Chiradeep: I met Mr. Asit Ghose, a 70 years old man during one of our official meetings and came to know that he will be joining us as our administrator. I was unaware of his age. I was thinking he will be around 55 – 60 years of age seeing his activities. During a sightseeing time when we all were buying things he told me that he doesn’t have a family, he is alone so why will he buy anything and for whom. I was startled and was shocked to hear what he shared that time.
Let’s welcome him and listen what he has to share with all of us…
Hello and welcome Sir to ‘Face 2 Face’. It’s really a pleasure to have you today amongst us.
Asit Ghose: Thank you so much… It’s my pleasure.
Chiradeep: So may we start the interview Sir?
Asit Ghose: Of course, I am ready…
Chiradeep: Let’s start with the initial phase of your career when you started working after your studies… Please tell us about it…
Asit Ghose: After my college I started teaching in a school which was for a brief period. Thereafter I joined WIMCO Match Company as a sales person posted in Assam. Later I came back to Kolkata in 1975.
Chiradeep: Wow! You will be glad to know that I was born in 1975, the year you made a return to Kolkata.
Tell us little bit about your marriage…
Asit Ghose: I got married to Nilla Ghose, the lady I loved in the year 1973. And you will be glad to know we had our only daughter in the same year you were born.
Chiradeep: Oh wow! That’s great!
Sir, you once told me about your passion in Cricket… Enlighten us about it a little…
Asit Ghose: I was passionate about the game since my school days. And I continued it further as I grew older as well. I was part of East Bengal Club from 1964 to 1971 and led the team as captain in the year 1969 – 70. I had played along with the father of former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly.
Chiradeep: Fantastic! I am great fan of the game and love watching cricket from my childhood. I am really proud to share the same office with you who’s a former state level cricketer.
Sir, I have heard about the business side of yours… You set up a business of your own… right? Tell us about that a bit…
Asit Ghose: Being a sales person I had a gained formidable amount of experience and lots of business contacts of my own. I set up my own marketing business in the year 1984. I started sales promotion business for the companies like Nestle, Hindustan Lever Ltd, Johnson and Johnson, ITC Agri Division and Rasna etc.
Later I left all that and joined an organisation as a manager in 2007 till 2015. I still have a travel agent business alongside my work with you people.
Chiradeep: Yes, Sir… We are blessed to have you along with us, working together in the same organisation. Quite an experience you have as a businessman. I am thrilled because I had always dreamt of setting a business of my own but I never could make it possible till now.
Now tell us about your family though I know how painful it is for you to revisit those phases of your life…
Asit Ghose: I and my wife had a beautiful daughter and we got her married to a great guy in the year 1998, December. They met each other in USA when she was doing her graduation and MBA in finance. Both of them went to USA after their wedding. Our life was very smooth and beautiful. We had a very happy family. We loved each other dearly along with our cousins and relatives around us. But everything kind of ceased in the year 2000.
(His eyes were moistened and his throat choked as he recalled the event. He tried to adjust himself on the chair…)
Chiradeep: I understand… how painful the event can be for you to recall… Take your time Sir…
Asit Ghose: It’s ok… When we heard the news about our beloved daughter we were awestruck. It was 13th February 2000… She was hardly married over a year or so. They were in New Oreleans, Lousiana that time. She died. My daughter was just 25 years old only…
(He paused and was unable to speak as the memory was very painful for him)
Chiradeep: I am really sorry Sir. I can understand how painful it is.
Asit Ghose: But it didn’t stop there. My wife literally broke down after we lost our daughter. She went into deep depression and trauma. I tried to help her in every way… from counselling to medical intervention… but she couldn’t recover from the trauma. It was 4th August 2001 when she succumbed to a massive heart attack. She died in my arms. I was holding her and weeping bitterly when she breathed her last. It was too much for me when both my beloved daughter and wife went to be with the Lord in such a quick succession.
(He couldn’t speak further for sometime…)
Chiradeep: Oh my my…! I can understand how pathetic it will be for you… losing two of your most beloved and closest persons.
Though it’s quite understandable but I wanted to listen from you to know how did you react to your situation? What was really going through in your mind that particular moment…?
Asit Ghose: There was a heart wrenching… stabbing pain which I was feeling at that moment when I lost my wife… A big question arose in my mind against God… I asked, “Why me God? What did I do to go through this?” It was a very inexpressible pain that I had gone through which is still there even now… I spent sleepless nights after that… I became absolutely lonely… I felt “Why should I go to church? What’s the use of going to church?” I had deep sorrow with anger in my heart…
But God gave me strength and helped me to keep my faith on Him. He gave me the strength to overcome though whenever I remember both of them I feel the same excruciating pain within my heart even now. A verse from Psalm 147:3 comes to my mind… where it says, “He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.” And I trust the comforting words of my Saviour Jesus keep on healing my brokenness and bind my emotional wounds day after day.
Chiradeep: Very true Sir. The way He can comfort, nobody else can do that… Yet I realised my physical pain seems so small in front of what you have gone through… And I have no words to describe the emotional agony you went through. But seeing you and the way you behave with people and the way you stay jolly in the midst of all, nobody really can understand that how much you have gone through in your life.
How do you manage now alone?
Asit Ghose: My Mom was with me but she went to be with the Lord on 17th of August this year in 2016. There’s one girl who stays with us for last 21 years. She is like a daughter and she looks after everything at home even when she is working in an organisation. Since I have joined you guys, I try to mingle with you all and the people around me in the church or wherever I go. That’s how I try to combat my loneliness. And I trust His presence is always with me till I see my last evening.
Chiradeep: Absolutely! I am so blessed listening to you and to interview you. It’s my privilege. Thank you so much for sharing your life with us… Your trust in the Lord sustained you and gave you the hope to live further in the midst of your sorrows. You are a man of sorrow yet so well comforted by the Saviour who is the Lord of all comfort. I believe your life will definitely inspire and comfort many broken people in the world today. Thanks again…
God bless you Sir!!!
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