The grey canvas

📌Chapter 16- Mishaps

Ayan:

"Dabbu?!" The lady exclaimed in a voice with overwhelming emotions.

Kahani taught us that each bengali owns a petname which is different and not the abbreviation of their original name. This is referred to as by 'daknam' and is a token of love that others show by their version of nomenclature.

'Dabbu' must have been one such case. But whatever it was, I found it damn adorable. A sweet petname and its rough-n-tough owner, made a deadly combo indeed!

-"Its Dev, not Dabbu. So please, don't use such names for me." Bhai snapped. The harshness of his voice and his rude, hardened face led a thin stream of tears trickle down the lady's eyes.

"Sorry." She muttered and stepped back.

-"Hmm." Bhai replied and looked at me. His eyes were unapologetic, but painstricken. It came to me as a shock. However, he least cared and continued- "We are going to stay in this house for few days."

"Sure." She wipped her soggy eyes and moved aside, making a way for both of us to enter. She didn't even ask for my identity or for how long we were going to stay over there. It felt strange.

She was really his mother right?

The house was huge, atleast it appeared larger than what it looked externally. It was neat and clean and ofcourse well maintained. The walls were painted beidge and pink with ancient wall art scribbled in brown. There were paintings, dokra works and katha stiches in frames hanging from those walls, while one of them held a huge portrait of Rabindranath Tagore.

Typical bengali household it was.

The furnitures were simple but elegant. The wooden windows had large panes. Warm sunlight was rolling in through those windows. It fell upon the chandelier ahead and created a beautiful silhoutte shadow over the flawless white marble floor. A soft breeze was always lingered to that house. The air inside smelt of sandalwood and jasmine. The ambience was ethereal. It soothed my tired body within no time.

I got busy admiring the house while bhai was lost, maybe in the memory lanes of his childhood. Both of us were drawn back to reality by that same, adorable call- Dabbu.

We turned back and as soon as that lady's eyes met bhai's, she flinched an apology and dropped her gaze down to her feet.
"..Dev" she muttered.

-"What?" Bhai asked in a jiffy.

"You came after so long and I was saying that if I can coo.."

-"No need. We are just staying here for few days. We'll have our foods outside." He declared and picked up his trolley to head towards the staircase. "Come." He turned around occasionally and ordered me with the same authority.

I just followed him quietly, so as to escape from the awkward situation I had invited in for myself.

                                 •

Bhai was like a coconut.

Yes, this is the most appropriate comparison I had ever made. He was always like that magic fruit which is rough_n_tough from outside, but from inside is soft and tender. He always tried to show that he was the most difficult man on this earth.. that he was a man of no emotions.. that he was the man who least cared. But deep inside, this same man cried as if hurting the opposite person was his greatest sin ever. Just like the coconut water, he too had a heart which wept and bled for mankind. He had a large pool of emotions accumulated in that heart, which was supposedly not longer than the size of his clenched fist. He couldn't behave *bad* with anyone, not even if he wanted with alk his might. And that was the very reason he ended giving up on his resolution...not only he stayed in that house, but he agreed to eat in the house too!