Mr Divakar

a very happy new year to all



Today I woke up when the door bell sounded for the second time. It was 7 Am
I watched the new year eve programmes in the TV and went to bed very late,after wishing all available a Happy New year on the dot of 12.00 Had the bell not sounded, probably I would not have woken up even at that time
I opened the door and I could see no one. I just thought that someone has played a trick on me and I picked up the papers lying near by the gate and slowly returned . as I was just to close the door I heard “ very happy new year” and could see an old man standing by the door and he was very pleasant and smiling.
I thanked him for the greeting and he responded with a smile and told” I am Divakar” but it made little impact on me as I have not seen him before and the name Divakar did not appear to be familiar to me. He said” I am 70 + and last 4 decades I have been wandering all over our INDIA. I am not an illiterate in fact I have studied B.com, BA, LLB, CA, and got selected for the final interview of IAS long back. Hearings this I was speechless for minutes and recovering from the shock I asked him to come in.

Getting inside the house we started afresh and introduced ourselves. At this time my daughter called me inside and told me that she has seen the person in TV (veeritta kazhchakal in Kairali TV ?). she gave me report on the gentleman and it tallied with what the man told me a little while back.
He opened up- he was a bright student and there was no looking back for him till he completed the preliminary exams for IAS. He was working on a thesis simultaneously and trying for a doctorate. He used to go to British Library for references and there he met a lady, who also was doing some project work. Slowly they became friends and things were moving quite well. He appeared for the final exams for I A S and he was sure of crossing the hurdles. In the mean time he completed the thesis and was about to submit it for approval. As he used to discuss the thesis with his lady friend, the friend was fully aware of the subject. On the day to submit the report, He realized that his thesis was missing and later he came to know that thesis was already submitted to the board in the name of his lady friend. He got dejected and could not recover from the shock for quite sometime and later he was admitted to a mental hospital.
He lost his chance to appear for the final interview of IAS and after many months stay at the hospital he withdrew to himself and one fine morning began his Barath Yathra.
I asked him what I could do for him and offered him some money. But he did not accept the money and asked me to give him some food to eat. I served break fast to him and he was full of tears when he finished the break fast. He asked me whether he could take last week’s news papers and I gave him last 3 days paper-the hindu-.
After one hour or so since his arrival, he stood up and thanked me and vanished.
But his visit and his returning made all of us feel sorry for him, we all felt that someone dear to us was saying "good bye" and leaving us.

This is a different beginning of the new year!