Tu saase meri parchayi meri
“She topped.” Somnath kept the Gazette down as he checked the results. “The second-year results are out!”
“How about Batuk?” Trilochan asked, “Any news?”
“He has done well, Jetha Shoshur Moshai.” Ashapurna placed the tea down on the table and announced gleefully. “He will be back home soon, in between his terms to finally meet Khoka. He sent me a letter.”
“Ah, if he delays some more, he will have to come directly to Khoka's wedding.” Somnath shook his head “I wonder what is so interesting in Bombay that he keeps delaying his plans.”
“Maybe he took an interest in studying there .” Ashapurna defended with a frown.
“Or maybe Boudi knows something, and you don’t. Ask her. Anyway, he never calls any of us. Let alone write to us.” He insisted. Trilochan cleared his throat as Somnath left.
“He is right. Ask Bondita Bouma once.” Ashapurna nodded at Trilochan’s words, a little surprised. “It’s been so long since everyone was home.”
“I know you are upset about them missing pujo but her examinations …”
“Did she hire you to defend her?” Trilochan scolded “Everyone in this house seems to advocate for each other. If your Shashuri Maa was here...”
His thoughts were interrupted as Koeli came rushing to call Asha.
“Boudimoni come here, quick!” She made both Trilochan and Ashapurna look worried “ Choto Thakur hamaguri dichhe! .” Ashapurna gasped in awe as she rushed to check on her son's first moments of crawling.
“Oh, I wish your Boroma was here.” She picked up her child and hugged him.
“Asha said everyone thinks Batuk has something interesting happening in Bombay.” Bondita gushed as she placed the dinner plates down.
“Hmm?” Aniruddha didn’t look up from the case file he was engrossed in.
“He hadn’t told me anything.” She frowned. “He would, if there was something, right?”
“Hmm.” He nodded again. Bondita frowned.
“Enough.” She closed the file making him look up. “Dinner is getting cold and you are not even listening to me.”
“I was just…” Aniruddha looked startled.
“You can be at work all you want, but when you get home I want my husband here, not the Barrister.” She almost scolded putting the dal on his rice as he smiled.
“What were you saying?” He asked again.
“That Batuk has something going on in Bombay. Everyone thinks so.” She giggled.
“What?” He raised his eyebrows. “If he falls into the wrong company and does illegal things…”
“Oho!” Bondita tapped her forehead with her hand “What will I do with this man?” He stopped clueless at her words.
“I mean he may like someone there.”
“Batuk?” Aniruddha’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s not possible…”
“Why?” Bondita frowned.
“Because… because he is Batuk, I mean, you know, right?” Aniruddha shrugged.
“No, I don't.” Bondita shook her head. “In your head, he is still eight years old but in reality, he is past eighteen!” She reminded him. “I am going to find out.”
“And how?” He asked as Bondita was lost in thoughts.
“Oh, I have my secret ways.” She smiled mischievously as he shook his head.
“Bose’ exits from Congress...” Bondita read aloud the newspaper as Aniruddha looked up from his book. “ had led to speculations of his intentions to form a new party, with leftist ideologies in focus. Today, the Forward Bloc has its very own newspaper.” She stopped. “The world is at the brink of another war, with the allied powers asking for alliance from the top nations.” She sighed, putting the paper away.
“I will stop reading the newspaper.” She suggested “It is always so depressing. Even on weekends.”
"Try the sports section." Aniruddha smiled suggestively. Bondita turned the leaf. "The East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan match at Mohun Bagan grounds ended in a draw after ninety minutes of the best football." She shook her head. "I don't like football."
"You are surely the first Bengali to say so." Aniruddha shook his head. Bondita eyed him.
“You still have the radio.” Aniruddha smiled. “You can hear some music if that helps.”
“You should have let it stay in Tulsipur.” She shook her head. “I better start studying, the tuition teacher is very strict with pending work.” She said “If I manage to do well in internals in the third year the University examinations will be easier. He even suggested taking up the last two terms together to save a year.”
“He thinks you can do that?” Aniruddha asked, visibly pleased as she nodded.
“Well, at least he is pushing you to do well.” Aniruddha smiled.
“I still miss my old teacher though.” He looked up at her words as she got up. The sudden rain attracted her attention as Bondita rushed out and hurried up the stairs to the roof.
“The dry clothes!” She exclaimed as he silently followed her, and helped her pick them up.
“Even the rains look different here, doesn’t it?” She frowned. “So gloomy.”
“How about a bioscope in the evening?” Aniruddha suggested as they put the clothes down in a bundle. Bondita eyed the wall clock and shook her head as she rubbed the water from her arms with her anchol. “It is almost evening. We will go some other day.” She stood up and looked around the apartment. “We need to clean up for Durga Puja...” She stopped. They wouldn’t be at Tulsipur. The thought dawned on her.
“The para pujo here is a close substitute,” Aniruddha suggested as if he could read her mind. Bondita knew better. “You can take part in it…”
Bondita shook her head. “Oh, the teachers were talking about starting internships at the end of our third year.”
“Indeed.” Aniruddha agreed with his hands in his pocket after he had adjusted his suspenders. “Internship in our career is very important, it teaches you a lot. It is very useful to have a good mentor to guide you. Don’t worry, I will do some research and send your name to some of the best. One of them will surely take you up, given your results in the second term.” He smiled proudly, “And you are a quick learner, it will help.” Bondita nodded.
Aniruddha walked up to the radio and switched it on.
“Khoniko aloke akhiro poloke tomare jobe pai dekhite
Harai harai soda hoy bhoy, haraiya feli chokite.”
He hummed the Rabindrasangeet as the rain outside picked up the pace. Bondita promptly closed the windows as the Radio played on, breaking the silence of the room, as the pitter-patter of the rain outside made a wonderful background score of the song.
“Ohe eto prem ami kotha pabo, nath, tomare wridoy rakhite.”
Aniruddha surprised Bondita by not only singing along but pulling her by her waist up, for a dance.
“Aree aree, let me switch on the lights, it's dark.” She insisted as he shook his head, still humming along.
“You know this is not a premer gaan?” She asked, amused.
“It is to me.” He whirled her around making her giggle a little. “You remember the ball dancing steps?” she nodded.
“You sing terribly.” She giggled and made him frown.
“Oh, and you are some nightingale?” He taunted her as she placed her hands on his shoulders.
“We should stop dancing or else the neighbours would know.” She blushed a little.
"Let them. Our busy schedules make us miss out a lot on each other." He smiled.
The radio suddenly went off due to a power cut and she started laughing. Aniruddha shook his head.
"Even God is against me." He shrugged.
"I thought you never believed in one. Let's tell ghost stories in the dark." Bondita spoke as she walked off to light the candles. Immediately her eyes fell on him, half smiling as he stared at her, with the candle in between, and she found herself tongue-tied. It took her back to one such load-shedding in Tulsipur when a mere brush of his hand on hers had made her shudder. She was more oblivious to the feeling then than she was now.
“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Aniruddha made Bondita conscious as she looked away and her cheeks grew warm.
“I always knew you found it hard to resist around me.” He teased as Bondita narrowed her brows slightly.
“Moteo na.” She protested feebly.
“Oh really?” Aniruddha walked over to her side, the amused smile still on his face. “Why did you stammer then? Ami sob Jani.”
“Kicchu janen na.” Bondita decided to dash to the kitchen as he got intimidatingly closer but he was quick to grab her by the hand, to make her stop. He closed the distance between them making her look away.
“That… that was not because of you.” Bondita was quick to find an answer. “That was the musk perfume!” She looked a little wide-eyed as she blurted and Aniruddha’s face wore a frown. His wife was attracted to his perfume more than he? Bondita looked up at him, seeing his smile disappear.
“The musk perfume?” He asked with raised eyebrows like he heard wrong. Bondita still stared confused about whether to agree or disagree. Aniruddha suddenly burst into laughter.
“Bondita!” He shook his head, a little teary from the laughter. “You say anything just to make an argument!” She smiled a sheepish smile, looking away as he drew her closer by the hand.
“Let’s see what happens without it then, shall we?” Aniruddha spoke like it was a challenge making her go a little wide-eyed.
“N…now?”
“I have no better idea to make use of the load-shedding.” Bondita looked away as Aniruddha pulled her into an embrace before she pushed him away teasingly prompting him to chase her into the bedroom as the flickering lights of the candles burnt out.
Trilochan and Binoy sat at the dining table as Ashapurna served them dinner.
" Somnath?" Trilochan looked up as Ashapurna smiled. "He is visiting a friend in Durgapur."
Trilochan sighed as Binoy looked up at his sad face with questioning eyes.
"Once this house was full of people and there was absolutely no silence. Now it feels so…" Ashutosh's cry rang through the silence of the house as Ashapurna was quick to run upstairs to check on him. Binoy smiled amused.
"You were complaining of silence, Dada." Binoy shook his head "There is never a dull moment with children around." Trilochan nodded in silence.
The nine-year-old Bondita was an enigma in herself. Her questions were not ordinary and neither was she. As she managed to stumble into the kitchen with Koeli in tow fixing her new saree, she looked up at Trilochan's scrutinising face.
"Do I have to wear a saree all the time?" She asked, her tone of authority surprising him. Perhaps nobody had taught the child a mellow and decent tone. "Yes, you are a grown-up now and like all the other ladies around, you will also wear a saree all the time. Koeli will teach you how to wrap it around." He smiled politely. Bondita scrutinised the kitchen.
"Why did you call me here, Kakababu?"
"Well, today we are going to learn something new." He smiled. Bondita's eyes lit up. "Does that mean you will let me learn the alphabet now?" Trilochan's smile faded. The child was not one to let go of something easily. She had insisted she wanted to learn to read like Batuk did. Her reason touched his heart. She wanted to read her mother's letter and write to her on her own. Trilochan had to agree but on one condition. He would groom Bondita in chores and household work.
"Yes, you will study." he reassured, "right after you learn how to make breakfast." Bondita's eyes widened.
"You know Binoy likes his bread, I prefer luchi, there is the tea to be served and cocoa milk for Som and Batuk." Trilochan eyed Bihari. "Bihari and the cook will teach you everything."
" Ekhon?" She asked surprised as he nodded.
Trilochan had walked away on the pretext of work to observe Bondita from afar. Bondita was indeed an impressive quick learner. Within a week she had learnt to handle breakfast by herself. But naughty as she was, her mind full of ideas, he had smiled to himself watching her taste sugar cubes with curiosity, hiding away from Bihari Babu who was confused as he kept counting the cubes.
"What is cocoa Bhari Babu?" She asked as she mixed the powder in the milk.
"I don't know Choto Malkin."
"Let me taste it." She said eagerly, picking up a spoonful.
"Aree aree, Malkin. Don't do that, Boro Malik will scold you if he sees you. That's for the children."
"Why will he scold?" She frowned "Am I not like his daughter?" She put a spoonful in her mouth and frowned.
“Ish! Holud Dudh is better.” She put some cocoa in the milk and started stirring it.
Trilochan Roy Chowdhury wiped away his tears in secret. A part of him wished she was near. He was not getting younger by the day. Another part of him wanted to see how far her dreams led her. Either way he was as proud as a father could be. But the war between his mind and heart, between missing her and wishing her well was inevitable. If his mother was alive she would have probably taunted him for treating the daughter-in-law with so much speciality that he did not even treat his nephews with. But Shubhra Boudi would know. Bondita was indeed special.
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