Chapter 4: jurithewriter has started writing her story.

The floods took away our Palasbari houses twice. I remember my dad telling us this fact. The first time it was before my paternal grandfather Rajat Chandra Kalita (Sotal Mohajan) died. The second must have been after his death because none of my father’s Mirza anecdotes included my grandfather.

When the floods were wolfing away the homes, entire families watched from a safe distance and wailed at the loss of their safe haven. A home is where we all feel safe, secure and protected. I understand this emotion better now as I am at a similar crossroad. Before this it was just another wondrous story. That safe place was gone. I never thought to ask my father about what they did to cope and how did they manage as evacuees till their next home was built or how did they even build new homes.

The home on the one bigha Mirza plot was a design archetypal of the fifties’. There was a central rectangular courtyard with single level Assam type chambers lining the rectangle. When I started having glitches in my life, the frustration of being stuck in an Abhimanyu’s Chakravyu led me to the study of the alternative sciences of astrology, numerology, Vaastu and Fengshui. As I started spending more and more time with my father after he had advanced dementia in his Mirza home, I found out that the originally erected Assam type house was as per Vaastu norms. I was amazed.

The old structure is no longer there. It has been replaced by four concrete houses by the 4 sons of my grandmother Soneswari Kalita. My memories and what I was told by my parents is muddled, don’t know which is a memory and which is an anecdote. Being the first child of the oldest male sibling made me special. The disappointment of begetting a girl child was soon forgotten. My four Khuras, paternal uncles and one Pehi, father’s sister adored the first and only baby in the family after many years.

Tori khura was my dad’s youngest brother. Aita, my grandmother, had told me that she had tried to use hing, asafetida as an abortifacient as she didn’t want another child so late in her life. She already had 7 children. Tori khura was mentally disabled, Aita regretted that the hing made him so. Dad told me that he had typhoid meningitis. That could also be a reason.

Tori khura loved drumsticks (Moringa pods, sojona in Assamese). He was very popular in the village community. Any visitor to our home would be guided instantly without confusion if the person was asked directions to Tori’s house.  He had a lot of friends and was welcome wherever he went. The ladies would give him drumsticks from their sojona trees and he would take the entire bunch to my mother and tell her ‘de de randhi de’, ‘hurry up and cook these’. He adored my mother and my mother loved him like a child.

Tori khura once got a Bajaj scooter in a lottery, he was lucky that way. He sold the scooter and bought a cycle. He then sold the cycle and bought a live chicken. And then got it cooked and ate it. My mum told me this story in 2012 when she predicted that my driver Jatin would do a similar thing when he sold his Nano car to buy a motorbike. I scoffed at her. Of course, I was wrong.

Tori khura died of TB in 1988 or 89 when I was in the 2^nd or 3^rd year of my MBBS course. My father rushed from Pune for his death ceremony and wept like a baby. It surprised me. The surprise at strong bonds was because as a child one is unable to fathom that parents too had their individual families once.

Reference for Abhimanyus Chakravyuh (for those who don't know about it:  http://mahabharata-research.com/military%20academy/the%20mysterious%20chakravyuha.html