Redemption and Scars (A tale of Anidita)

Chapter Nine

Thoughts of Anirudh Roy Chowdhury

The morning at the Roy Chowdhury's started as usual the next day. But the bewildered looks of some still unable to believe the events of last night as well as sleepy eyes of Bondita was a testament of how Anirudh's words had affected them all.

Few people especially, Trilochon and Batuk were still suspicious of Anirudh's words and had problem believing him at all.

Both were pouting, one was pouting unable to believe Anirudh. While the other was pouting for his favourite Boudi's time will be divided by his dada.

At present, Bondita was running behind Somnath to give him his lunch box and reminding him to eat on time at the medical college premises.

"Som dada,here is your Tiffin. Please eat it on time and don't skip your food for the sake of revising. Drink plenty of water during the time between your Viva's. Don't panic at all, hmm"-her motherly words made him smile at her indulgently.

His Bondita Boudi was someone, he looked up to a lot. They were not close that much. But when Anirudh had went to Kolkata for 2 months to fight a case at the high court, they had became close.

Bondita was weak in mathematics and English quite a bit then. And Anirudh had asked Somnath to help her in her lesson in his absence.

At first, he was quite irked at the prospect of teaching her. As he considered her at the same intellectual level as Batuk.

After all, they were best friends. Batuk's stupidity was bound to rub off on Bondita Boudi, he had thought back then.

But after seeing her brainiac side, he found that he enjoyed teaching her. And the cherry on top was, his Boudi always respected him unlike his stupid younger brother, who took him for granted.

During those two months, Somnath took care of Bondita and Batuk diligently. He prepared them for their exams and also made sure they had a lot of fun outside as well.

From accompanying Bondita on 'Pickle (Achar)' making process on the rooftop and gossiping with her and Batuk endlessly to taking the youngest members on 'Mela's' and street food tours in Tulsipur bazaar to enjoy the true beauty of Bengal. They had done it all.

And during those time, Somnath had realized that, it was okay to be free with his emotions and it was okay to not always be indulged in Medical books.

"Dada, why are you standing like a statue? Are you too scared to give your viva? Don't worry you won't fail that badly"-Bondita smacked Batuk for his words, while Somnath frowned at him.

His little brother was becoming too much, he thought. He would have to teach him a lesson soon.

"Batuk, just wait and watch. What I do to you after coming back"-Somnath said the words and left in a jiffy all the while muttering curse words to Batuk.

All the while, Bondita prayed to the Goddess to give her Som dada a good viva.

As Bondita was checking the accounts with Binoy and Batuk, they suddenly heard a lot of noise coming. It was a off day and the sudden noise made them quite suspicious and apprehensive of what was happening.

"What new nonsense is happening"-Binoy thought and went to check out the noise.

"Hey, what are you guys doing with this new table and bookshelf at our Haveli? I didn't order anything!"-just as he was about to utter anymore words, Anirudh came in a hurry and cut him off.

"Baba, I have called them. I want this this to be installed in our room. This bookshelf will contain the law books that I had ordered for Bondita and myself from London. And the new table is for Bondita. I had noticed that her old table is quite creaky now"-his words did shut Binoy up and Anirudh silently signalled the people to install the new furnitures.