Guilt unatoned

During my service in Bhilai Steel Plant, I had accommodated Bahaddur, a young orphan from Assam, in our servant quarters to help us run the house since my wife, too, was employed in the same plant.

Being extremely sincere, hard working and honest, he soon became our ‘Man Friday,’ fully taking care of the household chores besides maintaining the garden, washing our vehicles, bringing provisions, pressing the clothes etc. Totally convinced of his loyalty and reliability, we would go on long outstation holidays, leaving the entire house in his care for weeks together.

This blissful scenario, however, was too good to last. That fateful day, we came back home late in the night after attending a wedding reception. My wife rather thoughtlessly kept her expensive gold necklace, gifted to her by her mother, in the dressing table drawer as she was too tired to keep it in our locker.

Next morning, she got busy with her office work, and forgot about it completely. When she returned home after duty, she was shocked to find the necklace missing. It was a very tough situation for us since the entire household was fully under the care of Bahaddur and the maid servant in whom, too, we had reposed trust.

Most reluctantly, we questioned them to explain the loss since no one else was in the picture. To our utter dismay, the maid made a startling statement without batting an eyelid that she had seen Bahaddur take the necklace from the drawer and pocket it! We stared at him in disbelief as he, too, looked stunned by the allegation.

Left with no choice, we reported to the police who took him to custody for their usual kind of interrogation. However, the smart police officer finally zeroed-in on the real culprit, who turned out to be the maid from whom the necklace was recovered eventually.

Overcome by acute guilt, we apologised to Bahaddur for our hasty act of suspecting his honesty — but the sublime bond between us had already been shattered.

Despite our repeated entreaties, he left our house leaving a gash of guilt in our hearts. Nevertheless, I decided to somehow track him and bring him back. But destiny had its own design.

A couple of months later, I was to travel to Nagpur by the Howrah–Bombay Express. While boarding at Durg station, my wallet, with the travel ticket and money in it, slipped out of my hip pocket and landed between the rails. I was desperately looking for help when the train whistled for departure! As godsend, a porter in red turban appeared from nowhere.

And lo! It was Bahaddur himself! Acting fast, he crawled beneath the foot board, unmindful of the grave risk to him. As I stood transfixed, and deeply moved by his ennobling act despite the bitter incident of the past, he retrieved my wallet.

My heart pounding with joy and gratitude for getting an opportunity to atone for our guilt, I handed out a big note to him, but Bahaddur did not even look at it! Instead, he flashed a look that reflected a still unhealed feeling of ‘betrayal’ before hurrying out of my sight. His magnanimity left a much deeper wound in my heart, which often haunts me to this day.