Dadubhai

Dadubhai…though I have not seen him just like many of my siblings, but still I feel I know him quite a lot. I grew up listening to stories about his strong personality, his fondness for knowledge and his special encouragement for those who like to study. He was indeed like a strong pillar of strength behind all the next generation of Bhattacharjees. Though mostly we listen to stories of how strictly he used to control all his children , scold them, punish them but there are many a stories that tells how soft he was as a person.
Well may be you know this that dadubhai killed a tiger . So let me share that story first as thakuma used to tell me when I was a kid. In the beginning of his career dadubhai used to work in forest department . So at that time tigers used to create lots of disturbances. People in those areas became literally bugged up. So the government declared a prize on shooting down the tigers. Many people tried but nobody succeeded. So ultimately dadubhai decided to take a try. He along with two attendants of the forest department went out for the venture one fine evening. They tied a goat in a tree and climbed up the tree before it becomes dark . They tied up themselves with rope along with the tree so that they don't fall down incase they fall asleep in the long process of waiting. It was around midnight when they suddenly heard some sort of heavy footsteps approaching the tree. They became alert and after sometime they heard the roar of the tiger. Listening to that roar only it was enough for the two attendants to loose there sencse. But dadubhai with his strong determination shoot the gun for three to four times targeting the forehead of the tiger. And it fall dead. People from the village came running with great excitement and found the tiger lying dead. They all started celebrating carrying dadubhai in there shoulder. And those two attendants were still lying unconscious. Dadubhai was then rewarded by the government for his bravery.
Dadubhai was a lawyer by profession in his later life. So whenever he used to come back from high court everybody in our house who used to lie down or relax at that hour used to get up and start reading . Sometimes they used to even pretend reading books upside down. But for dadubhai to find everybody with a book or newspaper was what that used to matter. Since my baba, your mejda jethu used to be very mischievous naughty , dadubhai used to bit him and punish him the most. But still he used to feed mejda jethu with an extra spoon of cottage cheese that thakurma used to prepare for dadubhai every evening.
Dadubhai even used to participate in dramas. It seems he even used to look great because of he was very handsome. He was a great actor. He used to preside over all important conferences and meetings and he was very good in giving lectures. Dadubhai used to love Kankan dada a lot. One day Kankan dada spilled a can of oil that thakurma kept near the kitchen. Immediately he became aware that now he will get nicely from thakurma. So to save himself with his small feet he walked down to Dadubhai's bed and lied down under Dadubhai's blanket hugging dadubhai tightly. Now as soon thakurma saw the spilled oil she started screaming at Kankan Dada. And dadubhai also pretended as if he don't know where Kankan dada is and was telling thakurma that she should really find out Kankan dada and punish him. Infact Dadubhai always used to shelter Kankan dada when Anka used to make him solve maths. Actually there are a lot more about dadubhai…