47 Rupees

Written by Ashutosh Deb
Leadership Open Elective taught by Jibrael Jos
Nov 2018 at Christ University

The amount of Rs 47 was really close to my paternal grandfather’s heart as it was his first salary. My Dadu (grandfather), Shree Kanak Ranjan Deb, was born on 12^th January, 1929 in Sylhet District, Bangladesh. He had two siblings and was the youngest amongst the three. His father was a zamindaar back in Sylhet and owned a good amount of agricultural land. In 1948, when my Dadu was 19 years old his father suddenly passed away due to a heart attack, this left my Dadu and his family members in a shock. At this point of time my Dadu had shifted to India and was working as an apprentice in a Tea garden in Assam.

                       He came to India in 1946, and worked as an apprentice in a Tea garden in Assam. He worked there for some years and in 1951 he got recruited as a soldier in the Indian Army in Agartala. He was then sent to Bangalore for training and was later posted in Leh-Ladakh. He was a part of some major wars which the Indian Army fought. They were as follows:-

1962- Sino-Indian War

1965- Indo-Pakistani War

1972- Indo-Pakistani War.

         In the meanwhile, he got married to my grandmother in 1961 and was posted in Deolali, Maharashtra. They had three children, my two aunts and my dad, my dad being the youngest. They had to move from places to places as my Dadu had transfers. In 1979 he took a voluntary retirement as an honorary Captain in the Indian Army, and later joined another project in Ranchi, Jharkhand, which was an initiative by the Indian govt.  to provide employment to the ex-servicemen of the Indian Army. He worked there till 1991 and then shifted to Siliguri, West Bengal with his whole family. He got settled there and opened the first Xerox shop of that locality and continued that business for some time.

      He always used to tell me stories about how his army life was and his first salary being just Rs 47. He left his smoking habits for his children as he loved them immensely, and he never touched a cigarette again. He wanted all his children to be highly educated and made them complete their Masters. He also loved his mother a lot and took care of her till her last breath. He really enjoyed quarrelling with my grandma. My grandparents were married for 57 years together. They faced all their hardships together and always stayed on each other’s side.

               My Dadu was someone who supported me always and gave me his blessings whenever I met him in person or was on phone. His grandchildren’s achievements were his pride. He passed away on 13^th February, 2019 after being bed ridden in a hospital for some days. He was 90 years old and his sudden demise left everyone in shock in the family. I met him for the last time in December,2018 while my winter vacations were going on and we went for a family picnic at that time. For me it’s still difficult to believe that I won’t get to meet him again but somewhere in my mind I know that he’s always got my back and will take pride in whatever I achieve in my life.