The Unventured Passions Book-2

Under Covers

Bhargavi was meditating in front of the in-house goddess, sitting leg crossed in a lotus, her eyes closed, her hands joined and loosely kept on her lap, her face quiet and peaceful. It has always been a part of her daily routine, meditation, but for the first time she was doing it in front of the goddess. Since her arrival in Tulsipur, it has been a part of her integral daily chore. She learnt it from her Choto Zamindar Babu, who, choosing her as his dedicated disciple, would wake her up early every morning, and together they would customarily perform this little solemn act in the terrace in absolute silence. None would speak, yet he would teach her different forms of easy yoga, and she would marvel at how skillfully he would perform them. And when after the initial relaxation exercises are over, Batuk would pick his iron club for a much more rigorous exercise for the next half an hour. Bhargavi would then quietly leave him in his preferred seclusion.

'Dada used to teach us, Bondita and I, every morning when we were of your age... Um, or a little younger may be.'
Batuk would say to her, wiping the sweat from his glistening chiseled body with a red towel.
'This one hour in the morning is all yours. Don't let anyone steal it. And once you have mastered how to use it perfectly, the rest of the day is all yours to conquer.'

Bhargavi would listen to Batuk's advice with wrapped attention, and then she would smile in agreement, acknowledging the wisdom of his words. "Is that why you are so carefree all the time? Is that why you think so less?" she would tease him at times.

"Is that a compliment?" Batuk had asked once with a confused frown, after one of such exercise sessions.

"Compliments are earned. Have you earned one, Choto Zamindar Babu?" Bhargavi had responded mysteriously with a shrug.

'Have I not?'

Batuk had lived with his elder brother and Bondita for so many years that he had long given up minding such teasing remarks. He had smiled jovially and had turned to Bhargavi with a grin on his face.
'How about you be a good girl, run down and fetch my breakfast in the study. And then I'll give you a compliment.'

'What compliment?' Bhargavi had asked, and in response Batuk had stretched his right hand and pinched her nose gently.

No further compliments were needed that morning, as this one
insignificant act of affection had perfectly brightened the rest of Bhargavi's day, and many of her secluded thoughts.

Bhargavi sighed in her meditating state, and her lips quivered a little in suppressed emotion.
How she so dearly missed those little banter of theirs!

However, her thoughts were soon interrupted by the ringing of the telephone, jarring her out of her meditative trance. It was a late evening call, and she rose to her feet at once, wondering if it was from Barrister Dadababu.

She rushed across the hall, up the stairs, and straight to the study where Bondita had already picked up the call.

"Yes, really? When?"

Bhargavi heard Bondita gasping on the telephone.

"And now? Oh alright... That should do."

Bondita continued.
It wasn't audible what she heard from the other side of the telephone, and although Bhargavi, with all her heart and soul, wanted to go near and interrupt to ask Bondita of Batuk's whereabouts, she remained silent out of decency.

"Just tell me if he's safe?" Bondita had pressed the receiver to her ears with both hands, and suddenly her question made Bhargavi's heart thud louder.

"Dugga Dugga... God's grace Barrister Babu... I'll inform KakaSasurji at once."
Bondita was smiling.

"And she?"
The smile took shape of a frown as she heard her husband.
"Just bring them back first."