The New Nation - Internet Edition

Subhajit Ghosh

It was a tough decision for Sreya. She never thought she would have to leave the town she lived in for almost twenty years. When the district educational officer did major shuffling in the school teachers transfers, she got posted out of the town, to the far remote village called Mayo by the shore of Bay of Bengal. The only relief in the entire sequence was that her childhood wish of staying close to a sea shore would be a reality soon.

Sreya was an orphan. She lived all through her life in government orphanages and girls hostels, the only relatives she knew were the co-orphans. She was brilliant in studies and she always got scholarships for her achievements which helped her to study further and finally settled her in a teacher job. With the earnings from the job, she was out of the orphan life, now she was living a decent and simple life in one of the new colonies of the town.

Now she had to move out of that town. She went around the neighboring houses to bid farewell to them, promising that she would visit later and thanking them with tears for their extended help during tough times. Since she never had any blood relatives, she got habituated to mingle with the people around her, like one of their own. With frenzy sadness occupying her mind, she took her handbag and briefcase and left for the bus station.

The village Mayo was very small with a population of hardly a thousand families. The moment the bus entered the outskirts of the village, the lush green meadows vanished and the typical sea shore bushy plants appeared with sandy land. The change of smell in the breeze itself was an indication of how close she was to the sea.

There was only one small elementary school in the village, with only two teachers and one of them being in-charge. The teacher cum in-charge for the school, Mr. Ramiah was a kind and generous old man. He had been working there for more than fifteen years, and earned lot of respect. With his help, Sreya found a small house, less than two hundred meters away from the school. It took a week for her to settle down but it did not take long for her to know her neighbors and mingle with them.

Sreya saw him for the first time in the village head office. He was tall and very handsome with sharp facial features. He was wearing khadi pajamas and the very moment she saw him, she was mesmerized. He was rushing out of the office, while she was entering. He did not appear to have noticed her at all, for which she felt little disappointed. Certainly she was beautiful enough to get noticed by many; as many tried to approach her from time to time, who were turned down by her.

Her curious mind wanted to know more about him, but her shyness and timidity pulled her back. After a week or so, she happened to see him again in the school this time. Her heart trembled a little. He was talking to Ramiah at the entrance of the school. She hid herself from their view and observed him slyly.

Later that day, when she had an opportunity, she could not resist herself from enquiring more about him.

"Oh! You must be asking about Raghu. He is the only heir left, for the great royal Reddy kings who ruled this land long back. His father was the village headman for more than fifty years, till they all died in a fire accident. Raghu escaped from the disaster as he was away in the town that fateful day" Ramiah paused for a second.

"Very nice and kind person. His only son and wife were also killed in that accident" he said with a grief stricken voice.

"How did it happen?" Sreya asked with a heavy heart. She could not imagine that he had such a sad past.

"Nobody knows. They never had any enemies, at least to my knowledge" Ramiah added.

"God only knows how he is coping up with the tragedy" Sreya quipped in despair.

"I went to his home the other day, to invite him for the Independence Day function. He came down to confirm that"

Sreya's heart was filled with sorrow and she was out of mood for the rest of the day. She thought there was somebody else in the world, whose fate was as bad as hers. She wanted to comfort him but didn't know how. Later that day, through her neighbors she learnt a lot about Raghu. The villagers had lot of respect for him and his family. Their family was very kind and Raghu's father donated almost half of their lands to the poor.

Raghu was a man of virtue and power. His strength and determination always won the hearts of the villagers. He worked with neighborhood villages and coordinated in establishing the fair markets in that area. When his father was the village headman, he used to help him in all the matters. People of Mayo always had trust in that family for hundreds of years, as they were the one who protected them from time to time.

When his parents, wife and son died in the ghastly fire accident, he wept till his heart broke. He had loved his family very much that he could never fully recover from that untimely disaster. He had resigned from his active life from then onwards and handed over the responsibility to his uncles. He had built another house for himself, next to the burnt house. He wanted the burnt house to be kept as it was, not to fade his memories.

On the Independence Day, Sreya dressed up well in white sari with a border of national flag colors. She bought lot of chocolates to distribute in the school, with her own money. She also bought couple of pens and pencils to give them as gifts to her students, who won the competitions. She patiently sat the night before and wrote down her speech carefully.

Even though it was forty years since Independence, the villagers of Mayo did not lose any spirit of it. There were colored paper flags everywhere and everybody tried their best in decorating their homes with the colors of red and green. Sreya never saw such kind of patriotic spirit among the town people, and she felt very happy to witness such a homely and lovely celebration.

Ramiah invited couple of village headmen, along with Raghu. Ramiah and Sreya sat at the end of the row. Not only students but some of their parents also had gathered around. After hoisting the flag, all the guests spoke briefly about the spirit behind the Independence Day and urged the kids to learn from the lives of freedom fighters. When Sreya's turn had come, she spoke gently and her speech was aimed at her students mainly, as she told them moral stories in the simplest form. All the kids attracted to her speech and they were very happy when she distributed the chocolates and prizes.

After the ceremony was over, Raghu came over and congratulated Sreya for her speech. She felt quite shy and her heart was full of joy, when she received compliments from him. He enquired about her and after knowing where she was living, he requested her to move into their old outhouse. She politely refused and thanked him for the offer.

Sreya drove respect from all the corners of the village from that day onwards. All the people started acknowledging her true spirit and they extended their greetings to her whenever they passed her by. She started getting complimentary gifts from the villagers, mainly from the families of her students. They sent her pumpkins; some others jack fruits and some others vegetables. She was thrilled at the hospitability of the villagers and she tried to thank all of them whenever she got a chance.

But none of those gifts really solaced her thirsty heart. She expected something from Raghu and she herself wanted to give something to him. But what could it be? she herself didn't know. She could not digest the very idea that he had not acknowledged her well. Sometimes, she cursed herself for refusing his offer to move to the outhouse. At least then she would have been closer to him. Her brief encounter with him was so memorable that she often remembered it again and again. Not long after these hallucinations took over, she realized she was deeply in love with him.

It was certain that she was quite attracted to him. She often debated herself falling for a widower. For a young woman of her stature, she might not even consider such a case. But that was love. She refused to listen to all her logical reasoning and her heart was just throbbing to get recognized by him. She went couple of times to the village head office, in the anticipation of meeting him there, but all her efforts were in vain.

As her dreams were not getting materialized, she hardly got any sleep. Her nights were full of blurred dreams and sore eye burns. One early morning, when she realized she could not sleep anymore, she got out of bed and decided to go for a walk. Unconsciously her feet lead her to the sea shore. It was cold and there was little light from the farthest end of the sea, from the very bottom of it. The Sun was appearing to be emerging out of the deep dark blue waters. As she went closer to the beach, she thought she heard some music. As she further went closer she could now listen more clearly amidst the roars of the sea itself.

Wondering where from the melody was coming, she checked up here and there. She then found at one corner of the beach, a man was sitting on a tree trunk and was playing a flute. His mastery of the art was so perfect; it appeared as if the morning freshness had poured herself into the flute to emerge out as a song. As she slowly strolled closer to him, she found him none other than Raghu.

Her heart trembled with surprise. He was sitting cross-legged and he was handling the flute with magnificent disposition. He was playing the flute and the song was so melodious, as if he was pumping his own life force through it. Surprised by his inability to acknowledge her presence, she came around and stood in front of him, only to find that his eyes were deeply closed. There were tears in his eyes; the white shirt he was wearing was fully soaked.

As if his consciousness felt the presence of somebody near, he stopped playing and opened his eyes. They were red, as if they were filled with blood. There was fire in them. She could see the tumultuous pain he was going through. There was anguish and anger against the world, for the deprival caused by his blind fate. On seeing him like that, she unconsciously opened her arms for him, as if she had the power to absorb the torments of his painful karma. He never knew that there could be another force in the world, which would console him. As a lost kid who just found his home, he jumped out into her hands. There was solace in both of their hearts, which was brightened by the surrounding jubilant morning rays of the rising Sun.