It’s all fate

This happened in early 2020. My exams were over and classes were about to start, while Zaman’s classes were already in full swing. One day he said, you are free anyway, so if you go to Nilkhet, buy me a few books.

At any other time I would probably have attached a few conditions to the job, but I could see he really had no time. I felt a little sorry for the poor fellow, so I said fine, make me a list of what you need. He first handed me a long list of books, then said he did not need all of them now, just this one, this one and this one, three books in all. And if I went to a particular shop in Nilkhet I would find all three there, no need to hunt around. For anyone who does not know it, Nilkhet is the book market right beside the university, a maze of small shops where students buy new, second-hand and photocopied textbooks.

The first Falguni trip

The next day I went to campus meaning to go on to Nilkhet, but I spent so long wandering around the whole campus that I was a little late getting there. Falguni is one of the university buses that take students home at the end of the day, and if I did not finish everything quickly I would miss its first trip. So I hurried to the shop Zaman had named. It was not as big as I had expected. Anyway, the moment I walked in, the man sitting in the shop said, how are you? No class today?

From those words alone I realised the man knew Zaman. He had probably been buying his books from him for a good while. But what was I to do now? Should I tell him, you have probably taken me for Zaman, but I am not him, I am his twin brother, he is in EEE, the electrical engineering department, and I am in Botany, he had no time to come and buy his books so I have come instead, and so on and so on? There was no time for all that; any delay and I would miss Falguni. Besides, the moment he realised I was a stranger he would ask a higher price. So without another word I said, yes bhai, no class today, I am on holiday.

Well, deal with that now

The man climbed upstairs, hunted around and brought down one book. Handing it over, he said, take this one bhai, and the second book you asked for, I sent thirty copies of that to your department the day before yesterday. Call your CR Avijit, and if more copies are needed I will send them over to your department. The CR is the class representative, the student who handles this kind of business for the whole class. Well, deal with that now. What was I supposed to do? I called Zaman, but he cut the call. A message came: he was in class, it would end in a while.

There was nothing for it. I would go home later and tell Zaman the whole thing so that he could pass it on to his CR. But that was not possible right then, so I tried to sidestep the matter a little. I said, all right bhai, I will let him know, and I will tell you how many copies are needed. With that I asked for his mobile number. I thought to myself, I got away with that one by a whisker. But this was only the beginning.

The moment I asked for another book he said, bhai, your senior Rafi, you know him, last year they took this book instead of the third one. And he put another book in front of me. Then he said, bhai, this one is needed every other year, meaning if you take it this year you do not need it next year, and the year after that everyone in your department takes it. So should I send it for copying, bhai? Just give your CR a quick call to confirm how many copies are needed and I will send it for copying today itself, and it will reach your department by tomorrow or the day after.

This time there was no chance at all of saying something and wriggling out of it. He had me cornered with call him, confirm it, call him, confirm it, until I did not know what to say. What could I do? It’s all fate.

Don’t you need any botany books?

I told him, bhai, I am not who you think I am. Zaman is my twin brother, he had no time, so I have come to buy his books. The man heard me out and said, oh, all right bhai. I had been bracing myself for a scolding, but no. He said, bhai, don’t you need any botany books yourself? Hearing that, I thought, so this is what they call a businessman’s strategy. Anyway, I asked how much it all came to, paid up and set off quickly towards campus.

But then came the single most frustrating thing that can happen to a student who lives off campus. From a distance I could see Falguni pulling away, and from where I stood there was no point running and no point shouting. Still, I did what everyone does and jogged after it a little, hoping it would get caught in a jam. But my luck being what it is, I came home by local bus.

That night I told Zaman the whole story. Later I found out that the man had indeed charged me more than the usual price for the book. We have a saying in Bangla about losing the mango and the sack along with it, which is what happens when you lose not only what you went for but what you had to begin with. At the end of the day, that was me exactly.