Dhanyawaad ( An Anidita Story )

Ch.14 Bondita in Roy Chowdhary Haveli.

*Devipur*

Anirudh is sitting in the car while Bondita is bidding her farewell to her mother. Her mother is hugging her and crying. She looked up at her daughter and caressed her cheek.

"Beta, apna dhyan rakhna. Sasural m ache se rehna." Sumati told her. Bondita was not one bit shocked that her mother was still concerned about her behavior at her in-laws' house.

"Apne pati se acche se baat karna. Baar baar tark mat karna. Tu nahi jaanti inhone tere liye kya kiya h. Bhagwaan jaisa kaam kiya h inhone tere liye. Bhagwaan ki tarah hi puja karna, apne pati babu ki. Thik h?" Sumati continued. Bondita just nodded her head, knowing she couldn't do otherwise.

She went and sat in the backside of the car, and they started their journey. Bondita was still dizzy because of the drug and fell asleep soon. Anirudh was lost in his thoughts. He was reminded of the incidents of the past few hours again and again. His head was hanging low when he noticed the flower garland around his neck. He removed it and threw it away. He did not know how to explain all of this to his family or to the person he promised today's night. He was sitting there lifelessly, not noticing that they had already reached home.

"Ghar aa gya h Chote Malik." The driver told him. But he was lost. Bihari came running outside upon listening to the sound of the motor car.

"Chote malik! Chote malik! Kitni der se sab log aapka intezaar kar rhe h." He shouted in one breath. "Gaadi ka darwaja kholiye. Samaan lena h." He told the driver and went to the backseat. But instead of gifts, he saw a young maiden in bridal attire sleeping with a solemn expression on her face.

"Ye kya h? Barrister babu vivaah se bhaga k to nahi le aaye vadhu ko? Ye kon h?" He joked around with the driver. "Nahi aisi baat nahi h." The driver told him the whole incident that took place from the afternoon till the evening.

"Iss khabar se ghar m toofan aane wala h. Hey bhagwan!" Bihari said in a trembling and scared tone, imagining the reaction of his lord to the news. "Maalik!Maalik!" He ran away, shouting to tell the news to his master.

The driver opened the door for Anirudh and called his name, bringing him out of his stance. He looked around and saw he had reached the haveli. He got off the car and went inside.

As soon as he went inside, the silent, quiet atmosphere and the piercing gaze of his family members on him told him that they had already received the news of his deed. He went towards the elders, his baba and his kaka, and stood there silently. Suddenly, his baba raised his hand, bringing it to his cheek to slap when Trilochan held his hand and stopped him. Binoy looked at Trilochan with questioning eyes while the latter juat shook his head. Binoy left from there, fuming in anger.

Outside, Bondita had woken up in the car, sweating after having that nightmare again. She looked around doubtedly at her surroundings, which seemed unrecognizable. Slowly, she remembered. She was married to a man. Oh yes, that man she saw at school that day. She saw that no one was in the car except her. She got off the car and saw the big house in front of her.

Inside, Anirudh was facing Trilochan's outburst. "Kya keh kar gaye the? Humari aan, baan, shaan mein kami nahi hone doge. Par karke kya aaye ho. HUMARI IZZAT KA SARVANAASH. Naak kata di humari. POORE KUL KA SAMMAN MITTI MEIN MILA DIA TUMNE. Daan dakshina karna chahte ho, karo, jitni iccha ho utni karo. Gareebo ki madad karni h, punya kamaana h, kamaao. Par tum to Roy Chowdhariyo ka samman bech ke aagye. Bhool gaye ki kon ho tum? Ya thaan lia h ki khaandaan k naam ka sarvanaash karke hi chhodoge. Kisi bhi aeri gaeri, raah chalti ladki se vivaah kaise kr sakte ho tum? Tumhe kya lagta h kisi bhi kulheen ladki ko tum dulhan bana kar yaha le aaoge aur hum tumhe usse iss ghar m rakhne denge. KABHI NAHI. Dhan dhaanya, zameen jaydaad kuch h uske paas. Kul ka, jaat ka, parivaar ka kuch pata h uss ladki ke? Humare saamne khade hone ki kya haisiyat h uski? Kuch socha tumne ki log kya kahenge." Trilochan rapped continuously. Anirudh could bring himself to meet his eyes. "Uss kulheen ladki ko hum ghar ki dehleez bhi nahi laangne denge." He shouted while looking at Anirudh.

Bondita, who was standing on the doorstep all this while listening to him rant, scoffed internally at his last comment.

"AB KUCH BOLOGE YAA AISE HI MUH M DAHI JAMA K KHADE RAHOGE. BOLTE KYU NAHI KUCH?" Trilochan said irritated.

Bondita, who was still standing at the doorstep, could not take it anymore and answered on her husband's behalf. "Kyuki ye ekantvasi h. Aajivan maun vrat dharan kiya h inhone. Tabhi na vivah k samay inka vaha dhyaan tha aur naa hi inke muh se koi awaaz aa rhi thi."

Immediately, the attention of all the members present there was diverted to her. All of them looked at her shocked. Trilochan looked at Anirudh questioningly, after seeing that his bride was a girl at least 5-6 years younger than him. Marrying even with a 20 yr age gap was pretty common in those times. But with Anirudh's fitoor and all, he never expected him to marry a teen.

"BIHARI! Study m leke jaao isse." Anirudh said.

"Yadi grah pravesh ki rasm nahi hui to kahi aisa to nahi ki kal aap mann badal ke mujhe waapis Devipur chhod aaye." Bondita asked in a grave tone, her eyes piercing holes in Anirudh's back.

No one responded to her. She followed Bihari to the study. She entered the study and looked around.

There were many trophies, medals, artifacts, and decorations kept there. She went towards the cabinet where the trophies were kept and touched them. She had always seen kids getting trophies at school for outstanding academic performances, from a diatance, of course. She had never seen one from so close. She walked around and saw racks and cupboards full of books. It felt like heaven. There were two things Bondita loved the most. Weapons and books. To her, both are weapons, in fact. Swords are weapons used to defeat the powerful, and books are the weapons used to defeat the intellectuals. Bihari followed behind her, scared that someone might come in and see her touching things around there. He kept saying, "Bahurani ji sambhaal ke" every now and then to her.

In the hall, Anirudh was being questioned like a criminal. Suddenly, the clock struck twelves, its bell ringing, indicating that the day was over. Immediately, the memory flashed back in Anirudh's mind.

"Jo mein kehna chahta hu tumse aur jo tum sunna chahti ho mujhse uski gawah banegi aaj ki raat."

"AB MURTI KI TARAH KHADE RAHOGE YA KYCH BATAAOGE KI KYA KARNA H USS LADKI KA. AISE KISI BHI LADKI KO HUMARE KHANDAN KI BAHU NAHI BANA SAKTE TUM." Trilochan shouted.

Anirudh suddenly ran from there to his room, completely ignoring his kaka's question.

There was a turmoil going inside his heart at that moment, and he could not think of anyone except her - Mini.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hello Guys, I know it has been a long time since the last update but I really did not had any motivation to write a new chapter due to the lack of enthusiasm from the reader's end. I guess Maslow's theory was correct. I want to thank everyone who reads and supports me and I wanna give special mention to MiraSingh3 for leaving her precious comments. Dude your comments literally motivated me to write again. 😭😭😭😭 Thank youu soo much🥰💖. I love all you guys.