Asansol- my first Maithili meeting on 13.3.2011

Asansol- my first Maithili meeting on 13.3.2011

At Asansol, my first Maithili meeting on 13.3.2011 was incidental.

After the dharna on 11.3.2011 in the evening when I had contacted Usha Jha, she told me that she would not be present at Deoghar for my meeting as she was to go Asansol on which I told her that too would reach there on Sunday (as In between I had tried to contact Dumka but could not get any link) to have my time utilized with a group of workers who used to have Vidaypati parva and from their calendar I had some addresses noted in my old diary but the numbers were again non-responsive.
Usha Jha had said that I should ring from Seetarampur and she will send a car but thought to have some contact before I reach there so that some Maithils may be given prior information.

On 11th evening there was a marriage ceremony of an old RSS worker’s son. I am in contact with him since my pre-medical days of 1973-74; the invitation of which too I had accepted conditionally, if I do not go outside and accordingly I reached his house in due time but barati was late and after one hour I left for my house and after dinner went station to catch train.
In the course of review of the dharna, Dr.Ashok Abichal of Jamshedpur asked me to contact Arun Jha, the painter of Vidaypati calander who was also present in dharna. His brother in -law Pashupati Jha, of TISCO. presently at Anand could be contacted and finally a number of Asansol,of his cousin and address was provided to me and I received Lalji’s welcome call.
I had been to Asansol many times in the past and recently in 2008 and 2010 (during MECON Executive Association’s election) and in 2009 in way to Bankura Medical college for my nephew’s admission there but had no meeting either with Maithils or with doctors despite having RSS office’s address for that purpose.
After my Deoghar’s meeting on 12th march, I took Asansol passenger and had a cosy travel. When a teacher from Deoghar asked me some suggestions for his adrenal carcinoma ,I advised him for life planning as it had already metastasis in paracolic gutters. The person sitting besides me was an ayurvedic doctor later interrupted me that ayurveda had its remedy to which I remarked that till there was an common system at some level referral to other system by doctors was not possible and ayurveda needs to go scientific trials of modern medicine if it was to establish.

Soon I reached Asansol and seeing Tillottama railway engine of narrow guaze I had mentioned in my blog on Burnpur on 24th June 2010 ,I took a bus for bus stand and then walked Ramdhani More on Hatan road the address of AM jha’s house 278, Hatan Road I already had in my diary with landline no. 2203650 which changed in this mobile age. Lal son of AM jha and cousin of Pashupati Jha was waiting eagerly for me with Sunil K Mishra, an engineer whop turned out to be nephew of Prof. Chandrakant Mishra of Darbhanga, former, sanghchalak of RSS there and presently patron of Antarrashtriy Maithili parishad (AMP) there. We talked a lot on many topics related to Mithila and nation. There some functions were held by local organization but it was many years back. I told them to work afresh for a unit of Antarrashtriy Maithili Parishad (AMP) there which in any case was needed to give a united voice of Maithils and a meeting next afternoon 230 was decided.

I stayed at the same place where Lalji’s residence was on the upstairs of his hardware shop.
During a heavy delicious meal prepared and served by his wife whose brother was a principal in my ex- in-law’s school we watched TV discussing India’s defeat in the World Cup. Next morning was late for me and around 8 am I could woke aup and then dialy rituals.
I was surprised to listen their little daughter’s ambition in life,’Ham garib ke seva karab, minister nahee bab. Hamra schoolme bahut anath baccha chhi jakar mai nahi chhai, okar kapara ganda rahit chi, ham okra kahno apan ek rupaya du rupaya d dait chhi je hamra mamy dene ray hai,,,”
( I want to serve poor, not like to be a minister. There are many orphans in my school whose mummies are not to wash their cloths. I use to give Rs.1 or 2 which my mummy gives to me).

That baby informed me that she knew Bengla and Maithili and also Hindi an do not much English. This polyglot child will learn English more easily than any Maithili-baiter parents who think ‘Enliglish is pill to every ill.’

I had again chura-dahi and I slept seeing view of nearby road which in the noon closes fro lunch (and also to avoid extreme temperature in summer).
Around 230 we started for Sunil Nishra’s residence on a rickshaw though it was close. Soon assembled few Maithils and I discussed the history of Maithili movement which lost sight of Mithila and was bereft of high ideals.
Mithila-Maithilil and Maithili are intertwined but have some specifications each of them. Bipin Shandilya of Kalikapur has done in depth study of gotras but I had not much time left in my train for Ranchi which under the Naxal Bundh threat I wished to catch anyhow).
ANIL Mishra of mangrauni also joined and he was a RSS devotee and hence some time I took with my past association and working there though since 2002 they had left me and since 2007 I too but not have left the planks of nationalism under which Maithils are a part of great Hindu panoraoma and our demand for Mithila state was in no way subversive to nationalis rather it was fully nationality promoting, I explained.
The train was at 17.16 and so I curtailed my talk and Bipinji was given charge to organize Antarrashtriya Maithili Prishad(AMP) there. Sunilji came to see off me but after going to platform I found my train was almost 2 hours late.
I reached Ranchi in midnight and saw Gangadharan, a computer engineer also coming from the same train from Howrah who could get it because it was late there. He gave me lift till my house and had a sound sleep after I glanced newspapers and had news on TV.