LIFE IS LOOKING UP

hell ya! thats the way they say it in yankeeland. in my place they say, "mar diya kella". well, there is sufficient reason for me to be so happy and perky. my dad is retiring today, the last day of a memorable career. he has worked tirelessly as a teacher for many years and as headmaster and administrator for the last few years. i might be biased when i say that he could have done great things for himself if he ever wanted to do, but i somehow feel that i'm not too much off the mark. he never had the drive to achieve those things for himself though, the eternal story of a comrade from bengal. he was born the fourth son of gopiballav mazumder and annapurna mazumder in a remote village called gangarampur. he had eight siblings, three brothers and five sisters. typical of that generation the concern for birth control was simply non existent and so were the means. at the risk of sounding blasphemous, i would like to add that if anything should have been invented a little earlier it should have been the CONDOM. today we sing songs about condoms, yet, just two generations before my grandfather sired nine children! anyway, coming back to my father, he grew up in that small village the first few years of his life. his family wasn't exceptionally rich although they were zamindars prior to independence. the reason prima facie is that my grandfather, a well known leader of the zilla congress and a freedom fighter, was a very rigid man when it came to toeing the line. the government diktat was that every individual could own only a certain amount of land and no more. this was done to make the distribution of land equitable in a country which was notoriously lopsided as far as division of wealth is concerned. however, the fledgling government could only issue diktats, and not much more. there was no system in place to check the corrupt from hoarding huge amounts of land under false pretences. my grandfather was one of those men who gave away all his land just because it was the rule.

so, although they weren't exactly poor, they weren't very rich either. my eldest uncle was raised by my grandfather's brother. he was many years older than his youngest brother. my father was eighth in the line and grew up more or less in that rural setting. he, however, left home at the age of eighteen after having finished schooling. it was the difference of political ideologies between the my granddad and my dad which led to this situation and this difference was never resolved till the granddad's death. my father respected his father very much but could not compromise with his political ideologies either. he was the first breed of communists of Bengal, one of the first batch of men who dreamt of an equal world. Bengal was tumultuous place in his youth. the faith of the masses was slowly shifting from a dilapidated congress led by the flamboyant siddhartha shankar ray, who had more interest in leading the nation than taking care of Bengal. Bengal witnessed many bloody riots and massacres in the 70s. food was scarce and drought was the danger that drove millions into a frenzy. the world has borne witness to bloody battles wherever communism has taken roots. Bengal was no exception. people were shown the dream of a better future, an equal world, and the lure of a good life. it was the opposite of george orwell's 1984, and the propaganda machine that the communists had was efficient and powered by fanatics. my father was one of those men who dreamt of the dream and lived the life that a comrade takes pride in. he lived in hiding and fought off many threats to his life. it was during the years succeeding his college days that saw him rise to the forefront in the local communist leadership.

it was then that a happy chance brought my parents together. my mom was a rather beautiful young woman who was known all around the district for her intelligence and aptitude. she had topped the board exams despite being bed ridden with typhoid and later with chicken pox. she was slated to join science and become a scientist. however, her headmistress decided that she had too good a flair for teh english language to be wasted on science. so, english it was that she took up. she came to the same college where my dad had studied and was now the president of the students' union. they fell in love and married within six months of meeting. it was his love for my mom that made my dad leave politics. i guess he may also have been disillusioned by the turn communism was taking in india and may also have foreseen the sad state of affairs that were to befall. he remains an ardent supporter till now, but age and the state of affairs have robbed him of the strength of his conviction. he does not fight over the right path of communism any more but chooses to be a silent spectator.

he joined halisahar high school as an assistant teacher of chemistry and continued there for many years. it was only when i was in my class ninth that he decided to apply for headmaster and qualified as the headmaster of kataganj gokulpur adarsha shikshayatan, the largest and most prestigious school of its area. like i said in the beginning, he could have scaled many peaks if he had chosen to, but he was a man of that generation which sadly is no more. they were satisfied with little, the hunger for more had not afflicted them. call it consumerism, call it evolution of the human race, he was perhaps a man from a different era. men of his ilk chose to ignore the frivolous luxuries of life and concentrate on the bare necessities. there have been many students who have received free coaching from him because he believed that taking money for private tutions was akin to stealing. like i said, his generation exists no more, at least not where i live. so, today when i see him retiring as a satisfied man, a man who may not have left behind too deep an imprint on the sands of time, but a man who knows that he did his job diligently, and, hence, the satisfaction, all i can wish for myself is that many years later i can achieve the peace that he has. he isn't just my role model but the gold standard by which i shall measure myself every step of my life so taht i never go astray.

BTW, i gifted him a golden retriever puppy. they were both very angry and shocked at the gift but i just knew that that cute pup would win over them in no time. now i hear that my mom is considering buying diapers for the dog! yet, they still crib about who is going to take care of the dog! :)