Security Versus Adventure

This is an intriguing prompt. So let me answer it.

Both, senses of security and adventure, are age related. In youth one is curious. Curiosity leads to seeking knowledge. Search for knowledge can be arduous as well as adventurous.

With age one becomes cautious. The sense of security or the lack of it heightens as we grow old. However, there may be exceptions to the rule. A person can be adventurous by nature embarking on journeys that a cautious  person may never undertake irrespective of age. In contrast, a cautious person will seldom go for adrenaline pumping adventure even in young age.

My first big job, as a trainee, was in a well known public sector company in Kolkata. The corporate office of the firm was situated in BBD Bagh, in  the then Central Calcutta. Close by was the Police Head Quarters, Laal Bazaar – the historic red building. Behind Laal Bazaar was the infamous China Town housing the Chinese, Tibetans and other immigrants of various nationalities who by their looks were in general identified and classified as “Chinkies”.

This was a labyranthine neighborhood rumoured to be the hub of all kinds of dark activities – from smuggling to drug peddling to prostitution – you name it the town prided in it. It was  rumoured that even the  cops  did not dare to enter into that formidably fortified  locale even in broad daylight.

One of the trainees, in the office, a khasi girl  was married to a mysterious Tibetan who lived in this notorious locality. There were many other girls from the same region working with us. Khasis, being a minority, had great bonding. My bestie was also Khasi. The girl, living in China Town, was absenting from office due to ill health. It was my bestie’s wish to go see her. It did not take much effort to  tag me along.

The visit was uneventful. The girl lived in some kind of a chawl whose entry and exit were as confusing as that of the locality itself. We hardly spent much time with her. The locals, however, did not look as shady as I had imagined them to be.

It was again a chance visit to a well trodden “red light gully” one evening. Pedestrians and taxi drivers took a short cut through this alley to avoid traffic. From underaged to old to infirm , women of all shapes and sizes  in rows after rows, stood expressionless, waiting patiently for  ‘clients’. It was just a matter of survival. Nothing else.

After a certain hour of the day girls of good families were not supposed to be seen in many streets of  Calcutta. Though I happened to walk these streets I could not fathom the reason why.

I stayed with my paternal aunt and her husband in Calcutta for sometime. Being childless, they expected  me to perform those duties which otherwise their unborn sons and daughters were to do. Uncle (aunt’s husband) was chronically ill due to  bad habits and  health issues. Lot many times, the family physician had to be called for  emergency visits. The doctor, in turn was highly asthmatic and therefore did not have a roaring practice. But he was a good fellow, sincere physician and sympathetic towards aunt and uncle.

One evening I had to rush off to him. By cycle rickshaw it took half an hour to and from the doctor’s residence. The roads wore a deserted look as it was quite late. Doctor’s house was a little  away from the main road behind a vacant and uncared plot of land which had almost turned into a jungle with tall grasses and undergrowths. There was no street light nor any pathway inbetween. One had to walk across the unkempt patch of land to reach the doctor’s doorway.

I had kept the rickshaw waiting. Finally, we paddled towards destination. Midway the doctor hemmed and hawed  and then warned me not to be scared  if any stranger tried to stop us midway. It so happened that some hooligans were after the doctor to vacate the house he was residing in backed by the local politician and builder who hankered after the twin plots of land – the one on which his house was built  and the other vacant one. Having refused to succumb to the onerous demand, Doctor had been receiving threats from many quarters. He declined home visits after nightfall as it called for avoidable trouble. Although, nothing untoward happened, it was a high  risk taken in exigency. I was in my twenties. The goondas would never have spared me if they had chosen to attack the doctor that night.

Now when I look back, the seemingly adventurous incidents make me wonder.

I was never the one to throw caution to the wind. More so in my later years. Then what prompted me to be so reckless? Was it the outcome of utter boredom and a craving to try out something fashionably new and daunting? Or was it mere and extreme curiosity that did not let me think twice ?

I still wonder…