Anidita : Broken Strings

Inefficacious Bondita

Bondita made her decision. To go to the hostel. But she first had to give the examination in her school and collect her leaving certificate to get interviewed and admitted in the hostel. The formalities began.
"Bondita. Pehle tumhe school ki pareeksha ki taiyyari karni hogi. Achhe se taiyyari karna." Anirudh said to Bondita. Bondita looked at him being surprised.
He was confusing her so much. He would not talk to me generally, but his face lit up telling me to perform well. He wants me to be successful? Like he always did? Or what this just the happiness of getting rid of me? "Kya hua Bondita?" Anirudh broke her chain of thoughts. She looked away immediately. "Haan. Theek hai. Mujhe hostel jaana hai."
"Agar koi pareshani ho toh tum study mein aa jaana." Anirudh said.
This short conversation seemed to be between two strangers. Who once talked so cheerfully were uncomfortable. The cheerful Bondita was gloomy. Bondita went back to her room to prepare for her tests.

Somnath entered Bondita's room which was a complete mess with Bondita sitting on the chair with both her hands on her forehead. "Arey Boudi. Aise kyun baithi ho? Koi samasya hai? Main madad karu? Batao kya samajh nahi aa raha." Anirudh was eavesdropping them. He felt relieved everytime he saw Somnath helping Bondita.
"Dada, samasya kya hai yeh mujhe bhi samajh nahi aa raha. Yeh sab padha hua hai maine, lekin dimaag ne kaam karna bandh kar diya hai shayad. Kuch samajh nahi aa raha."
"Ek kaam karo Boudi, tum thodi der aaram kar lo. Padhayi fir kar lena. Shayad need poori nahi huyi hai isliye. Main chalta hoon. Theek hai?"
She nodded her head and covered herself up with the blanket. Somnath came out to find Anirudh eavesdropping them. Without waiting for his explanation, he said "Boudi keh rahi hai, usse padhayi ki nahi jaa rahi. Samajh nahi aa raha. Kitna kuch hua hai pichhle kuch dino mein uske saath. Kya beet rahi hogi Boudi ke mann par. Kaise lagega padhayi mein mann! Aur iss sab ke liye Thank You Dada. Thank you so much." He joined his palms.
For Anirudh, he stayed there thinking about Bondita. He wanted to secure her future but was this the correct way? In fact, this act of his would cause more harm. He was still confused. He still did not understand what was wrong and what was right. His concern for Bondita and the urge to do anything and everything to secure her future was taking over his rational thinking. And the worse thing, he is oblivious of the havoc it is creating in their life and impact it is laying on his little Bondita's mind.

2 days passed. Bondita practised all day. Trying her best to concentrate. Because she could not stand what was happening to her and wanted to leave. Anirudh prepared a test paper for her. He gave it to her as a practice of the examination in the school. He was in shock while evaluating the answer sheet. Sentences of the answers left incomplete, and a lot of errors!
When Principal Sir warned him about Bondita being distracted, it was a nightmare for him to see his Bondita fail. But even then, her scores were atleast better than they were now. Because back then, her state of mind was different.
He kept the evaluated sheet on her desk silently. She stood there blank. She saw the paper and thought that Anirudh got nother chance to make her feel why he chose Manorama over her and that they would belittle her, humiliate her. She wiped the tears forming in her eyes. About to cry, she looked at Anirudh. But his facial expressions were saying something entirely opposite to what she was thinking. Why was she seeing his Shikshak Babu back in his eyes? The Shikshak who would be even happier than her on her victory and gloomy everytime she fell back.
"Tumhein bhi pata hai na ki tumhein yeh sab aata hai, Bondita? Bondita, tum yeh nahi kar sakti kya? Tum sab kuch kitna jaldi yaad kar leti thi, fir kya hua?"
"Main kar sakti hoon. Aur main karungi. Yeh wada hai mera. Khud se. Meri taiyyari mein madad karne ke liye aapka shukriya Biris.." she sighed.
With every such stop of hers, every sigh of helplessness which left Bondita's mouth, Anirudh's heart sank.
Manorama just then called Anirudh and he unwillingly left.
He was agitated. And what Manorama did yesterday made him angry everytime he spoke to her. How could she even think of slapping Bondita!? It was her mistake to leave, whatever her secret things were, carelessly; without locking the cupboard. Though he scolded her for it but he could not forget it for even a second. This would remain in the way he behaves with her after that. No matter what good she does, this impression would never fade.
After thinking about Bondita's performance in the test, Anirudh decided to once again teach her himself. Bondita always enjoyed his company. She still did. The joy of being with him deep buried under the sorrow. She was told to not think about anything else but just her exams. She still was confused with Anirudh's behaviour. But she decided to think about that later. She gave her exam. And unlike other times, when she used to get 100 on 100, she got lesser marks. Lesser for Bondita, good enough for the rest of the world.

Meanwhile,
The hostel received Anirudh's requested and accepted it. They were to send someone to interview Bondita very soon.
It was hard for Anirudh to convince himself. Really hard.
He could not run away from the fact that he would miss Bondita a lot! And that his day would be incomplete without seeing her. His entire day; the entire aim of life revolved around only and only her. And she was his sunshine. From where would he get the support to complete the challenges of life?

While Manorama was progressing towards the final move of her mission. Her aim was to sacrifice her life doing something for her motherland. No one in the house knew about it; of course, the rest of the family wouldn't but Anirudh too didn't know about it.

Both Manorama and Anirudh's tests were heading towards their results.