It is very difficult to believe that my friend
Manichand (Manish) Bothra is no more!!
He was a loving and caring personality. He had friends but no
enemeys.
He was my childhood friend though much younger. We worked together in
Azimganj Mahavira
Mandal for long time in seventies and eighties while living in
Azimganj.
We could not meet since several years as I live in Jaipur and he was in the native place
Azimganj. I could meet him on the
occasion of
Chaturmaas Pravesha. It was June 30
Th night. I reached
Azimganj. My friend
Sunil, presently secretary,
Azimganj Shreesangh called me in the midnight. While meeting him he asked me to conduct the
ceremoney next day.
Manichnd had been assigned for the same originally. I told
Sunil to continue with the original
schedule but he forced me to take the charge.
Manichand also insisted me to do so. He briefed me about the programme in that night.
On July 1st, morning hours,
Sunil had asked me to start the programme but
Manichand had some thing else in his mind. He told
Sunil that he would rather call me and hand over the charge of
announcement. He invited me to conduct the meeting and handed over the charge.
There were several singers in the programme that had to take long time. Due to time constraints I requested him not to sing. He accepted it without opposing. I could not forgive myself if my proposal was carried out.
Pujya Maharaj Saheb asked him to sing his
bhajan and we all could hear his voice for the last time.
While returning back to
Kolkata in the same night, I
incidentally met him just outside his shop. I requested him to come with me to residence of
Suraj Nowlakha where my
baggage were. He denied once as he had to close his shop. I had requested him again to be with me for a while and he accepted. We went together to
Suraj and from there to
Pujya Maharaj Saheb. While walking I told him to provide me with an audio
cassete of
Satraha Bhedi puja. I also requested him to collect stories about
Azimganj from his father
Shree Shitalchand Bothra for this blog. I wanted to get something about
Azimganj from his father that could be lost due to his old age.
Who could imagine that
Manichand would leave us in two days!!!!
I left
Azimganj that day. The next afternoon, in
Kolkata Dadabari, the bad news came in.
Manichand was
hospitalized out of cerebral
thrombosis.
Sunil reported me in the evening that
Manichand was recovering and nothing to be worried. But the next morning he was brought to
Kolkataas situation
deteriorating. Doctors could not control situation and he was put in ventilator. Situation continued to
deteriorate and he was shifted to MRI,
Gariahat on 4
th of July. He went into deep comma and breathed his last on that very day.
I have lost my loving friend!~! This is an
irreparable loss to
Azimganj sangh.