Confected Castles : Of Cards and Dreams

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓢𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷

The porch behind the Badi was filled with guests. The walls shrilled with laughs, chitchats, clanking of saucers and more laughs. The guests were warmly welcomed and so were Thakur's and Bhowmicks. The wooden teapoy table was kept at center, surrounded by bamboo woven chairs that were properly cushioned. The designer kettles and intricate carved cups were neatly arranged on a table that was kept beside. They were accompanied by sugar cubes and honey, the new trend they adopted from west. Monojeet Rai was busy entertaining the guests, until his gaze fell on Thakurs.

"Bhairav!!" He exclaimed with enough excitement.

He walked towards Mr. Thakur, who was standing at the entrance.

"Jeet!"

The two royal figures hugged each other, meeting after months.

"I wished you would have shown yourself on Ashtami." Bhairav frowned.

"Work you know! But I did have had sent my son. Didn't he come?"

"Yes he was there with us for the whole day. He is a good guy."

"But where is he?" Karnav asked impatiently.

"Aniiirrbaannn!!!'" Monojeet yelled his name.

"Yes Baba! Do you need something?" He appeared, rolling the sleeves of his blue shirt.

"We have our special guests with us."

"See Bhairav. My proud child!" He said, gently patting the back of his son.

"Nomoshkar Kaka!" Anirban greeted and touched everyone's feet.

"Bless you!"

"How are you Karnav?" Anirban asked his buddy.

"Bhalo! (Fine)" He replied and immediately pulled him in a hug.

"Please join us!"

"Sure! But where is Bhabhi?" Meenakshi asked, interrupting the petty meet of the powerful men she knew.

"She is there. Come with us."

The family followed him and took their seats at the center. The aura of Thakur's was powerful, even Rais knew that. On their way, they were greeted with respect by other guests. That was their image in society, the respectable ones. A few guests arrived after them, the Chatterjees, the Bhowmicks, the Pals and the list never ended.

"I knew their small party can never be small." Priyala sighed, looking at the ocean of guests.

"It's okay, that's just the business meet!" Radha whispered in her ears.

She nodded in response. While her family was busy talking with another family, she and Radha decided to sit at a corner and gossip among themselves. That was more interesting for her rather than socializing a bit. And her Kaki always accompanied her with this. She often wondered how close she is with Radha and not her own mother. A tired sigh escaped from her soul. She again looked at the guests, her eyes searching someone.

"Kaki! Who are they?" She asked, pointing to the family with whom the other Thakur's were chit-chatting.

"Banerjee's from Cooch Behar. They had a daughter. She is married now!"

Priyala mouthed 'oh' to the new information as she didn't know how to react.

"And who are they? Too noisy!" She scrunched her nose while pointing towards the couple near teapoy table.

"Chatterjee's. They are such a hassle. The perfect headache people to deal with! "

Priyala laughed seeing her aunt cursing someone. That was a rare sight to watch.