Beyond The Crash!

We call him Daju. He calls himself ‘know-all’. Whenever anyone starts a conversation, and if there is a “You know what?” or a “Do you know?” embedded anywhere, pat would come his reply, “I know!”

Sometimes we try to be patient; sometime we try to point out that it’s impossible for a person to know everything; but Daju would cross his arms, throw back his head, and reply: “I know everything!”

So I thought I’ll put to him in an inconvenient, controversial, contradictory and improbable situation today.

I started: “Can anybody know… tell…?”

As expected, Daju butted in: “Yes, of course …!”

“…what exactly happened to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose? Where is he…?”

Daju looked as if he was about to start scratching his head, instead he patted his hair, lightly swept around his lips with a thumb and forefinger; eyed the cup of tea in front of him, and coughed…

“Let me tell you… there are three distinct groups who differ in their beliefs… and each is strongly opinionated… One group accepts that he indeed died in Taihoku air crash – around 3pm on 18 August, 1945. This has been confirmed by Habibur Rahman… who was accompanying Netaji in the Japanese Mitsubishi bomber… and he himself suffered burn and other injuries… He later migrated to Pakistan…

“His words were confirmed by Dr. Yoshimi, who took care of Netaji in his last moments. He confirmed that Netaji was conscious and coherent but in pain due to third degree burns… The Japanese news agency Domei had later reported his death, on 23 August, 1945.”

Someone found a chance, “So he’s dead? Twitterati’s too saying…”

“See, these could be motivated. The then Japanese army had absolute control… and Domei was said to collect information from home and abroad for them…” Daju carefully squeezed the teabag between the cup-lip and the spoon and then laid the bag on the saucer. “To keep his escape a secret…

“Another group disputes…” continued Daju after a sip from the cup, “They claim photographs of the crash site doesn’t match actual topography.

“According to a researcher at the Asiatic Society, there is evidence he was in Russia after August 1945. A French researcher has claimed his presence in Vietnam… China. A Dutch researcher used facial recognition software on a photograph and claimed Netaji was part of a group of people standing around former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkhent… as late as in 1966…”

Daju clasped the back his head in his palms, fingers intertwined, and looked up at the roof. “Politicians, especially those from the Congress then and the Left, wanted to establish his death in Taihoku; but most serious researchers swear by his escape…

“Some even believe that the unnamed mystic, Gumnami Baba, who died in UP’s Faizabad in 1985 was actually Netaji.”

“And who claims he is still alive? He would be 122 years old…”

“Oh! Some die-hard believer Bongs! But no proof has come as yet…”

“What about his family…”

Daju took a larger sip this time: “His daughter Anita believes he is dead. But his family members in Kolkata – who are politically divided and represent different parties – have diverse views… They too are divided…”

“What’s your opinion, Daju?”

Daju patted his hair again, flicked his wrist, glanced at his digital watch, and said: “Oh! I have to go..”

As we stared at him, he walked to the door, opened it, and turned back to face us: “You know guys, if you look at it… there are some similarities in the lives of Pandit Nehru and Netaji. Though he was younger to Nehru and they fell out politically later… But someone else was responsible for their hostility…”

And with a sigh he was gone. We didn’t even get the time to ask who was responsible.

“Boy, this guy knows…!”

“So does Google,” said Babu, with a wry face.

(This is partly an imaginary conversation created by Jayanta Bhattacharya, and partly part of beliefs held by a friend of his. But the post has nothing to do with where the writer works or what he does to earn his bread. In case of any criticism or suggestion, write to @Jayantab15 on Twitter / Facebook or jayantab15@gmail.com on email)