Ladhna Pade To Duniya Se,
Ladh Jaungi Sath Dega Wo,
Agar Ho Hausla Mera.
"Do you want to attend the Panchayat meeting?" Aniruddha was taken aback by Trilochan's offer at the breakfast table.
"What will I do there?" He looked awkward.
"Well, we hear and solve people's problems; the panchayat heads and I. Don't you, Barristers, do something similar?" he asked. Aniruddha smiled.
"I suppose no laws are stated in these judgments of the panchayat?" He asked, almost sounding amused.
"What feels right for society is the law here. That's been the case for ages. But what if you come along, explain to them, talk to them?" Trilochan smiled. "I insist."
"Oh, he just wants to show you off, Dada, go on." Somnath chuckled.
They stopped the discussion as Bondita came out, looking fresh in a crisp-washed magenta cotton Tant saree and glass bangles.
"Where are you going?" Trilochan asked, "Don't you have classes?"
"I am going to raise my issue to the Panchayat." Her words made Aniruddha look up. Trilochan looked angry as he got up agitated.
"Enough now. You will not do anything like that. The villagers are against the idea of a women's school. This is not Calcutta. Why are you fighting a lost cause?" Bondita stared back at him silently. Then her eyes travelled to Aniruddha. For a moment, Aniruddha felt that she was relying on him to speak up.
"You know what, Jetha Moshai, I will go with you to the Panchayat. Teach them some basic laws and rights." He said. "Let me get my pocket watch. And we can go." He left in a hurry. Trilochan stood in silence. Bondita smiled faintly before walking away.
The Panchayat sat once every week under the biggest Banyan tree in the village near Amritakhand, where the three villages met. The old men sat on a mat with a small wooden table in front of them. Trilochan Roy Chowdhury arrived, and everyone got up to bow to him. Aniruddha fell back on his pace, awkward at the people bowing. His eyes searched the crowd. He spotted Debaditya among the men and nodded at him. He was about to go stand with him when Trilochan turned back to call him.
"Aniruddha, come and sit with me." He prompted one of the villagers to bring him a chair.
"I can go stand…"
"You are the Jomidar here," Trilochan said softly. "You don't need to stand with the crowd. Sit with me."
"Aree, this must be Aniruddha Babu." One of the panchayat heads smiled with folded hands. "We assumed so at the programme on Saraswati Puja." Aniruddha forced a smile.
"Welcome. Welcome." The man smiled. "But, advice for you, stay away from Debaditya. He gives people the wrong ideas. I am sure Choto Malkin got swayed by it." Aniruddha was about to open his mouth when Trilochan held his arm and made him sit down. The panchayat session soon began.
The first case was of a woman. She was married for ten years and was unable to produce an heir. So her husband threw her out of his house.
"I don't have a place to go. Do I have no right over my husband's home?" She wept. Aniruddha felt disturbed. She was younger than him. She had already been married for ten years and had been called names for not having a child.
"Well, the shastras say a woman leaves her husband's home when dead. So she can stay, I suppose." One of the panchayat heads spoke. The others nodded. "But the vows say she will provide him with an heir. So when she broke the vow, she was no longer his wife. He can abandon her." Another contradiction. Aniruddha looked around at the villagers. They were actually engrossed in the debate.
They called the husband to testify.
"Are you absolutely sure she can't produce an heir?" He was asked. He nodded. "I am sure. My second wife has just conceived."
"Why do you not want to keep her?" One of the men asked.
"Because she is an extra mouth to feed. Even her parents won't take her back."
"I think it is justified." One of the men said. "If he had left her, she would no longer be his wife nor entitled to live in his home."
"Agreed. Agreed." Everyone nodded.
"Does anyone have anything to say in favour of the woman?" The panchayat host asked, "Or else she will be thrown out of Tulsipur." The woman wailed, going down on her knees and begging the men.
Aniruddha was about to speak up. But the voice came from the crowd.
"I have an objection." The raised hand was Bondita's. Trilochan let out a sigh.
"Not again." One of the men murmured.
"She has become a messiah for these women." An old woman spoke. Aniruddha looked up as Bondita stood apart from the crowd.
"I have a few questions." She spoke. Every pair of eyes was on her.
"Which home is hers?" The men stared at each other. "If she is a daughter, does she have no right to stay at her father's place? Like his sons? If she is a wife, does she not have equal rights over everything that is his?"
"But shastras…."
"Aren't women called Ardhanginis in your shastras?" Bondita asked. "Half of a whole? Equal?" She looked around her. "Where is that equality? A woman can be thrown out like garbage so easily?"
"Look. We…"
"Tell me this, Kakababu, tell me this all of you, if you have the answer, I will escort her to the borders of the village. But if you don't, she stays, with respect." Bondita had all eyes on her.
"You call a girl the Lokkhi of the house, the goddess of good luck, and in the same breath, you call her a burden on her husband or father. Why?" The crowd was silent. She smiled.
"Well then, I guess she stays."
The woman ran to Bondita and almost fell at her feet. She held the woman up by her shoulders. "Go home. Don't ever beg anyone anymore. Nobody can take away what is yours."
"Ahem." Aniruddha got up. "I have something to add here." He looked at the crowd. "The British Government will soon introduce a law that entitles women to the right over their husbands' property. The issue is already being addressed and…"
"The British Government?" Kaka shook his head. "They impose any kind of law. Doesn't mean it's all applied."
"Yes, it is Jetha Moshai. It is applied. And rightfully so." Aniruddha spoke up.
"Umm… on to the next matter then." One of the men spoke up. "Bondita Das?" He read from the list. "What is your grievance?"
Bondita inhaled, stepping forward as Aniruddha sat down.
"You see, what happened to the woman here? It can happen to anyone. Any of you. But we can stop it. Not only by law. We can stop it if the woman is not fully dependent on a man to lead her life. Be it her father, brother, son or husband."
"How is that?" One of the women asked.
"By education." A buzz went around the Panchayat. Trilochan shook his head.
"Please. Please. Hear me out. If your girls know how to read, write and calculate, they can never be fooled. Let's say we are buying groceries. The seller can't fool us with extra money." The people looked unimpressed. "Or you are buying a dress material, and the seller measures it wrong. Happens all the time, right?" The women looked at each other.
"Lata." She called one of the girls in the crowd. "Come here." The girl looked scared. "Let me demonstrate. Kaki, can you come too?" She called Lata's mother.
"Now you bought two dozen bananas, five guavas, one papaya, one pumpkin and a bag of rice. Tell me how much money you have to pay?"
"What the seller tells me," Kaki spoke, making her smile.
"1 Rupee." Lata smiled. The women stared at each other again. The men exchanged glances.
"See. If the seller tells Kaki it's 1 Rupee and 2 Annas, she would give it, but not Lata." Bondita smiled.
"You taught Lata to calculate?" One of the Panchayat heads looked agitated. "Who else have you been teaching?" Bondita's face turned pale. She looked at Debaditya across the crowd, then at Aniruddha and Kaka. Her throat went dry.
"Stay away from our girls." The villagers warned her.
"How dare you teach my Lata?" Her father came forward. "We are Brahmins. She learned the sastras from a Brahmin. We can't let a lower caste woman malign our daughter's mind." Bondita looked up at him.
"Yes, you are not even a Brahmin. How are you imparting education?" Someone else asked.
"Hasn't she heard of the system?"
"Of course she has. I have seen her have water from the untouchables." Someone spoke. The crowd gasped. "She even went to one of their houses."
"The child was ill. Your so-called upper caste Kabiraj didn't go." Bondita retorted.
"Haven't you heard of Matysa Nyay?" One of the Panchayat leaders spoke. "Big fish always eat small fish. It's how the world works. So, be grateful you stand among the big fishes today because Zamindar Babu took you in. Otherwise, you would have rotted in the gutter."
"That's enough now." Trilochan was about to speak up when Aniruddha did. "Which world do you live in? Seriously! You call yourself human and let someone's child die because they are lower caste? Untouchable? What will happen if I touch an untouchable?"
"Oh, nothing. You are a Brahmin. You are pure, but they can go to hell if they…"
"Stop it. Just stop it." He shook his head. Bondita looked up at him. She didn't see this coming. Honestly, she was a bit intimidated by him now.
" When death or disease comes, they don't choose you based on your caste. Do you understand? We are all just human beings. You made religion. You made castes. You made women inferior. Your gods didn't." Aniruddha yelled at the Panchayat that was now silent.
"Yes, we are privileged. But privilege doesn't buy you knowledge or awareness. What Bondita is doing for your daughters and for your people doesn't come with anything other than humanity. And instead of thanking her, you are blaming her. Can't you see these women want to study? They also have lives, hopes and dreams? Who are you to decide for them? They can't even go to the pond without your permission. Is this called living?"
"Aniruddha, enough now." Trilochan almost rebuked. "You should leave."
"No, I won't. I will stand here and make a statement today. If you don't let Bondita run a school or let the girls study, I will make sure they will. They have rights as human beings. I will appeal to the administration and Laat Saheb if I have to. I see Bondita is fighting a battle alone. I will help her."
He stared back at her as Bondita looked stunned. She expected things to work for her. But not like this.
"Tell me without fear, you girls want to study?" Aniruddha's question was met with silence.
Bondita looked at the girls.
"Lata? Malati? Sudeshna?" She asked hopefully. "Tell us. Tell them. Don't be scared."
"Yes, yes." The Panchayat looked amused and taunted, "Don't be scared. Tell us. Which of the women wants to study?"
Bondita felt like her breath had stopped. It was the moment of truth.
One hand was raised in the air, then another, and another, then a few more. Bondita's eyes lit up. Aniruddha sighed.
"Can we learn too?" Lata's mother asked. "Is it too late for me?"
"It is never too late, Kaki." The answer came in unison as they looked up at each other. Suddenly, a thought struck Trilochan. Selfish as it seemed, this was perhaps a way to make sure his words were kept. Their causes were their lives.
The Panchayat looked a bit taken aback. They didn't expect the women to speak up. Most of the men looked angry.
"Well then, I suppose we are nobody to stop you." Their words made Bondita smile in relief. She looked happily at Debaditya, who nodded back. Aniruddha gave her a reassuring nod.
"We need to discuss what we need for a school." His eyes travelled from hers to Debaditya and back. "Let's go sit in the study. Shall we?" She nodded with a smile.
"Thank you, Barrister Babu."
