That Week in April

Let me tell you about a strange incident that happened about two weeks ago, in a rather peaceful Park Defence Colony, Ishapore during the lockdown period. Read on to find what happened...


It was the summer of 2020. Everyone was locked down in their homes, and there was not much respite from the heat. Nothing to do and the days were just not passing. This certainly was not a good year…

"Dada kokhon jabo bayre?"- my cousin Srijan asked. He had been pestering me this entire week just because I had told him that I would show him around The Park colony- especially the historical Gun Powder House dating back to 1791, the majestic Ganges and also the mansion like quarters built

 

by the British. Historical places and such old stuff intrigued him deeply, so he had come over to Ishapore for the summer. But who could know the consequences of the pandemic beforehand...

"We'll go today after it's dark"- I told him. No one would be there on the streets and I would show him a couple of places quickly.

So around 6, I took him on my bicycle and went out. Srijan kept clicking pictures while sitting on the backseat of my bicycle- he was probably excited to go out after so many days. 

My old school friends Anuraag and Siddharth join in outside our school as planned- they were getting bored as well. The evening air was refreshing. We slowly cycled towards the Shooting Club and then decided to show him our school first. But no, Srijan was hell bent on seeing the Gunpowder House first. Anuraag said-“Let’s go through the road beside the lake and the DSC Mandir.

“Okay, so be it”- I agreed.

We started cycling towards the Mandir. The road looked deserted, except for the guards patrolling the area. We took a left turn and I pointed towards the front and said-“Look straight, Srijan. Straight away is the Riverside Park. Let's go there, you will love the sight.”       

  

          

“But I wanna see the Gunpowder House first”- was his stubborn reply.

“I wonder how you can be so annoying at times, you know…”- I said. He giggled, and we kept going straight.

When we nearly reached the backyard of the Gunpowder House, it was dark, and for the bare exception of the dim streetlight, nothing much could be seen. Srijan insisted to go inside, so reluctantly we stopped and parked our cycles.

We opened the backyard gate slowly, but it creaked so loudly that it made us jump to our feet. A camp of bats flied just above us.

“This place surely is sinister...”- Siddharth said fearfully.

“Let it pass, man…”- Anuraag said. He added-“Am I seeing something wrong?”

“Why?”-I asked…  

         

Anuraag quietly pointed towards the dark entrance to the Phansi Ghar. We all closely observed what he was pointing to. A group of few men were smoking inside and talking in whispers. In the lights of their cigarettes, we could  see their masked faces. They didn’t seem like residents of the colony and I thought of giving them a good hearing about what they were doing there.

 Just as I was about to creep inside, Siddharth shouted. I turned to see what happened. No, he was alright. It was, perhaps, a snake that had just passed by Siddharth. 

Anyway, the noise brought the attention of the men smoking and they came out hurriedly. Before I could ask them anything, three of them ran towards the Gunpowder House and we couldn’t see them anymore. But the fourth man who was left behind, kept frantically searching for something on the ground. Then he too fled in the same direction. It all happened so fast and unexpectedly that by the time I shouted-“Hey!”, they were all gone.

 “It’s no use, they have all gone”-Anuraag said.

I turned towards Siddharth, who was still scared about the snake. “What if it bit me? What if it was poisonous?”-he kept saying. I reassured him-“It’s gone, bro..Don’t you worry now.”

 I told Srijan- who was busy clicking photographs in night mode, to stay with Siddharth while I and Anuraag went to check what the last man was searching for. Perhaps, it was a liquor bottle they were drinking from. We peeped into the Phansi Ghar, but saw nothing but absolute darkness.

Turning our flashlights on, we had a quick look but there was surprisingly no liquor bottle. Strange! What were those men doing then?

“Let’s call it a day. Enough thrill already”- Siddharth said. We all agreed to this point, and even Srijan nodded. We took our bicycles and showed Srijan the Riverside Park. “Amazing, it’s amazing”-he says. We waited for some time outside the park while he took some photographs.

Suddenly, I spotted a fishing boat starting off and heading straight for the opposite bank.

Something was fishy indeed! A fishing boat at night, going straight for the opposite bank, that too during high tide. Hope it didn’t capsize.

Anuraag and Siddharth had to go home as their parents were worried. “We’ve got to go..” – they said. I nodded and waved them goodbye.

I looked at my watch. Gosh, it was 9:30 already! I took the other route- showing Srijan the front side of the Gunpowder House, the Park Guest House and then I raced down the main road at top speed back to home. We got a good hearing for sneaking out at night. 

At the dinner table, Dad reminded me that there were incidents of robbery near the riverside area. The robbers used to come by boat as the Riverside Park was unguarded. Recently, nothing as such had happened yet he told us to be careful and avoid going out during the lockdown. We nodded and ate our dinner rather quickly and hurried upstairs to my room.

Those men we saw back in the Phansi Ghar, they weren’t drinking. Which called upon the most basic question- What on earth were they doing there? Secondly, the fourth man was searching for something which he apparently didn’t find. What was he searching for? Where did they all disappear? And last, that fishing boat starting off from here when Srijan was taking photographs?

Did they all point to something, by any chance?

“Dada, something’s bothering you?”- Srijan asked.

“No, nothing as such. I was just thinking what that man was searching for, when the other three fled away. By the way, show me the photographs you took.”- I answered. 

Hopeless! None of the pictures were clear enough due to the low light, but I could just make out the boat in one of the pics. “Dada, I’m tired. I am heading off to my room. Tomorrow early morning, we can have another visit there and have a look, right?”- Srijan asked. I nodded and within a couple of minutes, I went to sleep too.

Next morning, I and Srijan sneaked out again. This time, I let him cycle while I sat in the backseat. I showed him our school, and told him about it’s picturesque location near the Ganges. I also told him about the fact that our Games Room housed the office of Governor-General Lord Cornwallis during his tenure at Ishapore. 

Srijan nodded and turned back towards me saying-“This place has seen a lot in the course of history. It’s fascinating.” Srijan remembered the routes pretty well, and I didn’t have to take the trouble of navigating the way.

We parked the bicycle outside the Phansi Ghar and looked around if someone was there already. No one... Everything was so quiet-just the rustling of leaves under our feet and the chirping of birds.

We separated out and searched for that “something” the fourth man was looking for. There was nothing as such, mostly dry leaves lying here and there. 

Quite by chance, a little further from the Phansi Ghar, my eyes fell on a piece of paper folded in half, stuck in a bush. I picked it up and took a quick glance. It seemed like a grocery list of sorts. I keep it in my pocket. We searched for a few minutes more, but found nothing else.

The sun was up, so we didn't waste much time and returned home. After eating breakfast, I tried to think what could be so important about this piece of paper. It seemed like a grocery bill with strange marks and points which made absolutely no sense.

I gave up after some time. Most likely, it was nothing to bother about, and I went downstairs and started helping in the household work. 

While dusting off things and stacking them in order, I got a Whatsapp message from Anuraag. “Let’s go for morning walks from tomorrow. No use sitting at home. We’ll call Siddharth too.” – it read. “Okay” was my instant reply.

That evening, I spent a little time fiddling with the chit of paper I found today. It was just a mess, line marks here and there which meant nothing. And, what were those numbers 50, 50 and 30 for? Irritated, I just put it into the drawer and simply tried to forget, which I eventually did after a couple of matches of Counter Strike with Srijan.

The next morning brought news of more infected cases and deaths. Boy, the situation is aggravating like anything- I wondered. 

The next few days were highly uneventful, barring the morning walks the four of us took. It became so impossible to stay at home that I and Srijan started going for evening walks too!

Until one evening…

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Stay tuned for the next part, which will arrive shortly. 

The Night Sky

The lockdown days aren’t just passing away, are they? Honestly, nobody expected such a thing to happen in 2020 out of nowhere. And just yesterday, the government extended this lockdown to 3^rdMay, which makes it to a total of 40 days in home.

But every cloud has a silver lining. You finally got those much-needed holidays you’ve always wanted. Yeah, it may not be exactly what you wanted, but you just can’t ask for more during such a tough time that the nation and the world is going through.

Someday, if you don’t feel sleepy enough and have some time- look upon the night sky with the Moon shining with all it’s might. The star studded sky looks just so beautiful, you even forget about the mosquitoes pestering you for a while. 

Suddenly, you spot a plane flying high up in that vast, endless ocean of the heavens. Surely, it’s a cargo plane, but that doesn’t bother you. You call up your friend and to your surprise, they find a plane flying too!! You both are under the same night sky, and the fact that someone can relate to it is so cool!

The night sky, it’s amazing and wonderful. Everything’s so quiet and peaceful and there you are awake while the whole world sleeps. (Well, not the whole world, I have some friends who study the entire day and night.)  

    

                                                

The silence belongs to you in complete infinity and eternity. And you are there to fill it with colours when morning comes up. Forget your worries, and close your eyes. The past and the future shouldn’t bother you. After all, life is the moment we’re living in right now…Even the stars and the Moon are not visible under the overpowering brightness of the mighty Sun, but at night they shine with all their might and give hope to the fact that no matter how dark the road is ahead, there’s always a way out.

A gentle breeze blows, and makes you laugh. Try to relive and feel those days when your parents and grandparents narrated you stories till you fell asleep. And this time, just watch the Moon and stars narrate to you their own story- a story of two infinities. We have a short time on this Earth, but so what- we are infinite too. Within this short time, we experience countless moments, obstacles, and the excitements that we ourselves find it hard to recollect them all. We're perhaps a smaller infinity than the Moon and the stars, but infinite nonetheless.

Observe the night sky well, and watch the Moon and stars tell you their tale. Look up at the sky and then think of the nursery rhyme –“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” which was probably one of the first rhymes you came across. It's not just a rhyme-it's filled with meaning too...

You’ll be amazed and spellbound just like when you were a little kid watching the stars twinkle. Only this time, you won’t fall asleep. You’ll wait till the end of the story…

You know what, let’s go stargazing some night, and listen to the tales of the night sky…

Down the memory lane

It’s the summer of 2020… 7A.M. in the morning. I go to the verandah and expect to hear the sound of the school bus, bikes, vans, etc. After all, every KVian is so excited on the first day of the new session. So many plans, conference calls to bag their favourite seats with their friends…

Strangely enough, the main road leading to K.V. No.1, Ishapore is completely deserted. Not a soul in sight…The air is cool and dry are the fallen leaves. Nobody seems to have passed by in a day or two… Then all of a sudden, I remember that we are in complete lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak. Fancy me thinking of my beloved school to be open now! I feel bad for my juniors who just gave their exams and needed a well deserved break. But no, they are all at home, getting frustrated now and then even as this pandemic creates havoc across the globe.

I take out my phone and am instantly filled with nostalgia when I see my friends and seniors making templates, bingos – with all our names and fun moments of school life. Just “millennial things”, you know. Honestly, it seems a sweet idea that takes my mind off the adverse effects of the pandemic.

Eventually, my mind drifts off to those beautiful, carefree school days. Those were probably the best days I have ever spent in my life. Waking up late in the morning and rushing to school on a bicycle and that grin on our faces when we saw the school gate was still open! Being a regular in the late line and writing absurd reasons for being late in the register and the security guard’s annoying look- lol ! Wishing so badly that the assembly programme gets over real fast and getting heartbroken on hearing that we have to do mass P.T. and yoga both… Waiting for that perfect moment when the teacher is about to call your best friend’s roll no. for attendance and distracting them was so much fun! We had a nickname for everyone and that helped a lot at times!! Making love stories out of nowhere and spreading rumours was also pretty common, and my name was among the top test cases for the love calculator prank!! Honestly, you wouldn’t even have the slightest idea when these things happened!

 Focusing more on the teacher’s iconic and trademarked lines rather than the subject being taught was our priority. Pretending to frantically search for the notebook in front of the teacher when we very well knew we left it at home was so epic! Being a backbencher, passing side comments and jokes and giggling till the teacher scolded us were one of the moments we will cherish forever.

Bunking classes in the name of interhouse activities was a regular excuse, especially for the girls! The library, playground, medical room and computer lab, to name a few gave us refuge from those never ending classes. But yeah, we had to stay away from the CCTVs as they were always under the watchful eyes of our Pricipal Sir and could mean uncertain danger-anytime, anywhere!

 We played so many games, and so many more were invented out of necessity. From paper cricket, hand cricket, pen fighting, red hands, criss-cross and then to online multiplayer games in the computer lab- we played them all. Once, a Flip the Bottle challenge landed us in trouble and we were instantly sent outside class. God knows how many test tubes we broke in the chemistry lab!!

Recess was the best time of the day, especially for the foodies who ate away everything from others and then peacefully nibbling on their own. Ashish Kaku’s canteen was another hotspot during this time. We definitely miss his chhole bhature and aloo kata.  It was also a perfect destination for giving birthday treats.

Hall collection during the exams saw various forms of creativity one could never imagine of. The guy with the least preparation entered the hall like a pro!! Mugging up formulas outside the exam room 10 seconds before commencement of the exam was a must. I wonder what the invigilator thought of us then!

Really, school life was amazing…  Miss those “Stop talking nuisance”, “apne saaso mein dhyaan do”, ”Babu, eisob cholbe na!”, ”beshi beyadopi korona”, “come to my chamber” moments.  Only few students had the rare priviledge of tasting the essence of “come to my chamber”!

You must think I’m silly, finding wonders in the everyday school things around us – things I saw with you all back then.

But these are the moments we will cherish forever, because sometimes the most unforgettable moments are so trivial.

 School holds a really special place in the hearts of all KVians. It is where we found so many friends, grew up together and most of all, we found meaning in our lives.

As I keep recollecting, more templates arrive…each brings back a memory from the good old school days. Those days are long gone. And sadly, “The world is not a wish granting factory”. But if given a chance, wouldn’t you all love to relive the school days? Gosh yeah!!

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I'm thankful to my friend Esha Das who sketched our school.