Skip to main content

Homebound

Image
By

Tark se hai fark padta tune mujhe ye sikhaya
Par yaha toh sab ne mere labon pe tala lagaya,
Sath jab se tera chuta koi na haath mein aya.

Sampoorna held Debaditya's last letter to her chest and wept. Bondita sat across her and firmly placed her hand on her shoulder. 
"What did he say?"
"He instructed me to help you run the school for the girls and women. He wants me to teach them music." Bondita smiled. "That will be the best. I will arrange a wage for you. That way, you can maintain the hut and your food." Sampoorna hugged Bondita tight. Bondita felt like she needed it more. She had spent a sleepless night running through the options in her head. What was her way forward now? She wondered. She closed her eyes, and she could see him. When did she become so dependent on Barrister Babu?

Sampoorna cupped her face, worried.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked. "Are you alright?" 
"Didi… did you know…. Do you remember…" she stopped. Bondita didn't want to remind Sampoorna of her wedding day.
"What are you saying?" She asked worriedly. 
"Nothing." Bondita shook her head. "I have to go. The women must be waiting for me."

Bondita reached the school to find out that the classes had already started. She frowned a little and approached the building. Ashapurna waved at her. She walked up to Ashapurna. 
"Aniruddha Babu said he will take our classes." Ashapurna smiled. "Isn't it great? We can keep studying." Bondita nodded with a faint smile. 
"I have to take the junior class now." She spoke, arranging her books in her hand.
"You won't attend his first class?" Ashapurna asked, surprised. Bondita shook her head. "The children are waiting to learn about Asoka." She gave Ashapurna a nod, "I'd better get going."
Aniruddha looked around at the faces in the class. The older girls were very few. 
"Ashapurna, where is Bondita?" He asked.
"She will take the notes from me. She is teaching the children, and then she has the women's class today." Ashapurna smiled as he nodded. 
"Okay, so we are going to learn about types of soils."

Bondita came downstairs to find Aniruddha waiting for their evening classes. She walked into the study noiselessly, set her stack of books down on the table, adjusted her pencils and sat down on the couch. Aniruddha looked up from his study table to spot her near the couch. He didn't move. Instead, he cleared his throat and took the question paper he had typed out on his typewriter out of the stacks of paper on his table. 
"You have three hours to answer these." He said, prompting her to walk up to his table and take the paper, carefully holding the other end of it. She stared at it. It was typed out. That's what he was doing in the study all morning. She looked up at his face. He still looked grim. He took out his pocket watch and tapped on the stopwatch button. "Your time starts now."
Bondita rushed to the coffee table, took out her copy and began to solve the questions. Aniruddha looked up at her, counting the numbers on her fingers. Her hair was tied back in a braid, and she was wearing the same saree she wore when he saw her on the balcony the first time. He looked away and concentrated on a stack of files. 

A sudden noise outside diverted their attention. Trilochan was scolding Bihari about something. Aniruddha noticed Bondita staring outside with eager eyes. He went across the room and shut the study room door noisily, making her look back into the copy. The sounds from outside could no longer be heard. He went back to his chair and concentrated on his file. Bondita wrote down her answers. Aniruddha eyed her every now and then. Concentrating on the paper. Ripples formed on her forehead as she tried to find the answers.
"Time's up." He said as his watch rang the alarm.
"One minute." She looked agitated.
"No." Aniruddha walked up to her and pulled the paper.
"Just one minute. I want to recheck it." She put her hand over his, trying to make the paper stay. He shook his head. 
"No. I will check it now." He took the papers away. 

He sat down across the coffee table from her and started checking the paper. She stared at the papers eagerly. Then her eyes travelled to him. He was holding the cap of the pen in between his lips, his eyes narrowed as he checked her calculations. He shook his pen a little. Once. Twice. It had run out of ink. Bondita promptly walked up to the table and found the ink pot. She placed it down on the coffee table and sat down beside it. He took the inkpot without looking at her and started to pour the ink. Some of it fell out as Bondita took a paper to blot it. The ink landed on her hands instead. Aniruddha took another paper and put it over the ink to blot it quickly. He then took out his handkerchief and held Bondita's hand, trying to wipe off the ink. Bondita looked up at him and back at the ink in her hands. It was drying up, and he was trying in vain to wipe it off. 

"I will wash it off. Don't worry." She spoke, as he realised he was holding her wrist and let it go. Putting his handkerchief down on the table, he started correcting the papers again as Bondita sat beside him. 
A knock on the door made them look up as Koeli peeped in.
"Saudamini Devi is here to see you, Choto Malik." She spoke. Aniruddha frowned. 
Bondita looked awkward and stood up in her position.
"I will go get tea." She said to nobody in particular.
"No. You stay here." He commanded. "Koeli, tell her to wait in the sitting area. I am checking Bondita's copy." Koeli nodded and was about to leave when Bondita spoke up.
"Koeli Didi, tell her to come in and wait here." She said as Aniruddha looked up at her words, but didn't bother to protest. 

Bondita moved to the other corner of the room as Saudamini walked in. At first, she noticed Bondita and smiled.
"How are you?" Bondita nodded with a faint smile. 
"There. One mistake. Why can't you get used to simplification?" Aniruddha looked up from his copy to find Saudamini smiling at him from where Bondita had sat a while ago. He looked across to Bondita. "Take your copy and do the corrections now." She nodded. She gathered her copy and pencil and started walking away, making him frown.
"I told you to do the corrections. Now." He spoke.
"I will do them in my room. Pari Didi has come all the way from Calcutta to see you." She stared back at Saudamini. "I will send your tea." Aniruddha opened his mouth to stop her, but she walked away faster than usual, making him frown a bit.
"See. You call her a child. Even she knows when people need privacy, but you don't." Saudamini smiled, making him look away.
"Mini… I…"
"I heard Binoy Uncle talk to Baba." She blushed. "About us." 
Aniruddha inhaled. He went across the room to close the study door. Saudamini blushed.

Bondita was going up the stairs when she saw the study door shut noiselessly. Her heart skipped a beat. She suddenly felt a hot rush of blood as she ran up the stairs, into her bedroom and shut the door. She kept the books down on the table and managed to sit down on the bed. She inhaled. Her hands wrapped around the now wrinkled bed sheet as she lay on her back.

"I am sorry, Mini. I can't do this." Saudamini's smile disappeared at his words.
"I know what Baba or Bhowmik Uncle expects of me. But it is not possible for me to marry you." Aniruddha looked up at her with an emotionless straight face. Saudamini smiled faintly.
"But I don't understand Aniruddha. Is there someone else?" She asked, scared.
"It's not that Mini." He shook his head. "You and I are very different people. We want different things." Aniruddha looked away and walked up to his chair. "You want a good life. A husband to settle with in London. I want to work here. Among my own people."
"You won't go back?" Saudamini frowned. "But why?" 
"Because I don't want to waste my life purposelessly. Debaditya died for the country. The least I can do is live for it." He shrugged.
"I know you are upset about that, but…" Saudamini stopped at his stare. 
"I decided on it before I even came here. You deserve a partner who would give you a luxurious life. I want someone different." Aniruddha spoke. "I hope you understand." Saudamini nodded.
"I do. What kind of a partner do you want, Aniruddha?" Her question made him look up. An image flashed in his inner eyes. He brushed it off.
"Someone who can fight my battles with me." He smiled. Saudamini nodded.
"So I guess that's it then. I will go tell Baba it's a no from both of us. I can't stay in the countryside for someone." She almost let out a chuckle as her eyes became teary. "I don't love you that much." Aniruddha looked up at her words.
"Mini." He shook his head. "I am so sorry."
"No, Aniruddha. I am." She shook her head with a faint smile and walked away. Aniruddha sighed, staring at the door.

"Did you ask for me?" Bondita nodded at the door of Trilochan's office to find Binoy there as well. It was late at night, and Koeli had informed her that Kakababu wanted to see her.
"Yes… I…" he stopped and breathed out. "Got a letter from your Pishi. She informs me that Kaka's daughter is getting married and you are invited to Krishnanagar for it. Your mother will be there too. So I thought it would be good for you to spend some weeks there with your family. Pack your bags. The car will drop you off there in the morning." Bondita looked up at Kakababu's grim face, then at Binoy's. Suddenly, she remembered the closed study room door. She was being sent away. And rightly so. She had no right to stay here. She nodded in silence. 
"I will pack my things." She was about to turn and leave.
"Take your books along too," Binoy suggested. "It will be long, and you wouldn't want to interrupt your studies." She stopped at the threshold and gulped. Nodding silently, she went away to her bedroom. 

Shutting the door behind her, she took out the trunk from under her bed. She opened the wardrobe next, and her hands stopped at the clothes. All her clothes, her jewellery, her belongings, were they actually hers? She sighed. All the gifts, sarees, jewellery, perfume, powder, and everything Kakababu gave her were not for her. It was perhaps for whom she couldn't be. How could she take all this with her? She found some old sarees in a corner. They belonged to her mother. And two of which her mother had sent. Another one, Debaditya, gifted her for Bhaifota. That was all she could claim as hers. She removed the gold earrings from her ears and put them in the box. Those belonged to Roy Chowdhury. She picked up a framed picture of her and Asha with Jamai Babu in front of the house. Another with Som and Batuk. She took out one of the sarees, made it into a bundle and put these few things inside. She took her copies, books and pencils. Wiping away her tears, she sat down to write a letter.

Aniruddha walked out for his yoga session on the lawn at dawn and frowned that the car was missing. He asked the clueless gardener. Where did it go? He walked inside the house, and his eyes fell on the half-opened study door. He was sure he had closed it shut the previous night. He opened the door, and his eyes fell on the coffee table. Aniruddha's heart skipped a beat. He walked in to pick up the coconut phone that was left there. Then he found the key to his bedroom that he had given her. Aniruddha looked perplexed. 
"Bondita?" He ran up the spiral staircase and reached her bedroom. "Bondita?" He looked around. His eyes fell on the piece of paper on the table that was kept beneath a keychain full of keys. He knew this bunch of keys. He saw them hang from the corner of her saree all the time. Aniruddha's throat went dry.

Trilochan Roy Chowdhury read the letter that was addressed to him.
"Respected Kakababu,
I don't even know if I should call you that. I know I probably will not come back. I am leaving you the keys to the storeroom and locker box that you once gave me. I am leaving behind all the things that you once bought me. They don't belong to Bondita Das. They belong to someone you thought I was. Please don't blame yourself for anything. I am taking with me all the love I received, the memories I cherish and your blessings. Tell Batuk he can have all the sweets now. Tell Somnath Dada to take care of Asha. Tell Binoy Babu not to forget his medicines. Take care of your health. And as a last wish to you, I hope you let Sampoorna didi stay. Tell Barrister Babu not to worry. I took all my books along. I will try to study as much as I can. Maybe I will even find a teacher there. Take care. Your daughter, Bondita."

Trilochan wiped his tears, making Aniruddha look up at him. Never had he seen his uncle cry. 
"I lost my Griholokkhi," Trilochan murmured under his breath. "Because of you."
"You sent her away." Aniruddha's voice was firm but low. 
"Her family wanted her back. Who are we to keep her?" He shrugged. "She doesn't belong here."
"So she is suddenly nobody to you?" Aniruddha asked, getting up, agitated.
Trilochan looked up at him.
"She was family to me. Your father insisted she shouldn't be here for yours and Saudamini's…"
"There is no me and Saudamini, Jetha Moshai." Aniruddha banged his hand on the table, frustrated. "There will never be."
"We have no right to bring Bondita back or tell her to stay. How did she know the truth?" Trilochan asked. "Did you tell her?" Aniruddha shook his head.
"Of course not." He thought a little. "I just helped her with the studies and…" he remembered Saudamini walking into the study and Bondita walking away. He sighed.
"I hope she will be happy finally being home," Trilochan murmured. Aniruddha looked up at his words.
"If she were, her mother wouldn't have left her with you." Aniruddha reasoned before storming out of the room. Trilochan followed him angrily.
"What do you want? What do you want me to do?" He asked. "You said you don't want a relationship. You said it was an accident. We have no right over her to keep her here, Aniruddha." He kept lashing out while he saw his nephew walk away, dismissing his arguments. 



Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Purnota: Chapter Thirty Two

By
Bondita got down from the local train with a duffle bag and her hoodie tied around the waist of her dark green Kurti, which she teamed with white leggings and a white dupatta. The weather at Canning seemed hotter and humid than Chandannagar, and at first glance, Bondita spotted the spring blooms of Krishnachura painting the tree at the station red. She picked up her bag and looked around the crowded station. Someone was supposed to come and get her. She dragged her bag through the crowd and finally reached the gates. The rickshaws, vans and small autos were shouting out names of different places, names that appeared like images in her memories. “Bondita Malkin?” She turned to see a woman in a checked printed saree worn above the ankle with a Ghomta over her head and the Anchol tied to her waist. Bondita nodded as the woman in her forties surprised her by touching her feet. Bondita jolted away in shock. “What are you doing?” She asked with raised brows as the woman took her duffel bag. ...
Read More

My Everything

By
Kunwar Pratap stormed into the Mahal at Gogunda amidst uncertainty and chaos. Happy faces of the chieftains and soldiers welcomed him as Rawat Chundawat, and some other chieftains stopped the ongoing Raj Tilak. A visibly scared Kunwar Jagmal looked clueless at a visibly angry Kunwar Pratap. Rani Dheerbai Bhatiyani hadn't expected Kunwar Pratap to show up, that too, despite her conveying to him his father's last wish of crowning Kunwar Jagmal. Twenty-one days after Udai Singh's death, she was finally close to a dream she had dared to dream since Jagmal was born. He was not informed about the Raj Tilak as per Dheerbai's instructions. She eyed Rawat Ji. He must have assembled the chiefs to this revolt against her son, against the dead king. No one except them knew where Kunwar Pratap was staying. It was for the safety of his family. " What are you doing, Chotima?" A disappointed voice was directed at her. She could stoop down so low? For the first time, an anger...
Read More

Purnota: Chapter Thirty Three

By
Aniruddha stepped out of his room, in a wrinkled Kurta, with a towel and toothbrush, to almost bump into Bondita, who was hurrying out of her room, trying to wear her watch on the go. He stopped before she barged into him and spotted her in one of Thamma’s Dhakai sarees. It was a white-on-white saree she had worn with a quarter-sleeved black blouse. Her hair was bunned with a claw clip, and she wore a small black Teep complementing her Kajol-drawn eyes. She looked slightly startled as she stopped at his dishevelled appearance and looked away at his stare. “Why are you…” He cleared his throat to do away with his morning groggy voice, “Dressed up?” Bondita shook her head at his words. “Because I have camp today, the NGO representative is waiting downstairs.” At her words, Aniruddha nodded and promptly held her wrist to check her watch. Bondita eyed his index finger and thumb, briefly brushing around her wrist as he suppressed a yawn. “But… It's 7 AM.” Bondita smiled, amused at his wo...
Read More

Purnota: Chapter Thirty Six

By
Bondita opened her door in the usual hours of the morning and found Thamma and Jyatha Moshai on the couch in their living room, sipping tea. She had half sat on her bed, leaning against the pillow all night, imagining her plight when she faced Aniruddha in the morning. What if he did not think of it as much as she thought of his actions? What if that was his uncomfortable way of comforting her because she was upset? But what about his eyes, his gestures? Had she misread all of it? Bondita blushed to herself the moment she remembered how his eyes followed her around for the past two days. Bondita was hurrying through her daily chores, eyeing the clock, for she would be late for work and overheard Trilochon lament about things not changing since Binoy left. He thought that things were getting better at home, but as soon as Aniruddha had left for Sunderban, Binoy informed him that he had changed the attorney in charge of his case. Bondita frowned slightly as her hand stopped at wearing th...
Read More

Purnota: Chapter Thirty Five

By
“The bride is older than the groom.” Aniruddha heard one of the older villagers speak in a judgmental tone. “No wonder the higher castes don’t attend such atrocities.” He eyed the younger man he was talking to, who smiled. Aniruddha was sitting beside them on a bench in the open courtyard of a house where the wedding rituals were taking place. Tirio and Tumdak were playing rhythmically in a corner as some women danced to the tunes surrounding the new bride and groom. The men sat on the other side of the courtyard.  “Forget about the Brahmins, we don’t expect them to come.” The younger man shook his head. “As for traditions, what is wrong if the bride is older?” He smiled sheepishly at the older man. “What’s wrong? Everything. Master Moshai, you can be educated, but our ancient traditions have reasons. The groom must be older than the bride. It has some reason.” He shook his head. The teacher, in turn, educated the man that it was a perfectly normal Santhali ritual to marry older wo...
Read More

Purnota: Chapter Thirty Seven

By
“Why will Bondita not come for Holi?” Asha asked as she inspected the colours, Abir, Pichkiri and balloons Somnath had ordered from Baro Bazaar. He shrugged. “She is scared of colours, I think.” Asha smiled, a little amused at her clueless husband. “She is not ten anymore.” He looked up at her words with a sheepish smile, “Well, I never saw her play Holi, perhaps Dadabhai knows the reason.” Asha contemplated her husband’s words. She did not share a relationship with Aniruddha frank enough for him to share things about Bondita. It would be easier for her to ask Bondita instead. “If you wish for her to come,” Som said, like he could almost read her mind, “Perhaps you can invite her. She won’t say no to you.” Asha nodded. “It will be good to have the whole family together. It's not been so since the wedding.” She smiled. Som agreed as he matched the list with the things. “Yes, and Baba will be coming too, he told me not to tell Jethu, but I was surprised by that.” “Maybe because he an...
Read More

Purnota: Chapter Thirty One

By
“Please, Sir, we were going to show the evacuation notice to the lawyer.” The older man with a salt and pepper beard and a bald head pleaded with the Judiciary official, who handed him a paper of illegal occupancy. The NGO stood on the ground of the property that belonged to the Bhowmicks. Their lawyer, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, had sent a notice of warning and evacuation that the NGO did not pay heed to. The man in charge looked least concerned at the plea of the older man. His hands were folded, eyes teary, as the men who came with the Bull Dozer to knock down the one-storey house with thatched roof broke down the board of the NGO.  “Why did you not show the notice then?” The man rebuked in a gruff voice. “Because we thought it was some mistake.” Another man, relatively younger and calmer, came forward from the crowd that stood there watching as he spoke. “We got the land as a gift from Mr. Bhowmick some eleven years back to make the school for the orphans.” “Then where is the dee...
Read More

Scheme of Things

By
The ousting of Shams Khan and his troops from Chittorgarh earned Kunwar Partap Singh overnight fame across the land as tales of his bravery made their way through the dunes and hills, across rivers and borders to lands far and beyond. At thirteen, he had commanded an army troop to take over the fort of Chittorgarh and restore Mewar’s borders to their former glory. People started comparing him to his forefathers, the great Rana Kumbha, who built forts across Mewar and his grandfather, Rana Sanga, who had united all Rajputs against external threats. As bards sang praises of the prince, gossip soon followed. Gossip was the most entertaining one could get in the mundane city lives and village gatherings, and it often travelled faster than the fastest Marwadi horse. So alongside the tales of his absolute bravery and how he hoisted the Mewari flag on the fort, were the stories of how his life was in danger, the king and queen did not quite get along and how he was made to live in poverty by ...
Read More

Purnota: Chapter Thirty Four

By
“You are cheating, he can’t play!” Bondita was attracted by the commotion downstairs as she opened the window of her room. She walked out to the balcony to inspect it. It was Sunday, and Padma had promised to make Chicken Curry, knowing Bondita had invited Tapur to join them for lunch. In the courtyard was a group of boys, probably Sidhu’s friends, with a broken pipe for a bat, a wooden plank for a wicket kept between two bricks and a rubber ball, arguing over a game of cricket. Bondita’s eyes stopped at Aniruddha, marking a line with chalk and then measuring feet using steps to mark the boundaries. Bondita looked amused at the sight. “Batuk. You went out fair and square; give me the bat.” Bondita put her hands on her waist as she commanded. Batuk refused to part with his new bat. Som frowned at his brother. “She is right; it was a clean bowl. Give her the bat!” Som commanded. “I was not ready.” Batuk shook his head. “She knew that.” “It's still out.” Bondita frowned. Aniruddha wal...
Read More

The Difficulties

By
“The best of our characters are often reflected in our children.” Kunwar Shakta had visited the court at Udaipur after a Turk marriage offer was turned down by Rana Udai Singh for the third time for one of his Princesses. The Ranimahal at Chittorgarh buzzed with rumours of him warning his father about the consequences of enemity with the Turks and also about the impending doom of Mewar. He had apparently irked Kunwar Partap by suggesting a peace alliance with the Timurids was beneficial to Mewar. Rana Udai Singh, in his anger, had banished him from his court. Kunwar Shakta had sworn not to be associated with the royal family any further and to join allies with the Turks. Rawat Chundawat was calm enough to pacify the angry prince and offer him to shift to Bassi and give his decision a second thought. However, Kunwar Partap had refused to abandon Chittor, defying his father’s orders for a shift to the newly founded capital with his Ranimahal. He wanted to stay at Chittorgarh, which...
Read More