Long For

Typewriter

"Okay, bye," she slowly whispered and stood up and walked near the door of exit from the bus as her Ulaspur stop was here, we came back home as almost a stranger, we had much of a freedom in Sillunagar, here comes the life back where there isn't much of a independence for love. I nodded and looked at her as she went back to her home, the bus started again and now we headed to my village Manikpur.

"You said that you will be back in two to three days, it has been two to three weeks, didn't you feel like calling us or sending a letter?" My mom erupted as she saw me back home, I understood I extended my stay for way too long.

“There was one of my friends who I met while going to Ulaspur, we stayed a little longer, maa,” I said and sat on the sofa to drink water. One of my brothers came by asking a question about maths before I could say anything. My mother had a ready taunt “Who are you asking the doubt? Dad taught him maths, till could earn grace marks in it,” mom was doing some work at the kitchen, still was able to taunt me, ask me about my stay while giving food to my third brother.

“I wasn’t that bad, what will be the use now? I will get a job anyway,” I said.

“To count the money, you need to have understanding of maths,” she said and came to the living room to see if my brother had finished the food, “You will go and study for an hour then only you are allowed to leave to play with your friends,” small brother nodded, he couldn’t say anything more, mom wasn’t asking she had given the order.

“I know to count money, I helped Dad a lot of times,” I said and went to the kitchen to keep the glass, she went near the small store room, where all the food ingredients were kept, masala and other stuff in box, she picked up one box and opened it and gave me ten rupees, all in one or two rupee coins.

“Count this,” she said and went back to cutting vegetables.

“They are 10, I saw it while you took out the coins,” I said.

“Do it again, I have saved it for the past four months, I don’t want even a single anna to get here and there,” she ordered. I counted it and they were 11 rupees.

“They are 11, you were right,” I said.

“You understand, Palash? Even that single rupee can buy us food for night, don’t be careless, son, you are now going to have a job, you will be earning man soon of the house, you should not waste it at all, don’t be causal towards it, money isn’t everything but remember that without money also there isn’t much to have,” she said and ruffled my hairs and gave me a peck on my cheek.

I needed a job now, when I asked my Dad about it, he told me there were different kind of government jobs from finance to army, he suggested me to join as a clerk in the bank and told that if I keep on with good work then I can earn the post of Manager, there were few banks at that time one which everyone knew was State bank of India, which was also called the imperial bank of India back in the days. I didn’t understand the logic of being a clerk and then a manager, the post differs from one another like the moon and the sun. Still my father had a firm belief that I can do it. So with my father’s advice I went to the nearby bank, it had a branch in Kolkata as the bank was first situated in Kolkata itself, the bank was also called Bank of Calcutta.

“What is your name?” she asked. I went inside the bank and they were recruiting at that time, so when I told them that I am here for a job they sent me to stand in a line outside a small office with 20 to 30 other people. I had to stand for almost an hour and then it was my chance. I thought some man would take my interview but it was a woman, as the women's employment wasn't too much at that time, I was happy to see that women are working now in offices.

“Palash Chakraborty,” I said and took the seat.

“Do you know how to type on a typewriter?” she asked.