Chapter 3: The Lady Professor
For the first few days after Nil’s return to Calcutta, his head remained jammed with the novel situation he had been forced into by circumstances, the hill people, the Lama, the mysterious curse of goddess Kali and above all the Lepcha girl Doma. Her tearful morose countenance at the time of his departure came to the surface of his mind but he restrained his thought by remembering the exhortations of the goddess about the divinity of the girl in his last dream at the hills.
Soon his mind got diverted to his research works at the institute of the Bengali industrialist and exporter Mr. Rajib Mitra. The institute was situated at the third floor of a multi storied building called ‘Mitra Mansion’ at the junction of Camac Street and Park Street. The entry of Mr. Mitra in the educational business had been very recent. He at first started a management institute offering MBA courses and thereafter only a year ago started this research institute. This was an innovative idea of Mr. Mitra. The reception counter was at the ground floor of the building, and at the first and second floors management classes were held and the other floors above the third accommodated offices for his other businesses. Nil was working in this research institute ever since its inception one year ago. After completion of his Masters degree in economics he had at first joined as a lecturer at a degree college at Calcutta. He resigned as he could not accommodate himself with the nonacademic and unethical atmosphere there. Most of the teachers did not take classes and used to earn money by private coaching, the administration and governing body were under the influence of the ruling political party and were associated with various corrupt practices. Resigning from the college he took up the job of a free lance journalist and soon made a good name. He had no brothers and sisters and his father, a bank officer, was yet to retire from job. So he had no family obligations and the earning from journalism was enough to carry on his livelihood. In the meantime he completed his doctorate degree on industrial economics and his guide introduced him to Mr. Mitra who proposed Nil the idea of his research institute and Nil readily agreed and the institute started with Nil and later on many other research scholars joined it.
The researchers under the institute used to conduct surveys, individually or in groups over investment potential for foreign investors in various fields in India and reports were prepared on the basis of the surveys. These were sold in the international information market for foreign investment. Some times, the state governments or the Government of India bought these reports to decide upon the areas of foreign investment.
Nil had already collected, before his hill trekking, materials based on investment potential in the arena of mining in the districts of Bankura of West Bengal. He had made exhaustive surveys in this regard and consulted libraries on rules, regulations and official procedures in India for the investors. Now he had to arrange these materials in an orderly fashion and prepare the final report.
Nil soon got absorbed in this arduous task and everything pertaining to the hill people and his accidental involvement with their problem was relegated to the back chamber of his memory. After preparing the initial draft of the article, he informed the institute that he would submit his complete report by a week or thereabouts. Now he had to do some computer work and so he went to the institute and directed the computer operator to insert the data, he had collected and written neatly on sheets of paper, in the statistical software. He told that he would come again the next day to complete the processing job (tables, charts, statistical analysis etc.) from the inserted data.
He never liked to use the lift, especially, while going downstairs. So he started climbing down the stairs being absorbed in the plan of the article and he took a start as soon as he approached the second floor as he heard a female voice calling him, ‘hello Mr. Roy, you’re here!’
Nil looked up and was astonished to find Mrs. Rita Sen walking towards him. As she came close by Nil replied promptly, ‘I work here in a research project and has come today to process some data for my next research article. But I too ask you how you happened to be here.’
‘Oh you don’t know, I had resigned the college job a few months after your resignation and joined this management institute.’
‘Which subject do you teach here?’
‘Business Logistics.’
‘But I think it was not in B. Com. Courses at college.’
‘You’re right. But I also taught at IGNOU (Indira Gandhi Open University) center of the college and I was requested to teach this new subject at M.Com. Courses as nobody else was willing to teach the subject. In course of teaching the subject I have gathered much knowledge on it and I’m now capable of teaching this new subject at this institute.’
She paused for a while and then continued, ‘as far as I know the research unit has been created only a year ago and I think you’ve joined it very recently.’
‘No I’ve joined it from its very inception.’
Mrs. Sen squinted and said, ‘surprise, you’ve been working here for one year and our paths did not cross!’
‘In fact my works are mainly outdoor job and I come here only to submit my article or for computer work while data processing becomes necessary. But now our paths have crossed.’ Nil laughed aloud and Rita joined him.
‘That’s my good luck. But we should better go to the canteen and talk over coffee, of course, if you can afford time’, she proposed.
Nil laughed and said, ‘oh sure. I’ve plenty of time to while away now.’
They walked leisurely downstairs to the canteen which was congested now with gossiping office staff and only a few seats at the far end were vacant. They moved on to the corner and took two chairs.
‘Check up the menu and select the item of your preference’, Rita forwarded the menu to Nil.
‘My stomach is full as I’ve already taken heavy food from a restaurant. So infusion without sugar would be enough for me. You may however take whatever you like and I won’t mind.’ Nil returned the menu to her.
She called the waiter and ordered one omelet and two cups of coffee and continued conversation.
She would be now around thirty two, at least three years older than Nil, but in her tight fitted orange sari sporting the navel and the heavy bums bulging out of the slim waistline, the red low-cut blouse displaying the sharp cleavage below the neckline, eyelashes trimmed neatly, hair closely fitted into a chignon and with her shining eyes and sharp nose she looked barely twenty five. Nil had heard she had no children even after five years of marriage. She also was not going on well with her husband but it was beyond courtesy to show curiosity about her personal life. She initiated the conversation after coffee was served.
‘Do you know I queried about you after you had resigned abruptly but no body in the college could tell anything about your whereabouts and the reason for your resignation. I called you at your land phone and learnt from your mother that you had been abroad. Where had you been, USA?’
Nil laughed aloud and said, ’oh that’s a lie. In fact I had been at Patna at first and thereafter here in this city and instructed my parents to mislead everyone calling me so that no body could disturb me.’
‘My god, what a crazy boy you are! Why did you resign so abruptly?’
‘Because I didn’t like the unethical milieu there.’
‘You’re really very serious and rigid about your principles and that’s why I like you so much. A young man of your age used to wear such a grave countenance at college that you were nicknamed jethu (elder brother of father).’
She started giggling like a teenager and Nil could not help joining her laughter.
‘Anyway, what did you do after your resignation before you joined this job here?’
‘After resigning from the college I took up free lance journalism and still doing it. I also started my Ph. D work and was awarded the degree just before I joined here.’
Rita almost leapt up in excitement and shook hands with Nil and said ecstatically, ‘what a news, you’re now Dr. Roy.’
‘Better call me simply Nil. It is more pleasant to me.’
‘You’re a naughty boy and it would be pleasant to me if you too call me Rita instead of Mrs. Sen. I’ve forgotten to tell you that I got my divorce last year and I demanded no alimony. The separation was by mutual consent.’
Nil was not at all interested in her personal matters and to divert the topic he asked, ‘do you get good students here?’
‘Yes, most of them are brilliant and very serious. I’m to study much to meet their queries and also I’ve to prepare the study material that takes a lot of my time but I feel very satisfied. You must agree that at that college there was very little to teach as most of the students did not attend classes and relied more on private couching than lessons at college classes. We could have forgotten our subjects if stayed there for a longer time.’
‘I fully agree with you and that’s the main reason of my resignation’, Nil said seriously.
‘You now look very fresh but still grave like a jethu’, Rita started giggling and gesticulating awkwardly, the end of her sari dropped to reveal distinctly the vast cleavage below the neckline. Nil looked aside to avoid embarrassment but joined her laughter saying, ‘does my laughter substantiate your view about me?’
Still giggling she said, ‘I was just teasing you.’
‘Then you’re a dangerous lady.’
‘If you think so. Anyway, I have an important class now, and I’d miss your lively company. Here’s my card and call me please at my mobile number given in the card and inform me when you come to this office the next time.’
She left in an ecstatic mood and Nil felt relieved that he had not told her that he would come here the next day. He moved on to the Park Street and lighted a cigarette from a footpath stall. He was really amazed at her coquetry and remembered that at college many colleagues used to joke about her fascination for him. Her behavior today could be explained in many ways. This could be simply as game or real fascination for him. Whatever it was, it must be a temptation and he would have to guard himself against such temptations. He remembered the caution of the goddess in the dream and thought he would have to avoid meeting her the next day.
He tossed her card into the dust bin and moved to the railings at the corner of the footpath and started watching the vast moving line of vehicles along the Park Street. He took a start and turned his head by instinct as a hand fell on his shoulder from behind and he was elated beyond measure to find his college friend Shyamal Banerjee standing with a smiling face right behind him. Both of them got ecstatic and hugged each other warmly.
Shyamal was looking intently at the face of Nil which embarrassed Nil and he asked ‘why do you look at me like that?’
Shyamal burst into laughter and said, ‘you’re now grown up my friend. You were so shy about girls at college and always felt nervous before them and now you were so much engrossed in gossip with a hot lady.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’d been in the canteen and you failed to notice me and me too did not like to disturb you. How did you hook up this voluptuous lady?’
‘You are utterly mistaken my friend. There’s nothing between us. She used to work with me in the same college from where I resigned about five years back and I came upon her after a long time.’
‘Sorry, but her looks indicated that she has deep fascination for you. What a luck! I’m also acquainted with this lady and she always wears a grave look. For the first time I noticed her in jovial mood. So, my friend go ahead and my congratulations for you.’
Nil slapped Shyamal on the back and said, ‘do you know she is much older than me?’
‘So what? She still looks like a young girl and frighteningly hot and horny and above all she’s a divorcee and loves you.’
‘Go on saying whatever you like. I cannot restrain your tongue. But I think you have much fascination for her. Why don’t you have a try?’
‘Do you think I’ve not but all in vain. She would never be informal with me and now I understand the reason. She was waiting for her lost love and now she has got you. Hang on my lucky friend.’
‘Let her and her love go to hell, I’ve other things to do than being the plaything of a spoilt lady.’
‘My friend, don’t be so harsh with her. I bet she loves you and she’s not a spoilt lady. I’ve never seen her flirting with anybody.’
‘You better live with your imagination and let us talk some different topic. What are you doing now?’
‘I’m the chief of the sales department of a Punjabi firm dealing in agricultural commodities.’
‘At college you had the ambition of being an IPS (Indian Police Service) officer.’
‘I changed my ideas later on to discover the abject condition of the high ranking police officers in India. They are simply the servants of the ruling political parties. Now there’s very little bossism here in my firm and I find the sales job a challenging and innovative one. Tell me now about your college job and how you happened to be here with this research department of Mr. Mitra.’
Nil informed Shyamal at length about his college job, his resignation, journalist’s profession, securing doctorate degree and the connection that had brought him to this firm.
They moved into a restaurant and talked on their nostalgic college life. They exchanged their mobile numbers and parted company with the assurance that they would keep in touch. Before departure Shyamal again reminded him to maintain the relation with Rita and Nil angrily remarked, ‘don’t utter her name before me anymore.’
Shyamal set his car on gear and remarked after starting the car, ‘okay my friend I would no longer poke my nose into your personal matters if you don’t like.’
Nil started walking along the footpath to get to the metro railway station and he felt that Shyamal was right that Rita had deep fascination for him. Many incidents at college came alive from his memory. But he should be careful now. He too was feeling some attraction for her and he would have to overcome this temptation. This might be the first difficult test of the goddess. Suddenly his mind drifted on to Doma and further back to Mili and her invitation to bed. He had at first given way to temptation but could eventually dissociate himself from Mili. He was now confident to overcome temptation from both Rita and Doma. It would not be difficult to avoid Rita but Doma who would accompany him in the mission might be a difficult hurdle. Nil prayed to goddess Kali for strength of mind to overcome all temptations from the females.
Returning to his house he called Mr. Mitra and requested him not to disclose his address and contact numbers to anybody else as a safeguard against commercial espionage by other firms. But the real reason was to avoid contact with Rita. He along with his parents had recently shifted from their rented house at Dum Dum to a house bought at Barahnagar. None except Mr. Mitra and the sub-editor of a daily were informed of this change of address.
He went to bed early and fell fast asleep. His sleep broke at midnight and he felt amazed to think of the series of unexpected incidents in quick succession – the hill people and his intended mission to rescue them, the hill girl Doma and sudden encounter with Rita and Shyamal. He fell asleep again and dreamt of Rita kissing him madly that incited his passion and led to eventual rhythmic union and in course of the upheaval her face got transformed into Doma’s and then again to Mili’s. Then the scene changed all of a sudden and he discovered himself falling down a fathomless dark pit and his sleep broke. He was embarrassed to the moist sensation between his legs. The falling in the dark pit too had significance – in his dream he had surrendered to temptation that led to his fall into darkness. The erotic dream was for sure his repressed longings, Nil thought and was very much perturbed.
Next day he went to the office in the afternoon and went upstairs by the lift and asked the computer operator to upload the data in his pen drive so that he might do the processing job at his own computer. He got down by the lift and left the office immediately. He took a bus for central Calcutta and there in a Kali te
mple he prayed for a long time for power to overcome the temptations.