Synopsis

In 1777, Viceroy Lord Warren Hastings instructs Babu Baloram Pathak to deliver a thousand billy goats to Colonel Kut and his battalion. However, Colonel Kut has already left for war by the time Baloram gets the order ready. To retrieve his payment of twenty-one thousand rupees, Baloram embarks on a journey to find the Colonel. Sadly, he is waylaid and robbed by bandits, leading to his untimely demise. Before he dies, he entrusts the payment invoice to his son.

Over the generations, the invoice is passed down until it reaches the author. Driven by the desire to reclaim the long-overdue payment, he tirelessly seeks reimbursement by approaching various avenues, but each attempt ends in failure. A glimmer of hope appears when a clue emerges, leading him to a head clerk within a government department. This clerk holds information about the bill in an old file and assures the author that, after a few necessary signatures, the outstanding amount—now significantly increased to almost two and a half lakhs—will be repaid.

However, the following ten years go by without any further communication from the authorities. When questioned about the delay, the clerk reveals that an important signature is still pending, much to the surprise of both the author and the clerk. This revelation leaves him astounded, and sadly, he eventually passes away without witnessing the resolution he had been waiting for. In his last note he delegates the responsibility and hopes that the due will be collected by his race and his generations to come.