Sir, the lady is here again. Shall I ask to come in?
Mr. DI said in a slightly annoyed tone, yes say!
An old woman entered. Retired ten years ago from a school in South Kolkata. Haven't got pension yet. The old woman came to ask.
As soon as he entered, the DI of the school threw artificial attention on his file and said, "Say what you have to say quickly." The woman wiped the sweat from her face on her lap. He wiped the glasses. Then he stood on the edge of a chair in a low voice and gasped and said, Sir! Did my file move?
At the other end of the table, the DI's answer appeared in the file, what to do? AG raised several questions. Sending your file will be of no use if you don't get proper reply.
The old woman said, "what questions do you want to know?"
The DI said in a tone of irritation, "after checking your service book thoroughly, the AG asked the same question that I asked you earlier...Still you requested me to send the file to AG. I have done my duty. Now I have nothing to do. There is no mention of your qualification in your service book. Where is the proof that you have passed BA? You were selected by the school committee on compassionate ground. It is only written in the service book."
She has been selected on the recommendation of a senior cabinet minister and the school committee has been compelled to recruit her on compassionate grounds that she was a freedom fighter and had been in jail for several long years.
The old woman's face now showed the impression of humiliation.
Really, where is the proof that he has passed BA from Calcutta University? After he passed B.A. he got a piece of paper called mark sheet. But that or where? He passed BA in 1931 with honors in English. The next year was the convocation festival of Calcutta University. He was supposed to get the certificate in that convocation. But what happened? The police arrested him that day. Then a long prison term. When he returned home from prison, he found that the police had entered the house and destroyed all his books and papers. His mark sheet was not found. And after that incident in the senate hall, Calcutta University authorities canceled his certificate. He did not think how much the certificate was worth. A few days after he was released from jail, he again went to jail by joining the Quit India movement. The country became independent. He thought, this freedom is what they wanted? He worked for several years from one school to another school in South Kolkata due to the kindness of the leaders. Then how do you understand that in this country you can get job in Compassionate ground but you can't get confiscated certificate of university! For this certificate, he visited Calcutta University many times and inquired in the result section. At the end, an assistant controller rummaged through many files and told him at the end, no certificate can be given to you until the current senate condones the decision that was taken in the senate at that time and recommends that you be given a certificate. After many efforts, the old lady even met the Vice Chancellor once. Although VC was very polite but he also said the same thing to him. According to the rules of the university, there is no provision for giving certificate to anyone without the permission of the senate. A senate member once made a proposal to give him a certificate from the university on his own initiative. But the Senate is actually the arena of party politics. The one who raised the proposal is a minority in terms of party politics. Why do others accept his proposal? As a result, the proposal was rejected. After all, the old woman got the school job on the recommendation of a Congress minister. Congressmen have left the state. The old woman is still a Congressman in heart and soul. Leftists are now in power. Why would their senators accept it? Leftists have come to power only to sanitize the education sector by washing away all the tricks of the Congress.
There was no solution to the problem despite going from door to door. In addition, those who know or know him from work began to say secretly that he did not get tired even after working for so many years without any certificate on the recommendation of the minister. Now again the old woman has started asking for pension here and there. One day the old woman heard the word. Her husband was also a former freedom fighter. He also passed. There was only darkness in the eyes of the childless, helpless old woman. He remembered that the day he was arrested by pointing a revolver at Stanley Jackson, the chancellor of the university, inspired by the ideals of Shahid Vinay Bose, regardless of his Calcutta University certificate, but there was no darkness in his two eyes. It was just a dream! That dream is that one day the country will be independent. It's all about an era. And who remembers those things?
Immersed in despair, the hopeless old woman went to Haridwar one day to shed tears. Then one day Hrishikesh came from Haridwar. When did you go to Haridwar and when did you come to Hrishikesh?
Calcutta must have seemed like a prison to him. Both the hardships and the pride in the English prisons were much greater than in those prisons. This pride helped him to forget all the sufferings one day. But who will be here now and what is the attraction? Here you have only heaped insults and insults.
Who did he go to in Hrishikesh? Who gave him shelter? Maybe it will be seen in an ashram in the morning and in the evening with orphaned beggars, he also sat down for the greed of two grains! The responsibility of people's stomach is greater!
There is no evidence of how long he was in Hrishikesh. Who will keep the search? How many people come there every day! But yes, one day news came to the police in Hrishikesh that a desolate body had been found in a secluded place on the banks of the Amritavahini Ganga. None of the local people know him. The police went and recovered the body. The police found the body of a woman. Age approximately seventy. By the way she was wearing clothes, the police thought that the woman might be Bengali. There is no ornament on the body. A picture of the woman's face was printed in the local paper. The news of the paper came to the attention of Dr. Triguna Sen. He is then staying at Anandamoya Mother's Ashram in Kankhal. Dr. Triguna Sen called one of his students in Hrishikesh. He ran to the student to verify the authenticity of the news. Hrishikesh.
What did Triguna Sen see? The police went to the morgue and saw how a hero who was arrested one day after shooting at the convocation ceremony of the University of Calcutta in the senate hall in Chhotalat, Bengal, has safely gone to the 'land of sleep'. Who was the daughter of Benimadhav Das, known as the best teacher in the life of Bengali hero and patriot Subhash Chandra. who rejected the freedom fighter pension offered by the central government on policy grounds. However, despite many efforts, he could not collect his due pension from the government due to the thunderbolt of the law. Deprived of fair rights. Needless to say, Triguna Sen knew Veena. He met Veena on many occasions when he was VC in Jadavpur.
Virangana Veena Das! Please forgive this vile, degenerate and stupid nation like us for the injustice we committed that day by depriving you of your rightful rights.🌿
Our humble tribute on the death day..🌸
✒️ Prof. Shuvendu Majumder.
Translation: Chiranjib Bhattacharya.
