For Sati was a Good One.

(The message I’m trying to convey through this story is: If you do good, good will come back to you.

You may not be aware of it but it’ll be as clear as a to those surrounding you.)

For Sati was a Good One: “The thing for you to remember, Ma, is to try to do good and better yourself under all circumstances.

Have faith in the ways of The Almighty and leave the rest to Him …”

Sati, for that’s how she was christened by her father, believed every single word her father said. For her, father was the ultimate truth, the universe, God in a human body. She loved her mother but Mr. Satya Sadhan Mukherjee, was a few rungs above everyone else for his daughter.

Mr. Satya Sadhan was a Professor of Bengali Literature at the University of Calcutta. A mild-mannered man, he had already made a name for himself as a great scholar and educator. Despite all his learning and erudition, he led a simple life and tried to instill the basic values in his children. Other than Sati, who was the eldest of the three, he had two sons, both very decent and intelligent by any standards.

Sati though was the most brilliant of the lot. She was doing exceptionally well at school. Not only was she the topper in her class, but her thread work at the Charka impressed even Gandhi who had paid a visit to their school recently in connection with the Swadesi (promotion of the home-made, homespun goods).

But all her aspirations of being a pundit like her father ended in smoke when Satya Sadhan arranged her marriage with Naresh, a young, very talented Vice-Principal of a private college called Scottish Church College in the heart of the city. A chance encounter with the young man left Satya Babu so struck with his personality, education and arrogance (for Naresh had reasons to be arrogant) that without wasting any more time, he presented himself at his residence on the very next day.

Mr. Siddharta Tarkalankar, the father of Naresh, a great Sanskrit scholar himself, had no objection to this wedding proposal and within months of the encounter, Sati got married to Naresh in a grand ceremony. When she left her home, having already touched the feet of her parents, Satya Sadhan reminded her of the value he had given top priority while raising his daughter.

“Dekhis Ma, tui khub sukhi hobi. Kakhono kono abichar, anyai karbi na. Sarboda bhalo karar chesta koris..: (I’m telling you, my mother, you will be happy. Never ever do any injustice, anything wrong.

Try to do good always). Sati smiled through her tears and nodded her head while her husband seemed to get impatient outside her father’s bedroom. She was only 13 at that time!

Happy indeed her life turned out to be with each passing day. She kind of worshipped her husband, a man of extreme good looks. Her father-in-law couldn’t do a thing without consulting his son with a more modern, pragmatic outlook. Naresh’s brilliance, broad-mindedness and persona would bring a lot of people from all sections of the society to their house – including his students. Jyotsna was one such student pursuing her Master’s in English.

To cut a long story short, a very promising life was abruptly brought to an end when Naresh while coming back from college met with a life-threatening accident. He was to spend the next 3 years of his life confined to the wheel chair. Jyotsna seemed to read his situation rather well and left no stone

unturned to endear herself to the man she had always secretly admired. Things came to a pass when Sati came to know about the secret marriage of Naresh and Jyotsna at the Kali temple. Her three sons were livid and wanted to move out of the house to someplace else. Though stupefied, shellshocked beyond belief, Sati remembered her late father’s words. Inspite of herself, she forgave Naresh when he begged for forgiveness for a silly, rash act: “I’m genuinely repentant. There’s no way I can ask for forgiveness…” That’s the first time she had seen Naresh talking to her without looking her in the eye.

Two decades had passed since then. So much had happened in the meantime. Naresh passed away in his sleep just three years after the accident. She had very little time for mourning as her eldest son was leaving for a career in the USA. In the years following, her other two sons turned out to be equally brilliant. They got married in due course of time and shifted to other parts of the city in search of greener pastures. Sati was left all alone. Of course her youngest daughter would visit her and give her company from time to time, but she also had a family to look after. Despite all her children having done exceedingly well for themselves, Sati started feeling lonely, lost. She’d think about her late parents a lot, especially about Satya Sadhan. How she had lived her life keeping his words as the Bible. Then where did things go wrong? Where did she go wrong? This is not the kind of life she had ever dreamt for herself! Other than loneliness, separation from the loved ones and betrayal what did she get out of Life? What good did doing good do to her?

As she retired to bed that night, she was in a mood to doubt the existence of God for the first time in her life. She asked the ayah (the nurse, for she was left under the care of a paid nurse by her sons) to put off the light, she turned the photo of Govinda Dev (an incarnation of the Hindu God, Bishnu) away from her pillow.

In the morning, when the nurse came to wake her up, Sati was still found sound asleep in bed with the photo of Govinda Dev tightly tucked into her withered hands over the blanket covering her body.

It took the nurse some time to realise that good one was gone, gone to the Land of Goodness for good.

The End