Anirudh- The Story Of A Misread Barrister

Chapter-8: A Brother's Promise

The next morning I woke up to the bright sunlight that illuminated my study. I don't know why, but I felt like I had a good sleep that night. It was probably because of our tiresome outing on the previous day. Stretching my upper body and placing my feet on the ground, I prepared myself to get up, when my eyes fell on the yellow rose kept on the teapoy beside the couch. My lips automatically curved into a smile looking at it. The rose brought to my mind, the memories of the previous day-the garden, Bondita's cute antics, her wishes, our craziness and everything. It also reminded me that it was the last holiday for both of us.

"From tomorrow, I have to go to court while Bondita should go to school.", I thought. All the energy that I had a few minutes back had drained away. Taking a break from work is wonderful but overcoming the inertia to resume it is something very difficult. "Well, sitting at home all the time without doing any work is also a dreadful idea", I thought and went to take bath. Before going, I made sure that I safely hid the yellow rose in my table drawer, lest, Bihari would throw it away while cleaning the study.

After sometime I returned back to the study and started reading the newspaper while waiting for my coffee. That was when I heard the jingling sound of anklets. I felt happy listening to the subtle sound of her footsteps as it hinted me that she was happy. I don't know how and when I had mastered the art of understanding her moods through the sound and pace of her footsteps. Whatever, I was happy on getting the cue that she was happy. Interrupting my thoughts she entered the study with a cup and saucer, saying, "Good morning, pati babu", with a wide smile.

"Good morning Bondita", I replied with a broad smile too.

"Here is your coffee.", she said handing over the cup to me.

I took the first sip and closed my eyes savouring the taste. I felt elated. It felt like ages since I have tasted the coffee made by her. The last time that I drank her coffee was on the dreadful day when I raised curtains for the marriage drama with Manorama. Since then, I have been struggling to make my own coffee. Only I know how much I craved for this tasty coffee. In spite of being so small, I wonder how she is able to work wonders in the kitchen. She is a wonder kid definitely. However, all of a sudden I remembered that I had exempted her from doing any kind of household chores except offering prayer service to the Goddess on kaka's behest. I wanted her to eat well, study, play and repeat.

So I asked her furrowing my brow, "Bondita, why did you make coffee? I already told you not to do any household chores, isn't it?"

"Pati babu, today is Sunday and the last day of our holidays. So I have decided to make coffee for you and tea for kaka. Not just today but every Sunday I will cook so that I don't forget cooking.", she replied.

Now if she had made up her mind, then there is no use of argument, as I am well aware that I cannot win. Hence I agreed and finished my coffee.

"Coffee is very tasty, Bondita.", I complimented.

She giggled saying, "Thank you, pati babu".

"However Bondita, today I don't want you to cook because from tomorrow you should go to school and it has been almost two weeks since you took leave. So, today I want you to revise all the portions that you missed and get your doubts clarified with me.", I declared.

"Okay pati babu. First come, let's have our breakfast.", she replied and pulled me by my hand.

After taking breakfast, for the next few hours we were busy with Bondita's studies. I had already written all the notes given by her teachers through Batuk's help. Only thing is that she had to revise them and get ready for the next day's class. Once I got confidence that she studied everything thoroughly, I packed her bag and patted her back. I was so happy that even after taking a long break from studies, she still learnt everything well. As her teacher, I felt very proud of her. Finally she was all set to go to school the next day.