Bondita : Anirudh's Sunshine

16. Surprises

The day passed teaching a few lessons and the night at the Das Bari was exceptionally beautiful. The new crescent moon made a swing in the dark night sky. There was a certain calmness in the air. Anirudh sat at the terrace on a mat, legs folded, leaning backward, pressing his body weight on his arms, stared at the open sky as if it was something new, something different, something refreshing. The reason was obvious, Bondita was almost her usual self throughout the day, talking nonstop, arguing her points, laughing a little louder, smiling quite a lot, her face was painted with happiness. Did he aspire for anything more? No matter which place it was, no matter with whom she talked, with whom she laughed, all that mattered was that she was coming back, slowly, but she was returning to her normal self. He closed his eyes to imbibe the tranquility.

After a good amount of time, he went to their room. She had already slept, a satisfied smile adorned her lips. She looked so innocent, so pure. His little Bondita who would go round and round doing his parikrama, who would run behind him all the time, "Pati Babu this. Pati Babu that." Oh how he missed her! He sneaked into his portion of the bed and slept peacefully without any trouble even when the place was new, even when he hadn't read anything.

The Roy Chowdhury family members woke up early in the morning and prepared themselves for the Shashti Puja. The grandeur of the pandal mesmerized them. Tapur joined them and they went to meet Harish.

Kalindi had arranged for mahabhoj on all the five days to express her gratitude for all the blessings she received. Harish was given the work of helping the cook in preparing the mahabhoj and the five promptly joined him. They busied themselves in ways possible. Som and Batuk tried to assess their knowledge about spices. Batuk had the experience of going into the kitchen at Roy Chowdhury mansion at least to hide sweets from Bondita and eat as per the grumblings of his stomach, but Som, Som had never been to the kitchen, not even to keep his plate. The duo tried to sniff the spices in an attempt of identifying, each time they sneezed, they covered their nose and mouth with their hand and Anirudh would ask them to wash their hands. Finally, when his brothers were tired of washing hands again and again, he showed them the trick to prevent sneezing.

Bondita laughed at the recollection of how her Kaka Sasurji taught her the basics of kitchen. Som and Batuk frowned, Tapur stuck her tongue out and scratched her head. Batuk grunted and looked at Bondita annoyed. Bondita fondly narrated her first day in the rasoighar as if dreaming the sequence. The way her Kaka Sasurji explained the rules to be followed in kitchen,"Bahar salate pe chaak koi bhi ghiswale tumse, par yaha rasoighar mein toh hum hi master hu tumhare. Hum sikhayenge tumhe ki kushal grahani kaise banna hai." "Aadmiyon ka rasoi me aana shoba deta hai kya?"  He should see his sons now, in kitchen, that too at her mayka. "Aise theer tukke se kaam chalega kya rasoighar me? Isiliye sikha rahe hai tumhe, dhyan do." "Ha, theek hai, theek hai. Hum samjh gaye ke ilaichi ka avishkar tumhari Maa ne hi kiya hai." The way she had argued over the names of the spices, "Badam khane se dimag tez hota hai, yeh suna tha, par koi patha bhi tez hota hai kya Kaka Sasurji?"  "Mai toh kehti hu, iska naam Javithri nahi, Aavithri hona chahiye." Ilaichi, kali mirch and a lot of tarks. The way her Birristera Babu helped her control sneezing. Anirudh recalled how she had addressed him as her Rakshak Babu and taken the promise to always be with her, his heart warmed. All were looking at her face which emitted the radiance of a thousand sun, a constant curve on their lips with occasional giggles and laughter escaping their mouth. She finally said, "Kaka Sasurji was always by my side, in happy and sad times, he was the one who wanted whole heartedly that I be his Bahu, the Roy Chowdhury Bahu, until he felt I can be one, until Barrister Babu...." Her voice broke, the glow on her face faded away in a moment, just a moment and she ran out of the huge temporary kitchen to the backyard of the mansion, emptying her heart out at the bench beside the massive Gulmohar tree. "Until Pati Babu fake married Manoramaji." She completed the sentence which hit Anirudh  like an electric shock.