FADING AWAY: The Greatest Love Story Of Our Times.

By K. Kumar Bhattacharyya

K. Kumar Bhattacharyya.
Situated below the majestic eastern Himalayas, India's North East has the dubious distinction of being home to the highest number of insurgent organizations in the world. Like much of India till lately, insurgency and violence had dominated the social life of India's North East and its fun loving people. Then things started changing, insurgency started disappearing and development and peace started taking its place. In Fading Away Mr Bhattacharyya tells the story of North East India's common people's struggle with insurgency and violence through his life like characters. Besides his realistic portrayal of 'misguided youths', Mr Bhattacharyya also captures the beauty and glory of North East India and the eastern Himalayas as it is something he knows so well.
Fading Away is centred around Rhon Bhagwati and his friend, Dhruva Choudhuri, and their involvement in insurgency which ultimately ruins their lives and career. Later Rhon's wife, Priya, and then Dhruva, meets violent deaths. After this Rhon starts distancing himself from his insurgent past. In this he is helped by his childhood love, Laura Brown. In Fading Away the problems of 'misguided youths', some of whom came to be branded as 'insurgents' and 'terrorists', is closely examined. Innocent young lives gets completely ruined by momentary and chance involvement with insurgency and terror. Like Mr Bhattacharyya's other novels Fading Away is also about friendship among young people and inherent loneliness of man. Set in the background of Rhon's and his insurgent companions life on the run among the majestic eastern Himalayas, and the love between Laura and Rhon, which, is destined to end in tragedy. Through the fortunes of the Brown family the day to day life of the English people, who chose to stay back in India after independence, is realistically portrayed. The unfulfilled aspirations and the lonely lives of the members of the Brown family all adds to the catharsis in which Fading Away ends in. In Fading Away, Mr Bhattacharyya may have written one of the greatest love stories of our times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pencil
• Release date: Apr 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9789356103405

Book preview

FADING AWAY K. Kumar Bhattacharyya

CHAPTER ONE

I still remember the Shillong I grew up in. In those days there were not as many people in Shillong as today. Shillong used to be a small town during those days and the outskirts were still full of trees. You could hear the boom of the wind blowing among those trees right from the centre of Shillong. There were pine trees or some other trees in front of every house and in every nook and corner of Shillong. The smell of pines and conifers was everywhere. The people were generally simple. They still had that love for the simple things of life that made life pleasant and worthwhile. One thing that I could remember was that most people in Shillong had a great love for flowers. Almost everyone who owned a house used to have a little garden in front of their house. And in these gardens there used to be usually a lot of flowers blooming any time of the year. Another thing that I remember was that in those days people in Shillong had the habit of visiting each other just for a little talk or to ask after one another. During those days there was no established public transport system in Shillong. The only means of transport was the taxi. Anybody who could not afford a taxi had to walk long distances. During those days life was not easy and everybody worked hard. There was very little complaining. Most people were simple and stood by each other in times of trouble. The artificial silky talk that you find now-a-days was not there. People said what they thought and not what they thought would please the listeners.

My father worked as an officer in an Union Government office. We used to live in a gabled house at Laban. We did not have a car excepting the car and the driver the Union Government allotted to my father to carry him up and down from his office. My mother spent most of her time doing household chores and in bringing up us children, me and my sister.

My sister, Diya, was older than me by a couple of years. So she started going to school earlier. She went to a school which had both boys and girls in it. Later I was also sent to this school. I remained in this school until I was twelve or thirteen. As I was too young then I did not remember much of that school. But I did remember that it had a big green gate and that there were almost as many girl pupils in it as there were boys. The school had a small playground. But it was too small for any serious games like football or cricket. With the absence of any facilities to play all we pupils could do during the break was to walk or run around this small playground. Or just stand and talk with each other.

Naturally I was not happy in this school. I used to envy some of my friends who went to schools that had big playgrounds and had facilities to play not only football and cricket but also basketball, volley-ball and even badminton. Later when I was old enough to complain I began to pester my parents to get me admitted in one of those schools which had big playgrounds. After I had pestered them for almost a year my labour bore fruit and my parents relented. They promised me to put me into a school of my liking at the beginning of the next year.

Accordingly, in January of the next year, my mother took me for admission interviews to two three schools in Shillong that had big playgrounds. After appearing in the first couple of interviews, in each of which I felt like a fish out of water, I went in for my last interview. I remember going into the Principal’s room alone one morning that January for that last interview. My mother was asked to sit outside in the veranda. The Principal was sitting alone behind a large desk. He was wearing a pair of black spectacles.

Sit down, the Principal said without looking up from a letter he was reading.

I sat on a chair in front of the Principal’s desk.

After sometime the Principal looked up and asked: You want to study in our school?

Ye…yes sir, I fumbled.

What’s your name?

Rhon Bhagwati.

Why do you want to study in our school?

Because it has a big playground.

What’s wrong with the old school?

It doesn’t have a big playground so I can’t play cricket or football.

You play cricket and football?

Yes sir.

You are ready to get admitted today?

Yes sir.

Okay, wait outside.

Thank you, sir, I said and came out to the veranda.

This was how I finally got into a school with a big playground. My classes started in the last week of February when like most schools in Shillong my new school also opened after the long winter vacation. I liked my new school better than my old school. It had a big playground with trees all around it. Now I could play cricket and football regularly. Unlike my old school my new school was only for boys.

I did not know anybody in my new school. Most of my friends I had left behind in my old school. The friends that I had outside my old school studied at other schools. The only boy I knew in my new school was Abel Brown. And I was not in talking terms with him because he was a bully. He was much older than me. He was in class twelve, the final year in school. I was in class nine.

Abel saw me right on my first day in the new school. It was during the long break. I had gone to have a look at the playground. In the playground a lot of boys were playing cricket. About seven eight different games of cricket were going on in different corners of the playground. Cricket balls were flying around everywhere. I was excited. As I walked I kept a sharp look around the playground. It was then that I heard a voice calling my name. I looked around and saw Abel at the far end of the playground. He was waving at me with a cricket bat. I looked at him but did not call back. I was not dying to talk with Abel on my first day in the new school. But I did turn and started walking towards him. Abel gave the bat in his hand to a classmate and took a few steps towards me. When both of us got close enough, he said: What are you doing here?

I study here now-a-days, I said looking up at Abel, who was much taller than me.

You got expelled from your old school! Abel mocked.

No, I didn’t get expelled.

Anyway, don’t come to the playground. You may get hurt. This is a boys’ school. Don’t think you can just walk around here like a girl as in your old school. Your old school was full of girls, wasn’t it! You are also almost a girl!

I frowned and walked away.

Hah! Hah! Hoh! Hoh! Abel laughed aloud behind me and went back to where he was playing.

I avoided going anywhere near Abel for the next few days. Fortunately the place where my class played cricket was at another corner of the playground from where Abel’s class played.

Abel’s father, Mr George Brown, was my father’s friend. Mr Brown used to come to our house sometimes to talk with my father. Sometimes in the evenings my father and Mr Brown would open a bottle of whisky and pour out pegs for themselves and talk until they finished the bottle. At times it would get late. At these times the more pegs of whisky they downed the louder their voices got until there would be no more whisky to drink. Then Mr Brown would suddenly get up and go away.

Another thing that I remember about Mr Brown was sometimes he would bring with him for my mother small packets of tea. While giving the packets to my mother he would often say with a laugh: These are from the garden.

My mother had once explained to me that Mr Brown was born in England and had settled in Shillong to look after the tea garden he owned down in the Assam Valley.

At times on rare occasions during his visits to our house, Mr Brown would bring along his son, Abel, with him. This was how I came to know Abel. Whenever he would come Abel would seek me out from wherever in the house I would be hiding. Then he would bully and torment me out of my wits. He would pull my hair, pinch my bottom or box my ear or nose until I screamed or cried. Whenever I screamed or cried he would laugh loudly. Once he put a fly into my nose and I sneezed and coughed until the fly flew out of my nose. Another time he stuck chewing gum into my hair. Later my mother and Diya had to cut a portion of my hair just to get the chewing gum off my hair.

Now that he and I studied in the same school, Abel never missed an opportunity to bully me. Of course I did everything I possibly could to avoid him. But even then in spite of all, we would run into each other once in a while. At such times Abel never missed a chance to pinch or box me.

That October when our school opened after the puja vacations, all the High School boys were taken to a picnic. In our school there were three divisions – the Preparatory Division which consisted of the Nursery and the Kindergarten classes, the Junior Division consisting of classes one to seven. The classes of the Preparatory Division started at 9.00AM and ended at 12.00 Noon. The classes of the Junior Division started at 7.15 AM and ended at 12.15P.M. The third division in which my class came in was the High School Division which consisted of the classes eight to twelve. The High School classes started at 9.30AM and ended at 3.15PM.

This picnic which we were taken from school was to a pleasant meadow by a fresh water stream. We were taken early in the morning by buses from school. Besides we boys, there were five or six school teachers who accompanied us. Each bus of course had its driver and handyman. After travelling for a couple of hours through winding roads up and down the hills we got to this stream. The exact location which we chose for the picnic was in an area from which we could see the falls from which the stream originated. The falls I remember was a lively one. From the place where we were we could hear the roar of the falls. We could see the white sparkling water of the falls rushing down and falling into the stream and the foaming water flowing rapidly down the stream towards us.

Everybody knows what a school boy’s picnic was and I will not describe here the whole picnic. Moreover I did not remember all those small details after all these years. But I remember the incident that happened after lunch. We had got to the picnic spot a little after eleven. We boys were called for the picnic lunch at two. Later in the afternoon after we had our lunch I along with a few of my classmates went to have a look at the falls. We went nearer and nearer to the falls until we were right below it. It was thrilling to stand there below the falls. The sound of the falls and the foaming water excited me so much that I got down into the stream immediately below the falls. There the stream was not deep and there were huge boulders and stones lying around in the water. After getting down among the boulders and stones I looked up at the spectacular sight of the falls roaring down above me. The foaming water, splashing and flowing around me must have excited me. I stood there for some time momentarily forgetting where I stood. Then I slipped and stumbled on a stone and fell into the roaring water. The current was so strong that it pulled me along with it. By the time I realized what was happening I was already carried some distance down the stream. It was only then that I began screaming. My classmates heard me scream. They looked at me with fright and began to scream also. Then I saw somebody jumping into the water at the point where I was struggling. I had managed to get a hold with my hand on a boulder jutting out of the water and stop myself from being carried further down the stream along with the powerful current. The boulder on which I had managed to get a hold was sharp and slippery and my hands were hurting. Meanwhile the roaring water kept striking against me, threatening every moment to take me along with it. Then suddenly out of the foaming water a face appeared. A face I knew. It was Abel Brown. He gave me a hand. I took it and he pulled me out of the current to the side of the stream where the current was not strong. From there I stumbled safely to the bank of the stream with Abel beside me. The classmates who had come with me were waiting for us at the bank. They took us back to the picnic spot where all the others were. However no one said anything about this incident to any of the teachers who had come to the picnic with us. Later, I quietly went to the bus where my bag was. I took out a towel from the bag and wiped myself dry. Then I changed my clothes.

Meanwhile, everybody was busy winding up the picnic. Soon everything was packed and put back into the buses. Then all the boys and teachers got into the buses. Soon we were on our way back just as evening was setting in.

The next day in school I made an effort to talk to Abel. I wanted to thank him for rescuing me. But Abel did not give me a chance. He was back to his bullying ways the moment he saw me. As if the incident below the falls the day before never happened. Initially I made an effort to overlook his bullying. But the moment I opened my mouth to thank him it seemed to charge Abel up. He boxed me right in the mouth before I could say anything. I was struck dumb and I fled. My relation with Abel remained icy.

In December, the final examination came around and I appeared for my class nine finals. Abel appeared for his class twelve finals. Later in March, Abel appeared for his Higher Secondary Examination. After the result of his Higher Secondary Examination was declared, Abel left for England to pursue his future education. I never met Abel again.

CHAPTER TWO

THAT year after the result of my class nine final examinations were out my parents got rather worried. Especially my father. I did not fail in the finals of class nine. Nor was my class nine final result any different from my previous results. I barely passed and got through to class ten. It was always like that with me. I never did very well in any of my examinations. This time my father was more worried than usual because now I was in class ten, the final year before the High School Leaving Examination. My parents wanted me to do well in the High School Leaving Examination in which I would appear after I finished class ten. They said that it was very important for my career to do well in my High School Leaving Examination. Besides my father wanted me to speak and write English fluently and correctly. He thought this would help me later in my career. And when he said this to Mr Brown, Mr Brown had said that if one had to learn the English language it was always better to learn it straight from someone who is English. Then Mr Brown suggested that I start attending private tuition of English under an English lady called Miss Goldsmith. Abel had attended Miss Goldsmith’s tuition for some years before he left for England. Mr Brown also said that his daughter, Laura, had also started attending Miss Goldsmith’s tuition recently after Abel left for England. I had not met Laura till then. But I knew that Mr Brown had two children. Abel and Laura. Abel was some years older than Laura.

So that summer, when my school opened after the summer vacation, I started taking private English classes at Miss Goldsmith’s. Before that my father had arranged everything with Miss Goldsmith over the phone.

It was on a pleasant afternoon in early August that I went for the first time to Miss Goldsmith’s. It was on a Monday. Earlier that afternoon, after I got back from school, my mother gave me a piece of paper on which she had jotted down Miss Goldsmith’s address. Later during afternoon tea my mother said the usual things that she said every day that I had to be serious in my studies otherwise I would not be able to get ahead in life and things generally on that line. My mother also said that I must get to Miss Goldsmith’s before five as my private class starts at five. I looked at the piece of paper my mother had given and found that Miss Goldsmith’s address was in the residential area behind the Shillong Golf Course. I frowned and went to my room and got ready to go to Miss Goldsmith’s. Later I picked up my English school books and walked to the Laban taxi-stand. At the stand I got into a shared taxi going to Polo. Later I got down at the Polo taxi-stand and walked up the road for a few minutes until I got to the Shillong Golf Course. At the golf course the road splits into two – one going through the trees by the front of the golf course while the other went to the residential area behind the golf course. I took the latter. When I got to the residential area behind the golf course the piece of paper my mother had given me guided me to the bungalow where Miss Goldsmith lived. Miss Goldsmith’s bungalow was a spacious one with three gables on the roof. It had a little garden in the front. I went in through the garden to the front door. I could not locate the calling-bell and knocked on the front door. The door was opened by a lady with auburn hair some of which were beginning to go grey. She wore a pair of spectacles, which had round lenses on a dark metallic frame.

Is this Miss Goldsmith’s place? I asked.

Yes, I’m Miss Goldsmith.

I’m Rhon Bhagwati. My father sends me to study here.

Oh yes, your father phoned. Come in! Miss Goldsmith said opening the door wider.

I went in through the door into a large room with a large table in the middle with chairs around it. Some general books and English exercise books were lying around the table. At one of the corners of the room was a pair of sofas with a little table in between them. Behind one of the sofas a door opened into the rest of the bungalow.

Miss Goldsmith pointed to one of the chairs round the large table and said, Sit there.

I uneasily sat on the chair Miss Goldsmith had pointed to.

You are in class ten?

Yes Madam.

Your father said over the phone that he wants me to teach you English. Will you be able to come on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between five and seven in the evening?

Yes Madam.

Do you know Laura?

Abel’s younger sister?

Unfortunately yes, Miss Goldsmith said reddening on hearing Abel’s name.

I haven’t met her. But Mr Brown told me about her the other day. Of course Abel and I were in the same school. I knew Abel very well before he went away.

I tried to teach Abel English for two years. But he was determined not to learn anything. I’m sure he didn’t learn anything I tried to teach. Thank God he’s gone now. But his sister is different. She’s a quiet sincere girl. She took Abel’s place here in my little place after he went away to England. By the way, were you and Abel great friends in school! Will you have that same contempt that Abel had for everything that I tried to teach him.

I and Abel were not exactly friends. Though he did save me from drowning down in the falls once.

Abel may have saved you from drowning but you surely can’t carry yourself around here in the way Abel used to. I endured Abel only because his poor dead mother was my friend. And I didn’t want to hurt Mr Brown. By the way Mr Brown did mention your name the last time he came around to drop Laura here.

Mr Brown’s my father’s friend.

Since both of you are familiar with each other I have asked you to come at the same time as Laura. I hope it suits both of you.

Is Laura coming today?

She was supposed to, but she called over the phone and said she won’t as she has a cold. She promised to come on Wednesday though.

Madam, if you meet Abel will you thank him for me for saving my life.

Haven’t you done that already?

No Madam, I never got a chance to thank him.

You better thank him yourself when you meet him next time. Keep me out of this, will you! Miss Goldsmith snapped in a way which almost frightened me.

All this time Miss Goldsmith had been standing near the head of the large table but now she came to where I sat and picked up from the table the English text books that I had brought with me.

Let me have a look at the books you have brought with you, Miss Goldsmith said sitting down on the chair at the head of the table with my books.

Miss Goldsmith turned the pages of my English text books for some time. Later she closed my books and pushed them towards me.

You can go now. I’m letting you go early today as it’s the first day. Wednesday we’ll start in earnest and you’ll have to stay till seven, Miss Goldsmith said.

I got up from the chair and put my books into my bag. Then I said good-bye to Miss Goldsmith and came out of the bungalow. Outside, I walked to the Polo taxi-stand and got into a shared taxi going to the Laban taxi-stand.

Next Wednesday evening when I got to Miss Goldsmith’s place I found a little girl seated on one of the chairs round the large table. The girl had golden hair and a pale white face. She was writing something on an exercise book with a pencil. Near the girl Miss Goldsmith was sitting on the chair at the head of the table. An open text book was lying on the table before Miss Goldsmith.

So you are here at last, Miss Goldsmith said on seeing me and pointed to the chair opposite to the one the girl was sitting on and said: Sit there.

The girl looked up at me and then looked down at her exercise book again.

I sat on the chair.

This is Laura, Mr Brown’s daughter, Miss Goldsmith said.

The girl looked up from her exercise book again and smiled.

I and Abel were in the same school before Abel went away, I said looking at the girl.

Today we shall do poetry, Miss Goldsmith said.

I opened my English poetry text book. A few moments later Miss Goldsmith took the English poetry book and began to turn its pages. After a few minutes she stopped at a poem which was in my school course and said: Write the substance of this poem.

I took the English poetry text book from Miss Goldsmith. Miss Goldsmith turned her attention to Laura. I opened my exercise book and started writing the substance of the poem Miss Goldsmith had asked me to.

Later in the evening after we finished our lessons Miss Goldsmith gave us leave and Laura and I came out of the house to the veranda. Outside, the car had not come to pick Laura up. So she and I waited near the gate and talked.

Abel’s your brother? I asked.

Yes, Laura said.

Where is he now?

He’s studying in London?

Will you help me in a little thing, Laura?

What?

When you meet Abel, will you thank him for me for saving my life.

Abel saved your life!

Yes, he once saved me from drowning down in the falls when we were in school together.

Oh! Okay I’ll tell him – thank you – for you. But I don’t know your name. How’ll I tell Abel, who you are?

My name is Rhon, Rhon Bhagwati.

Oh, father was telling me about you the other day, Laura said.

My father and Mr Brown are great friends…, I said when I saw a small hooded jeep stopping in front of the gate.

Come Laura! an elderly man in a dark coat called after getting down from the jeep.

Mr Raina has come. Good-bye, Laura said and got into the jeep along with the elderly man.

The jeep drove away.

That evening as I travelled home on a shared taxi my mind went back to the elderly man who had come to take Laura home. The elderly man seemed familiar. I had seen him once or twice at my house talking with my father along with Mr Brown.

A few months after I had started going to Miss Goldsmith’s private classes, one day, Laura invited me to her home for lunch. The invitation was for her birthday. Laura did not tell me that during that time. I found that out later. I had never been to Laura’s home before. From my parents I knew that Mr Brown had a tea garden down in the plains of Assam Valley. Whether he owned that garden or was merely looking after it I was not certain at that time. Mr Raghuvir Raina helped Mr Brown to look after the garden. Mr Brown and Mr Raina were very close and trusted each other very much. I remember that both Mr Brown and Mr Raina used to present our family small packets of tea from the garden. Though my parents were close with Mr Brown, I knew very little about the Brown family. The only things I knew for certain were that Laura’s mother was dead and Mr Brown had not remarried. And that both Mr Brown and Mrs Brown were born in England of English parents. Of how and why they came and lived on in Shillong I did not know. The only other thing I knew was that Mr Brown lived along with Laura at a place called Windy Heights in the outskirts of Upper Shillong.

The day of Laura’s invitation was a holiday. So school was closed. On that foggy wintry morning in December I took a shared taxi from the Laban taxi-stand. I got down from the shared taxi at Rilbhong as the taxi did not go to Upper Shillong. At Rilbhong I got on another shared taxi going to Cherrapunji. We travelled through the winding tree lined road to Cherrapunji and Sohra Bazar for some miles.  I got down from the taxi on the outskirts of Upper Shillong just before we got to that ancient village of Mylliem. The place I got down at was a residential area and I walked around the neighbourhood for some time asking for directions to Windy Heights. I was directed to a place some distance away in the direction of Mylliem to a place where there were not many other houses around. By the time I finally got to the gates of Windy Heights the fog was beginning to clear up. The sun was shining signaling a glorious day ahead though a thin cover of fog still hung around in patches among the trees. I entered the gates of Windy Heights. The place was open and windy. There were lots of trees around the grounds of Windy Heights.

A wind was blowing that morning and one could hear the wind whistling among the trees. And one could see the trees dancing in the wind and the dry leaves blowing about even as they fell. I walked by the stone path through the trees to the sprawling gabled house in the distance. On the way I met a mali. He was cutting the leaves of a plant in the garden in front of the house. I asked the mali about Laura and Mr Brown. The mali asked me to wait in the veranda and went into the house by the back yard.

A little later Laura came out of the house by the front door into the veranda. She was smartly dressed in a white frock and a blue coat with shining brass buttons. She smiled and took me into the hall of the house by the front door. In the hall were some other boys and girls of our age. All of them were talking loudly with each other. Some of them were seated on the sofas and chairs while the rest were standing around and talking. Among these boys and girls I met one Khasi girl who said she also took private English classes from Miss Goldsmith. Laura told us that Mr Brown was out but would be back in the afternoon.

Sometime later Laura took all of us out to the grounds of Windy Heights. Outside, the