AIO

Dear Mridula Masi,

I know I am writing this letter/ খোলা চিঠি (email) to you very late. But I understand that it is better to be late than never.

I sincerely appreciate the immense help and kindness from your side to find me the best possible “Home-like” shelter (another home away from home) during the initial difficult time in the UK.

I, Ekata Saha, am a PhD student from CSIR-CSMCRI (India) and a recipient of the Newton-Bhabha PhD Internship Fellowship and for that I travelled to the UK last year during mid-September 2021 to join my host University (University of Glasgow). I was somehow able to arrange a hotel stay in East Kilbride for the initial 10 days. However, I was unable to arrange my stay for the next few months anywhere in Glasgow.

I was searching for any possible help in this regard. When there were just two days remaining of my check out from the hotel, luckily I received a ray of hope from the “Art of Living” group. One of my relatives is a member of that group and she suggested to me some contacts who could possibly help me in finding a solution. Then after the magical moment came….when finally I was able to hear from you (Dr. Mridula Chakroborty) ! From the very first moment of our conversations you won my heart ! Your voice from the other side of the phone was so comforting which could help to relax my mind even in that crisis situation. You almost took all the responsibility to find me a home to stay. I found you even more worried than me to find the best solution. You contacted Robert Partridge (Executive Director of Student and Academic Services, University of Glasgow) for any possible help from the University. I also found Mr. Robert very nice, kind and helpful as he really tried for the University accommodations (both direct and in contract ones). However, there was bad luck that I couldn’t get any of them at that moment…..since the University accommodations were really populated at the time and there were no scope to provide accommodation to short-term students.

Then after you continued your search for help from your contacts (known persons, friends and relatives). And finally you arranged for one ! I don’t think that it was just a coincidence or rather a wish from God that you are staying in East Kilbride where I booked my hotel stay. You drove your car and reached my hotel to meet me. From the very first moment I saw you, I found you as a person with a very motherly nature. I was in compulsory hotel quarantine (for the COVID) in the first few days and for that I rarely could step out from the hotel room…..and affording a three-time meals from the hotel obviously seems to be expensive to bear from a student’s pocket. In the initial days I used to skip some meals so that I could afford the minimal of them required for survival. In this context, anyone can argue that why I was not having the home-food or dry-foods taken from India. There was another tragic story behind it ! I travelled with British Airways Flight and it was a connection flight from Mumbai-to-London Heathrow-to-Glasgow and the airlines labelled my check-in bag as the direct transfer luggage or long-route luggage to be collected at the Glasgow airport. However, the flight from Mumbai-to-London sector was 5 minutes late when it reached London and the London-to-Glasgow flight left without me (and my 7 fellow passengers) ! Then somehow the problem solved when the airlines offered us an alternative flight to Edinburgh. I was kind of excited to reach Scotland for the very first time of my life until I didn’t see my checked-in luggage in the announced luggage belt in Edinburgh Airport. It was a shock to me…how I could manage without my belongings in a new country ! I only had my laptop, mobile phone and some cash with me….and with that I consoled myself that I could try to reach my hotel in East Kilbride anyway. That time I didn’t have an idea that East Kilbride is far away from the main Glasgow. I discovered that some of my co-passengers were also complaining about their checked-in luggage that they also didn’t find it in the luggage belt. Then I registered a complain against the matter to the British Airways Luggage Enquiry Counter. My luggage was able to tracked up to London Heathrow airport and I was convinced from the airline’s representative that I could able to receive my luggage in 2-3 days in my hotel address. However, in reality I received my luggage after 6 long days in the hotel. Hence, for this tragic (and funny !) story I was unable to have the basic home-snacks !

Now getting back to the real story….on the very first day when I met you (Dr. Chakraborty), you somehow found that I was starving ! You took me to a nearby restaurant in the East Kilbride Shopping Center and we had a nice dinner together…..there were more for the day….I received two big TESCO bags full of snacks, fruits and other eatables from you !  I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t express the true feelings from my heart. Then the day after the next day, you again came to receive me after the hotel check out. You took me to the Gorbals Street, Glasgow and dropped me there to my “home-like” accommodation, where you arranged my stay for the next few months in Glasgow. Immediately after that I received a great welcome from the sweet owner of the house Shyala aunty and her daughter Amisha.

You not only helped me during the initial days, but in different ways throughout my stay in the UK up to the middle of January, 2022.

Please accept my deepest thanks for all of this !

I know my English vocabulary (stock of words) are not so appropriate and hence, I would like to share a Facebook post with you from the last year (3rd October 2021); where I was able to express myself in a best possible way through words (in my mother tongue Bengali) !

Here is the post direct from my Facebook Wall…