‘But if I find someone myself –’
Biswas Babu was willing to compromise. ‘Good. But then there should be enquiries also. She should be a sober girl from –’
‘– from a good family?’ prompted Amit.
‘From a good family.’
‘Well-educated?’
‘Well-educated. Saraswati gives better blessings in long run than Lakshmi.’
‘Well, now I have heard the whole case, I will reserve judgment.’
‘Do not reserve it too long, Amit Babu,’ said Biswas Babu with an anxious, almost paternal, smile. ‘Sooner or later you will have to cut Gordon’s knot.’
‘And tie it?’
‘Tie it?’
‘Tie the knot, I mean,’ said Amit.
‘Surely you must then also tie the knot,’ said Biswas Babu.
7.19
LATER that evening, in the same room, Mr justice Chatterji, who was wearing a dhoti-kurta rather than his black tie of the previous evening, said to his two elder sons: ‘Well, Amit – Dipankar – I’ve called you here because I have something to say to both of you. I’ve decided to speak to you alone, because your mother gets emotional about things, and that doesn’t really help. It’s about financial matters, our family investments and property and so on. I’ve continued to handle these affairs so far, for more than thirty years in fact, but it puts a heavy burden on me in addition to all my other work, and the time has come for one or the other of you to take over the running of that side of things… Now wait, wait,’ – Mr Justice Chatterji held up a hand – ‘let me finish, then both of you will have the chance to speak. The one thing I will not change is my decision to hand things over. My burden of work – and this is true of all my brother judges – has increased very considerably over the last year, and, well, I am not getting any younger. At first I was simply going to tell you, Amit, to manage things. You are the eldest and it is, strictly speaking, your duty. But your mother and I have discussed the whole issue at length, and we have taken your literary interests into account, and we now agree that it does not have to be you. You have studied law – whether or not you are practising it – and Dipankar, you have a degree in economics. There are no better qualifications for managing the family properties – now, wait a second, Dipankar, I have not finished – and both of you are intelligent. So what we have decided is this. If you, Dipankar, put your degree in economics to some use instead of concentrating on the – well, the spiritual side of things, well and good. If not, I am afraid, Amit, that the job will fall to you.’
‘But, Baba –’ protested Dipankar, blinking in distress, ‘economics is the worst possible qualification for running anything. It’s the most useless, impractical subject in the world.’
‘Dipankar,’ said his father, not very pleased, ‘you have studied it for several years now, and you must have learned something – certainly more than I did as a student – about how economic affairs are handled. Even without your training I have – in earlier days with Biswas Babu’s help, and now largely without it – somehow managed to deal with our affairs. Even if, as you claim, a degree in economics doesn’t help, I do not believe it can actually be a hindrance. And it is new to my ears to hear you claim that impractical things are useless.’
Dipankar said nothing. Nor did Amit.
‘Well, Amit?’ asked Mr Justice Chatterji.
‘What should I say, Baba?’ said Amit. ‘I don’t want you to have to keep on doing this work. I suppose I hadn’t realized quite how time-consuming it must be. But, well, my literary interests aren’t just interests, they are my vocation – my obsession, almost. If it was a question of my own share of the property, I would just sell it all, put the money in a bank, and live off the interest – or, if that wasn’t enough, I’d let it run down while I kept working at my novels and my poems. But, well, that isn’t the case. We can’t jeopardize everyone’s future – Tapan’s, Kuku’s, Ma’s, to some extent Meenakshi’s as well. I suppose I’m glad that there’s at least the possibility that I might not have to do it – that is, if Dipankar –’
‘Why don’t we both do a bit, Dada?’ asked Dipankar, turning towards Amit.
Their father shook his head. ‘That would only cause confusion and difficulties within the family. One or the other.’
Both of them looked subdued. Mr Justice Chatterji turned to Dipankar and continued: ‘Now I know that you have your heart set on going to the Pul Mela, and, for all I know, after you have submerged yourself in the Ganga a few times, it might help you decide things one way or another. At any rate, I am willing to wait for a few more months, say, till the end of this year, for you to mull over matters and make up your mind. My view of it is that you should get a job in a firm – in a bank, preferably; then all of this would probably fall comfortably into the kind of work you’ll be doing anyway. But, as Amit will tell you, my views of things are not always sound – and, whether sound or not, are not always acceptable. But, well, if you don’t agree, then, Amit, it will have to be you. Your novel will take at least another year or two to complete, and I cannot wait that long. You will have to work on your literary activities on the side.’