Anidita: Falling Apart

Take Each Man's Censure But..

Contd from last chap...

Thakuma's POV

Charulata and Harikanta exchanged wicked smile with each other as guests continued to speak amongst themselves

The powerful grip of Abhas stopped the second blow from landing on Bondita's cheeks.

Abhas (enraged) - I will not allow anyone to stop Bondita from speaking the truth. No.....not even you Sumati ma.

Ttthhhuuddd....

Landed Sumati's palms on Abhas's cheek.

Sumati (sharply pointing her index finger upon Abhas with enraged eyes) - How dare you stop me from disciplining my own daughter? What right do you have over her? Remember, you are not yet married to her. Stop coming between a mother and daughter; and what kind of culture do you come from that brought you here to exchange rings with an already married woman? You do not have a right to snatch away someone else's plate. So what if the plate was left uneaten. So what if the eater chose another full plate? It just means that's a left over food, not ready to be eaten then but can surely be selected by its owner later on. This plate belongs to my jamai babu. Get yourself a fresh full plate somewhere else.

Abhas (calming down)- Sumati Ma, Bondita was never just your daughter to me, but my dearest friend since the beginning and now she is my fiancee. We will marry to share some of our rights 'with' each other, not 'On' each other.

"Abhas, you don't need to explain anything to her" Bondita interrupted him "We have discussed it twice in detail and its enough for any stable person to understand our relationship or upcoming marriage. Now Ma, its true I might not love Abhas the way he deserves, but I swear I'll not hesitate to add one more sin of ingratitude to my pot of sins if you raise your hand on him again."

Charulata - Sumati you see, it's not our son's fault, your daughter is a dissatisfied witch. So ungrateful towards her own mother who bore her for 9 months. Kalindi failed to impart right values to her granddaughter, education has spoiled her character and sense of duty as a wife & daughter.

Harikanta (in a surprised tone)- You were right to predict Charulata, I did not foresee this day decades ago, when my son was hanging out with this street wanton who betrays her own mother.

"Correction Zamindar babu" Bondita replied with an apathetic look at him. "The cold blood of this woman does flow in my vein, but in a true sense, my mother went missing ages ago. This enraged woman standing before us today, is the mother-in-law of her Jamai babu. She herself declared her death long ago."

"Bojh hai tu mujh par, Mar gayi teri Ma" Sumati stood numb reminscing her self-declaration.

Sumati (anxiously with shooting glares) - Listen Bondita, I said that on fit of my power trip. You can cry over our bigot society's attempt to make you Sati later, but was'nt the only instance Anirudh Babu pulled you out from the ashes. When he took you to his home, you were the face of his intense passion, an obsession to do something that would change the world and no wonder he made you the torch bearer of revolution that you wished to see in Bharat. But, he did everything at your disposal to keep you smiling, including burning your heart, your desires even when you were that young. When you were denied treatment, he hurt himself and if it wasn't for that Badmash Bondita, he would not have let himself bleed to death. When he worked day and night to cure your bed wetting problem, you think he did it because he only wanted to win the challenge?