“Don’t”, Taneya muttered. I looked at the boy. He was sweating profusely, and he looked very tired and lost.
My mind wasn’t working. It wasn’t supposed to, after what the doctor told me two hours ago. In the auto from Devi Shetty hospital to Jadavpur University, those lines constantly played in my mind- “Asish, I’m really sorry to tell you this. Your father’s hands are in very bad condition. I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to save both of them. Perhaps the left hand can be restored....”
Restored. Well said, doc! How about restoring my dad’s life when he realises after coming back to his senses that his right hand’s gone? How about restoring my mom’s? Or fucking mine? My little sister. Can you restore her life? No you can’t. No one can. Give me the papers. I’ll sign them.
I went straight to the university to inform the HOD that I wouldn’t be able to appear for the semester. I was waiting outside his room when someone tapped my shoulder.
“Dada, amar maa khub oshushtho. Kaal train-e onar daan paa ta kata gachhe. Uni NRS-e bhorti. Hoyto banchben na. Daktar babu bolechhen onek taka lagbe jodi...”
I stood there, seeing myself in him. Perhaps he saw himself in me too. “Don’t”, Taneya muttered, when I took out my wallet. I had only two hundred-rupee notes. I gave him one, and asked him “koto lagbe?” He needed nine hundred more to urgently buy an injection and medicines. I took him with me to the Bengali and Economics departments. Friends from my department gave him whatever they could. Two hours later, he went back to his mother. That was the only good thing that happened that day.
It was my first day at the university after a gap of two months. Dad was still in a hospital, stable now, and my mother and sister had gone back to Kharagpur. My life was divided into attending classes and being with dad. Our lives turned out to be a prolonged nightmare after the accident. But I was fast getting used to it. And I was impatient that Amlan Da was late. I was craving for his class, because that was the only thing that could keep my mind away from the mess that I was in. There were around thirty of us in the classroom. Taneya was beside me, telling me what delicacies her mom had sent for both of us. Suddenly a boy walked in, and all of us looked at him. He wasn’t a student, for sure. Even before one of us could ask him why he was there, he began to talk. “Dada ra, amar maa khub oshushtho. Kaal train-e onar daan paa ta kata gachhe. Uni NRS-e bhorti. Hoyto banchben na. Daktar babu bolechhen onek taka lagbe jodi onake bachate hoy...”
“You bastard!” Taneya lunged at him. He ran away. The whole class was silent. Taneya sat down beside me and hugged me tightly. “It’s ok Asish”, she said. It's ok...
