-X-
Hot tears flowed from her eyes, that had gone red. Her muffled sobs and cry were carefully hidden within the walls of the small, dark room. A scurrying mouse caused her to yell and fall off from the stool she was seated on, raising a small alarm.
"Bahurani?" Knocked an uncertain Bihari.
"Main theek hoon, bahar aa rahi hoon." she responded, trying to sound as normal as possible.
Wiping her cheeks with her saree's pallu, she stepped out of the storeroom. No one noticed those huge eyes that had gone red or those long eyelashes smeared with kajal and dirt.
-X-
The window presented a intoxicating view of the sunset. She found solace in that purple sky, painted beautifully with a few spots of golden here and there. There was a faint mumble on the street below as the people returned home, probably after a long and a hectic day. Some might have made profits while for some it was an oddly bad day.
She found it fascinating to think about others and building up trivial stories around what she saw - a very convenient and interesting way of escaping your own problems.
A very familiar sound brought her out of her fantasies. It was Pati Babu's car screeching to a halt, on the Haveli's main gate. She ran towards the kitchen and poured water in a glass, grabbed some gur from the shelf and placed it neatly in a tray. In a jiffy, she was into his room, waiting for him to enter.
"Bondita, how was your day!" he came in, sounding fresh as ever.
"Good" she replied dejectedly and not-so-enthusiastically.
"I assume you're tired?" He guessed, from the dull tone. "College can be hectic" he remarked, recollecting his own days of schooling.
Nodding her head, she went away, clearly trying to avoid conversations. He made a face, he didn't like the way she was behaving off late. Something was very different. Yes, she wasn't the 8year old anymore. She had grown up to be a fine teenager, stepping onto the threshold of adolescence. Citing these as normal mood swings, he brushed aside the thought and started checking the pile of stacked letters.
Just then, he was reminded of a pending document awaiting his signature.
He carefully opened the file and saw the empty space beside his name. Right below his was Bondita's - Bondita Aniruddh Roy Chaudhary- signed with a 'Bondi' against her name.
His expression turned sour. Since when did she start signing off with only her name?
Alarmed, he barged into her room.
"Bondita!" He called.
She turned around and faced him, eyes puffed and breath heavy.
"Do you realise that these are important bank documents and you cannot sign these as per your whim and fancy. You have to sign according to the signature that is registered with them. Understood?" he told firmly.
She turned back to face the window, without a word. Confused, he stepped towards her.
"Bondita, anything wrong?" he asked.
"I don't want to use your last name" she said.
"What?" he asked, completed taken aback.
"I don't want the world to call me Bondita Roy Chaudhary. I'm just, just Bondita" she said slowly, with tears threatening to break the dam of will she'd strongly built.
"And why is that so?" he asked, angry and puzzled. He crossed his arms behind, against the back.
...
Bondita felt as if the world was at her feet. She had cleared the entrance exam of the most prestigious college of Calcutta and she felt her wings grow, as she held the admission notice in her hands.
"Debina?" she said surprisingly, as she unexpectedly met her best friend at the campus main gate.
"Bondita" she smiled back, faintly.
"Let's go!" she excitedly dragged her inside.
"Bondita, wait. I haven't been selected" she said.
"Oh" she muttered. She did not know how to react.
"I'm sorry..."
"No, don't be. Not everyone has a Roy Chaudhary in front of their name."
Bondita turned pale. This was out of the blue, thrown at her so randomly.
"I've cleared the cut off" she defended herself but her friend had already left.
This was just the beginning of the enormous bias she was going to face everyday, albeit the backlash of being an aristocratic daughter-in-law of the supremely influential Roy Chaudharys.
Right from gossips behind her back to those jealous concealed gazes and sublime yet hard hitting taunts and barbs. Her classmates would never treat her warmly, courtesy the oppressive cast system they themselves had to face every moment.
The matter was clear - everyone hated her in return for the rich tormenting the poor. The prejudice was so evident that sometimes they didn't even care to not talk when she was around. It had been grilled into their heads so firmly and securely, maybe by the unfortunate parents or by the society itself.
...
Aniruddh heaved a sigh of relief.
"Is that it?"
"They tore my foreign exchange programme application today cause they want to give those students a chance, who have a weak financial background."
"That's right Bondita. You don't worry, I will make sure you graduate from London."
"You can't always be right, can you? I can't believe you find this matter trivial!"
She turned away.
"Shouldn't have told you in the first place..." she muttered as she planned to leave.
He held her hand tightly.
"You think the name's a problem, huh?"
She nodded vehemently, absolutely sure of it.
"No ornaments and these silk sarees for you tomorrow onwards. No one will drop you to college, you figure it out yourself. No expensive handstitched notebooks hereon. And no perfume as well." He announced, leaving her even more miffed and broken.
What a great punishment she had got for taking a small decision of dropping her surname. She had only heard of girls being denied basic freedom and rights but today she had some first hand experience on this; on this very rare occasion, she wished that she wasn't here, married to this man.
"Thank you very much, sir!" She scoffed as she ran outside, with the tears freely flowing out.
-X-
One month later
It was yet another evening.
It had been a whole month since Bondita had talked to him properly. She was adamant on showing her displeasure at his harsh ways while he was hell bent on proving a point. He had heard of elders complaining about unruly teenagers and here he was, facing one of them.
Today, this small cold war took a startling turn as she did not present herself before him, even after he had returned from a long day.
Bihari brought him a glass of water and a plate of gur. Along with it, was a letter.
Dear Pati babu,
You gave me a couple of rude instructions that day. I agree, those were in my best of interest but I'm miffed, for you did not give the reason behind it. You didn't tell me that I should've tried to understand the cause of my classmates' demeanour towards me. They never had a problem with my name, but with my privileges, that were rightly taken away by you in due time.
I'm overjoyed to share this piece of news, that I've been elected as my class representative by the count of public vote, today.
I'm extremely embarrassed about the way I've behaved, especially the fact that I didn't trust you enough and related these restrictions to the deprivation of my freedom.
PS: I am sure some monthly travelling allowance for me won't cause you great harm. Bihari owes you five rupees as of now.
Yours truly,
Bondita Aniruddh Roy Chaudhary.
Aniruddh laughed at the last remark, as he neatly folded the letter and kept it in his diary, with a constant smile playing on his face.
-X-
- Mahi.
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