MEMOIRES OF ANOTHER DAY - XX -Arun Rou Mukherjee

XX : It was raining that evening. Mejomama’s friend Tukuni Da and Jaban Dadu were the centre of attraction and all others were literally gulping down the words coming from their mouths. The story that came out was that of a villager residing at Belakoba, a village on the way towards Siliguri. Last night the villager came out of his hut to attend to a nature’s call. In villages there being no latrine or toilet, villagers used to go to the open field and the villager also did just that. Suddenly he saw a man, his eyes shining like electric bulbs and as tall as a coconut or date tree coming from the north and straight towards him. He was almost fainting but that tall man told him not to be afraid and said that he was Aswaththama, son of Dronacharyya, now living in the Himalayas and going to Puri to attend the yearly Ratha-Jatra ceremony. The tall man, a giant indeed then left the place and vanished towards the southern horizon. Tukuni Da got the news early in the morning and immediately rushed to Belakoba accompanied by Jiban Dadu. Both of them visited the place where the villager stated to have met Awsaththama. They could not find any trace of the legendary figure but they saw with their own eyes the footprints left on the muddy soil at two places on the field. The prints were prominent and the size of the footprint from hill to toe almost covered an umbrella from its handle to the top. The discussion that evening centered on that story.