The Sailor Man - Part 2.

(Dedicated to my father Captain. Ajoy K. Chatterjee --29th November 1955 to 16th March 2011)

So it’s been over a year since I wrote The Sailor Man – Part 1, a memoir dedicated to my father. As I was going through the last part of my voyage with the sailor man I realised how much I miss him in my life and what life has become for me after him. My family and my friends  ask me sometimes as to when the 2^nd part of Sailor Man would be out. To this I always stayed mum as I believed that the day it would come out would be like a gift to my father. So it’s November 29^th 2015 which according to and for me is a historic date as on this day today the Sailor man would have turned 60. There wouldn’t have been any better day for this.So the Sailor Man – My Papai was so kind hearted that he never believed in harming anyone for any reason whatsoever. My father believed in peace and harmony as I never saw him angry on anyone but there was a day I remember when he was furious and was even prepared to use violence, that day was holi. One can think as to why a man so calm and composed lost his cool in an auspicious festive day as holi. The story goes on like this that on the day of holi the children of the colony had this habit of playing colours among themselves but after getting bored used to trouble the passerby’s, so with one person the “Bura na maano Holi hain “ concept didn’t go down well and he took a brick and threatened us, to which my father who was standing far away with a few neighbours shouted out loud, hurled him with abuses and approached for a physical fight at which the man stood petrified and left peacefully. He was scared for me. I miss my hero.He never encouraged that I should be violent but I am not as great as him as I do use physical force on people sometimes when I am angry. I disappoint him in this regard as I don’t tend to forgive people as he used to. This is the reason perhaps  that I have been unable to inculcate certain aspects of life which he used to lead. There was so much to learn from him.Coming back to My Papai – the Sailor Man was a person who was very down to Earth. I still remember how excited he was when he bought his first bike which was a hero Honda Splendour+  which for our generation is  not a  so happening bike as it is the generation for Royal Enfield and other super bikes. He could have bought any of these bikes easily but for him style about such things didn’t matter much as he was himself one of the most stylish and charming personalities around. He used to roam around on his bike around the city like a free bird always wearing his black helmet and sunglasses which were very precious to him.I miss the moments he used to scold me for not wearing my helmet. I miss the moment when he bought me my first bike. I asked him to ride my bike for the first time to which he was very excited and took the bike straight to hanuman mandir to seek the blessings of the almighty. The voyage with him might  have been short but was memorable.My Papai always talked about my grandfather and how he admired him. He showed me the way he used to comb his hair. It was the way he used to tell of how my grandfather as a lawyer was which inspired me of becoming one. It would have been so nice if my father could see me pursuing the same profession as his father. He used to tell me a story often about how my grandfather instead of taking fees from a Milk vendor accepted milk and other milk products to which my grandmother was very angry. I never got a chance to be with my grandfather and also my grandmother {as I was a toddler at the time they died} but there absence was filled by my maternal grand-parents whom I loved so much. I do miss them both as they were the definition of sweetness and care for me. Whenever the sailor man was on voyage they used to take care of my mother, me and my brother. My grand-parents had immense respect and love for my father as he was like a second son to them. My father too considered them as his parents and did everything which he could in his limits to keep them happy and smiling.I as a kid was very enthusiastic for cricket and to support me with it always was my father who never stopped me or demoralised me. He even played with me and showed how good a leg spinner he was. He used to watch with me all the cricket matches and even the 2007 twenty20 world cup which India had won was a great time we had cheering for our team with my mother by our side. 4 years later when he left us , our country again won the world cup in that month only. I missed him and even cried that moment realising that we wouldn’t be celebrating again.I never was able to understand why god took him away from us. I always console myself by saying that God took him because all the good people, pure of heart stay with god and advise him on various matters for the betterment of this world.My aim in life is to do everything which my father stood for which was sheer humanity and doing well for other people. I want to make my father proud and I will. No one can stop me. I will always make my mother happy and will make her smile as my father did. I will always take care of my brother . I will be there for each and every friend of mine till the end.I miss my Sailor man. I miss my Papai. I miss that funny grin on your face. I miss the way you moved your ears without touching them. I miss the efforts you made for your friends 24X7. I miss the way you used to tackle every situation with so much patience and composure.  I miss the way you used to make fun of both of your elder sisters by irritating them like a small kid. I miss the way you cared. I miss the way you were. You are still alive in our hearts and your legacy will be there forever which will be kindness and humanity.I love you Papai and Mumma. Happy Birthday PAPAI.From

Your little blossom Poni JPRONOY CHATTERJEEP.S - ( There will be a part 3 of this amazing voyage for sure as there is so much more to tell ) 

THE SAILOR MAN (Part 1)

(Dedicated to my father Captain. Ajoy K. Chatterjee --29th November 1955 to  16th March 2011)

"Papai" a very unusual + unique way of calling my father has a interesting story behind it. My Mom used to say that my elder brother started to call him Papai as the crew of my father's ship used to ask my elder brother where is PapaJi. The little boy missed the "J" in the word and used to call him Papai. Well, this was the origin of this name according to my mother. My version of calling him Papai was a little different (maybe very different). I used to watch this cartoon "Popeye" who was a sailor man and my father was also a merchant navy officer (a sailor man :) Maybe when I was little I used to think that my father also would become extremely strong as soon as he will consume a can full of spinach but I knew that my father was still the strongest even if he didn't had the can of spinach. The appearance of my father was just like a sailor man with a fair face with a rugged beard all over his face with a tinge of greyness in his hair and eyes like a man who is full of love, happiness, mischief and care.

                         He is not with us but the words which he spoke, the teachings he tried to inculcate in me , the stories of his childhood which he used to share with me , the way he played cricket and table tennis with me , and even went out with me to watch those lousy yet hilarious Akshay kumar movies will never be forgotten.

                I still remember him telling me the story just after my birth that the nurse in the hospital of medical college came out and asked “who is with Anuradha ?” ( Anuradha ke saath kaun hain ?” ) to which my father raised his hand and the nurse in a very authoritative voice instructed my father to get some mustard oil to which my father rushed out to get the same but could not find a shop open at that time so he bought some oil from a street vendor of pakodas and jalebis. My father rushed back and gave the oil to the nurse. After a while the nurse came out with a new born baby and handed him over to my father. My father described that I looked him with twinkling eyes.

                                        So finally I was born and had the privilege to be the son of the two most amazing and loving parents and a brother of the cutest boy I have ever seen who gave me the name Poni J .

                                                        I had the best childhood which a boy could ever dream of as being a baby I had visited nearly half of the world which included Venice, Mauritius, Sri lanka, Italy and many more. Ironically, I don’t even remember that I even went to these places. The only place which I do remember was Singapore where our cute little family had the nicest of times. My father was one of the most organised person, he had had nearly everything under his control wherever we went, it looked as if he could adapt in any place on this planet. I never saw him confused or puzzled as he remained calm every time.

                                                         A sailor man needs to be in his ship for nearly 6 months a year. My father also used to do this. There wasn’t a time that we missed those those 6 months because he used to give us so much love and care which was easily equivalent to 2 years of love, affection and care in just 6 months of his presence.

                      My father used to tell me that he can easily get me into the merchant navy but I never used to like the idea of it because I thought  that I won’t be able to give time  to my family as I knew that I wasn’t as great and amazing as my father was.

            My mother is a English teacher and being a teacher she always took the responsibility of teaching me English and also hindi before my exams but she used to get very irritated when she used to find out I never used to complete my class work and she always used to end up not teaching me as teaching me was a pain in the brain as I was or still am very lazy and lose attention very quickly but my father made sure of making me learn everything which included word meanings, opposites and many more things both in English and hindi.

            I miss him. I miss those days when I used to sit behind him on his bike and we used to have a secret burger in McDonalds without telling anyone at home.

    

 I miss those days when we went to Kanpur in a empty train early in the morning to watch a cricket match and returned back with a jam-packed and that too without a proper ticket and my father requesting the ticket collector with his unique style of talking in such a convincing manner as if he was talking to his long lost friend.

I miss the Sailor man. I wish he was there with me always in fact he IS there with me and is always guiding me and inspiring me. I know he is there, I know his soul keeps a check on me. He wants his baby to do well in life.

            ( I WILL SOON BE BACK WITH A NEW PART TO THIS NOSTALGIC MEMOIR BECAUSE THERE IS MORE TO BE  SHARED)