A Smiling face welcomed Samaresh inside the flight.
The beautiful Air hostess of Jet Airlines International flight handed over the Menu card to Samaresh. He began to search quickly for the price tags and got more confused by not founding any. The soft face of the air hostess reminded Samaresh of someone back home but faded quickly over the missing price tags. The menu was like a highly decorated wedding card with elaborate and minute specifications about each food. The flight was quite cosy felt Samaresh. But something was making him feel uncanny .The atmosphere inside the Boeing was too much sophisticated he felt. He tried to concentrate more on the food. His search was halted by the renowned names in the liquor section “Johnnie Walker, Jack Daniels, Australian Red wine.....”It was obvious that someone of his age would have been the happiest one but the prolonged warnings of Partha Mondal had its own effect.
“Samaresh, This is your first International flight...be very cautious...Don’t have any drinks in the flight...Remember you are representing not yourself but your esteemed organisation” .Partha, his offshore Delivery Manager has thundered over a trembling Samaresh.
He felt he should adhere to Partha’s gospel and he had done before. Even he was carrying 12 sets of underwear, socks and vests as dictated by Partha. On another note, He had to buy Jockey undies very unwillingly as it was highly costly compared to his age old companion Balaram, only because of Partha.”Carry quality clothings and...Dont wear the same underwear each day”...Partha bloated out in the conference room....
Oops...Sorry...I ...I haven’t given my introduction, I am Samaresh, Samaresh Bagchi and yes, I am a Bong. A Bong and a Sofo. No, no ...I am not a sofomore, sorry sophomore. Sofo stands for Software engineer. You see, it’s the generation of short forms. Papa has become Pa (in Bengali, it means leg though), Brother has become bro and so on. That’s why sofo .Short, sweet and a bit aristocratic too. I know you might be angry already. You happened to visit searching for some Java interview questions or about how to hack with cookie. But sorry, I am not sharing any computer knowledge here. It’s about the spicy travelling pursuits of a nomadic sofo. You might again be wandering. Bong and International flight? Bongs usually go to Puri, Darjeeling, Shantiniketan, Kashi or max to max OOti. Dhurjoti Sir, one of my reverent teachers in school once said he went to a rich place called Goa. When I told about those magical stories to my uncle, he just shaked his head in disbelief. ‘Beta golpo dichhe (He is a liar) , I am sure he has not gone an inch beyond Digha’ . But let me tell you, Bongs love travelling. Might be Lalbazar or London, bongs love to go places. And I am no exception. I , from my very childhood, loved travelling. Mostly in my dreams as it was cheap and inexpensive. It was with my tryst with destiny that I, who happened not to have crossed beyond Silliguri in the world map, was flying to San Francisco.
S Basu
