'Pets' nowadays...

I read somewhere – Falling in love may be instinctive, but maintaining it needs hard work and understanding, compassion, and compromise. Love, after all, is a decision. It is not something that appears out of the blue as something wonderful. To maintain love, you need to respect. Another great saying – excess of anything is bad. Having said these two things, I now proceed to telling the actual story.

I had gone to the barber yesterday for a hair-cut. As my hair was being trimmed, a customer, an elderly man entered the shop. He was probably the barber’s acquaintance, and from what they were speaking, I could make out that it was the marriage of the man’s son, and somebody from a girl’s family would be visiting their house in the evening.

Below, I have tried to reproduce the conversation as it was spoken between the two.

[The customer enters the shop]

Barber: Ki dada, ki khobor?

Customer: Ei chole jachche... Tomake je dekhte bolechhilam, to tar kichhu holo?

Barber: Hnya, ekjon achhe. Mamra te thake. Meye ekta kon college e lecturer na ki ekta. Lok bhalo ora. Ora bolechhe je sosur bari jodi bole, tahole meye chakri chhere deete raji achhe.

Customer:  Dakho, amra kusti fusti mani na. Aajkaal ei science er joog e jodi kusti mani tahole er theke lojjar aar kichhu hoy na. Aar o sob bis pochis hajar takar chakri amader lagbe na. Bis pochis hajar takar jonno chakri korte hobe na. Amar chhele je chakri kore tate 10 ta lok ‘POOSTE’ pare.

Barber: Hahahaha... apnar chhele ja chakri kore, tate 10 ta lok to durer byapar, 10 ta family ‘POOSTE’ pare. Ki bolen?

Customer: Hmmm... Ami je taka te shesh korechhi, tar double kamaay amar chhele ekhon; aar ekhon to or sobe suru. Osob bis pochis hajar takar chakri amader lagbe na...

Barber: Apni koto te shesh korechhen?

Customer: Ami jokhon shesh korechhi, tokhon ami 51 hajar petam... Aar amar chheler to ei sobe suru.

I could make out from the conversation that the son is just another money making machine, probably an MBA, whose father has bloated egos about his son’s salary and education in science, and has not an inkling about how hard it is to look after a family with the current salaries given the increasing cost of living everywhere in this country, and had at some point of time in his life kept a “PET” in the form of a wife, and expects the son to do the same. The fellow also probably does not know that astrology, even if some part of it may not be acceptable, is also a science. (I also do not believe too much in astrology, but I also cannot disregard it as totally bogus. There are many people who believe in it, and they are far far more educated than I am! It is all about respect.)

I also understood one more thing. These people have never seen so much money in their lives. They feel that they can buy the world with 1 lakh rupees per month, which is ridiculous. This money is excessive for them, and this has made them look down upon other humans. From the way the man was speaking it seemed as if his son was the CEO of some multimillion dollar company – trust me!

So readers, what do you say now? Is it not so abvious why the so called ‘high profile’ and white collared job holding people generally do not have peaceful and happy families? Is it not so obvious why there are so many divorces nowadays? If parents speak like this, then it is nothing so strange that their children are becoming all the more ill-behaved everyday and treating their fellow human beings just like animals – parents speak ‘tutor rekhechhi’ (I kept a tutor for my child), as if the teacher is some animal. The day is not far when they will say ‘bari te ekta bou rekhechhi’ ( I have kept a wife at home) just like they say ‘bari te ekta Alsatian/Doberman rekhechhi’ (I have kept an Alsatian/Doberman at home).

(Speaking of how ill-behaved children have become, I relate another incident here in short even though this may be a bit out of the topic. I was travelling in the metro rail one fine day, and I saw two boys of about 14 years of age come and stand in front of me. Suddenly an elderly lady came running, snatched the sunglasses the one of the boys was wearing inside the train, and started shouting at him. From what she said to the boy, I understood that there had been a fight between the two over a seat, and the boy had told the lady aged almost 50 ‘Shut up’. Unthinkable, right! Yes, of course – at least in our times. And in our parents’ times, it would send a chill down the spine of a child to do such a thing.)

Now coming back to the topic, one last question – will any girl want to be a pet, or a mere commodity to be used to do all the hard work in the day and give pleasure in the bed at night?

[P.S. - I will be thankful from the core of my heart if someone can please do an English translation of the conversation for me that will give the same feeling as the Bengali or the Hindi one. It will be published in the comments. I did not find the right words for a proper translation.]