my flat. The line got disconnected. Then again got call from the same number and again I heard my own voice of some other day when I was discussing about Windmill with my team at Madurai.Again the line got disconnected. I could know that my voice had been recorded. Quite often I get call from my mobile provider when I am informed that the call is being recorded for training purpose but this was not such a call. Then I read about Pegasus, thought to myself that “OH, my God, my number is in the hallowed list!” “Why me?” I was worried and wanted to take some action. My wife noticed that I was worried so she advised to get in touch with Babulal and Soumya , my team mates, Soumya is a nerd. They came to my flat next day. Soumya took my set, played with the setting, and informed me there was no recording in the set. He explained that when I am talking then the sound bites gets recorded in a third location and not in my set. He asked whether I have been downloading from unknown sources and I replied in negative. Then he informed that all those videos forwarded in WhatsApp could carry such spyware. I remembered to have seen some forwarded funny videos but never gave a thought to that. He took my set and systematically uninstalled all those apps of social network sites. Deleted all cache memories. He transferred all my media files to my desktop and thus did some kind of software cleaning. Now I do not get that ghost call but still I am worried, “Why target me, I am just an ordinary citizen and not a person of interest”. There must be some mistake by those agencies to put me in the network of that spyware, a kind of technical glitch. I am still wondering why did someone played the record of my voice? Was it to intimidate me? Are they trying to find out whether i am doing inside trading or they want to blackmail me. Come to think of it i have Google Home and Alexa which are constantly listening and who knows may be recording all the conversation in my house. Now i attend my mobile by keeping a distance between me and my devices, though Amazon informed me all my privacies are secured.

My tryst with hockey

My tryst with hockey …………………….. I belong to that age when India was top in hockey and a gold medal in Olympic was sure. During my school days, I played football, cricket and badminton but not hockey. Among my childhood friends none played hockey excepting Teja ( Tejbahadur Singh Ahluwalia ). It was a treat to watch Tej’s stick play. He would scoop the ball from the ground and then bounce it on hockey stick for minutes together without letting it fall. While returning from school he would be walking with a hockey stick in hand and ball sometimes rolling on the ground and then again scooping it up. Our school on Reading Road ,New Delhi was next to a municipality school known as MB school for boys. There was no hockey game in our school, our school was mostly in football, in the recess all would be playing football. The boys of the neighboring MB school would play hockey. We used to hear about one particular player Gindi a lot. Whenever Gindi would play, we would watch him play from the rampart, he was a magician with hockey stick, and the ball would stick to the toe as though a magnetic force is holding it there. Whenever we would return from Connaught Place, we would walk down from Madras Hotel towards Gole Market when on the way we would come across National Hockey stadium, where sometimes we would drop in if any match were in progress. In IIT also I played mostly football and badminton. Our hostel Patel Hall had a very good hockey player, senior to us known as P J Singh and he representing IIT,Kharagpur . Dheer was in my hostel who had studied in MB School next to our school so we were pretty pally. In 1964 sometimes-in winter, he brought one Olympic hockey player to our hostel. That year India had won Gold medal in hockey. That player was Joginder Singh, Dheer introduced me to him. Joginder was carrying the Olympic gold medal. As usual, most of the boys were not interested in a hockey player as they were all cricket fan. Soon common room was bereft of students excepting me, Dheer and Joginder. I started having intimate talk with Joginder and to my surprise I discovered him to be Gindi of MB school, Delhi. He was also happy to know that I had watched him playing during school days. He allowed me to hold his gold medal. Those days there was no stmart phone to take selfie with that Olympic Gold medal in 1964. Today when I heard the news of India, winning Bronze in hockey then my hockey moments were passing through my mental screen in sepia colour and taking me back to that Golden moment in my life.

Team building

Team building ……………………

. I looked up in Google about team building and came up with the followings: "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." – ... "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships." – ... "Teamwork begins by building trust. ... "It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed." – I like the last one as it suggests by helping others to succeed we succeed. I consciously or unconsciously try to follow this. In fact, in each of my transfer I did not carry any team but adopted the people of the new place as my team. Did I say “ I Adopted”? It was the other way round slowly people started gathering around me and adopted me , thus a team was formed, I didn’t know their strength or weakness but by and by everyone started getting slotted. Have you ever noticed how a group of black kites (cheel) are flying together, circling in the sky without flapping their wings at one particular space. They just manipulate their wings to keep afloat at that particular region of the sky. What is the science behind it? That zone is the place where hot air is rising to the sky, that draft of air is supporting their weight and they simply adjust the wing angle as per the rising hot air current.These black kites know that hot air draft will not suddenly withdraw in the day time so they confidently float. A leader is one who keeps on creating upward thrust for the people around him by offering them goals matching with their aspiration.A leader keeps a close watch by way of encouragement to the team and when need be extends help.People who initially missed the sign they too get sucked in towards the leader. Thus it becomes an ever expanding sphere of influence with the leader at the center, a team is built where every employee got queued in, no one feels left out. Unfortunately weak leaders form coterie of faithful, those chosen few get the major portion of the reward .The majority consciously or unconsciously get repelled and stay away. To conclude, teamwork begins by building trust.

Favour Banking

……………… कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥ २-४७ Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana, Ma Karmaphalaheturbhurma Te Sangostvakarmani That shloka is from Gita, do your duty and don’t bother about reward. But in today’s world everyone thinks why I should do for others when others don’t bother about me. Yes it is a kind of selfish thinking. Let us come to the ground reality. If without any ulterior motive one does for others then that favor done gets banked like one puts money in the bank. An honest receiver of favor always tries to return the favor and that return would be voluntary without any strings attached. This is known as favor banking. The other day I noticed our maidservant is dusting the bookshelves and also folding our clothes. I was pretty surprised because she is supposed to clean utensils and sweep the floor. I asked my wife about this additional work what she was doing. “She has started doing this on her own.” was her reply. “Why suddenly?” “Remember I got her the LPG connection!” In her house our maidservant was using kerosene stove for cooking but she wanted a LPG gas connection, she did not have the requisite money. My wife paid the initial security amount; my wife took the pain of going with our maidservant in a rickshaw to the Indane distributor, filled up the form after getting all the relevant documents zeroxed. Now she got her gas and has given my wife’s mobile number as her LPG contact number. This extra effort was her way of showing gratitude to us. As per my own experience, I have seen lower strata people are more grateful than those who are in higher strata. In my service life I have helped many to climb the corporate ladder but at a later date majority of them acted as though they got it because they deserved it and no favor done. Last time when we went to Darjeeling we stayed in West Bengal Tourist Lodge, due to delay of our flight we could reach Darjeeling only at 8 pm in the night instead of scheduled arrival of 3pm. The room service man Ratan settled us down quickly by putting on the geezer ,room heater etc. As per my practice, i pay tips when i arrive, so tipped him 100 bucks. Next day early morning he served us bed tea, we looked out of the window and due to cloud Kanchanjungha was not visible , we told him so. He was also feeling sad that on the first day morning we could not see the great peak. We were having tea in our third floor room when heard a knock, opened the door and found Ratan gasping entered the room to inform that the cloud has moved away and Kanchanjungha was visible. Yes we went out in the balcony and got the magnificent view , thanked Ratan for his initiative , tipped him 50 bucks. This was the favor done by Ratan to us by giving that extra service of informing us timely the appearance of the peak. While I was in Darjeeling the last date of a filling form of a golf tournament was over. The starters of golf course were more worried about that than me. They approached the management and got my name entered. Simultaneously another officer of the company sponsoring the tournament made sure my name is there, this senior officer had worked with me in my present company. This incident also proves that favor banking does work. So friends try helping people whenever you can, don’t wait for return. The return may come back with interest consequently which may surprise you.

Straight drive...

Golf is like a love affair. If you don't take it seriously, it's no fun; if you do take it seriously, it breaks your heart. ~Arthur Daley They say that the golf is a game where the course is your opponent. In this game like in other ball games you don't have a moving ball, it is stationary on the ground.You got to hit that stationary ball and so it appears to be a very easy game for any one who has not played golf. But then ask those who are playing golf for years but still could not master those drives, chips, pitch, putts. To play this game one has to remember 3Cs, concentration,control and confidence..well i was doing just that when i took position for my drive at 4th Tee. The ball flew to the left, i was careful that the ball should not go to the right in the jungle.It was drizzling. i was playing alone and my caddy Hoolo was carrying my bag . I had my umbrella and Hoolo was wrapped in rain coat with his face practically hidden in the hood. It was slowly becoming dark. Hoolo could locate the ball, i walked to the ball and gave the driver to Hoolo. I pulled out 6 iron from the golf bag, aligned myself with the flag, took position with slight knee bend and back straight.In the rainy season it is preferred lie as per local club rule. Hoolo had kept the ball on the tip of the grass.I took a few practice swing and then I swung the club with half rotation of the body, i don't go for full swing as a precaution against the likely damage of hip, shoulder and knee joints.My drive could cover 180 yards and with 6 iron i covered another 120 yards. Now i was within 70 yards of the green. I picked up the pitching iron, took stance and swung the ball to the green. The ball rolled to the far edge, the hole was at 15 feet. I took out my new putter Itsy Bitsy of Taylormade.I squatted at the back of the ball and judged the lie of the green, Hoolo took out the flag from the hole, he pointed 3 inches off left of the hole. I took a few practice stroke of the putter, placed it behind the ball and rolled the ball towards left of the hole. The ball rolled but as the green was wet so it stopped short by 2 feet of the hole.So it was one more putt and got a bogie in that hole. The Tee off at the 5th green is quite tricky as the boundary wall is at the right and beyond that is the shed of Calcutta Metro. I have lost many balls by driving the ball beyond the boundary wall. This time i took aim towards the left, the ball was on the Tee, with eyes down i took a few practice swing of my Taylormade Burner. Then i took position towards the left and swung the driver, the ball went high to the left among the trees.It was raining still and was getting darker. I could see the shadowy figure of Hoolo at a distance. I purposefully walked towards the trees,Hoolo waived his hand towards right. I found that the ball was at the centre of the fairway, i was surprised that it had not gone to the cluster of trees. Hoolo took the driver from me and gave 7 iron.The rain was still there but then i wanted to complete rest of the holes in the semidarkness. I took aim , took a few practice swing and hit the ball. I could not see the ball , i did not see even Hoolo. I walked towards the green. To my surprise i found the ball lying 1 foot away from the hole.I putted the ball and got a birdie on that par 4 5th green.i was expecting applause from Hoolo but he was not there.I picked up the ball from the hole and put that in my pocket. It had started raining heavily i ran to the golf shed near the 6 th Tee off point. There was a different club boy standing with dab and water in the shed. He smiled at me and said," " Sir you scored birdie in that hole." “Yes," i said but was surprised that he had noticed that in that rain, but then how could he count the strokes from my Tee off point. I was quite perplexed but i was quite proud with my game of that day. I tipped him 50 rupees. "Shukriyasaheb, you scored hole in one in 6th a few months back. I missed your backshish on that day." He was speaking in typical Urdu mixed Hindi.He was funnily dressed. I was quite surprised that he knew about my scoring hole in one. Hoolo was not still visible anywhere.I asked that club boy to tell Hoolo to come near the Shamiana. As the rain had increased so i abandon the game and taking cover under my umbrella cut across the 7th green and then 1st green towards the club house. The club canteen shamiana was not much crowded that day because of the rain.I ordered a hot cup of coffee. Still i could not get my caddie. I went towards my car in the car park. there i found Hoolo standing with my driver Gopal, both looked worried. I was furious on Hoolo. "Where did you go?" i shouted at him. "It was raining heavy so i shouted at you that i am going and asked you to come." "But you gave me 7 iron in 5th fairway and took my driver." " No sir here is your golf bag and 7 iron is here." "What about putter? I scored birdie with that." "Sir here is your new Itsy Bitsy putter. But sir, your TaylormadeBurmner is missing." "Then who was that caddie who located the ball and was carrying bag up to the 5th green. But after i sank the ball i did not see him." "Sir every one has come out of the course including the club boy in the shed." " I saw a different club boy there. He seemed to have seen me scoring birdie. I was quite surprised." I was worried. That driver was new and also thinking about the whole incident started giving me goose pimples. My drive was certainly going towards the trees but that caddy found it lying in the centre of the fairway. He gave me 7 iron and then took the 7 iron from me on the green. He handed over a putter but i did notice the make. I remembered to have carried the putter to the shed and left that on the bench.In a hurry to rush back to the club house because it got dark and the rain had increased i totally forgot about the putter. Hoolo was aghast and started chanting " Ram." I asked my driver and Hoolo to accompany me to the shed near 6th Tee off place. Hoolo was not ready to come, he told me that next morning he would search the driver.He was pale from fear and i started getting goose bumps. "Ok, tell me when the hard core golfers come in the morning?" "Just at the day break, 5.45am." Gopal drove me back to my flat. Next day i reached Tollyclub before the day break. Hoolo was waiting for me. Me, Gopal and Hoolo proceeded to 6th green. We went to the golf shed but did not find my Taylormade driver there. We started walking on the fairway of 5th green, suddenly Hooloshouted , "Sir come here and see." Near the 6th Tee off point there is a grave yard. Hoolo was standing in side the grave yard.It is believed that those three graves bang next to the 6th Tee off point are those of Johnson family who owned the property around that place before the club was established. But the ornate design on the grave had Muslim touch. Me and Gopal went near the graves, my Taylormade driver was lying beside the graves, also by the side was lying the 50 rupees note which i had tipped to that Urdu speaking club boy. My head started spinning, Gopal lifted the Driver. I asked them not to take that 50 rupees note. Hoolo was trembling in fear. I was looking at Hoolo and started thinking whether he was the real guy or the one who was with me yesterday on that 5th green.I touched him, he was the real one but then who was that caddy who assisted me to get that birdie. Did that really happen or was that a figment of my imagination. Three of us were standing there dumbstruck..slowly the day was breaking. Gopal my driver asked, "Babu ,are you sure that you played on 5th green yesterday? You might have left that driver in the shed. The driver might have been pulled to that place by those foxes which roam the course freely." "What you say is possible, due to the inclement weather i might have been day dreaming." I said those words in order to lighten the situation but the event of the previous evening was quite vivid in my mind.That friendly ghost helped me in scoring a birdie by placing a wayward ball in the centre of the fairway.The second shot by 7 iron was also an out of the world stroke as the ball fell within 1 foot of the hole. After that evening i have stopped playing in the afternoons, in the morning whenever i pass that grave yard while playing golf i thank that unknown soul but my hand automatically reaches for my sacred thread.

A bundle of joy

Sometimes in 1992 when i was posted at Farakka then my wife and son Anish had gone to Kolkata to my in laws place for vacation. When they returned then they had brought a surprise item which probably i would have objected. It was a one month old dog of Spitz specis, a bundle of fur. We named him Furry.

For a few months it had round face with stub as a nose but gradually it started getting transformed to a dog with pointed face. Slowly Furry became an integral part of our family. The kids of the locality started referring us as Furry's father,mother. He became the center of attraction for all the BHEL kids and reason for jealousy of street dogs. So in front of the gate of my bungalow either there would be crowd of admiring children or barking street dogs.

In the house he would be constantly following my wife and most of the time would be squatting in front of the kitchen, while my wife would be cooking. There was no dog food for him, it was the same food what we would eat. In the meanwhile within a year it grew up to it's designated size and shape.

I was the Project Manager of BHEL at Farakka for 2x500 MW project. BHEL had a township adjacent to NTPC's township just by the side of Ganges. I was staying in a bungalow and other enginerrs were staying in C and D type quarters. There was Field hostel for bachelors. More than 140 BHEL emloyees were posted as site and almost all were with their families. Often there would be squabble between the families and as Project Manager i was supposed to resolve those. Issues like someones daughter absconding was my problem. Even i had to organise to dispatch a dead body of an employee to BIHAR by putting the dead body in a the boot of a car. Sunday was the day when i would be listening to the grievences of the employees and resolve their personal problems. There was a culvert.

I would be sitting on that for delivering judgement, i used to call that as throne of Vikramaditya, all the staff would be surrounding me. During that time Furry would make it a point to sit in front of me as though he was maintaining law and order. He would be sprawled on the road nonchalantly watching the body language of the people surrounding me. if someone raised any voice he would shut him by a bark. I must admit that he became center of attraction of the colony, I had got a badminton court made of cement with permanent lighting for employees to play after office hours. Many a times Furry would come running out of the house, jump across a big nullah and grab my pant while i would be playing a game of badminton. It was sight to watch, all the children would cheer Furry who would gleefully pull my leg literarily .

i have not taught him the game of throwing ball which he would pickup. It was the other way round, one day i was sitting in the lawn when he brought his ball to me, i took it, he looked at me expectantly using his mental force for me to act. I casually threw the ball, he happily went and brought that back to me but was reluctant to give it to me. I forced it out of him and then again threw, thus he trained me how to play with a dog. One day he entered the house with a Bidi stuck in his mouth, i scolded him for that mischief. Jokingly i used to tell before my son could start smoking Furry had stolen a lead on him. Another day he entered the house with a 20 rupee bank note in his mouth, i was happy that at last he had started earning. I would tease my son, "'Look,he is already earning whereas you are yet to start earning."" After his arrival we were pretty handicapped while making long journey, to take him by train was pretty cumbersome as copassengers might object. So all my trips to Kolkata was by road from Farakka. I wanted Furry to see Darjeeling during 1993 Durga Puja. i requested my friend J K saha who was posted then as Superintendent Engineer at Siliguri to fix up a hotel at Darjeeling where they would allow dog and he organised one such hotel. So four of us me, my wife,my son and Furry hired a cab for Darjeeling. We stayed the night at West Bengal Electricity Board's guest house and next day we pushed off for Darjeeling.The change of place effected Furry he stopped eating regular food so we gave him Cadburry his favourite diet. He became the most popular guy at Darjeling Mall.

Quite a lot of tourist from Kolkata would pet him and would enquire from us how could we bring our dog as they too wanted to bring their pets. The local dogs were jealous of his popularity but they would not bark like the street dogs of plain, they were curious and surround him, sniff him. I got transferred To Kolkata as General Manager in October,1994, made the journey back by road. In Kolkata he became fond of eating peda with milk and rice. I would purchase peda from one particula shop at Ballygaunge Station Road where we were staying then, just opposit to the hous of P C Sorcar,Junior. One day the owner of the peda shop commented to me that we guys like peda very much. I noded my head and said, "'Yes your peda is top class."" In Ballygaunge Furry was stuck in a flat after growing up in wide open space of Farakka, we too had to figure out how to tackle his mood swing,slowly he got adjusted. Though as Head of the region i could have hired a bungalow with open space but we preferred to stay in South Kolkata as my inlaws were there. After spending 6 years in Kolkata i got transferred as Executive Director to Bhopal. Sometimes when i look back to my Bhopal days then i realise that more than me Furry enjoyed the wide open space of ED,bugalow.

But then he had to make a punishing journey by plane in a cage.As per rule i got a cage made for his travel. He was put in cargo hold.

He travelled with my wife from Kolkata to Delhi by flight, i received them at Delhi. We spent a day in our flat in Delhi then we travelled by AC first class in Bhopal Express. To book the full coupe one of my colleagues from BHEL,Bhopal got booked in same four seats coupe so question of copassenger complaining was not there.

He had wide area to romp around. The vegetable garden. the wheat field withing the compound of ED,bungalow, yes our yearly  consumption of wheat  is rice and vegetable were grown in our bungalow. He would chase the birds, squirrels and all sorts of insects. But we had to keep a close eye on him as lot of snakes were there though those were chased off by mongoose . My father who at that   time was mostly staying with us would have Furry as his company. Furry used to chomp happily the wrist of my father which was bonny. I retired in June,2003. July,2003 we left Bhopal by same Bhopal Express and same arrangement of a fourth passenger from BHEL. From Delhi again the poor guy has to travel to Kolkata inside a cage as we took a flight. His stay in Kolkata was not much eventful, he started having various ailments. He had become old by dog age and left us in February,2005. We gave a proper burial to his earthly remain in a dog cemetery located at Behala. We were shocked as though one of our close relatives had left us. We could still see his bite marks on the legs of all our chairs, as he would spend most of the time below the chairs wherever me or my wife would sit so we never purchased a regular sofa as those have no open space at the bottom instead we have cushioned chairs. In our house there is a collage of lictures of Furry hanging on our bedroom wall.

Circle of life

I was born in Allahabad and spent my childhood there till the age of 4. So i have to take a deep dive in my ocean of memories to pickup the relevant gems which were a part of my growing up. Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different? Childhood = No problems in life. A throwback to better times and even better memories. The sad part is that the place and surrounding of that place is completly oblitetred.Now so easily we capture everything in our mobile but camera was a rare item then so hardly any pictures of the sprawling house is available. Well somehow i could reproduce the layouts using my some incidenes of the past as a vehicle of travelling back in time. While composing it i could hear the echo of my grandmother's shout from the courtyard to me that food was ready. At that moment i would be spending some adda time with my cousine brother and sister who were older than me. Till i was in class 8 we would be going to Allahabad every alternate year in summer. While i was in IIT,Kharagpur during summer time i would break my journey for 4/5 day at Allahabad and then proceed for Delhi. That continued till 1964. The photo of the crumbling house was taken sometimes in late nineties when i paid visit to my oldest aunt and cousin sisters who were alive then. Now i don't visit Allahabad as all my those relatives who had seen me as a kid are no more, i can't relate with the present edifice, it appears as though a bad eraser has been used to rub off the picture.

Red tapism. ...

I have been doing watercolor painting for the last 4 yrs and paintings are in display in the houses of my friends and relatives. For the last 2 yrs I am getting yearly calendar made with my paintings. Polu, the caddy is an excellent golfer with single digit handicap, he is one of the admirers of my watercolor. I wanted to display my this painting in the Pro shop of a leading club but then they have their own complicated red tape...so I gifted the painting to Polu. I know that he will frame it up and keep in his house. After getting the painting he proudly showed to all caddies,each of them is better #golfer than most of us members. So a lesson learnt here, the social position is no criteria for getting admiration of your work,he is a golfer so he could relate the painting.

My childhood friend Tunu

When i was in primary classes then we were staying in Minto Road,New Delhi in a hired house on Press Road. It was sometimes during late 40s.We were 3 brothers then and a sister to start with. My youngest brother was born in that hired place. Tunu was the closest friend then. He was always playing and not studying much and also a mischievious one. My father did not like the friendship. He would often say that Tunu would spoil me. I got lot of beating from my father because of Tunu. I was getting 1st or 2nd position in class so my father had high ambition about me. Tunu's actual name is Krishnamurthy Chatterjee. After i joined IIT,Kharagpur i lost touch with most of my friends of Minto Road. This graphic attempt of mine is about our friendship. He was fond of detective books and i too was.

The mixup

Banerjee babu was happy to get out of the oppressive atmosphere of the government run hospital for Corona patients.

 He was recalling in the taxi how it all happened. He was not feeling well for sometimes, thought that due to change of weather must have caught cold. He has been taking all cares against Corona. Regularly washing hand, seldom had he gone out but whenever he was out of his house, he had the newly acquired Puma brand mask on his face. He was careful to keep safe distance. His only weakness was sweet. That day also he sneaked out of his house and headed for the neighborhood sweet shop. He ordered for Kamala bhog and hot kachori. He removed his mask and started eating his favourite items, he was eating slowly to prolong his good time with food. He was so much engrossed that forgot that he had spent considerable time at one place. Satisfied Banerjee returned home with his mask duly on his face. His wife was worried but she being wife of more than 30 years guessed where he had been. He got a round of verbal lashing for his misdemeanor. He was diabetic as well. By the evening time, he started getting irritating feeling in his throat. By night, he was not getting smell. He got in touch with his house physician next day who referred him to the government hospital by taking help of local thana. 

 Thus, Banerjee babu landed in the government hospital ward meant for corona patients. The bed allotted to him was in a corner by the side of a wall. He was feeling claustrophobic, requested authorities to shift him to another bed with all sides open. After a few days, he was shifted to another bed, which was at the center. As per rule prevailing he left his mobile with his family consisting of wife and his two office going sons. He had no touch with his family during the stay. He was cured within 14 days, he was tested negative. He was released but was surprised to find none has come to receive him. He completed the release formalities and took a taxi for home.

      He was surprised to see a big gathering in front of his two storied house. The gate was decorated with rajanigandha sticks. He wondered whether anybody had died in his absence. May be the tenant who occupies ground floor must have faced with some tragedy. He opened the gate and was surprised to find his own picture with garland and flowers around it. His wife was crying. The atmosphere was somber. “What has happened? Why are you displaying my picture with garlands of flower?” “Oh! You are alive!” saying this his wife collapsed. “But we brought your dead body from the hospital and carried out the cremation of your body in the electric furnace!” One of his sons said with surprise written all over his face.. Banerjee babu was stunned and sat down crestfallen. 

 One of the local leaders came forward to help in solving the ridiculous situation as he only coordinated his hospital admission. Here is what exactly happened 10 days back. When Banerjee babu switched his bed the same was not updated in the register. As such staff with all those PPE ,gloves etc were not in full gear of operation. Another patient let us call him Dutta was admitted and given bed vacated by Mr.Banerjee. Mr Dutta actually died, so as the register was not updated so it was Banerjee as per the record who was dead. The hospital staff wrapped the body head to toe in a white sheet and informed Mr.Banerjee’s family to take the body. His sons and their friends collected the body, as it was a death by corona so they were not allowed to look at the face by removing the sheet. They straightaway took the body for cremation to a designated furnace for corona patient.

 Now 

 Mr.Banerjee was holding his death certificate in hand and was looking at his garlanded picture. He was thanking his star that he was one of those lucky few who could attend his own funeral.He requested one of his sons bring something to eat. It being his funeral as per ritual his favourite items were cooked. …….. The above incident is based on a real happening.

The time warp

 

The time warp

……………………

The crown of Qutub minar

We were running for our life, the ruffian with his two of his henchman was chasing us through the meena bazar of Qutub minar. It was midnight and the oblong moon lighted up the one side of Qutub. The weather was dry in September but it was not hot.

Suddenly a group of pathans appeared on horseback, seeing us being chased by those bandits they gave out a shout and bared their swords; we took this chance to hide behind the half-finished duplicate Qutub Minar.

I was cursing Rana for putting me in this jam; I should not have listened to him that day in Delhi. He knew that I was interested in odd things so he brought this pathan Yusuf to our guest house in Green Park,Delhi. Whenever I was visiting Delhi from Bhopal Rana would visit my room in BHEL guesthouse. He was an interesting character, he did his BTech from IIT,Delhi and was full of life. He knew my hobbies; he knew I was interested in odd events or items.

“You must meet Yusuf. He will tell you a strange story and may invite you to witness the incident!’”

I was intrigued by his preamble but he did not want to tell me about that so called strange experience of Yusuf. I reluctantly agreed to his suggestion. Next day he came with Yusuf, I clearly remember it was sometimes after 15^th August in 2001, I was visiting Delhi for some work.

Yusuf a very tall well-built fair complexioned middle-aged man greeted me; I invited both Rana and him to sit. Asked Adu Ram, the inchrge of our Guest House to organize tea.

‘I have heard about you from Rana. You presented a book “Who moved my cheese to Rana’’ after reading that book he changed his business plan.”

I smiled and said, “ Yes I advised him to expand his customer base, now he added Honda as his customer.”

“He told me that you have interest in paranormal, magic etc.”

“Yes, I have keen interest in those!”

“”Are you in Delhi on 31 st August and 1^st September?”’

“Yes, I am in Delhi on those days”

Yusuf said, “I am inviting you in the evening of 31^st August to my house by the side of Qutub Minar.”

“I have not seen any flat or houses there!”

“No sir, we have an old haveli near Qutub, it was built by my fore fathers around 16^th century. It is a crumbling edifice but I have modified the front portion of it.”

I nodded my head but was curious to know more about the event, which he wanted me to experience. “What will happen on those days?’

“I have not experienced that personally but was told by my Abbu. He had experienced it in 1968 on those dates. Have you heard about sun and moon aligning every 33 years? It means every 33 years on any given day sun and moon are on similar orbital position.”

I have heard about this phenomenon and have read some books on time travel and wormhole.

I nodded my head sand said,”Is it something to do with time travel and wormhole?”

He gave a broad smile and said, “Yes, but I doubt whether such thing really happen so thought why not you, me and Rana go through the experience together. This is 2001 which is exactly 33 years after 1968 when my Abbu had the experience. ”

Rana and him spent some time with me and left after about half an hour. We fixed up 31^st August as the date of meeting Yusuf in his haveli. Rana suggested that he would come and pick me up before that he would arrange some special dress. He asked for my size.

Before they were leaving, I asked Yusuf which year of the past he was targeting and hoped he knew how to reach that year.

He smiled and said, ‘My Abbu left an old diary which has instruction and location of the wormhole for the specific years. I am targeting 1803.”

After they left I googled to find who was ruling Delhi in 1803. It was turbulent year when  Sah Alam was ruling only Red fort under the protection of Marathas against British. Thought that if by chance we come across British soldiers our knowledge of English would come handy.

I got up early on 31^st August and went for my morning walk up to Delhi IIT. It was a wet morning with rainy season steadily receding. Saptaparni or Chatim (in Bengali) or Alstonia Scholaris flowers have started blooming and the aroma of that flower made me nostalgic about my childhood.

I was not sure about what I can carry with me as survival kit. I had my mobile and I carry Swiss knife and a pocket torch. I decided that I should wear a sports shoe in case we have to run due to some unknown reason. Rest I left to Rana and Yusuf to decide.

Rana came at 5 pm in his Innova and picked me up; I was carrying a bag with toiletries and change of cloth. Rana advised me not to take the bag as he in consultation with Yusuf had organized everything.

Within in half an hour we reached Yusuf’s haveli in old area of Qutub Minar. He was waiting outside for us. It was a majestic red brick structure with tall ceilings and running verandah.

We assembled in his drawing room , furniture of bygone days was tastefully placed among modern comfortable sofas, it was classic fusion of two eras.The drawingroom  had two big windows and two doors. I could see that he had retained the old style pankha hanging from the ceiling.

Yusuf noticed me looking at the pankha, he smiled and said, “ I have tried to retain the flavor of the past along with functional furniture of the present.”

“When I entered your drawing room then and there I did a time travel to our ancestral house in Allahabad which had such pankha for my grandfather, I faintly remembered that. Yes, we shouldn’t lose contact with our root.” I nodded in appreciation.

“What is our programme?” I asked after sitting down.

“We will finish our dinner by 8pm and then go to Qutub Minar. Before going to Qutub Minar we have to change our dress. I will just bring the dresses. Rana has helped me to get the dresses from a theatrical setup.”

Yusuf brought a briefcase and took out colourful pathani dresses, long kurtas, half coat and loose pajamas.

“Do we wear some kind of pagdi or fez? Are we to put on some false beard and all?” I asked mischievously.

Yusuf jumped up with excitement and said ,”We did not think about our facial hair, let me check with my friend who stays nearby. I have good collection of pagdis.’

Some false beard set was organized. After dinner, one by one we went inside to his bedroom to put on the Afgani dress. His servant helped us in putting on those, his wife had briefly come out from the sanctum sanctorum to say hello to us. He had already informed that his only son was studying Engineering in Bangalore.

We put on the makeup; we were transformed to a different personality from a different time. He showed us some Moghul time coins or asrafis that he said would be useful.

Pathan

We were carrying a dagger each, in case of any trouble.

We reached near Qutub Minar by 10 pm of 31^st August. I knew that the gates of Qutub Minar area would be locked and there would be CCTV cameras.

As if Yusuf could read my mind, he turned towards me and said,’ Don’t worry there is a way of going in at the back where there is hardly any security. The location of the wormhole for 1803 is near that place; yesterday I have done reconnaissance of the place.

Rana parked his Innova at a proper parking place at the back of Qutub Minar complex and then we walked down. We were the only one walking down with those strange apparels. Yusuf said, “ Don’t you worry there are many pathans in this area who still were dresses like this, all are not Sahrukh Khan!” he laughed out loudly.

He took us to a place where a person in ordinary dress was waiting for us to take us through the barriers. We crossed some shrubs and entered the compound, that person left us there. It was a silent moonlit night with the majestic Qutub Minar, 72.5 m tall standing like a sentinel guarding Delhi against all evils. I was hypnotized by that night view of the minar with crescent moon visible behind the minar , it casted a spell on me, I was lost in my thought when Rana said, “Roysahab wake up, let us go.”

I smiled shyly as I was caught[SNR1]  in my thought.

We walked for about 5 minutes towards a broken wall. I could see that Yusuf had marked the wall with a fluorescent yellow chalk, that wall was hidden in the shrubs. The diffused light of the tower lights of the compound lighted the area. Yusuf asked us to touch the wall and push. Three of us started pushing the wall, nothing happened. Yusuf took out an old notebook and studied that.

“My mistake! Let us go to the other side of the wall so that we can face Qutub Minar.”

I was scared if there was some snake or some other poisonous insect. Yusuf took out carbolic acid powder and sprinkled around the wall.

We went to the other side and started pushing, I felt as though I was floating in the air, I was passing through a  tunnel with the body rotating like a spinning top and was thrown off.. Three of us were lying on a rough ground. The manicured lawn had vanished. There was no light; there were no electrical light at all. At a distance, we could see scattered tents and some oil lamps, faint voices of many people talking simultaneously as though some kind of midnight market was operating. I looked at the moonlit Qutub, the moon was at the same place, I was surprised to find Qutub had it’s crown which in my last visit found on the ground near the minar. The whole atmosphere was eerie, Rana was not his jubilant self, Yusuf was ready, as his Abbu had told him long back what to expect.

Yusuf quickly rearranged the shrubs and broke some twigs near wall as marker so that while returning we do not miss it, I left a matchbox near the shrub. We started walking towards the source of voices. We had crossed the half-finished minar of Alauddin Khilji. Keeping that minar to the right, we started walking towards source of sound, it was around 11 pm then. Yusuf told us we would spend 4 to 5 hours and then return. I was feeling a bit uneasy but the surrounding of Qutub minar of that period was different and it was pretty inviting, I was feeling as though I am in some film set in Istanbul.We could see lanes with brick houses and scattered tents, smell of horse dung was hanging in the air. Practically by the side of all tents, horses were tied. Outside some of the tents there, travelers were relaxing.

Yusuf suggested we locate a saraikhana for taking rest. As we neared the habitat we could hear Sufi song wafting in the air, we crossed the tents to reach the source of Sufi Qwali. On the way people shouted at us and Yusuf replied in Pushto that we were travelers from Mathura.

We entered the courtyard of the shrine where a dervish was sitting on a podium and around him qwalls were sitting with sarangi, harmonium, tabla etc. No one bothered about us, we could see about 50 people were assembled in front the dervish. As such constantly, people were coming and going. It was all male affair.

Yusuf enquired from a passerby about the location of any nearby mussafirkhana. That fellow looked suspiciously at us and showed us the way. I realized that I was the reason of suspicion as I was wearing a modern titanium spectacle like which was yet to be invented.

We crossed the courtyard and walked for about 100 meters and found a place humming with people, horses were tied outside. It looked like a saloon in wild west films. Surprisingly inside was spacious and not many people were around, a dim oil lamp was stuck on the wall.  Yusuf took the lead and found a room was available in the ground floor, the inn keeper would organize water but no food, no toilet. Yusuf paid some asrafi which his Abbu had brought during his travel. The room was spacious, it was like a dormitory with beds spread on the floor, one window, no latches on the door. As per our daily routine it was bed time. We decided to take rest for 2 hours and then take round of the shrine of sufi and the head for Qutub minar for heading back.

As per programme we checked out of the inn and walked back to the shrine of the Sufi. The innkeeper had informed me those Sufis were disciple of Nizamuddin, the sufi saint of 14^th century.

A dervish was quoting Nizamuddin Aulia from the podium, “Reflection is the lamp of the heart,if it departs, the heart will have no light.So friends you must reflect before taking any action. Let the heart guide you.”’

We stood for sometimes to absorb the mystical feel of the night of 19^th century in 1803.

We started walking to wards Qutub Minar, night was progressing towards day when we felt that some people were following us. Sure enough the same fellow who had given direction at the shrine was following us with 3 of his henchmen. That rascal had figured us to be innocent travelers with money. We started running towards the wall when the Afgan horse riders appeared and chased those ruffians. We waited for sometimes then entered the courtyard of Qutub minar. I went and touched the minar, took a picture of the full height Qutub with the crown ,Yusuf and Rana. We were startled by some footsteps, the ruffians have reappeared, we took off and suddenly felt as though the whole earth was shaking, there was rumbling sound. The earth was shaking violently, the Qutub minar was swaying, the crown of the Qutub came down crashing, and those ruffians were buried under that  crown which fell on the ground with a thud.

It lasted for a few minutes or so and suddenly it stopped. The silence was pierced by the screams of people who were running helter skelter. The horses were neighing wildly. it was devastation everywhere. Luckily the Qutub minar lost it’s crown but it was still standing erect. There were debris of structures, uprooted trees. We could see some tents had caught fire from the oil lamps. It was mayhem everywhere.

We were worried whether our wall of wormhole was still there or not. We ran at the back of Qutub complex and found it to be still there.

Yusuf told us that now we have to push from the other side with our back to the Qutub. We did that and had the same experience of spinning, travelling through a tunnel, and finally thrown on the ground. I looked at present Qutub majestically standing erect with eastern sky slowly reflecting the rising sun light.

We quietly went out of the compound of Qutub, the experience of that massive earthquake had shaken us. Probably if I would have known that there would be that earthquake I wouldn’t have ventured.

We went to Yousuf’s house changed to our original dress, thanked him for everything.

Rana dropped me at the guest house. Next day I found from the net in my laptop that early morning of 1^st September,1803 there was a massive earthquake in northern India , there was lot of destruction, Qutub minar lost its crown.

I reached for my cell phone to look for the picture, which I have snapped of Qutub with crown, but it was lost in the turmoil of earth quake. That was the only proof I had of the time travel.

I found 1st September of 2001 is 6x33 +1803=2001.

 

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 [SNR1]