Tark- His Penned Chronicles

Ch53: Anirudh gives new name

All the preparations were done in the Haveli for Pishi maa. Kaka was actually afraid, what if anything offends her but seeing Bondita's enthusiasm in work calmed him down. Bihari was too scared to pishi maa because in her presence he cannot do kam chori.

They heard the sound of the car. All the members came out except Anirudh who was out for some work.

Bondita's pov
Everyone was talking so much about her that I was too excited to meet her. Listening to her struggle story inspired me. All I could conclude after hearing all these was she is a strong bold woman.

We all stood near the door when her driver opened the door of the car and opened an umbrella. She stepped out like a queen. She wore a heavy embroidered benarasi saree, ornamented in gold and a large red bindi on her forehead. Her dark eyes bordered with thick kohl and long hair tied into a bun. She stood in front of kaka sasurji while he took her blessing, "kaisi ho didi?"

"Jaise the waise hi hain, tu kaisa hain lochan aur bacche bhi baare ho gye hain" she looked at Som dada and Batuk. They took blessings of her too.

Sampoorna didi and I took her blessing. "Ye Sampoorna Binoy ki patni" said Kaka with a disgusted face. "Khush raho" she blessed her. "Aur ye humari pyari Bondita bahu" he now introduced me with a smile. "Badi acchi ladki...."

"Lochan!" She gestured him to stop and glared at him, "hum zammindar hain, macchi k kaante ko dekh kar samajh jate hain konsi macchi kaisi hain, tujhse sikhna nehi parega mujhe" Kaka lowered his head like an obedient child.

Till now her personality was scaring me to some extent. Someone who can make kaka go quiet is really scary.

She walked inside and sat on the crouch, one leg on the above. "Lochan apne bahu o ko sikhaya nehi ki jiske Saar se pallu khishke to mardo ka nazar paare uspe".

She walked to me and held my chin, "bohot suna hain tere baare mein Binoy aur Lochan se. Kehena parega pyari hain tu" saying this she placed a kaka tika behind my ears and said, "Zammindaro ki bari bahu".

"Wo mein hu is ghar ki malkin" Sampoorna didi spoke up abruptly to which Batuk face palmed making it evident she made a wrong move. She eyed her and walked up to her, "toota nayo paal bin aur bina waris ki malkin koi kaam ki nehi". Sampoorna didi's smile faded away and she looked down in humiliation, clutching her fist she said, "waris to Bondita ne hin nehi di".

Kaka was about to shout at her but she signalled him to be quiet, "Bondita bacchi hain, akkal ki kacchi hain samjhi...ar bolbo na". Sampoorna didi nodded her head timidly.

"Tum dono", she addressed to both of us, "pallu daal lo". I gave her a questioning look. "Tum dono pallu tan lo" kaka ordered us hesitantly. He has never asked us to cover our face with a veil but he was forced to say so due to his didi. We did as he said, pulled down the long pallu.

"Apka vyapar kaisa chal raha hain?" Asked Som dada. They all sat to talk while I stood beside them. "Accha chal raha hain, jab tak angrezo ka ho humare masalo pe lalach tabh tak vyapar ko kuch nehi hoga".

"Didi" said Kaka sasurji, "ap akeli itne jagao pe jaati hain, apne sath lathel rakhna chahiye". She chuckled a bit, "hatiyaar wo rakhte hain jinko jaan ka khatra ho, humari jaan se dusro ko khatra hain".

I have never seen such a confident woman in my life what as much as I have heard, she was married off at age 8 to a 40 year old man and till age 16 she was already a mother of 4 sons and 1 daughter. When she was my age, her husband died. People asked her to shave her head and leave for Vrindavan, leaving her children in an orphanage because the was no one to earn, who will take care of the business as the man has left and the woman cannot but she did. Now every one of the village respects her.