I was annoyed.Very very annoyed.

Just like any other middle class man, I feel annoyed when I see injustice to me,though hardly anything I can do about it.Again like a typical middle class man,the annoyance comes from the fact that I am always kept in larch.I always suffer unlike super rich,very rich , rich.,poor and very poor.The Rich just don’t bother as they have always a better alternative and the Poor don’t care,as they have nothing to loose further.

Whenever I saw her and her children squatting on the platform of this suburban railway station platform of Titagarh,I felt aweful.I felt as if my rights to use the platform as a genuine ticket paying,Tax paying honest commuter, are being infringed upon.A right to use the platform peacefully with cleanliness.But these dirty,beggar type people will not allow us to enjoy that.It has become their home-a place to eat,cook,sleep and even to attend their nature’s call.How I wished the authorities or police evicting these people,but it never happened.

That day I could not just keep it to myself.One of the child was vomiting on the platform while the other was casually urinating.Their mother was nonchalantly gossiping with another woman,while chewing pan.A tall ,dark,thin and ugly woman.I said loudly to Pandey,the Panwala,who had a stall in the platform-Oh!God,these people are really a nuisense.Why she is allowed to stay here on the platform?The authorities are blind or what?These people are making the whole place dirty and the stench is overbearing.These people should be asked to leave this place.

Old Pandey smiled with a lot of sympathy.He said-Babuji,these are very poor people,they have no where to go.

I said-But that does not mean that they will make this public place their home and they will make it dirty at their will.Sometimes I have seen lepers visiting them .It is a great health risk for us,the Daily Commuters.

Pandey smiled again.He said-Babu,do you know about this woman?I nodded in negative.What is the purpose of  knowing about her-I mused in myself.

Pandey continued-Babu,her name is Batashi.She is a farmer’s daughter and used to live in Gosaba area of Sundarban.Her father got her married at 18.Though her father is not rich but they were not very poor either.Since she had another three sisters,her father could not wait but got her married.Her husband was a Vegetable Seller in Canning Market.He was also not rich but earning enough to make end’s meet.He also had a number of mouth to feed including his old parents.Inspite of all difficulties,Batashi and Haren[her husband] were happy.They used see movies and eat in cheap hotels in Canning Market,once in a month.A shopping in monthly  Haat ,was a great pleasure.Then came the first child-a son.Their happiness became limitless.Then the second one-a girl.

All was going as usual-Pandey gave a pause.

I was now interested.Luckily the train was announced late.The platform was full of people.I asked-then ?

Pandey said ruefully-Then the fate striked.He was having some small lump with woozing pus in one of the finger of his  right  toe . Initially it was ignored.It started spreading to all the fingers.When the doctor was shown,It was detected as  a leprosy.It was the begining of a hell.The family member’s started avoiding,The relatives started avoiding,The neighbours started shunning them.He was not allowed to sell vegetables in the market, thus lost his livelihood.The disease was spreading meantime as there was no money to show a Doctor.There was hunger and hungry mouths to feed.And they had been abandoned by immediate society.

I  felt a knot inside.It was difficult to listen as well.Pandey continued as he was serving pan etc. to his customers-The survival was at stake, Babuji,when like  god send, one social worker informed them about the Gandhi Ashram for lepers in this Titagarh,near this Station.Batashi then came and admitted her husband in the Ashram.But there was one problem,They do not allow the family members to stay  inside the Ashram, if they are not suffering from leprosy.Since then she stays here in the platform with her children,to be near her husband.When the authorities learned her story,they also allowed her to stay.Her husband visits them   sometimes ,whenever he is allowed to come out.Babuji,she may be a begger but she has never  abandoned her leper husband, even in the face of  all adversities.

I had a lump in my throat.Yes,it is we ,so called civilised people, generally abandon others to protect our selfish interests. How a small time Panwala  showed a mirror to me !

And,through my blurred vision,I could only see the Train, approaching fast.

[ I WROTE THIS STORY LONG BACK , DURING MY UNIVERSITY DAYS, WHILE PARTICIPATING IN INTRA UNIVERSITY STORY WRITING COMPETITION IN BENGALI. I STOOD FIRST ON THE BASIS OF AN  OPINION OF A PANEL OF EMINENT BENGALI WRITERS. NOW REPRODUCED IN ENGLISH WITH SOME MODIFICATIONS]