CHAPTER 14
Bondita had finally got some time to have a chat with her Sakha Babu and even he said that he was free for two days. They’d been texting back and forth, for the last one and a half hour, talking about their favourite TV shows to movies and music and sports etc. It was their topic for today— their favourites in every field. Their tastes were similar in a lot many things. But they also enjoyed their differences, because their texting banter was fun, as each tried to persuade the other, that their favourite was better.
But yesterday’s incidents had disturbed her a bit too much. So much, that she wasn’t even able to get the exhilarating feeling that her conversations with her Sakha Babu gave her. And he noticed that. Because his latest message went something like-
‘Something seems off with you, Sakhi‘
Staring at the message, she wondered how on earth he knew that, just by a phone conversation.
‘How do you know?‘, she typed and hit the send button.
‘I haven’t met you. But I know you‘, came the reply.
This made her smile. A simple text conversation with Sakha Babu worked wonders, to soothe her. She didn’t know why his simple messages meant a lot. But they did.
‘Me too. And it’s a rare thing, I think‘, she typed back.
‘Hmm. It is.’
Nothing was said for a few moments. Suddenly, Bondita remembered that he had told her, that he was going home that day.
‘Reached home yet?‘, she asked.
‘No. Not yet. There’s time. I’m excited to meet my family after a long time though.’
Bondita thought that was great. She had thought that, nowadays there weren’t many people who valued their family and familial relationships. But her Sakha Babu did, and that’s what made him all the more moralistic. ‘Almost as moralistic as Shikshak Babu’, she thought.
‘That’s great!‘, she typed back.
And from there, their conversation veered into various other topics. And during the whole conversation, he never asked about what was bothering her, once again. Yet, he put her at ease, and became the best source of comfort.
‘Sakha Babu and Shikshak Babu are pretty much similar’, she thought, as the conversation came to an end. Wait- could it be that… that they were the same person?. Bondita sat up straighter at the thought. Now that she thought about it, this seemed very probable!
Yes! Shikshak Babu taught law-related subjects. Sakha Babu had also studied barristry and was currently a teacher. Shikshak Babu was as respectful, ethical, wise and supportive as Sakha Babu. Both of their mannerisms were very much similar. And they were… Oh God! They were so much similar. HOW had she not noticed?
But the possibility of all of this being a coincidence still remained. Her excitement deflating, Bondita thought about methods by which she could confirm her intuitions. And she could think of only one way. The perfect way, which would leave no room for any doubts. Matching the phone numbers of Shikshak Babu and Sakha Babu!
A devious grin spread on Bondita’s face, as she thought of the ways by which she could procure Shikshak Babu’s phone number. She just had to wait till he was back, though.
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As soon as Anirudh stepped into the house, he was engulfed in the loving embrace of his Kaka. When he pulled back, Anirudh saw his Kaka wiping away his tears, with the back of his hand, as a few tears escaped his own eyes.
His Baba lightly patted him on the shoulder and smiled at him. Anirudh smiled back. His Baba may not show it much, but he undoubtedly, loved all his three sons unconditionally. Anirudh knew it.
Binoy stepped aside, adjusting his spectacles and made way for Anirudh to enter further into the house. He was jovially greeted by Somnath and Batuk, who were ecstatic to have their Dada back, even if it was just a weekend.
Bihari took Anirudh’s bag to his room.
“What’s there in that bag, Dada? It looks bigger than necessary. You are here just for weekend, isn’t it?”, Somnath asked.
“Yes. But I have some important books in them!”, Anirudh replied.
“Yes, of course. Books! How could he live without them?”, Batuk muttered, rolling his eyes.
“Said something, Batuk?”, Anirudh asked, raising his eyebrows.
“No, nothing Big D!”
Anirudh nodded and retired to his room, to freshen up.
As soon as he came down the stairs, he was met with a tickling sensation on his feet. Looking down, he found a Jack Russell Terrier at his foot, looking up straight at him.
“When did we adopt a pet dog?”, Anirudh asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
“WE haven’t! Batuk has! Even after I told him not to!”, Kaka said, glaring at Batuk, and then giving the dog, a disgusted look, fidgeting in his seat. Anirudh suspected that his Kaka was suppressing a strong urge to either throw the dog outside, or flee from there himself. He knew his Kaka had always had an animosity towards dogs.
Almost as if it could read his mind, the dog bolted towards Kaka. Kaka’s eyes widened, and he scrambled out of his seat, looking absolutely terrified.
“Kaka! Kaka! Don’t panic! I say, don’t panic! He won’t do anything! He’s a good boy!”, Batuk said, taking off his headphones. Kaka turned his angry eyes upon Batuk.
“Good BOY?! That… That terrible creature is a good boy?!! You’re treating it like your child!”.
Suppressing his own mad desire to laugh out loud at his Kaka’s plight, Anirudh bent over and picked up the dog. As soon as he did, his Kaka stormed away into his room. Anirudh heard him mutter something which sounded like, “Can’t find peace at your own home, these days!”.
“It seems Peter is too keen on bullying Kaka”, Somnath commented, turning on his laptop.
“Peter?”, Anirudh asked, looking at the dog.
“Oh, come on, Som Dada! How many times have I told you? He’s not simply Peter! He’s Peter BARKER! Calling him just Peter is stupid”, Batuk said, as if explaining something to a five-year old.
“And Peter Barker isn’t a stupid name?”, Somnath shot back.
Batuk sighed in mock frustration, while Som looked at his Dada and said, “Batuk’s given this stupid name, which he thinks, is sweet, and funny”.
“It is!”, Batuk protested. “Hey! Let’s go, Peter Barker. I’ll feed you something. Aren’t you hungry?”, Batuk crooned at the dog, taking him from Anirudh, his headphones still dangling around his neck.
Binoy sat quietly on the couch, looking at the whole scene in mild amusement, adjusting his spectacles. Bihari stood at a corner, silently giggling.
Anirudh shook his head, and hid a smile, looking amusedly at the familiar antics of his family members. It was good to be back. And now, he just couldn’t wait to meet Saurav.
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Things however, didn’t go smoothly for Bondita, at the hostel. For the whole day, be it in the corridors, campus field, at breakfast, lunch or dinner, she had to endure the weird looks from Srijit and Junior Dutta, albeit entirely different ones. While Srijit gave her besotted and hopeful looks, which unnerved her, Junior Dutta gave her dirty, smug looks, which made chills run down her spine.
By the end of the day, Bondita was basically sulking. She could see the worry and anxiety on Mimi and David’s faces. She wished they didn’t give her those worried looks. Those worried frowns on their faces disconcerted her to no end.
Her breaking point was closer than ever, when Dutta put a hand on her shoulder. To anyone else, it would seem like a friendly gesture. But those who knew about the enmity between them, would know better than that.
Wheeling around to face him, Bondita gave him a hard look. “What’s wrong with you? What exactly DO you want?”.
“An apology. As simple as that”, he replied shrugging.
“Which you’re never going to get!”, Bondita replied, glaring at him.
“We’ll see that”.
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It was too much for her to handle. Shikshak Babu had made her see the positive points of staying in hostel. But when would he give her the solution to the problems she was facing? Why wasn’t he with her, when she needed him the most? Why wasn’t Dugga Maa coming to her rescue or sending someone for her?
If these incidents continued, what would become of her? She was already a mess. Was it so wrong to stand up against wrong, that the wrongdoer’s son was bullying her to the extent of physically hurting her? A lone tear escaped her eyes, as she stood in the washroom attached to her dormitory. Had this washroom been vacant yesterday, she wouldn’t have had to go down the corridor, and neither would the incident have taken place.
She tightly shut her eyes, anger for Dutta, irritation at Srijit and frustration at her own misery right now, bubbling up inside her. And before she knew it, her fist had landed with a bang at the washroom mirror in front of her.
She opened her eyes, horrified to see the washroom mirror broken, glass splinters scattered on the wash basin and floor. Blood oozed out from her knuckles. She let out a terrified gasp, as the washroom door burst open, and the three other girls of her dormitory came rushing in. Certainly after hearing the crashing sound of the mirror breaking.
As soon as Kusum, one of her dormitory mates, saw the broken glass pieces, she ran out of the dormitory. As far as Bondita knew her, probably to bring a teacher, or maybe the warden himself. Kusum had always been prudent, tactical and quick to respond.
Mimi rushed to Bondita’s side, and looked at her, curiously, holding her injured hand. She didn’t pester her with any questions, though, and Bondita was eternally grateful for that. And soon, two teachers arrived, with the warden himself, right behind them. Even though she knew Shikshak Babu wasn’t here, she still couldn’t help but look at the new arrivals, her eyes seeking him, but in vain.
“How did this happen Bondita? What’s all this? How did the mirror break? What exactly happened?”, the warden, Mr. Chakraborty asked her.
All her life, Bondita had loved firing questions at people. Loved asking questions about anything and everything. But now, for the first time, she was hating someone’s questions. Because she had no answers to them. She didn’t have an answer to anything right now.
…
Door tak hai ek udaasi
Yeh aa gayi main kahaan re,
Aatma tak kaanpti hai
Koi na mera yahaan re,
Ek dabi si aanch mann mein
Dara dara sa dhuaan re,
Nark jaisi yeh jagah hai
Kaun mujhko bachaaye
Bheed mein ab dhundoo chehra tera…
Rishta tera mera
Rishta tera mera…
…
Author’s Notes (A/N): Hello, dear readers!…
How’s the chapter?
How was Bondita’s realisation? The revelation about Sakha-Sakhi is coming soon, by the way… I decided not to make the realisation very dramatic. Because in reality, things are not always that dramatic …
And how was the scene at the Roy Chowdhury mansion?… Scene with Peter Barker?!😆… Getting the reference? Peter Parker!(Spiderman’s real name, for those who don’t know)… Now, you got to know Batuk’s favourite fictional superhero!…
Don’t Kaka and Peter Barker have a fiery chemistry?😁😂…
And honestly tell me… Was that bathroom mirror scene a bit too exaggerated? 🙃… I know, it was a bit out of character for Bondita… But that out of character moment was necessary. It was required to show the ill-effects of bullying on a young mind. It’s quite sad that people nowadays take bullying as a light-hearted thing. But actually, it’s not. Sometimes, it can have harmful effects on innocent minds. I have tried to highlight it in the best possible way. But feel free to tell me if you find it an exaggeration …
Comment and let me know your valuable feedback…
Love you loads 💙💛…