I am now in Bangalore. My good old Bangalore! I have been here from 2001 to 2007 and left it only to join my MBA. Both I and my wife had an intuition that some day we would return to the lovely city; but I didn't know I would return here so soon! But, nonetheless, I am enjoying my life in Bangalore - every bit of it!
Today is 31st March...Its a memorable day in my life. Not exactly today, but 31st march, in general. No its not my birthday, nor is it my wife's or brother's...even not my parents'. So what makes it so special? Well, we all get obsessed by dates. And to top the list are birthdays (one's own birthday, birthday of loved ones, near and dear ones, friends), marriage anniversaries, New Year, Christmas. We celebrate those days and more often than not plan for a couple of weeks on how to spend that special day. But have any of you taken any particular date of a calendar and seen how you have spent that day for last few years. Lets take an arbitrary 14 October, for example. How did you spend that day once when you were a child...and then once in high school, and then for the last few years? Facing a day without the least preparation. Or, lets put it in this way, you prepare something for a day..and it happens to be the 14th of October...Thus it will turn out that one 14th October you spent in some movies, one 14th October you spent your time with your grandparents, one 14th you were stuck in the office, and lets say in the last one you just didnt do anything special at all! The interesting thing about this arbitrary date compared to birthdays and marriage anniversaries is that on this arbitrary date you are free to do almost any thing and every thing; unlike on the birthdays (and all) when you are pre-occupied with some special thoughts almost the whole day and some things like wishes, phone calls and cards are almost an integral part of those days.
31st March is one such date in my calendar. Some eventful things happened quite a few times on this date and yet those things could have taken place on any other day in the Gregorian calendar!
As a small boy, that day was 'eventful' in the sense it was the last day of the financial year. My father, being a bank manager, often came late in midnight on that day. Generally he came at 7-8 pm in the evening...that day he often returned home at 1-2 am in the morning. To me, that sounded a hell lot of work then.
31st march is also the day before the April Fool day. When we (my brother and I) were small, on one such April Fool eve, we played some harmless pranks on our grandparents with coins and rubber-band wrapped in a piece of paper that makes strange sound once the paper is unfolded. I still remember that our grandfather expressed utter surprise and fear during the time of unfolding the paper when the crackling sound was heard. We believed him them. Today, I realise that fine piece of acting was to ensure that the tender hearts were not broken. Today my grandparents are no more.
31st March 1997. Yes, I remember the year too! It was the day my Higher Secondary Mathematics examination was held. Since my humbleness will do no good to the article, I admit that I pretty good at Mathematics. I was even better at Physics! Ah Physics...my favourite subject! The physics exam was held on 29th March. It was disaster for me. I don't know why, but things did not go well for me on that day. I failed to answer simple questions. I forgot to answer a set of questions worth 8 marks and I still remember on what it was (What is anomalous expansion of water and how it helps the aquatic animals and plants). I returned home completely shattered. 30th march was a holiday. On the morning of 31st march, I had a sort of semi-nervous breakdown. I seemed to have forgotten all the mathematical formulae and another disaster on the examination day seemed looming large.My father anticipating my panic and tension decided to accompany me to the gate of the examination hall. It was his D-Day - Bank closing day. But he chose to take a leave and go with me that day. For me that was a really BIG sacrifice that my father did on that day. Needless to say, before that and after that he did innumerable such sacrifices, but that somehow stands a bit away from the crowd. It also perhaps showed how he chose personal life over the professional life. Fortunately, my Mathematics exams was not that bad.
31st March 2004. Why is it that each time my dad features in some form or the other on this day? Believe me, even this one involves him...in fact the whole of 31st March, there was just one person who grabbed all our attention, focus and prayer: it was my father! Debreena and I got in November 2003. My parents came to visit us (in Bangalore from our native place near Calcutta) in February, 2004. To cut the long story short, during the visit, he was detected of stomach cancer. It was a total shock to all of us - a bolt from the blue. He was just doing his routine check-up when this got diagnosed. He had to go under the knife on 31st March. After a five hour long and critical operation, he was back to normal...he is leaving a healthy life, by the grace of the Almighty. When I went to the hospital medical store to get his medicines, at night 9 pm, they said. "Sorry sir, generally we are open 24 hours a day, but today being the financial year end, we closed all our transactions by 8 pm and are busy in the accounting process." I went to a medical store outside to get those long list of syrups and tablets and capsules and injections.
31st March 2008. One of the best days of my life. I was all alone in cold England during my MBA. My wife was working in India. In the Easter break, she joined me for 15 days. It was not planned, but the day we chose to visit London was 31st March. Though I had been in Cranfield from September, I kept the day-long trip to London postponed till my wife came. Actually I always thought I should write about that day...and then kept on postponing as I took time for my thoughts to get organised. But before my thoughts got organised, the economy got dis-organised and with it so many plans, thoughts and dreams got hay-wire. I did not have the mentality to sit down and write and that's why there is a considerable gap in my blogs in that period. Perhaps, some day soon I will write about them. But one thing I must say, seeing 221B Baker street was living my childhood dream. I had goose bumps then and am even having so now at the very thought of the moment. So, it was a bright sunny day in London - the London eye, Big Ben, Traffelgaur Square, The Westminster Abbey, the London Bridge, the Piccadilly Circus, the cruise down the river Thames, the Greenwich Meridian (read about in school books), the Buckingham Palace...you name it. I still remember that we were in the Buckingham Palace in the evening time. The sun had gone mild. I told my wife "Life is so unpredictable. On 31st March 2004, we were in front of the operation theatre, now are in front of the Buckingham Palace. GOD know how we will spend the next 31st March.
31st March 2009. I am in Bangalore. Writing this blog. Had a normal day at home and in office. The only event is, though fairy tale ending it might sound, today my father went for a routine check-up. The doctor did not find any carcinogenic cell (cancer cells) in his body. In 2004 the doctors told if they are not found in the next five years, my father can well assume that he is in safe shores. Today he was relieved to find himself in safe shores!
The speciality about this date (31st March) is that it is uniquely special (I don't know what it means!) in my life. But on second thought, I firmly believe that all such days are unique in each of our lives. In the busy daily life, we fail to take notice of it and ,thus, in most cases lose the joy of living every moment!
