Tuesday 6 September 2011

meeting "mita".........

Assuming the role of bread earner, dudul entered the world of business, contractual assignments with PWD n others.....one of his assignments lead him to lakhimpur, which he was traversing by a night bus from guwahati. Kamal Das another contractor with the PWD was to accompany him on this particular night travel.....both boarded the bus from paltan bazar in the evening, as the bus approached Maligaon dudul suddenly realised that something was amiss, he let out a cry of anguish - the whisky bottle had been left behind and nothing could be more frightening than this, imagine a 12 hour dry journey it was almost unimaginable for him. Kamalda seated next to him offered him a solution, a "half bottle bagpiper" packed in his briefcase. As they approached the Saraighat bridge, dudul asked him for the bottle - considering the formal status of their relationship kamalda took the precious "half" and handed the same to him. The "half" was thereafter opened and the session in the moving bus was about to commence when realisation dawned that there was no water for the mixing n the next stoppage then was mangaldoi which by "whisky craving" standards seemed eons away! dudul has an immediate solution - if there is no water have it raw, "but how" asked kamalda, " oh its very easy" said the master - " just fill your mouth with saliva, take a whisky sip and gulp it down - as simple as abc". Kamalda was utterly disgusted, he would never attempt that so he refused and said that he would take some once they get water at mangaldoi. Several kms into the journey, the "half" turned into "quarter" n then into "half a quarter"....the situation was getting out of hand for poor kamalda, he knew that it was now or never - the "half a quarter" was thereafter snatched out of dudul's ownership and the remaining "half of the quarter" was gulped down by kamalda in the raw n even without the saliva accompaniment.........henceforth the date with raw whisky paved the way for a life long friendship! they became "mita" to each other.

"mita" is an assamese word describing your best man n best friend.


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