The Patna Blog

I went to Patna for exam purposes only but blimey, I loved it. I was such a great experience. We stayed at a hotel near the Patna Junction. I went there five times in about two months, it is as great as that. The exams were as follows:

RRB PO (pre)

RRB Clerk (Pre and Mains)

IBPS Clerk (Pre and Mains)

Yes, I made it to the Mains two times already. 

My exams went far better that I could have thought and Baba teased me incessantly about being posted at Munger. Ah! That would be wonderful but will I ever get that lucky? Radha-Krishna knows. 

Now the sad point is the abysmally small salary and the worthlessness of a job now soon being replaced by AI. But, Baba says it is good so I say it is good too. Whatever Baba says, besides, Baba never tells me to compromise with my inner desires, so I don't really mind. 

Now, the happy part is Patna is soooo beautiful and urban and busy. It is so like Kolkata with all the traffic but very little traffic jam. It is noisy but not cacophonous. The weather made be so clammy just like in Kolkata weather. The only difference being that Kolkata monsoons make me wet and stinky while Patna was making me itchy and wet. 

That being said, it is a lovely place. I had exam centres near PM Mall and St. Karen's School. Oh! So lovely. 

I remember how I went for exams near the PM Mall centre only to be sprayed by a shower of water because someone was cleaning their clients' cars. Some girls in our queue said that they were getting wet, others laughed about getting another bath, and my witty tongue joined it, "Ganda paani para raha hai."And, people around me laughed and I was so surprised. Looks like a decade of disuse has done little damage to the standing comedian within me. 

The PM Mall was so easy to locate. You just have to take an auto from Junction to the PM Mall. I loved the way people called 'Patna Junction' as 'Juk-son'. Yes, English words seem sweeter when Indianized. The Indian tongue makes everything homely for me. 

The first day I arrived at Patna Junction, two places drew my attention. One was the Gita Press store right outside the Junction and yet another was the Mahavir Mandir dedicated to Hanuman ji. I went to the Gita Press Store and asked if they had Bhagvatam and they replied in affirmative. Since we had a lot of luggage and were yet to book a hotel, I told Baba that I would get the books next time we arrived. Besides, Baba was getting so anxious to be able to reach the PM Mall and get a glimpse of the exam venue the day before. When I expressed my desire to enter the Mahavir Mandir, Baba told me that it could wait. It was essential to locate the exam venue first, get settled in a hotel, and then I could visit the Mandir later. I had to agree, he had a point. 'Bhookhe bhajan na hoi Gopala', you cannot worship God with worldly desired plaguing your mind. And, clearing these competitive exams is the number one worldly desire in my mind and I think Baba's too. So, I decided to take this advice which was almost an order. 

I had suggested Baba to find a hotel first, check in, keep the unimportant bag of clothes in the hotel room, then go looking for the exam centre. But, Baba was too impatient and as he is so used to worry too much and rush into things, he said that he did not want to waste time. I was conscious too. If this hotel hunting took too long then there would be some real trouble trying to reach the venue the next day. 

So, I went on and followed Baba because I too have inherited his anxiousness and impatience and sometimes, it just gets out of control. And, on the auto, Baba placed his bag of clothes behind the back seat which he shared with another man and I. He was asking these locals about where this PM Mall could be and whether TCS ION exam zone was here or not. They said that it was a place just beside the PM Mall and very simple to locate. While too anxious to find the venue, even I got engrossed into that conversation and we forgot about the clothes bag behind us. 

Then we boarded down the auto and the occupants in the vehicle showed us the venue. So, there was this huge pond like drain full of dirty sewage water. I think it looked like an infinitesimal version of the dirty Thames river afloat with poop when the British 'civilization' performed the most 'barbaric' acts in our motherland. Anyway, I still imagine what if someone were 'accidentally' pushed into that tiny Thames river just before coming to appear for exams. Sounds like something a lot of Slytherins would do. Anyway, I always kept myself as safe as I could from that pool whenever I had the fortune to visit that place for another dreary, dreadfully boring exam. 

Anyway, this first time in Patna, we noticed that sign which read 'TCS iON' and felt confident and reassured. It clearly meant that we just had to take an auto from Patna Junction and reach the said place which took hardly thirty minutes or so. 

Then I showed the sign of a hotel and Baba talked there. The hotel was called 'Dolphin Hotel' and had only two rooms called 'Rose' and 'Merrygold'. It also had a dorm like room on its top floor. They gave both ac and non ac options. It was just that they would turn off the ac if you went for the non ac option and it cost less. This is the reason why they encouraged their customers to go for the ac option. I did protest because I don't like spending a lot of money. I gave excuses that since it was raining anyway so an ac could cause fever. But I think Baba can tell when I am making excuses so he agreed with Vicky Bhaiya and went for the ac option. I thought it was too expensive but exhausted as I was after the long train ride on the Howrah-New Delhi Duranto express, I too wanted to rest. 

It was a very odd thing for a hotel to name their rooms 'Rose' and 'Merrygold' instead of numbering them, I thought. But, later as I kept visiting that place, I realized that both the rooms were the same really. The big and old building has three stories or maybe four. The first storey is dedicated to the hotel's reception and a Nashta shop towards the front facing the main road. The shop is called 'Ashok Jalpan' and it sells like hot samosas and kachoris with jalebis, chutneys, and chhole. Oh the taste of it! It is delicious. They sell huge samosas with a single paneer cube inside. What makes it delicious is the meethi laal chutney. But that this simple yet flavourful red and sweet dip is what distinguishes a chat from a curry. And then the savoury and hot chhole! 

Yes, I love India and wonder how people who leave this beautiful motherland of mine ever survive without her! I cannot imagine it, not even for a day! No, I won't leave India, I will never leave India, not even for a day. No other place in this world provides such a clash and riot of colors and flavours that you can feel neither dull nor lonely ever. Even small talk with a shopkeeper of a fellow passenger lightens the mood. Cursed and misfortune struck are those people who cannot see it, cannot feel it, and want to get rid of India an settle elsewhere despite having the greatest fortune of being born in this holy land. 

Japan has muted and light toned colors, the Chinese eat who-knows-what, and Indo-China area is poverty struck. I still feel sad that Tibet is being forced by the cockroach eater and the godless government of China to feel its tyranny. I love the Dalai Lama and though I do not speak a word of his language, when he speaks, I fully understand him, who cares for a translation? His voice is enough to liberate and reassure that there is always hope because there is always compassion. No place like India (Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka). I cannot include Pakistan into this list because of the obvious reasons. But I must admit that the Kailash people of the Hindukush area are very very close to my heart though I have never visited any of them. However, by watching documentaries, I do realize that they are not Muslims and facing as much threat of extinction as humanity is from the Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China and North Korea like places and governments. Yet, there is no place as beautiful as India and I feel at home mainly in three states- Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand. 

It is not a surprise that the Subarna Rekha passes through Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha. It mainly flows through Jharkhand, then enjoys West Bengal for a while, and finally reaches Odisha and drains its love and self into Bangal ki Khadi, the Bay of Bengal. Absolutely, I am Bihari at heart (and that is where the golden river is born and spends most of her time) and then enjoys West Bengal which I do too for a bit then reaches her destination after a kiss of devotion and love from her Jagannath who is Krishna, really. Baba did not know anything about this river when he named me but I think Krishna gave this most appropriate name for me into his mind and yes, I love it too. 

They say that the Subarna River was home to nearby goldmines. People still try and find gold near her beds, she carries gold from her origin point but meets completion when she meets the sea thus making herself special yet no more special than any other river Devi. 

And, then there is the Jamshedpur and the important steel factory at her banks. So, the river is me, really, a home to richness and stability now, in her past, and forever bringing prosperity to her people and her country even now and she always will.

 

So, I slept that night in peace and woke up the next morning of the RRB PO pre exam. I was so nervous that my attempt was very poor. Then I cried because I had forgotten to be loved and valued, I had forgotten that I had a family and self-respect no matter what the reservation afflicted exams had in store for me. So, I returned back, told everything to Baba and began to cry. He comforted me, then he woke me up to eat some kachoris that he had brought from the Ashok Jalpaan downstairs. And, there was so much love in him that suddenly I remembered that once upon a time, I was loved too and that love had given me meaning and purpose. After a decade of facing nothing but hatred, I had forgotten that life comes from love. 

Actually, I am so glad that the exam did not go so well. Because if it had then what would I get? I would never have cried, I would never have felt loved and respected again, no matter what. So, the Baancha - Kalpataru mischief maker Lover of mine always has ways to cheer me up, gather my broken and tattered and threadbare form in his tender but capable arms and mend, heal, reshape me to be worthy of Him again. But, I don't remember having done any good deed to have ever made myself worthy of me. But, ofcourse, I am saying that because my ego got the better of me right now. Actually, love is the alm which confers the greatest honour. And, Radha Rani has decided to honour me. I cannot and will never want to turn it down because doing so would mean that I claim to be her equal or even superior which is an unthinkable act of devastating pride which I fear more than my own death.