ANIDITA: A TALE OF ETERNAL LOVE

CHAPTER 20

Next Morning, Bondita woke up early to get ready. When she went to bathe, Anirudh was still sleeping. When she came out of the bathroom with her hair dripping wet, he was half awake. She smiled at him and went towards him and sat besides him. She dropped a few drops of water falling from her hair on his face. Anirudh's face winced and he opened his eyes, to find the love of his life sitting in front of him, looking like an absolute goddess in a getup of a Tamil woman. He could not take his eyes off her at that very moment. Bondita smiled at him and patted his cheek lovingly, asking him to get up. Just as Bondita was about to get up, Anirudh pulled her hand. Bondita landed on him, her hand placed on his bare chest. Bondita looked at him wide eyed while Anirudh smirked flirtatiously at her. A strand of hair fell on Bondita's face, covering her left eye. Anirudh extended his hand to remove it from her face. Bondita almost melted at his soft touch.

Anirudh then asked for her consent whether he can kiss her or not and Bondita blushed and politely shook her head. Anirudh accepted her denial and without questioning , let her go away. He stood up from bed and the moment he was about to step inside the washroom to freshen up, Bondita said, " Don't you want to know the reason of my denial , Sakha Babu?" Anirudh turned towards her and nodded. Bondita started saying, " It is because I don't want to fall weak before leaving you. If I kiss you , I will want more and that will not be possible today and also the feeling of not having you around will kill me. So, I want to start getting accustomed to the feeling of not being near you. I hope you understand." Anirudh smiled at her and nodded in agreement. Little did she know, that her Sakha Babu was not going to leave her alone and will be hiding at a place near the Saluja mansion.

Bondita ate the breakfast with the Roy Choudharies and relished every moment , as she may not be able to get this moment back again when she is back in Krishnanagar after successfully completing her mission. Before leaving, Bondita took the blessings of all the elders of her house. She hugged all the younger members lovingly. She then went on to seek the blessings of Dugga Maa. She then bid a tearful farewell to her Sakha Babu, who was trying hard not to cry. She did not take the Roy Chaowdhury car as she did not want the Salujas to doubt on her. She instead took a haathgaadi and asked him to take her to the address she told him. She had tears in her eyes and looked at the Roy Chowdhury Mansion with utmost love for one last time.

In the Saluja Mansion

Gurleen was very, very excited to have Vaijanti here. She was running around the house, giving instructions to the servants to make preparations as fast as possible. Bindu too was helping Gurleen in all this. Paramjit and Sarojini did not show any kind of interest in the commotion that was taking place, instead they were disturbed by so much noise. Paramjit was a very punctual person and wanted everything to be done at the proper time. He would have breakfast at 8 am, leave for the mill at 9 am, return back from there at 5 pm, have evening tea with some pakoras at 6pm along with his family , have dinner at sharp 9 pm and went to sleep by 10 pm. But today, his routine was all spoilt because of this Vaijanti. Clearly, even before meeting her, he started disliking her.

It was 10 am but still Paramjit did not get his breakfast. " Gurleen! Gurleen! When will our friend come? Because of your friend, I am getting late to mill. I have not been late at work since the last 25 years. All these kids of this generation are so irresponsible. They do not know how much precious is time. Time and Tide waits for none. Hasn't your friend heard of this saying?"

Just then someone said, " Yes, Param Uncle, I have heard of this and that is why I have arrived exactly at 10 am as I had told Gurleen last night. Vanakkam, Param Uncle and all the elders". The voice was of none other than Vaijanti. Everyone turned to look at this guest. She was wearing a long skirt, with a saree draped over it. She had sandalwood teeka on her forehead and had worn gajra made up of mogra flowers on her head. She was standing there , at their doorstep , with a smile and hands folded in a namaste, greeting everyone. Gurleen's face instantly lit up and she ran to meet her friend. She hugged her and whispered into her ear, " Finally, Bondita, You are here. I was waiting for you eagerly." Vaijanti smiled at being called Bondita and broke the hug. " Welcome to the Saluja Mansion", said Gurleen.

Vaijanti stepped inside the house. Other than Paramjit, everyone else was pleased to meet Vaijanti, who seemed to a happy-go-lucky girl who would bring back happiness into their house again. Vaijanti looked around the house as she was being dragged inside by Gurleen. Her eyes seemed to scan every single thing and person in the house. She was made to sit on the couch in the drawing room, while everyone else started making preparations to feed the girl. Paramjit looked at her with displeasure and shouted out to his wife, " Saroj! Saroj! When will I get my breakfast? I am already running late by 2 hours. Let me have my breakfast!" Bindu came running and requested to him, " Please wait a little bit more! We will all have our breakfast together. Just give me 5 more minutes". This enraged Paramjit and he threw the newspaper he was reading at Saroj's face, hitting her in the eye.

" How can you ask me to wait more? Because of these silly kids, I have to ruin my routine. You know very well that I hate waiting and being late, but still you have the audacity to request me to wait. I will not wait any further. I am leaving. Better to go rather than wait", Paramjit fumed with anger. He then went off to the mill along with Chiranjit, who was forced to go with his brother, that too without having his breakfast.

All this was making Bondita furious, but she was helpless at the moment as she had to control her urge to debate with the patriarch of the house and let her anger cool down. She was trying to calm herself down. She started making observations about all the family members of the house. She had silently noted down the behaviour and habits of Paramjit in her head. She saw Saroj, rubbing her hurt eye and sobbing a lot at being scolded and hit by her husband. She went towards her and picked up the newspaper and placed it once on her forehead and then on her chest in quick succession, offering her apologies to the Goddess Saraswati, for throwing the newspapaer, on behalf of Paramjit. Saroj looked at her with teary eyes and took the newspaper from her, folded it and kept it on the table in the drawing room, without saying a word to Vaijanti.

Vaijanti was shocked at this behaviour of Sarojini, who reacted as if nothing had happened. She felt it would be better to keep mum and not interfere in their family matters or else it would prove to be fatal for her case. She again sadly went towards the couch and sat down silently. No one protested again this behaviour of Param towards Saroj, who would work day in and day out in the house, to provide everything in time to her husband. Everyone ignored this incident as if this was a very common occurence taking place at the house. Vaijanti imagined what would have her Sakha Babu done if he was here. She instantly started missing him and craved for him.

While Vaijanti was lost in the thoughts of her Sakha Babu, Gurleen asked her to come with her as she would lead her to her temporary room for the next few days. Gurleen's words brought Vaijanti back to reality and just when she turned around to lead her to the room, she swiftly wiped off her tears. Vaijanti climbed up the stairs along with her client-turned-friend. As she was climbing the stairs, she learnt from Gurleen that on the first floor there were two rooms belonging to Bindu and Gurleen respectively. On the second floor too , there were two rooms , where Chiranjit and Param and his wife resided.

Her room was on the third floor. She noticed that along with her room, there was another room which was locked. She enquired about the room to Gurleen. With a heavy heart, Gurleen managed to speak, " This room once belonged to Lajjo". Vaijanti was instantly pleased at the thought of being given a room on the same floor as that of the victim's room. Now she would be finding it easy to atleast check the room of the victim. But one thing was worrying her. She had to find the key to open the lock of the room. But wait, why was the room locked? Were there any crucial evidences hidden in her room?