Note : I assumed the characters to be 11 years old and 21 years old in 1902.
in my story its 1911 - which is going on. Bondita has turned 20 and Anirudh -29 years and some months.
REST READ IT.
It has been such a long time since that night 9 years back. The moon looked the same, the light still had its coolness intact.Bondita signed looking back it.She had turned 20 a month ago. Her husband Anirudh , whom she called Anirudh Babu , had been away for some work at the governor’s house. she could see the chimney of different houses ogling black smoke. She frowned at this. Calcutta had been a hub of pollution until 1905, when the British had passed the Smoke Nuisance Act. She had been 14 at that time. For the first time she and Anirush Babu had actually appreciated the englishmen , they were ready to give credit when it was due.
Her neighbors were inconsiderate people, mostly cared how well there big lavish parties could make a headline or two.
Anirudh had taken Bondita to Calcutta about a year into their marriage. He had always wanted the girl to study hard.But it became a miserable effort ,in presence of the indifferent elders back at his place. So finally declaring that he would practice advocacy in Calcutta Anirudh moved into a three-storey Bungalow with Bondita. Enrolling her in a school was the most difficult job.The British children would poke fun at her for being a bit unknown of their aristocratic world but Bondita handled with care. Not only she was promoted to the middle school at 16 , she completed her high school at 19. 8 years of schooling and a lot of personal tutoring from Anirudh had made her crack a test for enrolling in a Bachelors degree for History at the Calcutta college.But her real dream still remained to be a barrister like Anirudh. “You could be a Judge , mishti!” Anirudh would pester her off late. She blushed thinking of him. Her new nickname “Mishti” he had devised a year ago at her 19th birthday. She couldn’t help but think how lovely it looked when he called her out - something he extracted out from her love for Rossugulla. But sometimes she thought that Anirudh should have called her Rossu - that might have made more sense. But his own favorite sweet was - Mishti Doi. What if the name had originated from there? Bondita thought.
“Someone looks lost in thought.” Anirudh entered the room , his lawyer robes hanging in one of his hands. His voice made Bondita shiver. She had been wearing a red-bordered Bengali saree.She hadn’t liked it when Anirudh was impressed by Mrs. Chatterjee -their neighbor’s loud white-red saree just yesterday, and how he had complimented her.
“The Chatopadhya’s chimney had been ogling smoke for the past one hour!” Bondita frowned on the thought.
“Then you might be counting the particles -the smoke has…” Anirudh joked, earning her light punch on his shoulder.”Anirudh Babu!” Bondita grunted. FINE. HE WAS NOT GOING TO NOTICE HER SAREE.
“Sorry Mishti. Anyways the case went pretty fine. We shall be filing a petition for widow remarriage tomorrow.”Anirudh continued to open his sleeves.
“Are we?’ Bondita looked surprised.
“yes , till hope lives. But there shall be a lot of backlashes.” Anirudh sighed.
“I really don’t know why people can’t stay happy in breaking these fragile norms. Shree Krishna - in Gita - had advised breaking the rules and traditions which bought agony and pain to people , he had always advised us to change with time - be dynamic; you know “Bondita reasoned.
“Brilliant ! Bondita!” Anirudh jumped in joy.
“I guess the judge may be a religious fanatic.” Bondita joked to herself.
“Exactly Mishti. So you really gave Gita a try.” He looked at Bondita affectionately.But this made her feel some unexpected warmness in her body.This has been happening so frequently now that she has lost the count . The way Anirudh laced her name with so much love that she could dissolve in it without care.
Anirudh enjoyed the blush that had crept on Bondita’s face.he had seen her grow up from a little innocent and lovely child to a strong-headed and determined - yet lovely young women. It had been love -not at first sight - but obviously two years ago. The dangling waves of her tresses that danced on her back , her earrings when she talked full of arguments and question - his heart missed a beat. It was a great satisfaction to his male pride - when Bondita left the house as his wife. They went to these high profile parties and the men would be spellbound with her beauty. And then he would hold her hand tight , smirking on them. But he knew that her beauty was not the only thing which had made him fall In love , it was was the person Bondita was. Unparalleled in her knowledge - she would never stop asking.
Anirudh really wanted to tell her all that. Now she was 20 and he- well he was 29 , he felt it would be right to start there marriage officially as man and wife.
“What happened?”Bondita asked a bit confused.
“You look beautiful.” Anirudh announced , not taking a moment off her blushing smile.
a few minutes passed.
“Ask me something , Bondita.”Anirudh wished to answer her curiosities regarding their current situation.
Bondita shivered on her name. She felt something heavy creep on her chest- excitement.
“No Anirudh. I want to tell you something.” Bondita came close to him. She absorbed in every minuscule of energy present in the environment. Anirudh was baffled on the confidence this young lady possessed. Honestly, his name looked extremely melodious from her mouth. He wished to hear it that way every second.
“I Love you.” Bondita spoke , every word laced with genuineness. “Just like a wife should - to her husband.” She completed letting out a sigh. She did not expect much.Until the very next second, she heard him scream the same thing and sealing it with a kiss.
Loving you was endearing, sweet and rich
loving you was sunshine , moon and mist
loving you was like stepping in a fence
loving you had its own consequence.
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