A Gift That Runs

A gift is always the most precious thing to give to somebody we love or are important in our lives. It might be small or big in size but contains some kind of emotion from the giver. Whenever we look upon those gifts after years also, it feels like just yesterday’s story. Gifts are really precious. Let’s meet Mr. Subhasish Banerjee. He is a very simple man and having a simple lifestyle also. He is working in a government organization as a financial analyst. He used to reach office on time, without wasting a single minute he starts his work and by the effective working of 9 hrs, he left to his house where his lovely wife Suporna waits for him. It was followed by dinner and some TV programs and early sleep. This is a typical day out of Mr. Subhasish's life. Suporna is a teacher and still trying for some foreign opportunities in teaching.

The life of Mr. Subhasish might be a simple one but he is having a utopian dream of becoming the owner of a farmhouse surrounded by a big circle of coconut trees, followed by a flowing river, a big fishing rod, and a tree where he can comfortably sit and catch fishes. He always thinks for that life even for a day also, an admirable dream but life and work never allowed him for doing so.

Today is his 50th birthday and he is very much happy. Generally, he won't have that much excitement on his birthdays because he doesn’t like noise and all. But this time it was arranged by his wife Suporna with surprise arrangements. So, it is a typical birthday party surrounded by family and friends and ends up with a good note including old day songs and games.

               

Party has over and it was 11:30 in the night and Mr. Subhasish was still sitting in the hall along with Mrs. Suporna. They were waiting for the skype call of his son from Ireland where he is perusing his higher education. The time was more peaceful and silent enough for them to discuss their old memories and they were doing the same. Actually, I have noticed that it really seems very much silent after any kind of party anywhere. They were also feeling the same thing.

“Subho, do you remember Moumita?” Mrs. Suporna asked by looking at Mr. Subhasish.

“Moumita… Are you talking about Moumita Das?” He replied with a bit of confusion in his voice.

“No, I am talking about Moumita Sarkar, 1988 batch of Tapan sir of Accountancy...” She answered.

“Okkkk, I got it. Moumita Sarkar, that fat girl...”He said by encircling his face.

 “Oh shut up, you still haven't changed. How could you say that? Body shaming is a very bad habit.” She said by shouting at Mr. Shubhasish.

 “Sorry, I don’t mean so. Actually, in school days, we used to call her that only, that’s why I said. But what happened to her?” He replied.

 “Nothing! Actually, after a long time, I spoke to her. She sent me a friend request on a social site. We exchanged our numbers and talked over the phone."

“Oh great! What about her?” Mr. Subhasish said with an exciting voice.

“She is good and living in Bangalore along with her husband and 2 daughters.” She answered.

“Oh great! Actually I was totally out of touch from everybody, post highschool. So it was really golden luck of my life that I found you once again after 5 years…” He said with a curious smile on his face

“Oh really! You feel you are the luckiest or just trying to flirt at this age?” She said with a real smile in her glowing eyes.

“I feel lucky but don’t know about Mrs. Banerjee’s views about me and one more thing, I can flirt because I don’t think that still, I am old. I will be young forever.” He replied with a naughty smile helped by his eyes and the juicy, fruity discussion continued between them.

They talked to their son over a video call and were just unwrapping some gifts. In the meanwhile, Mr. Subhasish unwrapped a very unique gift and it was a big shock for him. Actually the scenario was really shocking. That night Mr. Shubhasis had just unwrapped a very unique gift. It was an old model limited edition Mont Blank pen. He can’t even imagine that gift. His mind had stuck and he was speechless to say anything because he was in a big dilemma to being happy getting his old favorite pen or expressing discontent for undervaluing his gift by many persons.

 “Oh my God!!!!!!!! How could ???” Mr. Banerjee said by holding his head in shock.

“What happened?” Mrs. Banerjee surprisingly asked.

 “Mont blanc Meister stuck No.138, it is a limited edition fountain pen made in West Germany because in those days Germany was called West Germany due to the great wall of Berlin. This pen was gifted to me by my dad who was a pen lover and this was his favorite pen which a German boss had gifted to him due to the best hospitality on his visit to India office. He loved it very much but gifted me as a reward for my marks in 10th standard. I got proud of myself after getting this pen and kept it safer than diamonds. But during the time of farewell, I wanted to gift something very special to Tapan sir but at that time, I didn’t have enough money to buy a special gift. So, with a broken heart, I gifted this pen to Tapan sir with a golden wrap.” He explained a big story in short.

“Are you serious? How could you be so confident that this is the same pen you have gifted to Tapan sir? Because it may be possible that this is a different pen from the same brand.” Mrs. Banerjee asked a very valid question.

“My princess, it is the same pen which I had gifted to Tapan sir because it is a limited edition pen and every limited edition pen has a unique code number. This pen is also having the same. Look at the side of the clip of this pen. There is No. 138 written in German embossing. This number is the same. I still remember that number because dad was very particular about these things and he always used to remind me about that precious pen. Because that German boss has chosen him only from all the employees of that time.” He explained again.

“Oh my god! I still can’t believe because it is almost 32 years since our farewell party of school. How is it possible?” She said with more wonder.

“Yeah! It is strange but true...” He replied with a relaxed voice.

“If it is the same pen then I will say that you did a big mistake at that time by gifting this pen because it was the gift of dad to you and this pen matters a lot to him.” She said.

“You are right it was my fault in gifting this to him who has not valued this and given it to someone else. I am fortunate enough to get it back to me.” He said in a commanding voice.

“The same thing can apply to you also. You have also not valued a precious gift from your dad. So, it is not a matter of just giving value or not but a person’s responsibly towards a gift. You know it is our habit to just check and keep a gift away if it has less use for us. But we always forget that after all, it is a gift and a gift is always a gift, so we should value it.” She said with a simple and real voice.

“You are correct. I must take care of the best gift of dad…”Mr. Banerjee said with a soft and emotional voice and continuously looked at the gift for a minute.

“What happened Subho? It’s ok…” Mrs. Suporna just tried to console him.           

        

“I am ok, actually just the smiling face of dad was revolving in front of my eyes after looking at this pen.” Mr. Subhasish couldn’t control his emotions and unconditional love towards his father.

“It’s ok and don’t worry, he will be fine wherever he is….and must be happy to see you finding back the pen again.” Mrs. Suporna said again.

“Hope so…” Mr. Subhasish said by nodding his head positively.

“Yes definitely…”Mrs. Suporna said in his support.

“Hey one thing, let me read the name of the person who has given this…” Mr. Subhasish said and started searching for the wrapping paper as well as the name tag. Finally, he found it and it was his sister-in-law Bornali Shaha.

“Who is the person?” Mrs. Suporna asked curiously.

“Bornali... “ He answered. “Hey, could you ask her on some other way and get to know the source from where she got the same.” He asked Mrs. Suporna for spying on her sister.

“This will be over, you finally got it, that is all, and so what is the reason for doing so. What really matters, from where she purchased or she got?” She said genuinely.

“No-no, it was not my intension. Actually I am curious to know the chain from where it just roamed away to me. Please!” He said emotionally and she didn’t have more options rather than helping him.

The next morning was Saturday weekend so they were more relaxed for going to Bornali’s home. So the very next day, Mrs. Suporna went away on her spying role. Initially, she hesitated but after a few hours, she also became curious enough to know the source. Anyways, she reached to go to Bornali’s home and the discussion started. All the fussy discussions related to the party, food, life, new gym, diet chart, new release movies of Bengali cinema, etc. were on the peak because it was a typical Bengali discussion. In the meanwhile, Mrs. Suporna very smartly threw the topic of the birthday gift. She started praising her for the gift and tried to know the source. But Bornali was trying to avoid the matter. In the meanwhile, her 12 years old son was playing near to them and accidentally he told the source who was Mr. Raman, Bornali’s husband’s friend. He had gifted it on the occasion of their anniversary last year.

Suporna had cracked the 1st link, now it was time for the next. Here also the role of Suporna was important. She found Mr. Raman Poddar on social site and sent him a friend request. She got the benefit of being a female and got a response within the earliest time. Raman had accepted her friend request. So, without wasting more time, Suporna met him and revealed the previous source from him. Actually Raman had received the gift from one of his doctor-friend Dr. Guha who used to sit at his own clinic in Kolkata. Actually Raman is a property agent and he helped Dr. Guha in buying a new flat near Esplanade. So, he had gifted him as a courtesy.

The next step was on. Both Mr. and Mrs. Banerjee went away to Dr. Guha’s clinic next weekend. He was a popular doctor in his area, so there were usually more patients at his clinic. But anyway, they met him and told all the story. Initially, he laughed a lot but again felt the same guilt as Mr. Banerjee felt that night. It was revealed that one of the regular clients of Dr. Guha presented him as a new year gift for the sake of discounting on his full body checkup and medical report for office use.

They were fortunate that day as the same patient had already arrived for a normal checkup at his clinic. Dr. Guha was supportive of them and he helped them as well. He asked that patient to his cabin and introduced him with them. After knowing all the story, he told about the previous source and that was his boss Dipendu Sanyal who gifted him for his over-achievement of sales targets of a financial year.

Actually, Dipendu Sanyal was AVP of a famous retail firm in Kolkata. So, this time Mr. Subhasish tried his luck and took a chance to meet him. He met with him at a cafeteria as a finance-planner and offered the services of his firm in equity research and finance planning. Simultaneously he took the topic of the pen on board. Dipendu had denied the topic and tried to avoid him. Mr. Shubhasish said about his emotional attachments towards his father and was ready to go away. Finally, Dipendu changed his mind and decided to help him.

Dipendu got it from one of his very special friends on the eve of Valentine’s day, almost 10 years back, when he was in Mumbai and into MBA final semester. The story of Mr. Subhasish was really very fine tuned and artfully crafted. Dipendu too promised him to help him as he also generated a curiosity to know the origin. He inquired about the things at his level and got in touch with his college friends after a long time. At last, the main source came out. Although she was not in the country and settled down with her family in California. But she responded on Dipendu’s request.

Actually her name was Supriya Das, daughter of Late Mr. Tapan Das. She was the daughter of Mr. Tapan, the famous accounting teacher of Mr. and Mrs. Banerjee. So, finally after almost 32 years, the pen finally roamed back to Mr. Subhasis Banerjee who was the 2nd and original owner of the pen.

Mr. Subhasish became happy to get the same pen once again as well as knowing about all the previous owners of the pen. He kept the pen with more care and learnt a good lesson in life. He also decided the fact that he will never give away his gifts to others whether it might be of any kind or any value.

Actually it is not the story of only Mr. Subhasish or Dr. Guha or Mr. Dipendu but it is for us. It is a simple fact revealing the infinite value of a gift. These days, we treat gifting others just as a formality and give things as per the situation. I think we all must be aware of the painful story of a shonpapdi during festivals, one poor packet of shonpapdi just roam away with different owners or families but nobody dares to open the box and try it’s taste. Everybody just kept it to gifting others.

Actually a gift is not just a formality but it contains a pool of emotion as well as the unconditional love of another person. If you do not have that kind of feeling or love, then it is better for not gifting to others for the sake of just formality. A gift always remains a gift.