Krishnakant Sen coughed feebly, lying on his bed.

His anxious younger brother, Ramakant, woke up from his nodding doze in the armchair where he had been sitting, practically round the clock, for the last two weeks.

“Do you want some water, Dada (elder brother)” he asked ?

Krishnakant shook his head in refusal.

“A little juice then ?”

Another refusal.

Ramakant leaned back in his arm-chair. He knew his Dada’s bed was a death-bed, but it was hard to accept.

To Ramakant, his Dada was the epitome of success, a role model whom he did not have the ability to emulate. Dada had achieved enormous success in accumulating wealth through judicious buying and selling of commodities, especially during the Great War of 1914-19. Ramakant, however, remained a LDC (Lower Division Clerk) in a minor office of A.G.Bengal (Accountant General of Bengal), and that too in a small District town, not the lofty heights of A.G.B’s main office in Calcutta.

Krishnakant had indeed tried to induct the young Ramakant into his business, but it didn’t work out. Rama did not have the daring, skill, guile and sheer intuition that Dada possessed. Finally, Dada had to use his influence with the Sahibs to get his brother employed at the AGB’s office, albeit as a LDC.

Ramakant sighed and wondered whether he had ever been able to achieve more than his Dada. Only one thing : he had produced eight children, seven consecutive daughters (Dada had paid dowry to marry off all but one), the last being a son, Chandrakant. Dada, however, was childless.

In an attempt to rectify this deficiency, Dada had taken a second wife, none other than the younger sister, Nanibala, of Ramakant’s wife Makhanbala. But to no avail, Nanibala bore no child either. The only outcome of this event was that Krishnakant’s first wife died soon after his second marriage, probably out of shame of a failure which was not her’s, as proven subsequently by the identical failure of Nanibala.

Ramakant reflected that Chandrakant was not quite the gift of the Gods which a male child was, by definition, presumed to be. This “gift” was a spoilt, arrogant, profligate and selfish brat, with a generous dollop of guile.

Ramakant sighed. He glanced at Dada and saw him move. He bent to hear anything that Dada might say.

Krishnakant whispered “get pen and paper”.

Rama asked “Why, Dada ?”

“Don’t ask questions, get them”.

Obediently, Ramakant obtained the pen and paper and bent close to his brother to catch his words.

“I want to make a Will”, whispered Dada.

“Why Dada ?” implored Ramakant. “There is no need”.

“Daktar jabab diechey, tai na” ? wheezed Dada. (The Doctor has said he cannot do anything more, hasn’t he?)

“No, No, of course not, Dada, we are arranging for a Specialist Doctor, an English Doctor, from Calcutta”, said Ramakant as forcefully as he could manage.

Dada smiled briefly. “I am not a fool, Rama. I have little time left. Write my Will”.

Ramakant had no option but to comply.

Dada dictated his Will, a very brief one, to his younger brother.

He would leave everything to the Ramakrishna Ashram (a religious charity) except for a small monthly sustenance to Nanibala, his wife.

There was no mention of any inheritance to Ramakant, or his son.

Ramakant gulped. This was a cruel blow. Dada was leaving him and his family practically destitute. How would he support his family on the salary of a LDC, that too with Chandrakant used to getting whatever he wanted from his loving Mother and Aunt ?

Nevertheless, it was Dada’s money, and Dada’s Will. Ramakant acknowledged that he had no choice.

Ramakant completed the Will, brief as it was, and got Dada to sign, an almost illegible scrawl. He signed as a witness and got the illiterate maid to put her thumb-impression as the second witness.

Krishnakant breathed his last shortly thereafter. “Maybe this Will can help atone my sins” were his last words.

In the meantime, Nanibala, with the active assistance of her elder sister, was gorging herself on fish, because she would not be (officially) allowed to have fish after her husband died.

When the death did occur, there were the usual crocodile tears, the usual ceremonies, and all the usual lamentations.

After all that, Ramakant produced the bombshell, the Will.

There was consternation.

“Nothing for us ? Nothing for our darling Chandrakant ? Nothing for you, even ? Are we to live as beggars while everything goes to Charity ?” wailed Ramakant’s wife.

“Yes, unfortunately, that was Dada’s Will”, said Ramakant patiently.

“And you, you, wrote out this nonsense of a Will? How could you ? Couldn’t you have written something else ? The old man would not know any difference !!! “

“How could I ? I had to do what my Dada asked”.

Chandrakant had been fuming at the side. “I will contest this Will”, he said.

Ramakant was taken aback. “How can you contest this Will ? It is a legal document”.

“You will see” was the brief and haughty answer.

Over the next several months, Ramakant’s near and dear ones, his wife, his son, his sister-in-law (twice-over, actually – wife’s sister and Dada’s wife) subjected him to every possible accusation, humiliation, threat, persuasion and mockery that can be imagined. They played on his mind. They made him nervous, worried, doubtful and sad. But, they could not change his conviction that his Dada’s Will was a proper legal document. Nevertheless, his health deteriorated and his innate nervousness, and lack of confidence, increased.

A final blow came when he received Summons from the High Court.

His son, Chandrakant, had filed a suit contesting the Will. He had submitted to the H’nble Court a beautifully worded Will, duly witnessed, and signed by the late Krishnakant Sen in a perfectly legible hand, stating that he had left all his worldly possession to his dear wife, his beloved brother, his respected sister-in-law, and his nephew in equal proportions.

Ramakant was astounded.

“This is false”, he croaked. “How can you do this ? Dada’s last and final Will was written by me, with my own hand. This is a forgery !”

“We will see that in Court” was the reply from his son.

When the case finally came to High Court, the Lawyer appointed by Chandrakant, a seasoned Barrister, Bar-at-Law, Oxon, Lincoln’s Inn etc, proceeded to demonstrate to the H’nble Court that the Late Krishnakant Sen had made a perfectly valid and sane Will, some years before his lamentable illness and subsequent death, that left his estate to the people dearest to his heart, including his dear brother, who for some unknown reason was professing that there had been another, subsequent, Will which deprived all the dear ones of the Late Krishnakant Sen and left almost his entire estate to a heathen religious charity.

Unfortunately, the Ramakrishna Mission, being un-interested in material assets, was not in a position to contest the case.

Hence Ramakant Sen had to face the Court on his own.

He was put on the stand as a Hostile Witness and made to swear on the Bhagavat Gita that he would say the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth. He mumbled “yes”.

The wily Barrister approached the examination from a distance, asking Ramakant about his early life, his work experience, his relationship with his Dada etc.

Ramakant’s responses became more and more confused and muddled.

At one point he ignored the question put to him by the Barrister, turned to the H’nble Judge (an Englishman, obviously), folded his hands, and said :

“Huzur, I am an old man. I cannot answer so many questions. All I can say is that I wrote the last Will of my Dada just before he died, and any other Will is a forgery.”

Ramakant Sen swooned and fell.

The Court ruled that the case be adjourned to establish whether the witness was in his senses.

Ramakant Sen became a deranged person thereafter, only able to say mumbled words like “Dada”, “Will”, “chesta korechy (I tried)”, “parlam na (I failed)” etc. Hence the H’nble Court ruled that his evidence be ignored and that the estate of Late Krishnakant Sen be distributed as per the terms of the Will which left his estate to his wife, brother, sister-in-law and nephew.

Ramakant Sen died soon thereafter. His portion of his Dada’s estate, as per the “Will”, went to his son.