Chapter - 11.

A Tribute to Sejda:

I haven't written anything of any note about my late Sejda till date. Sejda, my brother number three, Biresh Chandra Bhattacharyya. If there is a contest about who was the most popular amongst the offsprings of late J.C. Bhattacharyya, I can say without the least bit of doubt in my mind that it had to be Sejda. What made Sejda such a popular figure amongst his brothers and sisters that included Mejdi and a few others? The first and foremost quality that endeared Sejda to all his siblings, was his "antarikata" or heartiness, to put it in the words of a close relative. I will try to find out after I am done with this piece whether I have been able to explain his heartiness to you or not.

My earliest recollection of Sejda dates back to the time when he would be back home in 41 from Purulia, a very dried up, arid district to the west of Bengal. He would be home for the vacation. Comparatively shorter than a few other brothers, Sejda was broad-shouldered, with a mop of curly hair. The best feature of his physical attributes, was undoubtedly his pair of dark, large eyes, which signified extreme kindness and compassion. His kindness, love for his parents and siblings, lent him the kind of aura and popularity that is difficult to match.

He was a brother, who had the best interest of his other siblings in his mind all through. He was an early riser like most of my siblings and would go for a bath first thing in the morning. Once he was done with his morning bath and Puja, he was one of the most devout of the Bhattacharyyas that I have ever seen, he would make sure that we, the younger members of the family, were up and studying. We, my youngest sister and I, would get up early with eyes still heavy with sleep, and pretend to study, knowing how annoyed Sejda would be if he caught us asleep in bed! Now a days, when getting up late from bed for various reasons, is being the norm, Sejda with his meticulousness in stickng to the daily schedule, was like a breath of fresh air.

An extremely down to earth kind of man, Sejda very seldom talked about his academic conquests or credential. My father would joke about the day when he (Sejda) got his first pay as a teacher, handed the entire amount to Baba and hesited before asking for a very paltry sum back from Baba for his pocket money. I am sure that in the 21st century Bengal there may still be a handful of doting, dutiful sons like Sejda but their number will not amount to much as such sons like my Sejda was, are being a rarity by the day.

I can still recollect the day when I was suddenly taken ill during my B.A. Part-II exam at the Presidency College, Kolkata. Sejda accompanied me to the college and talked to one of the invigilators about my condition. He was totally unfuzzled at making me walk a distance of a kilometer or two, even when I behaved as if it was the end of the world for me, extremely unpretentious by nature as he was!

I  cannot recollect any of my other siblings talking to me about how to prepare systemetcally for the  college exams and all like the way Sejda did it. He also worried a lot about my marriage just like my Sis did when I was still a bachelor in my late thirties. That late, languid afternoon, I was sitting on a bench with Sejda on a chair across the dining table. One talk led to other and soon our conversation centred around marriage. What Sejda suggested at that time tormented me for long. He asked me jovially to marry the first person I saw on opening the main door the next day. As I started visualizing the scenario, the only person that came to mind was a hapless, pathtic, god-foreshaken lady called Maya! As she was not a very winsome lady to visualize, I felt that Sejda did not care much for his youngest brother. Mind you, dear reader, he didn't ask me to marry Maya. He just suggested that I should get married. But that's how humans psyche works and I avoided Sejda for a couple of days after that! It took me ages to realize that he was concerned at a younger brother not getting married past his prime and just wanted to share his concern!

He was a very hardy, handy man to be had in any family. The Durga Puja at 41 would normally trigger off with his return home from Purulia. He would knock on the door at the wee hours of the morning when it was still dark outside a few days before the Pujas. He would always come with all those heavy iron tools needed by the family. His pious presence in the household purifued the air in and around 41 and made it holy.

There is so much to write about this brother of mine. I simply love a story I heard from my widowed Sis-in-law once. Let me share it with you to show how people like Sejda, gave a different dimension to parenting at a time when the very concept of parenting was undergoing some sea-change. What I mean is, at a time when the very idea of scolding a child, let alone laying a finger on her or him, was beginning to become obsolete, Sejda was an exception.

That day, so my Sis-in-law told me, there were some guests at the Cooper House, Purulia, rented out to him and his family during his stay of nearly three decades there. Sejda bought some sweets including some rasgollas for the guests as per the Bengali customs. His little daughter was also present there in the room at that time. The child might have a asked for one of those tempting rasgollas on the plate. Now, by nature, Sejda was a very cool, composed man. He didn't get into moods or anything but once he lost his temper, let God side with the one he was mad at. Sejda with his heart bent on providing the best kind of upbringing to his only child, didn't like his daughter asking for something in front of the guests. Amicable as always, he kept the conversation going patiently till the guests were gone. He then went out, bought a dried earthen pot full of rasgollas from a nearby confectionery and came back home as cool as a cucumber! He called his daughter in, removed the wrapper covering the earthen 'bhar' and asked his daughter to have her fill. The child might have had a few innocsntly at first and that was enough! But then her father, Sejda, started forcing the rest of the rasgollas into her mouth! This is how he tried to teach his daughter, the love of his life, his hope and dream - to learn to behave herself in all situations!

Sejda was gone in the summer of '97, a tragic victim of failed kidneys (I would like to write another article about his dreadful disease some other time). He was an unbelievably popular teacher. His students of Jagannath Kishore College, Purulia, literally could have sacrificed anything for Biresh Babu or BB. The way they came down all the way from Purulia when he started throwing up blood and forcibly occupied the empty bed at the crowded PG hospital, crowded with patients waiting to be admitted or treated, is something that folklores are made up of and exemplifies the teacher and the taught relations. His death left an emptiness in the family that could never recover from the shock of it. Life at 41 was never going to be the same again.

Yesterday, his able daughter, another BB, and Son-in-law under the guidance of the widowed sis-in-law, had the 'thread-bearing ceremony' arranged at their apartment somewhere near Ajaynagar. Amidst all the glitter any gathering of relatives, I had this overbearing feeling that had Sejda been alive, he would have been proud of his daughter and son-in-law for all the love and solidarity that the whole event exemplified.