Stallions Ghore Fera Split Mind Art by Partha

An Atonement

Author: Sunil Ghose | Posted on: 14th, Jan, 2023

First time I came to know Mr. Rajat, he was in charge of the large workshop built in this central state of India for maintenance of the equipment and accessories used for digging and extracting precious metals from underground mines. Rajat together with his family settled in the nearby beautiful town of Nawabganj, which was the residential district developed primarily for the workshop employees. Rajat was given an elegant single-family house and an automobile. His family consisting of his wife Ranjana and two daughters Anusuya and Priyamvada have lived quite a few years in this town.

No matter how beautiful a town is, Ranjana gets tired of living in any one place for long. She argued with Rajat, “Why not you find another employment at a branch of your company in or near Kolkata? Thinking about Ranjana’s unhappiness and temperament of being unable to stay further in Nawabganj, Rajat moved his family to Kolkata and got employment at a branch of his employer there.

It was getting very hard for Rajat acclimatizing with the climate and general environment of Kolkata. He was very reluctant to find new employment there.

The situation created an acrimonious conflict between Rajat and Ranjana. The two daughters were also victims of the unhealthy home environment.

Rajat was pretty determined not to seek new employment wherever it may be. He would rather work around the house and take care of the yard and vegetable garden. His pension from his employer was adequate for the family to live comfortably.

After being homebound for a couple of years, he was getting tired easily. He told Ranjana, “I am not able to work anymore in this environment.”

Ranjana wondered, “What happened, you look ok”.

A niece of Rajat had a religious establishment in USA. She was very religious minded from her childhood and became the self-declared Religious Guru in charge of a temple. She convinced her uncle Rajat to come to USA, take over the role of Maharaj and manage the temple as well. Rajat was elated at the opportunity to be the head of the facility and at the same time be able to fulfill his long-time desire to visit USA.

Ranjana accepted Rajat’s desire to go to USA.

I want to visit my niece’s religious temple. That will also allow me to see the United States – my long time desire.

Once in her temple, the niece in her dress of a religious yellow-colored robe greeted him with warm exuberance and conferred on him the honor of a saint as well as offered a temporary residence within the temple. Rajat gladly accepted the opportunity with the thought of staying in USA for a while. On the other hand, Ranjana with her impatient nature refused to spend any more time in USA.

Again, the couple was at opposite poles. Ranjana threw her temper and told Rajat, “It is up to you where you want to stay; I am going back home to Kolkata.”

*****

In the meantime, since Rajat agreed to stay over, the temple arranged a full-time caretaker for him. In spite of the arrangement, Rajat was feeling lonely and unhappy, and his health was not doing well in a depressive state of mind.

It was a matter of a few months. On a gloomy day, Rajat’s caretaker called Ranjana from the temple:

“I am very sorry to give you this news – Mr. Rajat left his mortal body this morning.”

Ranjana was feeling a sense of severe guilt for ignoring her husband; “I am responsible for Rajat’s death.”

She could not get any solace from any corner.

**********

Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

What’s new

 

Our Picture Board

https://usbengalforum.com/ourpictureboard/

https://www.amazon.com/Detour-Incredible-Tales-That-Take/dp/1943190224

Collection of short stories: A book written by Sunil Ghose.

 

p/1943190224Paperback and e-book formats. Please click below:

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=zLrHEAAAQBAJ
Editor’s book:
https://www.archwaypublishing.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/829905-born-in-heaven
Poems – I keep Searching for you, Poems of Twilight Years from Kamal Acharyya.
Short Story:
নারী স্বাধীনতা – Soumi Jana
ঝুমকির ঝমক্ – Krishna Chaudhuri
Variety – মেচ রমনীর দোকনা ফাস্রা – Dr. Shibsankar Pal
সেলাই দিদিমণি, Women help in Carpet making. – Dr Shibsankar Pal.
Arts – Partha Ghosh

Q3-2025 contributors (School and College)
Arhon Jana
Molay Konar
Anuska Saha
Ayush Roy
Sagnika Sinha

Q1-2024
Arnab Dalui
Deblina Singha Roy

Q3-2024
Saniya Bharti
Anwesha Dey
Neelkantha Saha

Our deep appreciation for many young contributors in all categories.

Quotes

Funniest Quotes about ageing

“At fifty, everyone has the face he deserves.”
– *George Orwell*

HAPPY AGEING AND GROWING

Day's history

1st March

1872 Yellowstone becomes the world’s first national park
1692 Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne, & Tituba arrested for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts

2nd March

1807 US Congress bans the slave trade within the US, effective January 1, 1808
1969 1st test flight of the supersonic Concorde

3rd March

1885 American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) incorporates
1939 Mahatma Gandhi begins a fast in Mumbai (Bombay) to protest against autocratic rule in India

4th March

1918, the first cases were reported of the historic influenza pandemic of 1918, later known as Spanish flu. The flu killed approx 40 million people.
1825 John Quincy Adams inaugurated as 6th President of the USA
1927 Babe Ruth becomes the highest-paid player in MLB history when he signs 3-year, $70,000 per season contract with the New York Yankees

5th March

1616 Astronomical work ‘de Revolutionists’ by Nicolaus Copernicus placed on Catholic Forbidden index
1924 Computing-Tabulating-Recording Corp becomes IBM
1949 The Jharkhand Party is founded in India.
1851 Geological Survey of India was established in Calcutta.

6th March

1899 “Aspirin” (acetylsalicylic acid) patented by Felix Hoffmann at German company Bayer
1971 Test Cricket debut of Sunil Gavaskar, v West Indies at Port-of-Spain
1915 Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore met for the first time at Shantiniketan.

7th March

321 Roman Emperor Constantine I decrees that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the day of rest in the Empire
1973 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League wins election in Bangladesh

Day's humor

Week's Horoscope

Horoscope