Chapter 2 (part 1)
Aniruddhâs POV
Boarding on the ship to London was an impromptu decision.
Impromptu and almost subconscious⌠as in he didnât know where he was headed until he was on the ship. When his surrounding registered in his brain his first thought was-
Does she always have to be right?
In his minds eye he could see her cutely nodding her head with a mischievous smile.
He decided to blame their cosmic connection that always seems to pull them towards each other, the same force that miraculously brings her massages to him, to lead him to her. This had to be one of those miracles, how else did he manage to buy the last minute ticket when he didnât even have a destination in mind. Besides, the ship had already left the port, now sailing along the Hooghly River, thereâs no going back now!!
Thankfully he had left letters for his clients and one for his Baba that he would be out of India for the next few months. Not that his family members would care where he was, they have stopped talking to him since he came back from London leaving Bondita there. His Baba was the only one who bothers to talk to him these days.
Asa kyun hai Bondita, ki jab bhi tum mujhse dur hoti ho mai kuch sahi nahi kar pata?
In the last six months he had gathered some philanthropists who could help him enact the child marriage act, stop the violence against women, establish women rights and to ban the Sati Pratha completely from their country. But everytime he came close the achieving his goal, those idiotic, prejudiced, superstitious villagers would do something that he would have to retreat.
And as if to rub salt in his wounds a girl around Bonditaâs age was burned alive at the name of Sati daha near Tulsipur andâŚand he was too late to save her.
AngerâŚfrustrationâŚhelplessnessâŚname any other negative emotion he was feeling it. He hardly had any shut since that day, whenever he closes his eyes he could clearly hears the girls screams and then the girl would be replaced by Bondita, burning on the pyre, her silent eyes didnât had any questions only betrayalâŚhe would wake up screaming, drenched in cold sweat, every single time.
Mujhe bas tumhe ek baar apni ankho sedekhna haiâŚdur se hi sahiâŚbas ek baar!!
He took a deep breath to gain some composure, to his surprise he found himself feeling much better, alive even. A strange kind of sensation was running through his veins, after a long time he had something happy to look forward toâŚthis ship was taking him to his happiness.
He glanced down at the ticket in his hand, there on top of the paper âSecond Classâ was written in bold letters. Well, first time for everything!! He had never traveled in 2ndclass before. Checking the cabin no. he trudged towards the room he will be staying for the next month.
ÂÂÂHis cabin contains basic furniture- a simple bed, a small sofa, wardrobe and a dressing table with washbasin. He will have to use the use the communal lavatories and bathrooms.
He was looking through his suitcase for clean cloths thatâs when his eyes fell on the dressing table mirror and he almost jumped out of his skin cause the man who was looking at him in the mirror looked nothing like him. His unruly hair has grown long enough to fall in his eyes, weeklong stubble has gathered on his face, his shabby cloths were wrinkled but it was his eyes which frightened him the most.If he did ignore the dark circles and the redness, his iris were dull and lifeless.
He looked like a bum.
Thankfully he didnât touch his suitcase since his last visit to London, so he didnât need to worry about cloths. So one problem is taken care of, thousand other to go he thought sarcastically. First order of business find a barber after sending those cloths to the ships laundry service.
So the next three weeks he devoted himself to solve those problems. He did everything he could think of to center himself before reaching London- Yoga, exercise,jogging around the deck, tried to eat and sleep properly.
To some extend it did help but his mental turmoil didnât go away nor could he sleep more than few hours, the ghostly voices would always invade his dreams leaving him sleepless for the rest of the night.
Well atleast he looked presentable. The first class Britishers doesnât seem appalled by him anymore, which was a relief not because he cared what those leeches thought of him but because their high and mighty behavior was rubbing him in the wrong way and he was determined to avoid fighting of any kind in this journey. This was his journey to find the peace of his heart.
Log kahte hai ki Bondita mera krantika mashal hai, per yeh bhi toh sahi hai ki Bondita mere sukoon hai, mere zindegi ka tahrao haiâŚ
Though that didnât stop him from getting into an argument with the Victualling Department of the ship regarding their food quality also because they couldnât provide him a simple coconut shell.
One evening after his run he waited around on the main deck to see the sunset. The ship was swaying gently with the waves of the Red Sea, he perched against the wooden railing resting his body weight on his elbows. The sun was setting behind the Egyptian deserts coloring the sea in a golden hue.
This sunset reminded him of another sunset almost a year ago thousands of nautical miles from here. Under a Bokul treeâŚ
Flashback (last year, one week aftertheir 5th anniversary)
Aniruddh had promised Bondita on their 5th anniversary that he will teach her selfdefence and as per Bengali tradition he had decided to teach her how to use Lathi(baton). They decided to practice in the garden of their new Bagan Bari(a gift from her Sasurjis on her birthday, just outside Tulsipur), away from prying eyes to avoid unnecessary trouble, seeing as Bondita would have to wear form-fitting cloths.
It took her only six days for her to learn how to pin him (the first two days were wasted convincing her that it was ok to attack him, that she needs to learn offensive maneuvers too). She was picking up attack moves pretty fast and while fighting she was sight to see- her long braid dancing behind her with her every move,the perspiration formed on her golden skin was glowing under the afternoon sun,her face was blazed with raw determined.
âŚshe was breathtaking. Which was kinda distracting.
And taking chance of his distracted state she pinned him to the nearest Bokul tree with enough force that the tree shook and they were showered with small aromatic flowers creating a curtain around them.
All he could see was her pure and innocent face, for some reason her eyebrows furrowed froming a frown⌠her scent, a unique combination of sweets, wild flowers and spices, was overpowering his senses, making it hard to thinkâŚhis ears could only focus on her labored breathingâŚ
He knew she has turned 16 but today he was actually aware of it...and when did she grew so tall that he no longer needed to bend down to talk to her.
When Bondita threw away the baton from between them and while doing so she stepped back a little, his arm, without his knowledge, immediatly snaked around her waist to bring her closer to him. Not that she noticed, she was too busy checking him for any sign of injury.
A rolling drop of sweat on her forehead caught this attention. His eyes followed its trail as it rolled down her temple to her jawline then dropped on her neck. But before his eyes could travel to the inappropriate territories Bondita shook him awake from his stupor.
âAap thik toh hai na Patibabu? Aapko kahi lagi toh nahi.â She was practically frantic with worry.
In a lightning speed he retrieved his hands like he has been electrocuted, a icy tendril of fear was running through his veins.
Slowly, sidestepped from between her and the tree, he scurried away from there, giving hera half-baked excuse, which he couldnât recall a minute later.
Kya tha woh? KabâŚmai ase kase soch sakta hu?...Kyun?
Everything was swirling around him, too overwhelmed by shock, confusion, fearâŚdesire?!? He stumbled past the huge iron gate, he knew he should go back, Bondita must be going crazy with worry and guilt. He had left her with a wrong impression but try as he might he couldnât face her, at least not for a while.
He stayed in Calcutta for two days, giving himself enough time to understand his own feelings and when he had returned to Tulsipur he came back with few revelations about himself and his new feelingsâŚ
Firstly, her ealized that he was developing feelings or attraction towards his wife⌠which shouldnât be a problem, it wouldnât have been a problem only if they were a normal couple. And they were not a normal couple.
After what happened with Soudamini the concept of romantic love had muddled in his head and he didnât think about it until that incident. He never had any reason to think about it. He loved Bondita, without any doubt more than anyone he had ever loved. But he wasnât in love with her. Or at least he thought he wasnât.What did it call when you feel attraction toward a person you hold dear to your heart?...ugh, his head hurt even thinking about it and this wasnât even the main issue.
The main issue, his second revelation was that they were a pair of a teacher and an apprentice who were fighting for a cause. His wife wasnât just any girl, she was the beacon for all the women in Tulsipur and given the chance she could easily become the pioneer of woman liberation in Calcutta.
She was born to do great thingsâŚshe was born to flyâŚ
Tum inn rishton ki pinjre mai bandhho ke nahi rah sakti BonditaâŚtumhe urna hogaâŚtumhe ajad hona hoga uss asman kochune ke lyeâŚ
End of Flashback
Aniruddh was pulled out of his reminiscing when two running little boys bumped into him. He felt thankful to those boys for he didnât want to remember the following events.
But did here great his actions? No. No, he didnât . Months later, in retrospect, he has accepted that his abrupt decision to send her to London had originated from his fear of his own changing feelings toward her. But sooner or later it had to happened, she deserved the best education there is and he gave her exactly that. His fears just gave the inevitable a kick start.
But did he felt guilty for imposing his decision on her without taking her feeling into consideration? Yes, very much soâŚhe could never forget her devastated look when he removed her shakha pola and wiped off her Sindoor. That look is going to haunt him for the rest of his life.
He knew she was doing ok, physically at least. He was in constant contact with Mr. Roberts and some of her teachers. But mentally? Emotionally? He had no idea. As promised she didnât call or sent any letters to him or to anyone in India and he didnât call her either.
Bohot strong hai meri Bondita, mai Janta hu tum apni aap ko samhal logiâŚper mai strong nahi hu Bondita, isi liye toh khudko samhal hi nahi pa raha hunâŚtumhari itni aadat per chuki hai ki nahi rah pa raha hu tumhai binaâŚ
I know, ki mujhe London nahi jana chahiye, per mai kya karu? janti hu ki mai swarti hun, lekin ager aur kuch dinbhi India me mai rukta toh pagal ho jataâŚ
Tumhe pata hai? Mujhse koi baat nahikar rehe hai, na Kaka, na Som aur Batuk, aur nahi Bihari aur Koeli⌠maine Kakase unki beti chin li, Som se uska behen aur Batuk se uska dost, Bihari aurKoeli toh apni choti malkin ke bina mujhe chotemalik nahi mantaâŚ
Ghar pe isbar koi puja nahi hua aurnahi koi uttsab manaya gaye hai, Kaka ne toh saaf saaf kah dia hai ki âJab takghar ki Lakshmi wapas nahi a jati tab tak kuch nahi manaya jayega iss gharmaiââŚasa lagta hai ki tum apni sath sath uss ghar ki sari roshni bhi leke gayiho, sach bolu toh khander jasa lagta hai abb woh haveliâŚwase bhi jis ghar maitumhari hasi ki awaaz nahi gungti ho kya wo mera ghar ho sakta hai?
Lekin yeh sab bate tum tak nahi pahuche gi, mai bas ek baar tumhe dur se dekhke chala aunga⌠meri Bondita atmanirvar ban rahi hai ya ban chuki hai, mai kamjor nahi kar sakti useâŚ
Thatâs when another disturbing thought hit him pushing his already messed up mind one more step closer to insanity.
Accha, kya mai sah paunga, ager Bondita mere bina thik huiâŚkush rahi toh? Kya mai iss sach ka samna kar paunga ki use abb meri koi jarurat nahi hai?
Bondita ko sahi raah pahchan ne ke lye abb mari jaruraat nahi hai, use uski raah mil chuki haiâŚlekin ager wahi raah use mujhse dur le gai toh?
Uski ajaadi toh sirf ek temporary solution tha, take woh apni zindegi khulke jii sake, lekin agar usne hamesha kelye ajaadi mang li toh??
Their future turned hazy right before his eyes, hiding behind misty fogs where he could see only the shaky images. He had always envisioned her future, but what about their future? were they even a 'they' anymore.
Among all these uncertainties he was sure of one thing, the coming week stuck in this ship was going to be hell on Earth for him...
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AN- Very, very, very sorry for updating so late
iss chapter ko likhne me meri dimag ki dahi ban gayi.
Edited by castlebones - 5 years ago
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Cricket
