Vehicles Still Move on the Water-logged Road

Only the tub that contained the Aloe vera plant was in a good state. Since Mou regularly uses the leaves for her skincare needs she waters the Aloe vera plant regularly. The other plants were uncared for. Her life as a school teacher felt very monotonous as throughout the day she had to check answer scripts online. Students wrote the same answers by copying and pasting from Google. The online evaluations were taking a toll on her eyes too. However, she realised that there were perks of working from home. Her school was far away and the physical travel entailed time and energy. 

Monsoon came late this year and the roads of Kolkata had been parched in the heat of the scorching sun. However, when the rains finally arrived, the streets got inundated and the vehicles started floating like boats especially on the Central Avenue. The waterlogged roads could not clog the movement of the vehicles. Likewise some obstacles come into our lives but these obstacles do not remain forever.

For the last few days, Mou had been feeling low. She and her friend Abhi had sat for the college service interview. Abhi had got the posting but Mou was still awaiting her share of good news. There was no certainty that she would get the appointment.

One day Mou was taking pictures from their house, which was one of the oldest houses on Central Avenue. She lived with her parents on the topmost floor, which had a small balcony filled with a variety of flowers that were blooming in unclean and rather untidily scattered tubs.

Only the tub that contained the Aloe vera plant was in a good state. Since Mou regularly used the leaves for her skincare needs she watered the Aloe vera plant regularly. The other plants were uncared for.

Her life as a school teacher felt very monotonous as throughout the day she had to check answer scripts online. Students wrote the same answers by copying and pasting from Google. The online evaluations were taking a toll on her eyes too. However, she realised that there were perks of working from home. Her school was far away and the physical travel entailed time and energy. She would have to catch the train at 7am sharp and after disembarking undertake a hectic journey in a rickshaw van for nearly forty five minutes. Since COVID had ushered the tradition of online education (particularly during and from the lockdowns), Mou had been working from home for nearly two years now.

However, offline classes were expected to start in full swing after Independence Day. The summer vacations were drawing to an end and Mou was thinking of going back to school a few days before the Independence Day. She was meaning to prepare the students for some programmes. Although she loved her students she did not feel enthusiastic enough as she had bigger academic dreams. Life should have strides not just small steps, she concluded.

During the vacation she had sat for the CSC and the interview was not bad. However, many were telling her that these interviews were just an eyewash. She was even advised to pay a huge amount to the party office. Mou however was confident about herself. She had got a first class all throughout her academic career. She had attended many good conferences and published nearly six papers in journals. All these were not even seen by the interviewer on the board. Mou recognized them; one was her teacher but none of them gave her any encouragement. One member asked a confusing question – whether she had cleared all? Mou did not know what that clearance was all about. Her father wanted to pay an amount but she was dead against it. "If needed I shall remain a school teacher all my life, no matter how painful it is," she had protested.

Incidentally, her father had covid only six months ago. Mediclaim had not given them all the money that had been required during the treatment. Nevertheless, her father wanted to encash some of the FD certificates which he had along with his pension money. He had tried to pay 'it' (a bribe for Mou's sake) secretly but did not get a genuine collector for it. Apparently there are some collectors who take money from the jobseekers. Her father being an honest school teacher all his life did not know these corrupt collectors.

Mou was trying to console herself by thinking rather negatively about the job. "Even if I get the job it will be far away from my home. Only those who gave money for jobs might get the local postings. If I get a posting in the outer districts, I will be far away from home. I will miss Kolkata life where I grew up. I shall miss all my everyday rituals. I shall miss getting small kochuri with chola dal for my father. I shall miss my evening pani puri. Actually I shall miss so many things. For instance I shall miss strolling around College Street for buying old books on the weekend," she concluded.

To be continued next week…

By Dr. Ratan Bhattacharjee

The writer is a trilingual poet and short story writer and may be reached at profratanbhattacharjee@gmail.com

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