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Laughing Buddha
#TheWritingProject
© Bikramjit Sen
Not too far from one of the state highways in Howrah, there was a villa belonging to none other than the affluent Ghoshdostidars. Everyone living nearby knew their name, fame, wealth, and power. There was no simplicity in their house. Everything was lavish, and so was the lifestyle of the members of that family. In their villa, one can find most sorts of material comforts. We observed several servants working the whole day and even into the night. Whether it was times of monsoons, summers, or winters, the servants could not take leave except on Sundays or when severely ill, genuinely. The condition of drivers working in the family was even worse. They had to work even on Sundays. They had to work hard until they were genuinely bedridden because of severe illness. Being severely ill and that too, with no facade, was the only way for the drivers to get an escape, an off-day from service. When any servant fell ill, a dear friend of the head of the family, the family physician, was called immediately to look into the genuineness of the matter. If the grounds were serious, then only they could rest. It would never work out if the cases were otherwise. The family physician was a trusted one. He would never lie for anything.
There was an aquarium in the villa. They appointed many servants to look after that only. The Ghoshdostidars neither celebrated any festivals nor believed in providing holidays to their servants for these occasions. According to them, all these holidays were unnecessary. They thought of festive holidays as an excuse to skip the working days. So, the family did not appreciate these leaves. For them, only Sundays were genuinely a must-grant rest day, a once-a-week holiday, but that too, not for drivers.
Activities of some sort were on in the villa twenty-four hours a day. It was a residence filled with highly intellectual minds. And more gathered from the outside late in the evenings, paying visits almost regularly. The young children of the joint family of the Ghoshdostidars were tutored at home every morning from nine to twelve.
As goes the well-known proverb in Great Britain, "the empire on which the sun never sets," similarly, light never goes off totally in the Ghoshdostidar Villa. Even past midnight, we can find light in some portions of the villa. Intellectual meetings and late-night discussions with guests were a part of the daily life of the Ghoshdostidars.
And usually, some curious elderly would not sleep till four in the morning to gain more and more knowledge on different topics by reading a lot of informative and mind-boggling stuff. They had retired from office work and had set their biological clocks to nocturnal. Benjamin Franklin said in Poor Richard's Almanack early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. However, here it was N/A.
It is a well-proven fact that except for the Almighty God, a man cannot know about everything, cannot comprehend anything and everything simply by trying to gain more and more knowledge regarding various things. Hence, trying to become God in one life will always be an effort invested in vain. Even learned and wise men like the great Athenian philosopher Aristotle could not gather enough to become one.
Everything was going on as usual in the Ghoshdostidar Villa. One fine morning, the unfortunate news of the tragic death of a distant relative arrived. Some of the family felt that they should leave to reach the intended place in time where the final rites of the one who passed away were to take place. The remaining ones gave it some thought. However, they decided against it and mourned the death in the villa only.
On that day, everything seemed in disarray without a doubt. It was raining heavily outside. The school-going members had not paid a visit to their respective schools. The elderly scolded them for missing a school day. But they still insisted on taking a leave. Somehow, they absented themselves from school that day. And then this news came. Preparations for the ones planning to leave were going on in full swing. The children tutored at home from nine to twelve took advantage of the situation and were not paying attention to the...
© Bikramjit Sen
Not too far from one of the state highways in Howrah, there was a villa belonging to none other than the affluent Ghoshdostidars. Everyone living nearby knew their name, fame, wealth, and power. There was no simplicity in their house. Everything was lavish, and so was the lifestyle of the members of that family. In their villa, one can find most sorts of material comforts. We observed several servants working the whole day and even into the night. Whether it was times of monsoons, summers, or winters, the servants could not take leave except on Sundays or when severely ill, genuinely. The condition of drivers working in the family was even worse. They had to work even on Sundays. They had to work hard until they were genuinely bedridden because of severe illness. Being severely ill and that too, with no facade, was the only way for the drivers to get an escape, an off-day from service. When any servant fell ill, a dear friend of the head of the family, the family physician, was called immediately to look into the genuineness of the matter. If the grounds were serious, then only they could rest. It would never work out if the cases were otherwise. The family physician was a trusted one. He would never lie for anything.
There was an aquarium in the villa. They appointed many servants to look after that only. The Ghoshdostidars neither celebrated any festivals nor believed in providing holidays to their servants for these occasions. According to them, all these holidays were unnecessary. They thought of festive holidays as an excuse to skip the working days. So, the family did not appreciate these leaves. For them, only Sundays were genuinely a must-grant rest day, a once-a-week holiday, but that too, not for drivers.
Activities of some sort were on in the villa twenty-four hours a day. It was a residence filled with highly intellectual minds. And more gathered from the outside late in the evenings, paying visits almost regularly. The young children of the joint family of the Ghoshdostidars were tutored at home every morning from nine to twelve.
As goes the well-known proverb in Great Britain, "the empire on which the sun never sets," similarly, light never goes off totally in the Ghoshdostidar Villa. Even past midnight, we can find light in some portions of the villa. Intellectual meetings and late-night discussions with guests were a part of the daily life of the Ghoshdostidars.
And usually, some curious elderly would not sleep till four in the morning to gain more and more knowledge on different topics by reading a lot of informative and mind-boggling stuff. They had retired from office work and had set their biological clocks to nocturnal. Benjamin Franklin said in Poor Richard's Almanack early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. However, here it was N/A.
It is a well-proven fact that except for the Almighty God, a man cannot know about everything, cannot comprehend anything and everything simply by trying to gain more and more knowledge regarding various things. Hence, trying to become God in one life will always be an effort invested in vain. Even learned and wise men like the great Athenian philosopher Aristotle could not gather enough to become one.
Everything was going on as usual in the Ghoshdostidar Villa. One fine morning, the unfortunate news of the tragic death of a distant relative arrived. Some of the family felt that they should leave to reach the intended place in time where the final rites of the one who passed away were to take place. The remaining ones gave it some thought. However, they decided against it and mourned the death in the villa only.
On that day, everything seemed in disarray without a doubt. It was raining heavily outside. The school-going members had not paid a visit to their respective schools. The elderly scolded them for missing a school day. But they still insisted on taking a leave. Somehow, they absented themselves from school that day. And then this news came. Preparations for the ones planning to leave were going on in full swing. The children tutored at home from nine to twelve took advantage of the situation and were not paying attention to the...
