Kunal Roy
We all need teachers in our life. We all need a strong supportive pillar to ensure a smooth existence. But unfortunately everyone doesn’t get a proper guidance in his or her life to shape himself or herself. In fact fortunate are those individuals who have come in touch with a proper role model to teach them the ethics and morality of this life. Will show the path leading to an appropriate destination, no matter whether it is rock strewn or smooth like a velvet carpet! Will enlighten your soul with the nuggets of wisdom. Will be with you at every moment of disparity and invest heart and soul to free you from such codes of disparity and dejection. To be very precise, his or her contribution to your progress and development are not less than your biological parents!
I consider myself to be a lucky chap, something my father used to say to inspire me in the darkest hours of my life! And at this very moment when I turn back, I really cannot stop myself from being nostalgic. More than three decades ago I was introduced to an individual by my father and who still plays a pivotal role in my life. I seek her priceless advice even on the small things of life. She is none other than Miss Banasree Banerjee, fondly called aunty by me. She taught Vernacular in the school where I studied and nourished myself for a longish span of fourteen years! I began to take private tuition from her at a very early age. I was merely ten years old when I met her personally and was taught for a span of eight years! The memory is still as fresh as the first dewdrop touching the edge of a green leaf! Years have rolled by but nothing unusual has been in our bond so far! With the passage of time this bond has strengthened beyond all conventional epithets. Moreover, she is strict, disciplined, punctual, unbiased, logical and does all her work in the way it should be. But it still doesn’t affect me. It rather enables to focus on the strong points instead of brooding on the banality all the time!
A whole hearted confession! Whatever I know today of my mother tongue is because of her. The skills which I have acquired over the ages are become of this humble lady. Every single moment of mine, whether joyous or sorrowful reminds me of her golden words and advice. Today I have crossed the threshold of forty and she is sixty three and retired from her job. But the positive vibrations have not left her nor her zeal has taken a backseat. Relationship matters a lot to me, but not everyone is my cup of choice. I love and respect those individuals who have the adequate tolerance to understand me, to value my thoughts and ideas. It does not matter how many people are there in your life, but ‘life’ ought to be there in the individuals of your life! It is apt to quote WB Yeats, “Prolonged sacrifice hardens the soul” (EASTER 1916), an axiom she taught me years before when my soul was a bit matured to absorb the hardest facts of life!!
– Kunal Roy