Taboo

I don't believe that my son could do something like this.

He called me up, we talked for a while, then suddenly he got furious

We should have realized at that time-- - That phone call, right?

For six to eight months he reported to me.

There was no indication that he would do something like this.

Suddenly an incident like this. I mean...

it's... it's difficult to digest.

How would I know that a guy like this is living next door?

I don't want to comment anything on my son.

Please wrap it up quickly.

At this moment we are not in the right frame of mind.

As a child, he was very obedient.

He liked to study.

Grew up just like any other kid.

A very well behaved boy.

Please finish this as fast as you can.

He's my childhood friend.

I mean, same school, same neighborhood.

We used to play together,

we grew up together.

Since I was born and raised in Kolkata

and I'm also quite younger to him,

so, initially we didn't have a strong bonding.

He is my nephew, my sister's son.

My sister, our family... we have a leftist mentality, a secular mentality.

My brother-in-law's problem is that,

he is too obsessed with religion.

And more than religion, it has now become... political.

I won't give any statement.

He bonded nicely with both of us.

However, naturally, his conversations were more with me.

His father used to be busy with work.

They didn't get much time to talk to each other.

Our families used to meet every now and then.

Both the families had pretty good relationship.

His mother was always very nice to us.

From his childhood,

I'm talking about my nephew,

from his childhood he was a studious and decent kid.

Emotional... rather a sensitive boy.

While growing up, he didn't talk much with me

or with anyone else for that matter

since he was a bit of a reserved.

Extremely decent boy.

Extremely gentle, sober.

Never gave anyone a chance to complain about him.

I never interacted much with him.

He is a young lad.

What should we talk about?

But... his family members were kind of strict.

Especially his dad.

Radical... Radical, yes Radical would be the right word.

In their house they eat only vegetarian food.

Meat is not allowed.

My husband follows a doctrine

which believes in eating only vegetarian food.

Being supportive of it or not...

or to have belief or disbelief in it,

never thought of it that way.

In a way, I've been a vegetarian since my marriage.

Me, my son, all of us are vegetarians.

Before marriage she was more like us,

but now she has to listen to her husband a lot.

We Bengali women, in-fact all women for that matter

after marriage, adapting to the in-law's practices...

forms a part of our system.

A bit orthodox.

His parents are very strict.

My nephew was never in a position to believe or disbelieve things.

Because... he had to obey whatever his parents told him.

At home, the matter of veg and non-veg food was a strict rule

and that had to be followed.

It was a bit awkward to us. I mean...

everyone has their own choices. But...

to impose something like that--

Maybe somewhere... there was a mental pressure on him.

'SHORT STORIES' BY LEELA MAJUMDAR

During 11th or 12th grade,

we all used to eat fish and meat.

He didn't.

Now, as it happens in peer pressure,

one day he ate with us.

I mean, we pushed him a bit.

Maybe, he also wanted to explore--

Quite natural at this age.

Deep down he had a tendency to explore.

Our neighborhood is pretty small.

Someone came to know about this and told his dad.

It led to an extremely violent situation at home.

An utterly chaotic situation. His father became furious.

He was almost on the verge of beating him.

That must have had an impact on him.

That particular incident.

I have also heard about this incident at home.

We used to visit Kolkata quite often.

We have a residence in Kolkata.

At present they live in Durgapur, we live in Kolkata. So,

we cannot keep in touch on a regular basis.

And when he planned to study in Kolkata,

I didn't see any reason to not support that.

After coming to Kolkata,

he even started having beef and pork.

While in college,

he must have eaten fish and meat with friends.

His family didn't know about it,

he maintained it pretty well.

But otherwise he ate everything that someone of our age eats.

No I did not receive any such information, that...

he had eaten fish and meat outside.

I haven't heard anything of that sort.

They bought the flat a long time ago.

But they don't live here.

However, the boy has been staying for the last few years.

After all, they are rich people. We don't communicate much.

When he came to Kolkata,

for his admission in college,

I was thoroughly involved in that process.

As it's difficult to regularly visit Kolkata from Durgapur.

After coming to Kolkata, he frequently visited us.

But later on due to the his studies may be... he visited less often.

He is an extremely bright student.

When he studied undergrad in Kolkata, his results were pretty good.

Later on he went to BHU or Banaras Hindu University.

Everything related to his studies...

usually he used to plan by himself.

His decision to go to BHU for higher studies was no different.

Hey, tell them about that incident. - Which one?

That one after he went to Banaras. I can't remember the name--

Yes, that phone call? Yes, yes, yes.

When he was in Banaras, we didn't interact much.

Sometimes we used to talk over the phone.

One day he suddenly called me up.

After talking for a while about this and that,

he started talking about the cult of worshippers in Banaras called 'Aghori'.

He was speaking very passionately about their rituals and customs.

I've heard a little bit about them before.

They eat burnt flesh from places where human bodies are cremated.

The entire thing made me feel weird, I felt uncomfortable.

So I reacted negatively.

That made him very angry.

He became furious.

At that moment it appeared very unnatural.

I have been working in the Forensic Dept. of Kolkata Police Crime Branch

for the last 8-10 years.

One and half years ago, during the recruitment interview,

among all the candidates,

that particular boy appeared to me as the brightest.

It felt good.

He has got a job, a nice job.

A nice government job. I was very happy.

There's nothing to feel bad about.

After getting the job, when he came back to Kolkata,

initially I visited him quite often.

Later on, he got busy, so I went less frequently.

For the last few months...

Something-- Actually, now I am trying to connect these events.