Anirudh- The Story Of A Misread Barrister

Chapter-66: Anirudh's Challenge To Bondita

Gradually the mist of gallant love began to melt, allowing the mind to confront the reality. All this while I was in love trance; a euphoric state of freshly realised love, which did not let me think twice before doing all this. It was only in the tranquillity bestowed by the journey in woods, with Bondita clung to me, I felt the need to question myself,

"What did I actually do? Was that all necessary? Why am I troubling this poor girl who is unwell by depriving her of a proper shelter? Besides, I have also become the reason for Sumati ma's tears. Will Bondita forgive me for that? et cetera."

If there was no threat from Chandrachur, I shouldn't have brought Bondita away from her house in this way. With him around her, I can't trust a single moment. Right or wrong, this was all I could think when I heard of his evil plan. But the questions like, 'how to take care of Bondita', 'when to marry her', 'where to keep her' and all, remained the same.
My worry kept increasing as Bondita didn't gain consciousness yet. I desperately tried to find water so that I could bring her back to senses. At the same time I also wanted to cross the forest sooner, fearing the presence of wild animals. Hence, I nudged the horses to move faster to reach Chandannagar on time before Bondita becomes hungry.

Succeeding a tiresome journey, we reached the outskirts of our destination roughly by half past eight at night. I thought, making an entry into the town with a chariot and a princess bound to my body would be overwhelming to the people there. They might mistake us for the real prince and princess from the fantasy world who have come to survey their land.

Suddenly it struck my mind that I was indeed living a fantasy. As a kid, it seems I too was very fond of the stories of princes who take their princesses to a distant land on a horse. I least expected that a similar thing will occur in my life too. I wished Bondita was awake and experienced it too. She should've definitely been more excited than me.

Whatever, since I don't want any unnecessary attention from the world, I had decided to leave the chariot there itself and walk into the town. The first thing I did on stopping the carriage was untie the knot that tied us together. Then, I quickly got rid of the drama costume that I put on my regular clothes and the fake accessories. However, moving from there still seemed to be a tough task because there were two suitcases that I had to carry along with Bondita which seemed impossible.

Seeing no other choice, I walked a little distance leaving the suitcases behind. Much to my relief, I found a temple where I thought of seeking shelter for the night. Without a second thought, I walked towards it with Bondita in my arms.

In the dim lighting of the fire torches, I walked cautiously with heavy steps, looking at the ground to avoid tripping over any rock. That was when I spotted some moving object a little distance before me. On careful observation, I understood that it was a scorpion going towards someone.

At once, I rushed to kill it, almost scaring the person standing in front. I stamped the scorpion hard with my sandals. The person was stunned with this sudden action of mine, unable to process what had just happened. A few moments later when she understood the whole thing she thanked me with her whole heart. Until that point, even I didn't take a notice of who was that. But once I did, I saw an old woman accompanied by a young lady who gratefully thanked me many times.

When their eyes fell on Bondita, the first thing they did was look at each other and laugh; although I didn't see any reason for them to do so.

Seeing my perplexity, the old woman asked,

"This style of tying a ghatbandhan around the bride's waist is not a native practice. Which part of the country are you coming from?"

Her question brought to my notice the cloth which was still knotted around Bondita's waist, while one end of it hung around my shoulder. The old lady thought we were married and I allowed her to do so, as I couldn't reveal our real identity.