The Estranged Lovers

The Misstep

Anirudh leaned back on his chair, in his cabin aimlessly. "Bondita" he chanted for umpteenth time. He had always thought that he knew his Bondita. He had seen everything from her full-blown cheeks when she was angry to her moist eyes when she was disappointed in him, from her tear-stained sad face to her bright amused face which bore resemblance to the sun. He had been with her, through all her emotional changes and mood swings. But this behavior of hers was new to him. Her way of saying words which could hurt like daggers with a smile on her face was new to him. Her face not lighting up at his sight was new to him. Her habit of trying to avoid him was newfangled for him. "Did your Sakha babu hurt you that much, Bondita?" Anirudh could only ponder, with hands on his face as grief took over his heart, yet again.

"Tomorrow, you need to bring a proof of your identity and your residence certificate. We can then apply for seeking business in the government building. Have a good day" Bondita concluded, as the last man scheduled for today turned to leave. Though she was thoroughly exhausted, she felt extremely satisfied with her work. "Prem Dada" she called out to the peon. "I think we are done for today?" "Yes, Barrister madam, unless you want to check the files for tomorrow." Prem Dada replied. "Ah, actually I recently came here and didn't have a chance to check the places around here. I will take a short break and come back within 2 hours to check on tomorrow's files. Is that okay?" Bondita replied, after a moment of consideration. "Sure Ma'am" Prem Dada responded, unaware that their Barrister madam would not be coming back neither after two hours nor within the next two days.

"Anirudh beta, what can we tell you of our sufferings? Those idiot farmers have made our lives miserable. Neither do they work on the fields, nor do they allow anyone else to work." "We will solve this issue, Chachu. Don't worry." Anirudh replied in a bid to console his relatives about the farmer's issue. Though he was initially distracted and had no intention to work that day, he still had to keep his Trilochan Kaka's word. Thus, now there he was, sitting amongst his distant relatives since the last two hours, while listening to their sufferings of how the peasants on their field wanted to stop paying the taxes and were forcing other people to stop working there. "Chacha ji, do you have a receipt of all the taxes you paid?" Anirudh inquired. "Yes, yes of course. Oh, Munshi sir, please give those receipt we got to Barrister Babu." His chacha replied immediately. "Hmm" Anirudh read through those receipts and found nothing amiss. "Chacha ji, there is no problem with the receipts. Let me talk those farmers tomorrow. If they don't agree to end this protest, we can file a court case." Anirudh concluded. "Ah, Beta. Do you think we did not try talking to them? You are new here. You don't know those peasants. There, they are sitting prepared with all kinds of weapons. If something happens to you, when you go to talk to them tomorrow, how can we ever show our faces to Trilochan da?" his relatives responded with the speed of light. "But..." "No buts" Another relative cut Anirudh off "you go ahead and file the case in the district court, we will inform those peasants." "Ok, I guess" Anirudh replied, with no clue that this was his first step towards a grave mistake which he was about to commit.

Anirudh came back, filed the case and submitted it to the court for a hearing. He soon set off to inform his relatives that the hearing was in two days' time and their presence was mandatory, before returning back home to study another case. Two days passed in a flash and Anirudh now stood in front of relatives on the plaintiff side in his barrister robe. His eyes turned towards those poor peasants. They seemed anxious and were continuously on a lookout towards the doors, as if all those eyes were set on someone's arrival. Shortly, the judge arrived and there was still no sign of a defending barrister. Even now, Anirudh was worried for those peasants who looked extremely dejected of being stood up by their lawyer.

Finally, the judge commenced, "Well, well it seems the defendants still do not have an attorney on their side. So, naturally, to be fair, we have to shift the hearing..." Anirudh sighed; he knew this would happen.

"Sorry for being late. I am the defendants'attorney." A voice thundered from the entrance of the court, before the judgecould continue any further.