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“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 words.
“Have you forgotten that it takes hours to reach the islands?” She raised her brows. “Anyway, I am…” She walked past him as Aniruddha glanced over his shoulder.
“Bondita, wait.” He made her stop. “Have you eaten?” She nodded and murmured something about breakfast.
“You should pack your lunch.” He suggested as he walked up to face her again. Bondita shook her head uneasily as she clutched at her bag. “Umm… Jyatha Moshai’s men visited Kaka. he wants me to have lunch at… home?” She said, unsurely. Aniruddha pressed his lips with a worried look.
“Are you sure…?” Bondita shook her head.
“We have gone over this. I have to do what I have to do.” She eyed him, looking displeased.
“Great, have lunch at their home then.” Bondita was hoping he would move away from her path, but instead, he knelt, making her step back, unsurely. Aniruddha held the hem of her saree and adjusted the Kuchi that was flurrying around. “Crispy sarees are unmanageable.” He said almost to himself. Bondita felt uneasy as his hand brushed over her ankles and feet.
“I… will do that…” She objected as he narrowed his brows and looked up at her.
“What is wrong if I do it?” He asked as she was at a loss for words. Harun honked his rickshaw horn from downstairs as Bondita stepped back, making him stand up. “I should go.”
“Dugga Dugga.” Aniruddha made her smile as she walked away in a hurry.
Bondita stepped onto the boat with the help of the boatman, to realise, she was scared to get on the boat, something younger Bondita would have never imagined.
“Are you alright, Madam?” The man from the NGO enquired. “People who are new here…”
“I am fine.” She interrupted. Bondita sat on the middle seat of the boat, looking at the endless water around her, occasional islands coming up now and then, the thick mangrove swaying over the water, fishes making ripples, a few storks near the waterbody, Kites whirling in circles above the water looking for prey, the occasional call of some animal she could not identify as they reached the other side of Bidyadhari. There was a crowd of villagers at the Ghat of Alamethi, and she suddenly felt a little sceptical. The man from the NGO introduced her to a party worker and some members of the Panchayat as she folded her hands. One of the older men frowned at her with his wrinkled forehead rippling further as he enquired, “You are the same Bondita who…” Bondita remembered the man as Raju Kaku, who was part of the Panchayat. She touched his feet as he smiled unexpectedly. “Thaak, Thaak, Obaba! Did not expect to see you here again.”
“I came to help.” Bondita smiled. The man nodded. “We heard Trilochon Roy Chowdhury helped you. How did you know him?” He enquired eagerly as Bondita smiled.
“I did not… He is…”
“Aniruddha Babu’s uncle. I know.” The man nodded, “You will be glad to know that despite your audacity to run away like that, we still commissioned the roof of the girls' school.” There was a hint of displeasure in his voice that was interrupted by the NGO workers leading Bondita to a school building where the legal camp would be conducted. Bondita eyed the premises, a little overwhelmed. The premises of the school remained the same, yet there was so much unfamiliarity about it. The classrooms had more facilities like benches and a proper board, there was a separate staff room, and the two-storey building had a permanent roof and a playground. The camp was set up in tents on the ground. She walked up to the benches brought out from the school to be used as desks, and she kept her bag down. Someone came in and adjusted a stand fan to face her. It started moving rather slowly.
“So we will review the issues there…” The man pointed. “And if we think the issue needs legal help, we will send them to you.” Bondita nodded. She sat down on the bench and checked the lack of signal on her phone before she put it away and waited. She did not have to wait long as two villagers, probably in their twenties, in lungis lifted to their knees and faded shirts came up to her, arguing with each other.
“My father had agricultural lands.” The older one spoke up. “He died without a will, now my brother wants half his land.” Bondita frowned.
“He is your sibling, so he is entitled to…”
“Half the land was damaged by the cyclone.” The man interrupted. “Why should I give away the fertile half? What will I eat?” The other man interrupted him agitatedly. “He can’t keep the entire land; tell him.”
“Alright, here’s what you do: You both have a half share of damaged land and fertile land. I will see to it that a Panchayat member volunteers to be a witness to the divide. The land needs to be measured first.”
“But it will cost us.” The man frowned.
“Yes, even the cost will be divided equally.” The men did not seem very happy with her suggestion, although they did not say it to her face. They kept mumbling about the expenses as they stepped out of the tent to meet the Panchayat members.
Among the crowd of men who were disputing properties and land, poultry and cattle, was a woman who was stopped by the NGO member, but Bondita wanted to talk to her directly. The woman had a printed blue saree on, and her hair looked messy, and the sindoor had faded. She came up to Bondita and was reluctant.
“How can I help you?” The woman looked a little scared.
“Can you call the police?” Her inquiry made Bondita look up with a frown. “Why do you need the police?”
“I… my husband comes home drunk and beats me.” Bondita was a little bothered about the lack of emotion in her voice, but she could immediately spot the healed injuries in her hand. “I went to the Panchayat, but they said the Police don’t interfere in family matters.” She gulped. “I am expecting a child, and I fear he will harm my child.”
“What does he do?” Bondita enquired, asking her to take a seat. The woman looked reluctant.
“He… works for the party…” Bondita inhaled. “And that helps you… financially?”
“I work at people’s homes in Gosaba and Canning.” She shook her head. “But he takes my money away. He took the very little jewellery I had and gambled it away.”
Bondita straightened herself as she asked in a lower voice, “Do you want to leave him?” The fear in the woman’s face at her words was not hard to comprehend.
“Leave him? And go where?” She gulped. “Na, Na. I just want a Daroga Babu to scare him so that he stops beating me till my baby is born.” Bondita looked shocked at her statement. “My child needs a father. Where will I dare to go?”
“Listen to me.” Bondita placed her hand over the woman’s hand gently. “There is a world out there that will be better for your child’s future than a father who drinks and beats his mother. Some people can help you find a decent job and also take care of your child’s education. If you want to…” The woman stood up. “No, no, I don’t want to leave him. I made a mistake by coming here.” She exclaimed. Bondita stood up, trying to calm her down. “What’s your name?”
“Jhumri.” She shook her head. “I…”
“Listen, Jhumri.” Bondita eyed her. “How old are you?” She looked confused.
“I … don’t know…” She shook her head. “I have been married for five years. Before that, I used to go to school.” Bondita frowned. “Which class were you in?”
“Seventh.” Bondita suddenly felt angry as she eyed some of the men around the camp, eyeing them as they spoke.
“Jhumri, listen to me,” Bondita said in a low voice. “I am staying at Sonakhali at the Roy Chowdhury house; find me there. I need you to speak to someone.”
“No, Madam.” The woman shook her head. “If the police can’t scare him… I don’t want to do anything.” She shook her head.
“Then there is no guarantee your unborn child will survive the beating, is there?” Jhumri’s face turned pale at Bondita’s words as she abruptly turned and left in a hurry. Bondita summoned the NGO worker and enquired where she lived. She noted it down in her notepad and exhaled. The people from the NGO spoke about how common Jhumri’s case was around the villages. Bondita interjected that it was the same in towns and cities, only they were hidden well. She asked them if they could continue doing welfare checks on her from time to time. One of the women volunteers at the NGO suggested that they could do it on the pretext of her pregnancy. Bondita agreed and warned them not to interfere and take her away if they found her in any danger, even if they needed help from the Police to force her to separate from her husband. “Tell the police that Trilochon Roy Chowdhury sent you.”
The NGO worker reminded her that if she wished to, she could take her lunch break. Bondita eyed the watch, and it was 1 PM. She nodded. “I will go visit my Kaka.” Bondita was packing her things when she heard two men from the village outside the tent speaking among themselves in the local dialect.
“Should we tell Jhumri’s husband?” One voice spoke.
“Tell him what? The Madam scared her?”
“Oh, she is no Madam, do you know who she is?” Bondita heard her father’s name after a long time in the conversation.
“He used to teach some kids, got the idea of education in her head.”
“She escaped?” The younger man gasped. “What audacity she had to come back here.”
“Tell me about it. All these people have no idea about her. They were mostly infants when she… asked the elders… she escaped with a man.”
The younger man gasped again. “A man? She doesn’t look married.”
The other man laughed. “Maybe he left her, too.”
“It is wrong for her to stay around our women, right?” The man sounded concerned.
“What can we do? She has some kind of favouritism with the Panchayat.”
Bondita stepped out of the tent as they stopped talking and eyed her. Bondita spared them a glance, a man barely past his teen and another a little older, about her age. She did not recognise either of them from her past, but it had been years. Bondita walked away.
Bondita’s Kaka and his family had shifted back to Alamethi after Bondita and Thamma left. A part of Bondita felt that they were driven out of Sonakhali after the incident, and they went back to Bondita’s childhood home, which she shared with her parents. She walked down the shortcut by the jungle with one of the Panchayat members and stopped at the sight of her home. Something overwhelmed her as she eyed the courtyard where she spent most of her happy memories of her childhood with her parents. She saw a Khatiya in the corner where her mother used to dry cow dung cakes, and the kitchen was shifted to the other side to make an extra room. There was a woman, in sindoor and Shakha pola, by the kitchen area, trying to separate the starch from the rice as her eyes fell on Bondita standing by the bamboo gates.
“Bondita?” She stood up, adjusting her saree. “Is that you?”
“Tapur?” Bondita looked pleasantly surprised at her cousin. “You got married!” She nodded as she came to stand by the bamboo gate. “Come in.” She said, wiping her hand on her anchol. “It is so good to see you.” Bondita smiled as she came forward to hug Tapur, who froze. Bondita found the hug awkward as she eyed the woman who stood before her. Tupur was three years younger than her, Kaka’s older daughter.
“Where is Tupur?” Bondita enquired. She suddenly looked embarrassed because she realised she had come empty-handed.
“She… works as an Ayah for an old lady in town. She comes back late.”
Bondita nodded. “Maa, Maa?” Tapur called out, “Look who is here.” Bondita expected displeasure as she came out of the hut, but instead, Kaki had a smile on her face.
“Bondita. Look how you have grown.” Bondita touched her feet as the woman surprised her with a hug. “I never doubted that our Bondita will be someone great someday.”
“I am not… I am just working as a…” Bondita stopped as Kaki continued gushing over how the villagers respected her now, listened to her advice, and even the Panchayat spoke no ill of her. She hoped now that the respect and dignity they had lost were restored. She lamented about how they had to sell their old home and come live in whatever little Bondita’s parents had left them. Bondita gulped.
“I am sorry that you…”
“No, No! See Tapur, I knew she would come back to help us; your father did not believe me.” Tapur looked awkward as Bondita’s jaws tightened. “Where is Kaku?” Her aunt gestured at the open door of the hut. Bondita walked into the relatively dark room where her Kaku sat in a corner on a mat, his frail body leaning against the mud wall of the hut.
“Kaku.” She tried to touch his feet, but he refused. “How is Pishima?”
“She is well. She wanted to come, but her health…” Bondita did not know why she lied. The man shot a glance at her.
“And… you are here all alone?” Bondita shook her head. “I… am not here alone.”
“Ah, why will she come alone?” Kaki interrupted. “The Roy Chowdhurys must have sent someone with her, they have a lot of maids and…”
“No, Aniruddha Babu insisted.” Bondita tried hard to take his name in the same monotone with which she spoke. Kaki gasped.
“Oh, he is here? Why did you come here alone? Silly girl.” Bondita narrowed her brows as Kaki lamented about how god-like, angel-sent Roy Chowdhurys were. Tapur interrupted, asking Bondita to come out for lunch. As she was about to follow her outside, Kaku straightened himself and asked, “Why did you run away with him? Did he promise you something and lure you?” His rebuking tone made Bondita’s jaw tighten.
“Not everyone helps with motives; not everyone has eyes on a woman just because he is a man. He is man enough to not sell me off for some…” Kaki interrupted again as Kaku looked away, almost dragging Bondita to the courtyard.
“Don’t mind him, please.” Kaki smiled sheepishly. “Old man has lost his mind.” She rebuked. Bondita eyed the food Tapur laid out. Rice, Dal, and Fish Curry. Bondita sat down and eyed how the other women had a vegetable instead of the fish.
“Where do you stay, Tapur?” Bondita asked as she smiled faintly.
“She stays with us,” Kaki answered instead, making Bondita look up with questioning eyes.
“She means… My husband works in the city. He comes by once a month.” Tapur bit her lip.
“Does he have no family?” Bondita enquired. Tapur shook her head and smiled faintly. “After you left, Baba married me off in a hurry to the man he was supposed to look for you.” Bondita’s hand stopped at her morsel as Kaki scolded Tapur. “Bygones, Tapur. You are happily married.”
“Do you have… children?” Bondita’s question made Kaki look awkward as Tapur shook her head. “After two times, they said I can’t… I…” Her eyes glistened, and Bondita’s throat dried.
“Why don’t you go live with your husband?” Tapur gasped at her idea. “The city is expensive. I stay sick most of the time, and he feels that if I can’t work there, there is no point being an extra mouth to feed.” Bondita nodded as she finished her food in a hurry.
“Bring Aniruddha Babu along before you go back.” Kaki’s words did not register in her head as she eyed Tapur through her chores.
“Tapur. Come sit with me for a while before I leave.” Tapur agreed with Bondita’s words as she patted the empty side of the Khatiya, and Kaki left to check on Kaka. Bondita could hear arguments indoors as Tapur smiled awkwardly. “Don’t mind, Baba, you know how he…”
“Are you happy, Tapur?” Bondita’s question made her raise her brows, looking surprised. A faint smile appeared on the corner of her lips. “What kind of a question is that?”
“A simple one. Are you happy with your life, Tapur?” Bondita felt a sense of guilt creep in as Tapur looked away. “Not everyone is as brave as you to choose their paths.”
“If you could…” Bondita held her cold hand on her own. “What would you do?” Tapur looked scared at Bondita’s words. “What is the point…”
“Just answer me. Please.”
“I would have married a husband who loves me. Who won’t care if I was a mother or not…” Tapur looked away. Bondita frowned as she tightened her grip on Tapur’s hand. “Does he…”
“No, no. He is a good man. He doesn’t tell me anything. But I understand.” Tapur smiled faintly. “I understand he is reluctant to visit me. He looks at the children playing, and a sense of loss hits him.”
“Tapur, he can’t blame you even in silence for all that.” Bondita insisted.
“I don’t know. Everyone thinks that way, don’t they? Where do you find a man who respects and honours you?” Bondita’s eyes widened as her heart skipped a beat, and she looked away.
“Enough about me” Tapur shook her head. “What about you? Have you found someone…” Bondita shook her head. “Thamma insists on looking.” She smiled faintly. Tapur smiled back.
“I would like to go to your wedding.” Her words made Bondita smile and nod as Tapur held her hand with both of hers. “I really missed you.”
“I am sorry, Tapur. You should blame me for everything that happened in your life.” Bondita’s voice trembled.
“No, Bondita.” Tapur shook her head. “You don’t know fate.” She eyed Bondita’s restless face and sighed. “On a lighter note, for a long time, everyone thought you ran away with Aniruddha Babu because you were in love or something.” Tapur made her look up awkwardly.
“I was ten, Tapur.” She looked flabbergasted. Tapur smiled. “You know what people here think. Thank heavens his younger brother came by a year later and set that rumour to rest.” Tapur eyed Bondita, looking perplexed.
“He is handsome, too. Like his brother.” Bondita eyed Tapur’s amusement and smiled faintly.
“Som Dada got married recently. Boudi is a teacher.” Bondita shared. Tapur asked about the house and family members. Bondita talked of Batuk and his antiques, making Tapur share a laugh.
“What about Aniruddha Babu?” Tapur asked. “I assumed you must have the most to speak about him, yet you speak so little about him.”
“I work at his firm.” Bondita smiled. Tapur eyed her. “No, not that, how he is…”
Tapur caught Bondita’s awkward glance as she looked away.
“He is a good man. He works with certain NGOs and…”
“Does he have a wife?” Tapur’s words made Bondita frown as she shook her head.
“I thought so.” Tapur nodded. Bondita enquired why.
“A man like that, his wife would not leave him alone for days at a remote place like this with the girl he ran away with.” Tapur joked. Bondita’s face turned red with embarrassment.
“Tapur! It’s not…” Tapur eyed Bondita’s reaction.
“I was joking.” She nudged, “Were you always this serious about jokes?” Tapur wondered out loud. “When are you leaving, Bondita?”
“Tuesday. I have another camp on Monday.” She explained. Tapur smiled.
“Can I visit you tomorrow?” Her words made Bondita happy, and she nodded.
“I will also meet him.” Tapur smiled as Bondita looked up at her. “The man who stole my sister.” Bondita looked alarmed.
“Please don’t joke like this in front of him.” Tapur chuckled at her scared face.
“I will not, I promise.” She nodded. “But I do want to meet him. Touch his feet and thank him for saving you. At least one of us should be able to do as they dream.” Bondita hugged Tapur. This time, all the awkwardness melted into a familiarity she missed as she wiped her tears.
“Why are you crying, silly girl?” Tapur wiped her tears. “You made me cry.”
“Remember when Kaki beat me? You used to cry.” Bondita smiled between her tears as Tapur smiled back. A man from the NGO interrupted them to inform Bondita that nobody else had come by, and they should head for the Ghats to reach Sonakhali by dusk. Bondita nodded. The man left as Bondita opened her purse, took out the money she had in a bundle and handed it to Tapur.
“No, Bondita…” She shook her head.
“This is for Kaki.” Bondita smiled. “Don’t refuse, my experience says you will be rebuked.” Tapur nodded as she looked perplexed. “Will you come back home again?”
Bondita smiled faintly. “I have a home in Chandannagar. Where Thamma is.” Tapur wanted to protest as Bondita shook her head. “No, Tapur. I am not angry or anything. It's just that with time, places and people should turn to sweet memories. I want to keep it that way when I think of Alamethi. I don’t want to come back and remember some bitter truths.” Tapur understood.
Harun led the rickshaw into the open courtyard as Bondita got down and found Aniruddha at the threshold. Padma came out of the kitchen with tea as soon as she sat down on the empty chair, holding her neck as it pained. Aniruddha dragged another empty chair beside her and refused the tea as he waited for her to speak up.
“What?” Bondita eyed his stare as she looked away and sighed.
“What happened?” He enquired.
“I had a good experience. There is another camp at…”
“I meant at home.” Aniruddha interrupted.
“I have decided to send them money.” She straightened herself. “I know Thamma will not like it, but…”
“Are you alright?” Aniruddha made Bondita stop as she nodded in silence. “Did anyone say anything?” Bondita did not answer.
“Tapur said she wants to meet you. I told her to come by tomorrow.” Bondita smiled faintly. “She has been married… for fourteen years.” Aniruddha frowned at her words. Tapur used to be younger than her, as far as he could remember. She would barely be ten when married, then.
“Is she in some kind of trouble?” He asked. Bondita smiled, a little amused.
“Can people only see you if they are in trouble?” She stopped smiling as he tilted his head, observing her amusement and breathed in. Bondita looked away and concentrated on her cup of tea. Padma asked them to sit in the office instead of in the open after dark as dusk set in. Bondita walked into the office with her tea as Padma served some Tele Bhaja on a plate on the desk and turned on the lights.
“Choto Malik has been waiting for you to have this…” She smiled as she left, and Aniruddha entered with the chair.
“You did not need to wait. I told you…” Bondita was about to turn when the light went out. Bondita was scared of the unfamiliar darkness as her hands reached out in a reflex to find his. Aniruddha was unsure whether it was a mistake when he felt her presence near him. He held his breath and tightened his grip on her hand. He held her hand reassuringly as Padma entered with a kerosene lamp, making her leave his hand as she took the lamp from her. Aniruddha watched as Bondita placed the lamp on the desk.
“You were saying…” He raised his brows as she inhaled.
“Nothing. Don’t wait for me, I don’t like that.” She shook her head, making him look amused.
“You don’t like that? You sound like me.” Aniruddha looked astonished.
“You like it and pretend not to.” Bondita bit her lower lip as she looked away, her face visible to him in the flickering light of the lamp. Aniruddha smiled at her words with a faint nod.
“I can’t deny that, can I? When have you been wrong about me?” Bondita looked up at his words, the light from the lamp reflecting on his spectacles as his voice sounded low. Bondita placed the lamp down on the desk, stepped back without a word and turned to leave.
“Bondita?” Aniruddha made her stop. “I…” He closed his eyes and inhaled. “I hope you are happy now that you have been home.” He cleared his throat. Bondita did not turn as she smiled faintly.
“You were right, I was home. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She shook her head as he looked up a little unsurely. “I want to go back home.” She murmured as she walked away. Aniruddha froze in his place as his heart skipped a beat.
