2298) Remembering my friend Anuj, La Martiniere Class of 1970-75":
" "Orion's Belt" or the "Belt of Orion", also known as the Three Kings or Three Sisters, is an asterism in the constellation Orion. It consists of the three bright stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. Looking for Orion's Belt is the easiest way to locate Orion in the night sky."
This is a memory triggered by one of my class-mates (an old Martinian) now settled in Canada who mentioned about Anuj, mentioning "who had disappeared".
The three of us - Anuj, Arun and I, all studied in Mart from 1970-1975. All three were in Lyons House and Arun and I shared the same birthday and both of us were residents of Paper Mill Colony (PMC), while Anuj was staying in a palatial house in Mahanagar.
In the final year of our education in Mart, we would often stroll to the Bund at the end of PMC and lie down on the grass looking up at the stars. We would look up at the Orion Belt and renamed the three stars in the belt after the three of us. Knowing that after College, we would be going our separate ways, we set up a code that no matter where we went, we would look up at the Belt and remember our days together. Arun went to look after his property in Gorakhpur, Anuj took over his father's LIC business and I joined the State Bank of India.
This tale is about Anuj. He was the brightest of us all.
Anuj would come over to my residence during exams and ask me to do my revisions verbally. He would listen to my revision very intently and the next day, would give the exam, without any studies and get the best marks in the subject.
One day, he came to my residence and asked me to pack a bag as we were going to Nainital. I protested at the short notice. Nevertheless, we climbed into a train headed for Kathgodam, knowing that we could muster up only about 150 rupees between the two of us. "This is your final education - living off a small budget, which will hold you in good stead throughout life" he said.
We got off the train at Kathgodam and climbed into a bus headed for Nainital. When we reached Nainital, we went to the YMCA, who allotted us two beds at a concessional rate, as we were College students. We stayed in the Hill station for 2 days.
On the way back, Anuj insisted on standing on the back ladder of the bus just like a film actor. I told him that this is taking things too far. "What happens if you fall off?" Every passenger in the bus said that this kind of travel is for the movies only ("reel life") and not to be attempted in real life and they would give him the seat of his choice in the bus. Finally, he relented and came into the bus.
By the time we reached a place called Ramnagar (near the Corbett National Park which was our next destination), we had only 29 rupees left.
We had no place to go to and shared our predicament with a tailor who gave us two cots and a meal. The tailor suggested that the Forest Ranger's jeep would come this way in the morning and the Ranger would give us a lift and take us round the Forest. He would ask the Ranger to help us out, as he knew the Ranger quite well.
After a tour of Corbett, thanks to the tailor's help, we booked our train tickets back to Delhi, where Anuj had to write the GMAT test the next day (Talk about cutting things/timing so fine). He insisted on sitting on the roof of the train "because this is how the poor people travel" - he said.
I really protested, but had no option but to follow him. So our bags and we went on top of the train. I must confess, that the train swerves and snakes and a killer breeze hits you at all times. When we arrived at a large station, a Ticket Examiner (TTE) asked us to climb down. When he saw that we were not ticketless travellers, he was perplexed -"Why were you sitting on the roof. You have valid tickets?" I replied that my friend wants to experience how a poor person survives in India, and I had to climb up in case of an emergency. We came to Delhi with 11 Rupees in hand. Thanks to Anuj, I had experienced living life on a poor man's budget.
To cut a long story short, Anuj cleared his GMAT exams with a 99 percentile and went off to study at Wharton School. Coming from a very well-off family, his father financed his studies in the USA. Something went wrong. He was a topper in his class, but his dream was to live the life of a poor person. So, he came back to India, mid-course, visited me a few times, when I tried to persuade him to go back and finish his course/studies.
One day his scooter was found at the Kukrail Forest and he went missing. His disappearance came as a great shock to all of us.
Whenever I look up at the Orion Belt I know that Alnitak is named after Anuj by us and send up a wish for him, wherever he is.
Links to some other short stories on this Blog by Rajeev Prasad:
1) Leisure Time Short Stories : Friends at the Crossroads
7) Leisure Time Short Stories : Connecting through several lifetimes: The Story of the "Panditji" (Priest) of the Hanuman Temple at Chandrasekhar Azad University, Kanpur
Rajan Trikha has commented:
ReplyDelete"Wonderfully narrated ๐"
Thanks, Trikha sahab.
DeleteNeelam Trikha has commented:
ReplyDelete"Good memories."
Thank you, Neelamji.
DeleteAshok Borate has commented:
ReplyDelete"เคชुเคฐाเคจी เคฏाเคฆें."
Thank you, Ashokji.
DeleteGanesh Tiwari has commented:
ReplyDelete"Jindgi k safar me gujar jate hai jo makn wo fir nhi aate.... Thats what I felt after reading your narration of this memory ๐น๐น๐"
I still don't know what happened to him, Tiwariji. We searched for quite some time, but then gave up. But the Orion belt reminds me of him every time.
DeleteGanesh Tiwari has further commented:
Delete"Very true ๐"
Jayashree Mukherjee has commented:
ReplyDelete"Very interesting and touching. You really had great adventures. Enjoyed reading .๐❣"
Thank you so much, Boudi. That was another time and another age when we were young.
Deleteเค เคจुเคฐाเค เคฎिเคถ्เคฐ nas commented:
ReplyDelete"I remember there was a rumour in the market that Anand margis were kidnapping people in age group of 16-21. I lost my first uncle in 1969. We cud never locate him. Thereafter my father was extra conscious and his orderly would come to my college St Francis (LKO) to drop me home."
Thanks for sharing this experience, Anurag.
DeleteMasood Rizvi has commented:
ReplyDelete"Anuj is no longer with us, he committed suicide. I do not remember which year it was, I was visiting Lucknow and happened to pass by Anuj's home, I decided to go in and meet up with him. I rang the door bell and a lady answered the door, she told me that she was his sister in law and requested me to wait. She then called me inside saying that her husband (Anuj's older brother) wanted to meet me.
His brother started asking me questions as to when I met Anuj last and when I saw him last. I told him that I was working overseas and that I had not met Anuj for a very long time.
He asked me if I have watched the TV recently and I told me I had not, then he told me that Anuj was missing for the last few days and that the family had put out a missing persons advertisement in the TV.
Later on I found out that Anuj had committed suicide and his body was retrieved from the Gomti river. Many years later, I was visiting the house of Jasjit for a courtesy call and his father confirmed the tragedy.
Anuj was a great guy, a very nice class mate and friend. RIP Anuj!"
This is really shocking news, Masood. I am still trying to come to terms with it. I don't know why, but something was pressing me urgently to write about him for the past few weeks. Perhaps, he wanted his story to be told. Thanks for updating me on Anuj.
DeleteRajat Gupta has commented:
ReplyDelete"What a beautiful story!"
Thanks, Rajat.
DeleteAjoy David has commented:
ReplyDelete"Was this ISC of 1975? I was that batch. Very poignant account. May Anuj be a star in that night sky, you guys used to gaze at. God bless."
We were ISC Class of 1974, Ajoy. We all left in 1975 when we were studying in Intermediate. In a previous comment by our class-mate Masood, I learnt that Anuj is no longer with us now. This was a very shocking bit of news for me. Now I know that he is the brightest star in the Orion belt.
DeleteVimal Dikshit has commented:
ReplyDelete"เค เคชเคจे เคฎिเคค्เคฐ เคी เคฏाเคฆ เคเคฐ เคเคธเคे เคธाเคฅ เคฌिเคคाเค เคเค เคธเคฎเคฏ เคो เคฌเคนुเคค เคนी เคญाเคตเคจाเคค्เคฎเค เคเคฐ เคฐुเคिเคเคฐ เคฐुเคช เคธे เคฆเคฐ्เคถाเคฏा เคนै। เค เคจुเค เค เคเคฐ เคเคธ เคฆुเคจिเคฏा เคฎें เคจเคนीं เคนै เคคो เคเคถ्เคตเคฐ เคเคธเคी เคเคค्เคฎा เคो เคฎोเค्เคท เคเคตं เคถांเคคि เคช्เคฐเคฆाเคจ เคเคฐें ๐ ๐"
Anuj has left this world, Vimal. He has gone to a happier place. I learnt only yesterday from our class-mate Masood about this, when he commented on this post. Nevertheless, the three stars of the Orion belt will always indicate his constant presence to me and remind me of our friendship.
DeleteDennis Ksing has commented:
ReplyDelete"A touching tale told well, Rajeev! May your friend Anuj find rest he must have been seeking."
Thank you sir.
Delete