âCan you help me locate somebody from Durgapur?â asked Surojit – my friend from Atlanta.
This was about 3 years or so back.
âWho is it?â
âWell, his name is Bappi.â
âHow do you know him?â
âHe used to play the keyboards with us when we sang.â
A few minutes later, I had sorted it out. Surojit and his (now) wife Apala went to RE College (now NIT) Durgapur. Both of them were into music. Apala sang. So did Surojit – and played the tabla. And they still do. Bappi was somebody who lived in REC campus and was an excellent keyboard player. Bappiâs father was a REC staff member. Bappi himself is my age – which means much older to Surojit and Apala.
âHe was a great player and an even greater person. But I have lost all contacts with him. I thought since you are from Durgapur and know so many people, you might be able to track him downâ.
âWell, I will tryâ
My initial attempts came a cropper. And then in one of my India trips, I met Indranil Sengupta. And discussed this hitherto unknown person to me – Bappi. By the time I was on my flight back, I had a phone number from Indranil.
I did not pass it on to Surojit immediately. I needed to make sure I had the right person.
So, from a transit airport (I forget which one it was), I called up that number.
âAre you Bappi?â
âWho is this?â
âYou will not know me. I am a friend of an old friend of yours – Surojitâ
âWhich Surojit?â. That is an understandable question since Surojit is not an exactly uncommon name in Bengal.
âWell, this is going to be tricky. But let me try. You play the keyboards, right?â
âYesâ
âWell, you played with Surojit and Apala. They used to study in REC.â
âOh! Apala-Surojit? Where are they?â
âAtlanta, USâ
âWhere are you?â
âAlso Atlantaâ
âAre you calling from Atlanta?â
âNo, I am on my way back from India. But I will pass on your number to Surojit – so he can call you directly.â
And that is how I was able to put the two (well, three) old friends together.
And started a new friendship myself. I kept up with Bappi from that day. He went thru a fairly lean time during Covid – work wise and health wise – and we stayed in touch. I always promised to make some time for him during my trips and finally, I was able to do so this time.
It was great to know about his life history. His successes, his rough patches and then his bounce backs.
But the greatest surprise was yet to come. I was talking about his family and then the topic of his wife came upâŚ
âIs your wife from Durgapur too?â
âNo. Monimala is from Burdwan.â
âWhere in Burdwan?â
âDebipurâ
âOh! Not Burdwan city. Burdwan District.â
âYesâ
âGram Debipurâ?
âYesâ
âWhich para?â
âHuh?â
âWhich house?â
â I do not know how to exactly locate itâ
âCan I talk to your wife?â
âŚ
âMonimala? This is Rajibâ
âOh! Bappi has told me about youâ
âAre you from Debipur?â
âYesâ
âWhich houseâ
âKundu bariâ
âWait, Kundu bari? Where is that?â
âNear Buro Shib talaâ
That took me a few moments to remember exactly where that was.
âHmmm, that is near the school, right?â
âYesâ
âDo you know the Panjas?â
âSure. Nobokumarâ
âYes. And Tarapada?â
âYesâ
âHe is my grandmotherâs brotherâ
âReally?â
âYes. Do you know Pnachu Royâs house?â
âYes. They are in the other paraâ
âYes. Do you know the two huts next to his house?â
âYesâ
âThat was our house. One hut was my uncleâs and the other one my dadâs. I was born in the smaller hut myselfâ
You can only imagine the excitement! I am fairly sure – given the age group – I must have seen Monimala in one of the two Durga Pujas in the village when we visited every year. There were not too many places for young kids to hang around in a small village. Just never knew that I would be talking to her some 40-50 years later.
It did not end there.
âSo, how did you come to Durgapur? Thru marriage?â
âNo, my dad moved us to Durgapurâ. That sounded just like what had happened to me.
âWhere did you live?â
âRahimpathâ
âWhere in Rahimpath?â
âQuarter number 10/10â
âHmm⌠two streets over, my uncle used to live. I used to go there 3â4 times a week. It was 14/28â
âWhat was his name?â
âPrasanta Panâ
âDola Panâs dad?â
âYES!! Dola is my cousinâ
âAnd she was my classmate. We went to school together. I used to go to her house too!!â¨â
Wow! What is the chance of that? Looks like I must have met her in Durgapur too!!
That is one great sequence of intersection points. And it all started with somebody looking to create his own intersection point!!!
Next time, I have to meet Bappiâs whole family. I am sure there are some great stories from Debipur and Rahimpath we can go over.