2441139

“Hello, 2441139, Can you hear me, Bela Bose?”

Anjan Dutta sang this song a decade back. And yet, to some people like me, it still rings a bell deep inside. Although the original song is quite pacy, Mr. Dutta performed an acoustic version sometime back, with his son, Neel, which really melts the heart.

This song has a special memory of my childhood. As a child, we always look at things at a different perspective. We seldom realise the intensity of the moment. “2441139” was a fun song for me and my cousins in Coochbehar. We play the song until the last part, where Anjan Dutt repeated sings “Hello, 2441139; Hello, 2441139....” We would dial 2-4-4-1-1 (back those days, telephone number used to be of 5 digits). An old lady would pick up the phone and we would bring the receiver close to the speaker of the stereo and Anjan Dutt would do the rest. “Hello 2441139, Hello 2441139...”

Then it was growing up and stages of infatuations, understanding love and finally, falling in love. Unless one falls in love, the stages of depression are hard to understand. Those stages of depression are spent listening to morose numbers in dimly lit rooms. There was “2441139” then too.

As we mature, things look clearer. Anjan Dutta tells of a sad love story so simply. The boy calls up his beloved, who is about to be betrothed to someone else, informing her that finally he has managed to get a meagre job, which could sustain their togetherness. She could now tell her mother that she is not marrying. That is the simple message of the phone call. Somehow, Bela is quiet. In her quietness he recalls the good old days together, and his dreams for their future - a small house, a small family together. But Bela never answers.

Why Bela doesn’t answer is unknown. Or maybe, it’s too obvious. Human beings are after all, well, human. Who doesn’t want a secured life? Bela is a symbol of that want of security, which sometimes surpasses the goody goods of love, compassion, sacrifice. Bela is that desire that defies definition; that might seem selfish and yet be practical too!

Most music loving people, who have been in love, will be able to relate to the song at some point of their life. Though we all hope that every story ends happily, some heart-breaking stories like Bela Bose do exist. No one really knows what happens in the end. How does this story end? The last stanza of the song is terrific – “Are you weeping silently, Bela? I really got the job! The days of sorrow and tears have some to an end... can you hear me?”

In her silent tears, Bela is probably consoling herself and slowly trying to realise the bare truth. Truth that shatters dreams and changes lives.

Truth is everyone knows Bela Bose now, but that lonely boy, standing in a public booth, trying his best to live up to his promise, to hold on to his most prized possession, has got lost somewhere in the pace of life.