Atop a small hill, on the banks of the mighty Damodar river in the steel city of Durgapur in the Bankura district of the state of West Bengal in the Indian subcontinent stood a rickety little mud cottage. In front of this tiny earthen adobe towered a metal and concrete two-way vehicular bridge atop a colossal barrage, stretching across the ancient riverbed. At the break of dawn, every day, from this flimsy shanty emerged a bald old man with a long silver beard and a massive chest. No one knew his real name and called him Duburee, meaning a diver in the Bengali language.
Wearing only a tightly wrapped loincloth around his waist, he would spend the next hour applying a strong-smelling mustard oil all over his old but firm skin, especially inside his ears, naval, and on his colossal chest. Following this, he would perform another hour of yogic breathing and stretching exercises. Then he would climb on his fourteen feet long and old wooden boat and row into the river to tend to his daily business.
While man has always been very intrigued with the boundless realms of the sky above his head, he has been equally curious about what lay in the depths of the oceans, seas, rivers, and lakes. This curiosity fuelled man’s desire to venture into the abyss. Since then, freediving has proved to be a precious means of hunting and gathering food and other valuable resources.
The silver beard Duburee was a tiny spec in this fascinating world of underwater diving. While the art and technology of venturing into the abyss gradually evolved over the years, Duburee remained unaware of those advancements. While modern divers were using Atmospheric Diving Suits or ADSs, Duburee still relied on his massive lungs in his monstrous chest to venture into the depths.
Constructed in 1955 by the Damodar Valley Corporation or the DVC, the thirty-nine feet high and two-thousand-two-hundred-and-seventy feet long Durgapur dam was in Bankura and partly in West Bardhaman, dividing the two districts. As part of the Damodar River Valley Project on the river Damodar and its principal tributary, Konar, the barrage was constructed along with four main multipurpose dams built between 1953 to 1959 at Tilaiya, Konar, Maithon and Panchet.
Born in 1935, Duburee had been diving in the Damodar for more than twenty years before the barrage came into existence. Now in 1995, at sixty years of age, he was still diving in the same aquatic domain. Despite the industrial boom in the region in the mid-twentieth century and Durgapur being the most industrialised city in Eastern India and the second planned city in India, much had hardly changed on both the banks of the Damodar around the mighty barrage. It was still dotted with sparsely found sleepy little villages.
Duburee’s father Yogi Siladitya was an established frogman or an expert diver in the region. The Yogi knew that contrary to some beliefs, babies were not natural-born swimmers, irrespective of them, having primitive reflexes that made them look like they are. He knew well that babies were not old enough to hold their breath intentionally or strong enough to keep their heads above water and could not swim unassisted.
He also, however, knew that babies were unaware of the fear of water and, with proper training, right from the teething days, an infant could learn to float and eventually grow up to be a magnificent swimmer someday. Hence just at six months of age, Yogi Siladitya started to train Duburee to be a frogman like himself.
Sadly, when Duburee was just ten years of age, one day his father did not return from one of his dives to the riverbed. For three days, Duburee searched frantically but could not find his father in the depths. Nearly drowning, trying to search for his father, Duburee somehow lost the ability to speak ever again.
He had already lost his mother, who died giving him birth. Without any relatives or kin, the ten-year-old became a mute orphan in a tiny mud hut on the banks of a mighty river, growing up all by himself.
Not finding his father’s body would leave a lifelong scar on Duburee’s existence. This loss also helped him develop an extreme benevolence for the sorrow of others, and he dedicated his life to helping anyone else. The loss however also made him shy away from the world. From then, he preferred as little human interaction as possible. On one hand, he lived to help others, and on the other, he retreated from interacting with people.
His father’s diving skills were already well known, and soon Duburee’s name too came to resonate as an expert diver in the region. People who lost their precious belongings in the river would come to avail of his services. He would dive into the river to retrieve and return their treasures for anything in return to sustain himself or help the person without any kind of remuneration even.
He plunged into the Damodar every day to salvage various other things as well. He would keep all his salvaged goods in a massive junkyard around his earthen cottage on the hill for anyone to come and pick whatever they needed. They would leave behind anything, food or money, whatever they could afford to give.
The most profitable yet saddest thing that Duburee salvaged now and then were the dead bodies of drowned human beings. Drowning accidents and suicides had always been there, but with the construction of the dam, they grew in number as people who had given up all hope found it convenient to jump into the river from the barrage to end their mortal existence. The relatives of the diseased or the authorities were always ready to pay good money to retrieve these cadavers from the riverbed.
Duburee had a peculiar way of conducting his business. Anybody who wanted to avail of his services had to strictly abide by the rules he had established. He would never meet anyone face-to-face. A villager or customer would usually come and stand outside his cottage. When that person saw Duburee move inside his hut or saw him doing some work in the salvage yard, the person would shout out his problem and leave after receiving a nod from the old man from a distance.
Within the next few days, Duburee would usually find the lost item or dead body and place it in a central place in his salvage yard for the owner to come by and pick it up at his convenience. His customers usually left behind whatever money or offerings they could pay.
All went well, till in the summer month of 1995 when the villagers saw sixty-year-old Duburee drown trying to save a cow that had fallen into the river near the barrage. To everyone’s relief the next day they saw Duburee go about his usual business. It seemed the expert diver was able to save himself.
After this incident, Duburee became even more aloof from everyone. Hardly anyone would see him around. His junkyard gradually became more unkempt, however, he kept on listening to the villagers’ pleas from a distance for recovering their lost things and dead beings from the riverbed.
The years passed like this, and people saw Duburee continue with his detached existence on the banks of the Damodar river beside the Durgapur barrage. With age Duburee’s skills only seem to enhance as he became better and better at his business. Previously there were occasions when he had failed to retrieve an object or a dead body from the riverbed, but after the near-drowning accident, he seemed to never fail at a job ever again.
Unlike many others, old age did not seem to have any dampening effect on his looks, wellbeing and health. Now at the age of eighty-two, though covered in greys and a bit slower, from a distance it looked like Duburee had not aged a single day in the past two decades and had become even more efficient with years of experience.
Following heavy rains in the month of July and August in 2017, the state of West Bengal was badly affected by severe flooding. This had caused the Damodar river and its tributaries to swell up pretty wildly. Though the waters receded in the next three months to controllable levels, it put a heavy toll on the dams and barrages in the region.
The night of 23rd November 2017 was exceptionally chilly. People living next to the barrage heard a sudden and massive metal bending sound coming from under the water surface.
Rushing out of their hut, some villagers ran to take a closer look at what had happened. A few hours earlier, the barrage gates were opened to let water out, and now it seemed that right when they were being lowered, the 1st lock gate got tilted and bent. Now with every cubic inch of increasing water pressure, the mammoth gate was only bending further. Within an hour, the gate had bent to the maximum extent possible.
Now massive amounts of water were gushing out of the reservoir towards the riverbank villages. The sharp sound of the flood alarm soon broke the nightly silence. Sleepy villagers sprang from their beds to save themselves. Climbing atop trees and on roofs of the one or two concrete houses, they tried to save themselves from the increasing floodwaters that gradually engulfed the tiny riverbank villages.
At the height of the disaster in the middle of the moonlit night, the villagers saw old man Duburee rush out of his cottage and climb onto his boat, and row into the river to save as many lives as possible.
As dawn broke the next morning and the first rays of the sun, kissed the glistening waters of the Damodar, the villagers refuged on higher grounds saw Duburee’s ark floating, filled with animals and human beings. It seemed like the old diver had saved many lives, but no one could locate him. The survivors said that their memory of the night was vague, the old man was lightning fast in the water, and after saving them miraculously, he could not be seen or located.
The villagers knew that Duburee had finally met his maker. It took a few days for the waters to gradually recede and normalcy to return to the villages once again. To the surprise of everyone, Duburee was once again seen moving about in his junkyard. Everyone was relieved that the old man had made it.
A few days later, a group of villagers gathered and went to the silver beard’s hut to thank him personally. He had saved many lives on that dreadful night of 23rd November. For that matter, he had saved so many lives over the years, retrieved so many lost treasures and brought back so many dead bodies enabling grieving relatives to perform last rites.
At the hut, after calling out to him for quite some time, they finally saw the old man moving inside the cottage. The villagers had never ventured into his hut but that day they were determined to thank him personally. As they entered the shanty there was no one there.
Since the cottage was on top of a hill, the floodwaters had not entered inside it. Everything inside was covered in cobwebs and looked like nothing had been touched for more than twenty years at least. Everyone was shocked and did not know what to believe.
They say that still today if you visit and stand in front of the tiny hut in the salvage yard on top of the small hill on the banks of the Damodar river in front of the Durgapur barrage and shout out about what you have lost in the river, you may see a silver beard old man for a moment. If he nods his head, do come back after a few days, and you would find what you had lost to the riverbed lying in the middle of the salvage yard in front of the rickety little mud cottage.
Copyright © 2021 TRISHIKH DASGUPTA
This work of fiction, written by Trishikh Dasgupta is the author’s sole intellectual property. All rights are reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including printing, photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, send an email to the author at trishikh@gmail.com or get in touch with Trishikh on the CONTACT page of this website.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Trishikh Dasgupta
Adventurer, philosopher, writer, painter, photographer, craftsman, innovator, or just a momentary speck in the universe flickering to leave behind a footprint on the sands of time... READ MORE
Weekend Stories by Trishikh 
Reblogged this on Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News.
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Can’t thank you enough Ned for always liking, commenting, and promoting my stories.
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I enjoy the story so much Trishikh.
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My pleasure Wayan to have been able to bring forth another story, which you could enjoy.
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Very moving story
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Thank you so much Maria. So happy that you liked my story.
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A fascinating story of a diver, who lives to save the lives of others. If such a person lives, my regards to him. If it’s a fiction story, I can very well say, that you have painted the picture so beautifully, as I have been to this place.
Thank you for sharing!
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Dear Chitrangada, like most of my stories the place, river, barrage, and even the incident of the barrage gate breaking and the dates are absolutely real, but the Character of Duburee is a figment of my imagination… Or perhaps not, I guess one has to visit the place to find out.
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So very intriguing…👌👌👌👌 Had me hooked till the very end.. A wonderful story so well described…am sure there are many such real life heroes out there.. Really enjoyed reading it.. 👏👏👏👏
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Oh, the world is full of silent heroes, who their bit of good without many of us knowing about it. Thank you for your beautiful comment.
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Wow.. That was a brilliant story. You have weaved it so well.
In your story, you can mentioned that:
All went well, till in the summer month of 1995 when the villagers saw sixty-five-year-old Duburee drown trying to save a cow that had fallen into the river near the barrage.
However in 1995, Duburee would only have been sixty as per your story. I guess it was a typo. 🙂
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Oh, you are right, I will change it immediately. Thank you so much for pointing this out to me. Always appreciate and look forward to your comments.
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Your stories are always spellbinding. You’re most welcome 🤠
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I am deeply moved and much honoured.
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great story, trishikh! enjoyed it immensely! will definitely be back for more. 🙂
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What an honour you bestow on me. I am really thankful to you for that. Please do visit again, I try and publish one story every weekend.
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Your wish is my command! 😃truly very interesting writes!
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This is such a heart touching story!! As I always say. I love your work. You must compile all the stories into a book!! You are amazing!! ✨💯
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Dear Arpita that you so much for your lovely comment. Hopefully one day there would be a book. For now I am just concentrating on writing. So much appreciation from friends like you is already very rewarding for me.
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A heartwarming story of humanity in its purest form of selflessness.
It is not unusual that the tall tales of human kindness will turn into mythology; long after the protagonist has passed on. Even in our days of all-embracing rationality, hope still does encourage us to believe in miracles.
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I could not have said it better – about hope in our times and perhaps for eternity. Afterall what are we without it. I agree with you that “tall tales of human kindness will turn into mythology.” Thank you for this thought provoking lovely comment.
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Really enjoyed this story!
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Your comment being the first one for my story, gives me great joy. Thank you so much for liking this simple tale.
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Amazing story! Congratulations! Thank´’s for share!
Best wishes.
Elvira
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It gives me great joy to see your comment on this story of mine. I treasure the constant encouragement that you have provided to my writing efforts from the very first days of starting this short story blog of mine.
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Trishikh it is a pleassure read your letters full of talent, that you have. You do the best in every story, thank´s for share.
I appreciate your support too.
Best wishes and take care.
Elvira
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I treasure every word that you have said. My best wishes to you too.
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Thank you very much for your kindness.
Blessings.
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Reblogged this on Fire of Moods.
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Thank you so much Emmanuel. It’s an honour for me to have my story showcased in your blog.
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Another beautiful write Trishikh.
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Your kind words of encouragement gives me great joy.
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Wow! This is very interesting. Duburee never married, so unfortunate, l think. But, could be he was destined not to. Trishikh, thanks for this 🙏.
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My pleasure Eunice. Yes! Duburee never married. Thank you so much for liking the story.
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Most welcome 🙏
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What a lovely story reminding us that good ghosts and gentle spirits may stay and care for their communities.
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Very true, not all spirits are evil as usually portrayed.
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Thank you so much for liking and promoting my story. It’s a great honor for me.
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Loved the detail and the story. And especially the intriguing character.
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Thank you so much Michael. Always a pleasure to hear from you. Little words of encouragement such as this goes a long way feeding my writing engine.
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Keep that engine running. Always looking forward for your stories.
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Will do my best.
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A wonderful tale of a quiet man. I think Durburee also has a big heart in his barrel chest! I enjoyed this very much!
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Thanks Patrick. I take a lot of effort to write these stories early in the morning, when everyone around me is sleeping. Dodging the rigmarole of daily job and family I continue my writing. So when someone appreciates, it really makes all my efforts worthwhile. I have to financial angle.to this, I write for the world to read. God has given me other skills to earn a living. Thank you for your constant support.
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Thanks for another great read filled with resounding mystery.
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So glad that you liked the story Goff. Always a pleasure to receive your comment.
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Pleasure. Great read. Best Regards.
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Always a lesson to be learned in your tales, the proper melange of fact and fiction. Although I’m sure it was not your intention, Duburee has the origin story and markings of a superhero. devoting his life to the activity that stole his father from him, unable to recover his own father’s body but retrieving other bodies for grieving family members, coming to the aid of riverbank village victims with no regard for his own safety, and finally ascending to the level of mythical being.
Nicely done.
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Wow, I did not think of any of this. Wow! I am amazed at your level of analysis. I just kept on writing the story as thoughts came to my mind and I went on weaving. Now your analysis gives me so much to think about that which I have written. Your words have taken my story to another level, and I am eternally grateful to you for it.
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I simply call it like I see it. You do all the heavy lifting. Keep up the good work.
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Words of appreciation, encouragement, and analysis does help. Thank you so much.
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So if his hut was vacant for that long, when they tried to thank him, does that mean he really died during that cow incident?
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I think so, but I leave it entirely upto your imagination. Everything indicates that he might have died at the cow incident.
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I love your stories! Thanks for sharing!
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It’s my utmost pleasure to be able to write and share these stories with the world. The love and appreciation that I get from friends like you is a great reward in return.
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This is a cool story! I half-believed partway through the story that he had died then you pulled me back in and I was sure he was alive.
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Well you have confirmed that I must have written the story right. So glad that I was able to hold your interest in the story. Comments such as these, helps me develop as an amature writer. Thank you so much.
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One more touching and captivating story, Trishikh. I loved the character of Duburee and the background. It appeared real rather than fiction. The end is really dramatic, as even now a lot of such beliefs exist. I can relate very well, as I had been to Durgapur, Asansol, Maithon, Dhanbad etc during my university days as part of geological tour. If I go back, this story will come alive. Thank you once again for this beautiful story.
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I am so glad KK that this story brought back some of your good old memories. I have lived in Durgapur for nearly 5 years few years back and love the place a lot. So thought it befitting to write a story from there. Glad that you like my tale so much. I am deeply honoured when you say, it felt more real rather than fiction. I was deeply thinking how to end the story, fortunately a good ending came to my mind. I am equally happy with it. You are very right, when you say a lot of such beliefs exists, I have seen people believe in such things. Saying all that, I must thank you for being ever supportive of my writing efforts.
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You’re more than welcome, Trishikh. I’m really happy with your reply as to how much thought process goes into for writing such beautiful stories. That’s why I always take time to read them very carefully when I get my personal space. Thanks again. All the very best to you.
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It is I who must thank you KK.
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Another heartwarming story, Trishikh. I enjoy your primary characters’ ability to move between the real and surreal. And the descriptions of places are invariably vivid and easily pictured by the reader.
Duburee the diver with his massive chest is a memorable addition to your fictional “family.”
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It is a great honor for me to have such a beautiful comment. Thank you Annie for your thoughtful words. My characters will live through recognitions such as this one given by you. Am so happy for this community of writing, reading, and stories, which is really a beautiful thing.
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Fairy tales alike ending
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Thank you so much Subhra.
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Love this story, Trishikh! What a lovely mysterious fairy-tale 😀
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Thank you so much for your lovely and encouraging comment that I am reading the first thing in the morning. It gives me great joy and encouragement to keep on writing.
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Please do! I love reading your stories and always find time for them. Thanks to you, I learn about India, too! 😀
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It is my great honour that you like my stories so much. I am so glad that through them you come to know a bit more about India. My best wishes to you for the week ahead.
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Thank you – and the same to you, Trishikh: all the best for the week ahead!
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Very interesting story. It seemed as thus he was visiting from the unknown all these years.
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Yes, one gets such a feeling from the story. So happy that you liked the tale.
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Yes, one get a supernatural elements feeling from the story. I’m glad you shared it with us. 🙂
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My pleasure. So glad that I was able to write, and it came out the way it did.
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You did a wonderful job.
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As usual, wonderful story.
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Thank you so much Marthae.
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You have great compassion,Trishikh.
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Thank you Anna.
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I must say I was awake at minutes to 3am reading this and what a pleasure it was. A very well written cultural and historical fiction piece! You clearly have a knack for captivating your readers with your descriptive writing, imaginative mind and storytelling. Well done and let us know when you’re first book of short stories is published on Amazon so we can support! 😊🙏💛👊🎉
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Dear Darell, that you so much for your lovely comment. Its such an honour to have appreciation such as this. Hopefully someday I would publish a book, first I want to finish writing 50 stories, and right now I am writing my 43rd. Always treasure your support.
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You are nearly there Trish! Well done! It’s always a pleasure when you make progress in your work and level of productivity! Good on you bro!
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Thanks Darell, much appreciate your comment. Its a pleasure interacting with you.
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Your welcome Trish.
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What a beautiful story! Dedicated to help people, even after death!
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Thank you so much Stella, so happy thta you liked my story. Yes, the concept of helping others perpetually is very attractive to me.
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You had enough fooled. the story seemed real enough for me.
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Glad that you think that way.
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And thank you for your many visits to my blog and very generous likes of my posts. I haven’t been blogging much lately as I recover from knee surgery, but I hope to get back to my regular schedule soon. So your reading my older posts at this time is much appreciated.
Cheers!
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Oh it’s my pleasure Annie. I love reading your posts too. My best wishes to you for a speedy recovery. Do get back blogging would love to read more of your stuff.
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Leave just) footprints (mere) on the sands of time
Great phrase there , Trishikh
https://gisbornenz.wordpress.com/one-small-city-city-of-dreams/
Happy writing and best wishes from the First City to see the light
https://craigsbooks.wordpress.com/2018/04/23/the-world-would-have-you-agree-with-its-dismal-dream-of-limitation-but-the-light-would-have-you-soar-like-the-eagle-of-your-sacred-visions-15/
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I like the cultural information and sense of place that you share. Wonderful mysterious story.
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I am really glad to present it.
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A story well told and an education as well. In Spanish they call that: “enseñar deleitando”, to teach in an enjoyable manner.
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“Ensenar Deleitando” shall never forget this Rebecca. Yes, you are right, I always want to share a bit of history, knowledge, and moral messages through a bit of fiction encased in reality.
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Very well done. They are a pleasure to read.
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All by the grace of Good and thorough the constant encouragement of friends like you.
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O my God !that means after death he used to help the people as earlier. Beautiful story. Thank you for a wonderful story ☺️☺️🌹
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You are right Priti. So happy that you liked my story. It gives me great joy.
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My pleasure 🤗🤗🌹
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Thank you for promoting my story.
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You, sir, have a remarkable storytelling talent. Nicely done.
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I am much honoured with your comment Bob. Thank you so much.
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Such a touching story. I was mesmerized to the end.
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It makes my day when someone appreciates my stories. It is the only reward that I shamelessly seek. Thank you for bestowing it on me.
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You are so welcome!
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A moving and well written story. Your skill at setting the scene, and the copious real details masterfully woven into the tale makes it spellbinding reading. Bravo!
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Dear Suzette, your comment brings a smile of great satisfaction across my face as I read it sipping coffee at the start of my day. Through your words I know that I have written something that will be there long after I am gone. I treasure your appreciation my friend.
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A pleasure. Have a lovely day! 🙂
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Thanks Suzette. A great day to you too.
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Thank you.
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Thank you so much for promoting my story. Its a big honour for me.
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Pleasure reading. I like the concept that good spirit should always help the needy.
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Thank you Anamika. Always a treat to get your appreciation.
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Beautifully written. The story has a mesmerizing quality, akin to the stories we used to hear from our grandmothers and grew up on. Kudos to your hardwork and imagination. Godspeed 👏👍
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Your comment gives me great joy and brings a dash of smile across my face as I read it. I am so honoured when you compare my stories with the ones told by our grandmothers. Will do my best to bring forward many such good tales in the future. Thank you so much my friend.
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My pleasure, sir. Keep inspiring 😊
Warm regards.
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Thanku so much sir
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You are most welcome.
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You painted the surroundings of Duduree with the deft strokes of an artist… even allowing him to shine with renewed youthful vigor when he had taken on the guise of a benevolent poltergeist… wonderful…!!
🇯🇲🏖️
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Wow, such a lovely thing to say. Am elated by your comment. Thank you so much.
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Very fascinating story! Was engrossed reading till the end.
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Your words give me much encouragement Veena. Thank you so much.
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Marvelous story! The spirit of Duburee lives on!
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Yes indeed, “the spirit of Duburee lives on.” Thank you so much for liking my story.
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You really are a good writer, and a very good internet friend. Thanks for your likes of my posts; Please continue with your excellent writings.
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Thank you so much, your kind words of encouragement. I too am thankful for your friendship. I admire your writing too.
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I am in great appreciation of your kindness.
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Splendid tale!
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Thank you Harish. Glad that you liked my story.
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from this content, I conclude that it was literature that fascinated you so much and what you can no longer experience, or never could, but is interesting 😄
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The dam exists and the place is real and the dates of the disaster and the disaster is real. Then I have added a bit of fiction. Then who knows, maybe such a person did or does exist, I do not want to kill the suspense in the minds of my readers. Must appreciate your likes and comments to my stories from the bottom of my heart.
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Wonderful Travelodge
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Thank you Rahul. Really appreciate your appreciation.
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