ANIDITA: A TALE OF ETERNAL LOVE

CHAPTER 5

Only Anirudh Roy Chowdhury knows how he has survived all these 8 years without Bondita, his jeene ki vajah (the reason of his existence) . He knew if he does not keep himself busy working, he would not be able to tolerate this separation and would end up terribly missing her. So to distract himself from thoughts of Bondita, he would keep on fighting cases in the Deenpur Court almost without any break. Whenever Bondita would tell him that she has written a letter to him , over the phone, the next day onwards Anirudh would be found pacing up and down in front of the main entrance of the Roy Chowdhury mansion every morning, before going to court.

Whenever the students of Bondita's college fell ill their families would receive a call from the College Authorities informing them about their child's ill health so that they do not get tensed upon not receiving any phone call or a letter from their children. In a similar manner, whenever the Roy Chowdhuries received such a call, it would create chaos in both the Roy Chowdhury and the Das houses. It created havoc in Anirudh's mind and heart. He would get so restless upon the mere thought of his Bondita falling sick and him not being there by her side to hug her and make her feel relaxed and take care of her that sometimes he would get sleepless nights. Until and unless they received a call from Bondita herself, Anirudh would feel tensed and he would not be relieved even for a second.

Whenever Anirudh visited Calcutta for some work, he would make sure that he buys 8 handis of ek badam (one almond) vale roshogolla. He knew that the one for whom he was buying these sweets was back in London, studying hard for fulfilling their dream. But still, he would take those sweets with him to the Roy Chowdhury mansion and distribute among all those people whom Bondita loves dearly. He would send 2 handis to the Das mansion in Krishnanagar and another 2 handis to Chandannagar , Tupur's in laws' village and would keep the rest 4 in his mansion. He would always hide two of those handis and keep them hidden until everyone in the house goes to sleep and would refuse to have dinner on such days.

Then at night, he would go to the terrace , sit there , gazing at the moon so lovingly as if trying to find Bondita's face which may be hidden somewhere there, his face shining in the moonlight . He would eat 2 handis of Roshogolla himself, in her memory , with his eyes closed. He would feel the presence of his Bondita there, he would feel as if she will now come running from behind and stand there staring at him angrily for eating her roshogollas and then puff out her cheeks and fold her hands. He would laugh at his imagination with tears in his eyes. Sitting there, he would wish he can see his Bondita as soon as possible as he was incomplete without her. He felt as if she has taken a piece of his heart with her to London.

Kaka may have accepted their annulment of marriage but he was still mad at his nephew for being so fitoori (crazy). He had urged Anirudh a lot of times in these eight years to get married and have children of his own. But Anirudh, heaving a sigh, would ignore him and walk out of the mansion to the Deenpur court. He doubted that maybe he is waiting for Bondita. What if she chose to marry him? One of the reasons why they had broken off their marriage was that Bondita should have the choice of choosing her life partner on her own.

Anirudh did not visit London even once as he knew it would disturb Bondita's studies and she may not allow him to leave her side. But most importantly, he would loose all his self control and would cry seeing her after such a long span of time making Bondita weak too and so to avoid hurting himself and Bondita too , he would not visit London to meet Bondita. At present, when Anirudh boarded off the ship from Calcutta to London, he was way too excited to see his Bondita . For him, she was still that small child whom he nurtured like a small plant, watered her with his love and support, provided sunshine in the form of knowledge and education and then after 8 years, the plant has grown to be a tree , ready to bear him fruits of their sacrifices and hardwork.

London holds a special place in Anirudh's heart. This was the place where he became a barrister and this is the place where now his confidant, student, mentor and rakshak babu (protector) will be receiving her barrister degree and he was the one who would be making her wear the Barrister robe.

He was feeling a mixture of many emotions. But happiness was the one which was more prominent out of all those emotions. As they reached Bondita's college, Anirudh's heart started beating fast with excitement and nervousness both. As he stepped out of the cab they had boarded, standing at that exact place where he had seen his Bondita , bidding him a tearful farewell, for the last time in person. This felt very nostalgic as well as painful. As he walked inside with the other family members, his eyes started searching for Bondita. It is true that he has not seen his Bondita in these 8 years, but their hearts had the capability of recognising each other from a distance. His mann ka rishta ( relation between hearts) with Bondita was so strong that he could make out which person was Bondita in that crowd.

But somehow, he was still not able to find her. So he made all the family members sit in the auditorium and went out to search for Bondita. He wanted to surprise her. He enquired about her whereabouts to the warden. " She is room number 103, on the third floor". He immediately ran up the stairs , not wanting to waste any second. Panting, he reached the third floor. There he saw a handsome tall young man talking to a girl wearing a saaree. What they were talking was not clear to him, but he managed to hear the last few lines.

" William, I am so happy today but in one corner of my heart, sadness has also crept in. I will miss him a lot today. He should have been here".

" Don't worry Bondita, try to smile and be happy. Come on, finally the day for which we had been waiting with bated breaths all these years, is here. Cheer up! You are finally going to fulfill his dream! A dream that you both had seen together."

The girl nodded in a yes. Then they both hugged. The girl then went inside her room. Anirudh felt a tinge of jealousy rise up his chest as he realised the boy hugged his Bondita. Ignoring all these feelings, he ran towards the room and started banging at the door with his fist with excitement. Aritrika opened the door. She immediately recognised him and ran towards Bondita who was standing in front of the mirror, combing her hair to be left open for today's occasion.

" Bondita! Look who is here. Isn't he your Sakha Babu?", said Aritrika, her tone indicating she was excited and happy for her friend.

" Stop playing pranks on me, Aritrika! He had clearly said that day over the telephone that he won't be coming today", said Bondita, again feeling as if her heart was breaking into million pieces while uttering these words.

" Bondita, my Sakhi! I am right here, standing in front of you. Aritrika is not lying", she heard someone speaking. His voice was similar to her Sakha Babu. She turned around, her turned face pale with shock.

He was standing there in front of her ,in person and for real.