It Wasn't Supposed To Happen

127

It was news, a wildfire hopping from tongue to tongue. Bahurani of that badi haveli was touched by a man who was not her husband. A man who was her Jamai Babu. Someone she already knew. Who knows what went on between them.

Such ludicrous words had reached Das haveli before Aniruddh. And he knew it. This time even Sumati maa looked troubled at what he was doing.

" Ji Jamai Babu." Thakuma sat opposite of him. " What do I owe this pleasure to ?"

" I know you are not in favour of what we have decided to do." Her sarcasm was not lost on him. Neither was the side eye she seemed to have on Somnath.

" When have we been on the same page Aniruddh ? And you have always had your way." Aniruddh could argue that but chose not to. " Why have you come here ?"

" Chandrachur confessed to a murder. It is enough to have him locked up."

" He will come out some day." Thakuma looked least bothered by the murder. Sumati looked troubled though.

" I will try to make it as long as possible. If he ever comes out, when he comes out, I promise he will not be able to hurt anyone else."

" I can promise you that sitting right here. We won't even need to climb the stairs of that court." Aniruddh sighed. " This has to bother you too Aniruddh. It has to. Are you not human ? Or are you still unaware of the fact that she is your wife ?"

Aniruddh closed his eyes, rubbing his hands together. " You think I didn't want to do that ? You, you think I can't do that ?" He opened his eyes looking at his palms. " That I didn't want to squeeze his neck with my own hands ?"

" Jamai Babu..." It was Sumati's soft voice that made him look up.

" Then you should have !" Thakuma was at the edge of her seat, hands clutching the arm rest. " You should have. "

" It would be wrong."

" He tried to defile your WIFE !!!"

" I am doing this for her. And one other daughter you have who would have to live the life of a widow because of that man." It was hard for him. Som could tell that his Dada was barely holding it together. How out of his skin he had been the whole ride. Som could tell that his Dada had wanted to hurt Chandrachur like he had that teacher who hit Bondita. Only this time it would not end well. Somnath too believed, like his Kaka and Baba, that sometimes that path worked the best. But this time he was a little relieved his Dada didn't opt for it. " Tapur doesn't deserve this, she has gone through her share of pain. And Bondita, she has already been through enough, I can't let her be the wife of a murderer. "

For a moment Thakuma had forgotten about how her one daughter would become widow. For a moment all she wanted to do was kill the man that made all three of her daughters suffer. She had forgotten how every fault of every man was supposed to be forgiven because he was a husband, a Jamai. Maybe she had started getting influenced by the Barrister Babu. Or it could be because of what she saw with her own eyes.

" Me hurting him won't change anything. Me, even killing him in front of the entire village won't change anything !" Aniruddh was starting to loose just a little bit of his patience. " They would still tell her that she was tainted even before his blood on my hands would dry. They just taunt her more. Take jabs at her that how she made her husband kill a man ! "

" Have you heard the words being used for her ?" She asked not looking at him. Still contemplating on how did she forget that Chandrachur was her Jamai. That somewhere she had accepted that Tupur was better off being a widow than the wife of a man like him.

" I have !!" Aniruddh stood up and so did Som. " I HAVE ! I know what they think, how they think. I know how that makes her feel. But the point is Thakuma that I can't change that ! Everyone had seen what happened at the party. Before registering the case, everyone knew ! No matter what I do, NO MATTER WHAT, I can't stop every single one of them. And worst of all, I...I can't stop how she is feeling." His eyes glossed thinking of her. " You care about everyone saying things but what about what she is feeling ? What must she think of me ? I was not able to protect her. That I didn't put a bullet through his head even after seeing her in that condition ! That everyone thinks she is not worthy anymore because..."