๐ด๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐น๐๐ ๐๐
Several lifetimes ago, forty years to be precise, I was the bank manager at an isolated (at least then) location in the North-East Indian State of ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐, not far from ๐๐ฒ๐๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ซ (only, it was called ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ then). In that small town of ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ก๐๐๐จ๐ญ๐จ, my apartment was one floor above the bank, and the landlord’s residence, another floor above mine.
Every morning promptly at 06:00 AM I would receive from my landlord’s kitchen a morning cup of steaming tea delivered by a young helper, in her teens, named ๐๐จ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐ข. In addition, whenever she went to work on the family farm many miles away, she would bring back fresh vegetables for me. I never forgot her kindness nor her name. Infectiously happy, always with a smile, she was.
Then two days ago, through the magic of the internet, I received a surprise call from the landlord’s family in Nagaland and there, at the other end of the call, was ๐๐จ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐ข! I nearly fell off my chair.
I had all but forgotten the medium of communication – Nagamese (pidgin Assamese) – after all these years but surprisingly it came back strong, much to the merriment of all, including the family of the landlord, who were a second family to me in those days. Not just the language, the memories too came flooding back. We had a heartwarming chat, that I will treasure always. And if it all works out, I hope to travel to Nagaland to see ๐๐จ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐ข on my next trip to this region. Here’s a picture of Dohoni as she is now. The years have taken their toll on all of us, but I still would have recognized Dohoni on my own without any help.
As if this was not enough, today I called Japan on amateur radio and who should respond but ๐๐๐๐๐๐ – ๐๐ก๐จ๐-san, from ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ข๐ง๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐๐ก๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐จ๐ค๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐. Our previous contact was way back in June 1989, a full thirty-five years ago! We had a wonderful chat reminiscing over the air, which is what amateur radio is all about.
My cup of joy is full, and my heart is overflowing with gratitude.
๐๐ (best wishes) de ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐