TIGER

Bagha was the youngest son of his parents. He had nine more siblings. Four sisters and five brothers. Bagha’s dad was a farmer. Not only his dad but the maximum people were dependent on agriculture. Bagha was brought up in a poor joint family with twenty six members. Their village name was Kantalberia of South twenty four pargana district. The story started around eighty three years ago. It was a rainy day when Bagha was born. At that time most of the women gave birth to children at home with the help of a midwife. There was only one government hospital for six or seven villages and no private hospital. The villagers used bicycle or cycle vans or bullock carts for going somewhere far. They could easily travel five to six kilometres of mud roads on foot. During the rainy season the roads became pathetic to walk.
Bagha’s mom Ratna felt delivery pain from the afternoon. It was raining heavily. Bagha’s dad Tapas went to call the midwife from the next village. Due to rain they were not able to come at the right time. Everyone was waiting for the midwife. On the other hand Ratna was shouting in pain. It was intolerable for her. At last Bagha was born giving his mom freedom from pain. After born he cried so loudly that everyone became afraid. The midwife gave the good news of a baby boy. Hearing his loud sound his grandpa said to everyone with a smile” See a tiger is born today.A little Bagha( in Bengali Bagha means a tiger)has come in our family.” In this way he got his nickname Bagha. Though his official name was Prakash means light.
He started his education in village free primary school with other siblings. He was a very common student. In the village the girls get married within seventeen or eighteen years . Sometimes child marriage also happened. Most of the boys started agriculture after class ten or twelve. Graduation was rare because the college was very far and they needed to earn for their family. After class twelve Bagha thought of doing something other than farming like his elder brothers. At that time students got three months of holiday from study before admission to the college. During this time he started selling chocolates ,pens, pencils as a hawker on the train to earn something for his pocket money and college expenses. For that reason he started going to Kolkata ( the capital of West Bengal). He saw in front of big private schools he could sell more and more goods. And he was surprised to see the city school students in proper uniforms and good manners which he never learnt in his village school. He said to his dad,” Baba, I want to start a private school in our village with the best education. Here the students don't get proper education like Kolkata. What do you think?” His dad replied,” Your idea is good. But here people are poor and they will not be interested in sending their children to a private school with fees. They are habituated with free education. Here parents don't have any interest in study because they know one principle: girls have to get married and boys have to do agriculture. And you know , I can't help you financially. Only I can give you some lands for school space.” He got silent and realised his dad was right. After that he took admission in college for a two years BA ( bachelor of arts) graduation course without honours . One day he said the same to his mom. “ Mom ,I don't want to be a farmer. I want to do something different.” His mom insisted him to open a school without thinking about results. They had a left mud house with two rooms and a bathroom. He bought some benches, two chairs and a black board and started a school there in the name of ,” Sri Ramakrishna Ashram School”. He appointed two home makers with twelve passes as school teachers with a fifty rupees salary per month. The two women brought their sons to school with monthly fees of rupees twenty. They visited house to house to collect students. In this way they got twelve students of four to five years. Bagha made an easy lesson plan to teach the children Bengali and English alphabet with the key of good handwriting. There was no electricity in that village. Bagha’s mom used a hand fan made with palm leaves to make the students comfortable on hot summer days. But within one year Bagha felt disappointed because he got a total of two hundred forty rupees from twelve students and his expenses were more. Except for the salary he had to print out his lesson plans and books for the students. Because no books were available in the book shop according to his lesson plans. He had to work hard to earn more and more money. On the other hand he had to finish his graduation. Students were not coming as he wished. In this way two years had passed. He graduated . Only four children remained in his school. So he was forced to stop school. His dad advised him to look after their family profession.
He moved to Baruipur around a hundred kilometres far from their village Kantalberia. There he took a cheap rented house with two rooms with mud floors and a tile roof. He again started school with the same name. He took a loan from the Kabuliwala ( who gives money with high interest). Bank didn't give him a loan because he had nothing to mortgage.
Here he appointed one young graduate lady Smritireka Banerjee and one class twelve pass lady Sankari Ghosh.Smritireka was from a rich family and had a goal to become a teacher. She came from Kolkata. Sankari’s parents were no more and she was the eldest of her siblings. So she had all the responsibility to raise her brothers and sisters. She did lots of private tuition to the small children so she had experience of teaching. She lived near the school. Anjali was the menial staff whose husband was a daily wage worker. She was the next door dweller of the school. They four started collecting students by visiting door to door. Prakash always told the teachers about his dreams to establish a big Bengali medium private school. Only to get students he offered to provide the children free lunch. Some busy guardians found it interesting because within twenty rupees they were getting education and meals for noon. Slowly more and more students came. Everyone called Prakash in the name of Mastermosai. ( In Bengali Mastermosai means Sir). The expanses increased a lot. But the income was not enough to run the school. Both teachers and Anjali said to Prakash,” Mastermosai , now we don't need any salary . When you will be able then we will take it.So don't worry. Keep going on with your dreams. We are always with you.” They saw Prakash how he does hard work to sell his pen, pencils etc. Both the teachers fell in love with Prakash. Prakash was relaxed to get such devotional people to fulfill his dreams. Once Prakash could not pay the rent of the house for three months. One Sunday when Prakash was sleeping in one room the landlord closed the door from outside and locked it. He shouted and said,” Look, there is a cheater. He took my room and promised to pay rent at the end of the month but for the last three months I have been running after him. Everyday he is saying falsely that he will pay soon.” Hearing the noise, people started gathering. One person asked,” What happened “? The landlord in a taunt voice said,” People call him Mastermosai. Does he know the meaning of that word! Hun! How can a lier become a Mastermosai? Today I will destroy his ambition. I am going to the police station to call the police to arrest him.” The landlord went to the police station. The people also left the place. Anjali was not home, when she knew it she gave the news to Sankari. Then she rushed to the school and got up on the tile roof and removed a few tiles and took Prakash out from the locked room. On the other hand Sankari collected one year rent money by mortgaging her mom”s few gold jewellery and gave it to the landlord.
In this way Prakash got relieved but he realised he needed his own land. He requested his dad to give his share of land from the village. He sold his portion to his elder brothers. With that money he bought five cotas of land in Baruipur. Then he made a small building with brick and cement. Sankari mortgaged all the gold jewellery to help Prakash. Prakash wanted to marry Sankari. But she said,’ I can't marry you. I can't be so selfish. All the responsibility of my brothers and sisters are on me. I can't deny it. I love you and I will love you till my end. Though we never will become husband and wife. But for me you are my husband. You can marry Smrutirekha. I know she also loves you more than me. She comes here so far from her house Kolkata and teaches the students without a good salary only for you. She has that quality to become a good teacher in a big school in Kolkata.”
Six years went by. Ramakrishna Ashram school started getting popular for extra care and good education. More students got admission. He appointed a few graduate teachers who were home makers and moms. Because he knew mom can give that love to the children who have that experience. Prakash returned back all the jewellery of Sankari. He fixed the sixth day of a month to pay salaries to the teachers and staff. And he did it without fail. Then he managed to get a good loan from back showing his school.
Smritirekha was a Brahmin girl. So her family did not agree to get her married with Prakash Halder, a scheduled caste man . One day Smritirekha fled from her home and they got married in Kalighat temple in front of Goddess Kali. Sankari and a few friends of Prakash were present there. Prakash made his school morning shift from morning 7.30 am to 11 .30 am.So that they can use the rooms for their after the school close. They used the benches as dining tables. They slept on the floor because they didn't have any extra space to keep a cot. Smritirekha was happy with Prakash. She only wanted to fulfill the dreams of Prakash. She cooked very early in the morning before the starting of school. Then she taught in the school. Sankari and Smritirekha were the big supporters of Prakash to reach his goal. He left his hawkery.
Sri Ramakrishna Ashram school needed more rooms for new classes. Prakash was worried about how to build a new building. On the other hand Smrutirekha was pregnant. Hearing the good news Smritirekha’s parents came to see her. They liked Prakash because of his not giving up mentality. Her dad helped Prakash to get a loan from another bank. Slowly he made two story buildings one by one in the Summer and Puja holidays when the school was closed. He never spent money for any luxury. He always wore ordinary shirts and trousers. Everyone requested him to go for a holiday in some hills or sea beach with Smrutirekha. But he said,” When I will be able to give my teachers and staff a good salary then I will get some rest. Now I have to fight more.”
Slowly he started two shifts at school. Day and morning shift. Sri Ramakrishna Ashram got ten students to five thousand students. From three staff it got four hundred staff.
Forty years went by. Prakash became a dad of two children. He made a mark on the top business man in South twenty four parganas. He became a Banyan tree with a comfortable shade. Lots of children made their future in his shadow. Prakash was the pioneer of setting up private Bengali medium schools in South twenty four parganas. He was not an ideal dad or husband but an ideal person for making a mark in the society. As an underdog he chased an impossible dream to fulfill . He made a total of six schools. From primary school first he got secondary permission then he got higher secondary permission. Around four hundred people became dependent on Sri Ramakrishna Ashram school for various work .Prakash means light and he spread the light to lots of people. He followed a decentralisation method to keep his dream strong. He formed a non profit trustee board to look after the school after him. His friends called him Bagha or the tiger who is famous iconic style. Not only Kantalberia but the whole of South twenty four parganas are proud of Mastermosai.