Little Surprises

I had days of little surprises throughout the week. Of them, two are more important as it involved visits by some of my friends. The first one is of Dr. Erich W from Germany. He had gone to Raiganj and was on his way back to Germany and had reached Kolkata on 27th morning. In the evening I joined him and two of his companions. We had some wonderful remembrances, little chat about my visit to his home nearly four years ago, the plans I have for strengthening higher education of children from tribal families and the plans he has for the village he and his companions support in Malda district. We had a wonderful dinner at Big Boss restaurant in the China Town, Kolkata. On 28th morning I had the opportunity to reach him to the airport and say "Good Bye".

On 29th I got a call saying that Mr. Mishra, a friend of mine from Odisha state of India was in the neighboring state of Jharkhand and is planning to visit me along with a few more friends on 30th Sept. And we had the visit of Fr. George Uthirakulam and Fr. Varghese Pally along with Mr. Mishra. It was really a big surprise, thrill and to say the least, I was excited. I took them around Bolpur - Shantiniketan, we had some good mutton curry for lunch, lots of talk about what I am doing now and how things are with CKS. 

Thank you friends for making the week a memorable one. The joy of your arrival still lingers on. Hope to meet you all soon again..

Amazing Mohit

I reached Raiganj on 24th to train some village women in Right to Information Act and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). I spent the evening in the company of Dr. Prabir Chatterjee and his family, and when I was reaching the hotel it was about 9.30 pm. I saw Mr. Mohit Sengupta, the Raiganj Municipality Chairman getting into his car. I walked up to him and wished him, and shared a few moments with him and returned back to the hotel. 

This man has made several changes and improvements in Raiganj. He was on the road checking that a road repair work got started on time at 9.00 pm. Since he took over, most road repairs take place only at night to avoid inconvenience to people during the day. The roads are cleaner than most towns in West Bengal. On every day when he is in Raiganj, he reaches the Municipality office at 6.00 am, checks that all staff entrusted with sweeping the streets have gone on duty, and then he goes home around 7.45, gets ready and comes back to the office. Many roads have been widened and beautified. He has managed the several factionalism within the party and waded through several opposition. He was loved by Mr. Priya Ranjan Das Munshi. This man can do well if given an opportunity in State or National politics. Someone must find the quality in him.