He was an out and out Bohemian

Here is the twenty ninth unforgettable character in my life …

There is hardly anyone who has not met at least one Bohemian in his lifetime. This Bohemian friend of mine was a freelancer – he had a small screen printing outfit and would go around collecting orders for visiting cards or marriage cards or labels. He was sincere to his profession but he had a drawback. He had never learnt cycling, therefore he could not ride any scooter and had to use his feet. When the distances were large, he would hire an auto rickshaw.

Since our city had an abundance of small scale industries, he was never short of orders. He faced problems when he bagged large orders – at that time he would recruit temporary hands, mostly girls. Their relationships were always master-servant types, nothing closer than that.
Our paths crossed when we decided to print Bengali books and magazines from Nashik through computers. He arranged for the Bengali fonts through his contact and also the facilities of data entry. We used to meet in his room – it was always in a mess. We would suggest that he get married and settle down to a regular life but he would laugh it all off.
He did have a try tried at writing stories but the results were not that great – he wanted to be a rebel and would insist on his special style of spelling. It was a style that no one accepted in those days but is gradually coming into vogue today!
Anyway, when circumstances forced our magazine, our paths parted – our meetings became less frequent and, one day, we came to know that he had finally got married. Only – she was a divorcee with a kid. She used to help him in his freelancing business and had trouble with her husband. They would fight and, finally, she took the extreme step of separation. My friend gladly accepted her.
We met after a long time during one of the Durga pujas – both he and his wife had come to the puja pandal. He had purchased a brand new car and had a driver – he has not yet learnt driving the car.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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