My birthday

I was told that I was born on this day. As per Bengali Calendar, Its 25th day of Baisakh. It is a famous day so far Bengal and Bengali people are concerned. Its a very eventful day. The Schools and Colleges, clubs, offices are all out with this annual ritual to prove their cultural background or heritage. Given the political scenario of Bengal today and the continuous backwardness of this province, it would be hard to make one believe that Bengali People are cultured/intellectual, so on and so forth. And for this reason, we have to take the refuge of a poet who was born 150 years ago and led the Indian Renaissance and was prolific in his creation. Did he succeed in educating Bengali people? The answer is certainly a big No. Barring a few, the average Bengali people are dwarf in all respects. There is nothing to be proud of except the past. So, Bengali is a community who live in past and never ventured to come out in the outer world.

Anyway, my discussion, to be centred around my birthday and myself afterwards. I may share the birthday of Tagore, the cult figure and so did hundreds and thousands of people. I do not think any of them has become famous for being born on 25th Baisakh. Actually, I know, not a single person except me and Rabindranath who was born on that day. However, I do not find any advantage in taking birth on such a famous day. Because all the relatives and near ones will never forget the day, they will congratulate and will expect a treat from you. And this is not at all advantage for me rather disadvantage.

By sharing a birthday with Tagore, I have not achieved anything neither I can write, nor sing a song nor compose or create anything of substance which will be of any value to the present or in future. But one thing I must admit that by changing my birthday officially I have been put into huge financial loss.

Decades ago,I filled up my form for the School Leaving Examination.I only knew that my birthday is on 25th Baisakh but then could not convert it rightly as per English Calender.I put it wrongly as 15th April instead of 8th May.And though my result was marvelous but I felt the pinch of the error some four decades later.

I retired from service in April,2010 and gratuity in Banks got enhanced from 3.50 lacs to 10.00 lacs with effect from May,2010.Can you call it destiny?If not,its a punishment from Tagore.Jai Gurudev.

My School days

It is nearly two years,I retired from State Bank of India.Just at 20,I was enrolled into SBI's service and nearly after a long span of 40 years,the D day came and it was 30th April,2010 when I retired from service.During my stint as a student of Nawab Bahadur's Institution at Lalbagh and also at Krishnath College,Berhampore,I passed through a period of dreams and friendship.I had so much friends at my School/College days.I can still remember them,their faces are still alive in my mind and  I feel an inseparable bond with them.They are now old and they have changed a lot.It is not easy to identify them.But  their child hood faces are so much alive in me that I still enjoy their company.I can remember Jiban and Anil who died young.During the final exam of Higher Secondary exam,Jeevan sat before me.After the exam,I don't know why but he was addicted to drugs.We are not very much aware of his habit but one day we heard that jeevan was no more.And Anil died of Titanus at a very early age most possibly sometimes in 1968.Dhalu ,a school friend of mine is also no more.I remember one day when I visited Dhalu's house before HS exam,I discovered that he was for the third time revising the entire syllabus and me not even attended to my studies.And I was shocked and from that day I started reading and reading and did not come out of my house.And the result was a nice one.I got the first division and also own a gold medal from the Nawab Bahadur of Murshidabad and also awarded Nizamat stipend.It was an eye catching achievement and I remember the afternoon the result came out,the beautiful girls of Lalbagh whom we admired much ,stared at me with unmixed admiration and I read in their eyes so much which was enough to keep me in top gear for months.