It was late at night. Mr Kakati kept his hand on the steering wheel as he drove his car maintaining speed between 60-65. His wife and his daughter were with him.
They were returning from dinner, a gathering of college friends of Mr Kakati.
Mr Kakati was a very calm and patient man; he meditated every day and carried an expression which always displayed the calmness in his mind and his heart. He didn’t raise his voice or showed even the slightest emotion of irritation or frustration.
People in the neighbourhood had a distinct respect for Mr Kakati, he passed on a gentle and genuine smile to them when he came across them and most importantly, he patiently listened to them without hurrying.
Mr Kakati’s daughter Sindhu was quite different from her father; she was in first year of her college and quite rebellious about almost everything. The thing she couldn’t make peace with the most was her father’s nature. Like one day while Mr Kakati and Sindhu were getting out of a supermarket. A man talking on the phone and not paying attention bumped into Mr Kakati. Mr Kakati could have fallen down if Sindhu did not get hold of him in time but the man walked away ignoring what happened. Just as Sindhu was about to say something Mr Kakati asked her to let it go and they quietly returned home.
“Why doesn’t he say something? Why is he like this?” Sindhu asked her mother but Mrs Kakati simply gave a look which said that she had no idea
Sindhu was even upset by the fact that Mrs Kakati did not have any problem with Mr Kakati’s behaviour. They were not alike yet Mrs Kakati had no problem with the way Mr Kakati was at all. Sindhu’s best friend called it unconditional acceptance.
But, on this night as Mr Kakati drove, Sindhu sat at the rear passenger seat processing everything she had heard from her father’s college friends. No one in the car talked about it.
Mr Kakati was the elder of two brothers. He grew up in a small town, a town that was avoided for the people who were yet to completely understand the civilised functioning of the society. It seemed that Mr Kakati was one of those who had understood it the least and he let his punches and kicks do most of the talking. He was feared for the wrong reasons, some of which were real and some others which weren’t. Like some said he had something to do with his best friend disappearing which later turned out that his friend’s family had moved to another town
When Mr Kakati left for college in another town, everyone thought this was the turning point in the boy’s life. The thug would return as a normal every day boy. But it was the most problematic three years in the history of the college and no one there wanted to tell who was responsible for it.
‘Politics or underworld’ these were the only two places Mr Kakati’s father thought his elder son would have a chance.
Mr Kakati had an arranged marriage and his future turned out to be quite different from what people thought it would be.
“So, what happened dad?” asked a curious Sindhu and even Mrs Kakati looked at her husband eager to listen to how he put the answer.
Mr Kakati smiled and then laughed then spoke, “Well, that is something you might have to keep guessing for a while or all your life.”
Written by Anuran Chatterji
The Calm
Early Morning Memories 
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