Chapter 6 Home

Aaahh…the smell of freshly cut grasses, the whiff of bamboo, teak and the earth just after the fresh rain…motherland…all the memories from childhood came rushing back as DJ stepped on the concrete Tarmac of the airport in Agartala. The air travel was comfortable. But in the anticipation, he just could not sleep in the last leg of his journey from Kolkata to Agartala. Memories from his childhood flooded his mind. He could feel the taste of hot fresh chicken chaps and egg wraps in his mouth that he would relish eating at the roadside fast food stalls in Agartala.

Just outside the cordoned off area in the luggage checkout point, he could see his father waving at him. His father had come to receive him from the airport. He rushed into his father’s arms and hugged him tightly. There were tears in his father’s eyes. The smell of his father’s aftershave lotion brought back memories even forcefully. Quickly he collected his luggage and sat in the car with his father to head towards home. He told the chauffeur to take the car via a different route where there were rice fields. The light breeze brought in the smell of the green paddy fields, wet after the rain. The sun shone on the droplets nestled on the blades of the paddy plants. There was a shimmering effect and the fields seemed like a sea of jade. The setting sun behind the clouds and the orange tinted sky was a miracle that he wanted to capture. He stepped out of the car and clicked away with his camera. He could not stop himself from stepping into the fields. Suddenly in the far field there, he saw a girl in pure white and cream salwar running through the fields and touching the droplets nestled on the paddy plants. She was jumping and enjoying the beauty as much as he was. He was mystified and could not take his eyes off even to click at his camera.

“You know Duggu; your mother is waiting for you. We should go now.” His father called out affectionately.

“Coming baba”.

But who was that girl? May be he would never know. But she seemed so happy and fairy like beautiful immersed in the beauty of nature.

“Your mother has cooked Hilsa for you today.”

“Wow...Hilsa?”

“Yes dear and there is also Boyal for tonight.”

DJ loved fish and Hilsa and Boyal were his favourite. Soon they reached home. He took his luggage and ran home.

“Ma…I am back.” He hugged his mother and there were tears in her eyes too.

“So long it has been. Freshen up and come to eat...today I have made Hilsa for you”.

He felt like a child again. Hilsa made with mustard paste with rice…was his favourite. It seemed to him that the past one year that he has been away from home, he has been eating only rubbish compared to his mother’s cooking.

“Well here I am at my home and I plan on binging”. He said to his parents who were gathered around him. They were very happy to see him after such a long time.

“Tell me whatever you want to eat and I will bring for you’’, his father said with a smile.

And then they started to talk about his accomplishments in his current job and the news about the neighbors and family members.

Soon the day ended. After dinner and saying goodnight to his parents, he went to his bed. The smell of his old teak wood bed and school time books floated in the room. But he pondered… who was the girl he saw in the paddy fields today? As he floated into the dream world, serene flute music seemed to play in his ears and there was this girl dancing in the paddy fields…

Chapter 5 Chitradeep

There is a time and place for everything. But for Chitradeep, all times were good times to crack a joke. Not necessarily he had to speak, to make people laugh. Sometimes he would just have to make a face and everybody around him would start rolling on the ground with laughter. Even his cherubic body features added the fine touch to it. One thing everybody liked about him was that, he did not fear anybody. Most of the people thought that it was due to his close friendship with the tribal prince Tamluk. Both of them were born on the same date and time. They have been inseparable from childhood.

In their childhood, they would play the popular game of Rajah – mantri. Tamluk would sit on a rock with Chitradeep on his left hand side sitting on an earthen mound. Other kids would play the part as his ministers or subjects. They would imitate the court of Tamluk’s father. And each time Tamluk would ask Chitradeep what should be done with the accused? The punishments to the accused would be like climb a banyan tree, roll three times on the ground and bark like a dog, etc.

But there was a sad part to Chitradeep’s life. He had lost his mother in a fire when he was just a toddler. His mother had given her life while saving him from the fire when his father was out in the forest hunting. Since then, Tamluk’s mother had taken it upon herself to raise Chitradeep like her own son.

Chitradeep’s father, Nanimadhab, was the commander of the tribal army. He had not been able to forgive himself for not being able to save his wife. So he could not say anything to Chitradeep, even when he wanted to, of learning the ways of warfare. But instead he trained Tamluk in whatever knowledge of warfare he knew.
Instead of pondering too much on his bad plight, he turned himself into a comic personality. He hated doing any physical work. But he had always been enticed by knowledge and wisdom. He would secretly hide and listen to the judgements given by the tribal chief, Tamluk’s father, in the tribal court. He studied with the Chantai (temple priest) about all the scriptures deeply. He would always accompany Tijil to the 14 God’s temple and visit the Chantai there. He would also accompany Tijil to Matarbari, the ancient Mother Goddess’s temple. There he learned how to meditate and learned the hidden knowledge of the scriptures from the sadhus.

“Dear Maharaj, kindly accept me as your disciple” he requested Shri Dayanand Giri – Guru of Tijil – who was a very kind sadhu. Chitradeep was accepted and soon started to learn how to meditate and learn further about the scriptures and other hidden knowledge. He lived under the guidance of his Guru for five years.

When he had reached the age of 16, his guru called him and all the other disciples ,one day into his hut and told “Dear sons, I have given you knowledge. My work here is done. I am going to the Himalayas for sadhana. Tijil will continue my work here in this Ashram.”

And to Chitradeep, “Now, your fate requires you to go to your village. In due course, when your duty in this world is done, you shall come back to me. “
“But when shall it be revered guru? And how shall I know that the time has come? I do not want to leave your feet. Take me with you to the Himalayas.”
“Ha Ha. You are my dearest disciple. Do not be sad.” With his eyes towards the heavens and a mystifying smile on his face, the revered guru said, “I shall leave this place now. When the time has come, I shall come myself to take you along with me to the Himalayas. But now you must go back to your village. Remember what I have taught you and always wear this Rudraksha mala around your neck. I am always there with you.”

Chitradeep was sad and happy at the same time. He had to be away from his guru who he loved with his whole heart. Also he was happy because he could see his people in the village after such a long time. Especially he would again see Tamluk.

Chapter 4 Payel

“Stop it. Or else, I am going to throw your music system out.” Furious on her room partner, Payel switched off the music system.

“Hey, hey, hey…you have got no right to that…” said Jyoti, in a light hearted mood.

Payel and Jyoti were friends since the kindergarten. In fact they were best friends. They enjoyed each other’s company and were more than sisters to each other. They regarded themselves as sisters from different parents. Even their parents didn’t make any discrimination in between them .Both of their parents treated them as their own child. Both of them were single child. From childhood, whatever Payel’s parents would buy for her, they would get two. One for her and another for Jyoti. Same was also done by Jyoti’s parents. They would fare well and equally in everything they participated in.

But as they grew up, they started to change. Jyoti was more of the outgoing type, more influenced by western music, clothing style and food likings. When they had decided to go and study in the prestigious Women’s College in Agartala, Jyoti had chosen BSC in computer science whereas Payel had chosen Arts. Payel has had always wanted to know about her family’s past. That was the reason why she took History as major subject in her Masters.

Jyoti was not that attractive whereas Payel looked like a goddess. She had the big yet Mongoloid style eyes. Her hair was jet black and long. All her friends would envy her for her long hair. She had a bright fair complexion and a skin as smooth as velvet. She had learnt classical music and dance from childhood. Also she had a rich taste in clothing. At home, she would wear the traditional PACHRA. Other times she would wear simple light colored full length salwar kameez. She never wore jeans or T- shirts.

Payel’s father was the second son of her granddad. She had come to know about her family history from folklore that used to go about in people’s mouth, when she was a child. She had heard from her grandma that, her family was once the ruling family of the mighty Barmuras. In fact, The GOD Barmura was one of their ancient ancestors. They were among the first people to settle in these areas thousands of years ago. Even the last Rajah of Tripura was a descendant from their family. Even now, when she went to her village during vacations, she would spend more time in knowing the past. This, she would do, by interviewing old people in the nearby villages. She had taken up writing a book on the history of Tripura and the history of the people. She was in continuous consultation with the professors, not only in her own college, but also from other universities as well as other places like Kolkata and Delhi. She would from time to time visit the Chantai in the 14 God’s temple. In fact it was now, in the end of May, that she was planning to go to Unokoti, Pilak and a few other places to get some pictures for her book. She had decided to take the tourist bus facility recently started to all major attractions of Tripura for 7 days. She has bought a high definition camera for the purpose and taken her parent’s permission too.

Chapter 3 DIGVIJAY

The letters seem to be dancing and blurring on the computer screen as Digvijay can hardly control the sleep from fatigue of overworking for long hours. “This project needs to be completed anyhow before I go on leave” he has been telling himself. He has been pushing himself to his limits for the whole of this first week of May. The deadline for the project delivery is not till the end of next month. But the testers need around one month time to test the program files of the application he is developing for a renowned multinational company. Though he has a reputation of developing bug free programs, business protocol demands, that the application be properly tested before delivery. Over and above he has been working at breakneck speed to complete the application. He is now creating his own record of completing a project at such a short time, where even the experts will require not less than 2 months to complete this project. His boss, though, brought in this project at the last moment when Digvijay was winding up his pending works in the office last Saturday.

“D.J. we have got this prestigious project from our overseas client just now. I have promised them that we will deliver them within two months. They have agreed to award us this project solely depending on the lowest time frame we have quoted. And I have taken the project solely depending on your expertise and skill. I have every faith in you my boy. If we can deliver them this project, then they have promised us to give permanent contract for developing their PDA and mobile phone applications. This means we can take our business to greater heights and compete with the market bigwigs. Surely you understand the importance of this project by now, don’t you?”

“But sir I am going on leave next week!”

“D.J., I have explained you the situation. Haven’t i? I am requesting you to put in your best. I know you would not disappoint me my good lad.”

“Well let me see”. And so his instrumental music album and loads of coffee has been supporting him for the last week as days blur into night and night into day. He has been virtually eating, sleeping and working from his corner cabin for the last week uninterrupted by anyone.

Digvijay or D.J., as everyone calls him at his office, had completed his engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Powai. In fact he was a gold medalist. Then he went on to complete his Masters from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. After that he had come to Pune and joined a small start up company as a trainee programmer. His intention was to do a job and do programming on software for robots. Robotics was his Major subject in master’s degree.

Within 6 months he had made his bones, as his dad would proudly say, and become a programmer. Only one year later he had become a senior programmer and after two years he has become a legend not only in his office but also in the Indian industry of mobile phone and PDA applications development. International companies have been calling him everyday to give him lucrative job offers. But he has kept turning them down saying that he did not want to go overseas for doing job. He preferred to stay in his own country. Now he has made a position in his company which nobody has a name what to call and is his boss’s most trusted and prized employee. His boss has offered to make him a partner from this June which D.J. has accepted. Already he has moved to the corner cabin next to his boss’s. But he told his boss that he will still be a programmer and let his boss run the company as he loves to create applications.

When six foot tall, dark shoulder length haired, muscular and fair skinned Digvijay sits on his Bullet, heads are bound to turn. White and blue are his favorite colours. The Aviator sunglasses go well with his long drooping moustache. The strong jaw line and the broad forehead add to his muscular appeal. Nobody would say that, the 23 years old D.J., is a renowned software programmer and is about to become a partner in a successful and prestigious Indian software company.

The whiff of fresh coffee wakes D.J. up.

“Where are we my boy?”Seeing that he has woken up, his boss asks D.J.

The whole of last week, everybody in the office saw how D.J. has been working. The boss himself had prohibited anyone from even slightly disturbing him. A new coffee machine had been installed in his cabin. And that too, when he had gone home, to freshen up and change clothes. “Give me only two hours and the completed application will be at your desk”.

“WHAT? My God. You are a wizard or what?”

The face boss made, brought a slanting triumphant smile on his face.

“And sir, today afternoon, my flight is booked. I am going on leave for 20 days.

"Not before I see the application.”

“Of course.”

And obviously the boss was satisfied. He congratulated D.J. by shaking his hand.

“Enjoy your vacation my boy. You deserve it.”

This time he has planned to see the interiors of the lush green North eastern state of Tripura. A tourist bus facility has been launched recently from his home town Agartala to all the major attractions of Tripura in a 7 day’s tour package. Initially he will spend a week with his mother and father at home. He will only eat his mother’s specialty dishes and sleep. Then he will go onto the voyage. Later he plans to go into the interiors of the hilly state to spend a relaxing week, clicking away at his newly bought digital camera which is his only hobby other than programming for robots. Thinking about the vacation itself has a relaxing effect on him. Soon he falls asleep in the cool air conditioning of the flight.