She Won't Reveal 49

          She Won’t Reveal (49)

                      Nidhu Bhusan Das

                Professor Sanyal reached Anu’s bungalow before sunset.Prafullada and Angshu were in the garden awaiting the arrival of the wise man who had informed them by telephone before his hurried departure. The garden looked great with April flowers smiling in the late afternoon. The tranquil face of the professor was inspiring for the duo that has spent anxious moments in the absence of Anu.The lushness of the flowers made them feel Anu’s papa would recover and get back his health soon. They didn’t lose hope. The arrival of the professor erased doubts, if any, in the mind of the two. They took the professor into the guest room next to Anu’s.He called Sujata and said,”Maa, I’m in the bungalow. The garden hasn’t lost its lustre.Prafulla and Angshu are confident. The weather’s fine, comfortable.They didn’t come today- Jerry and Nilu.”

“Okay son, I hope to join you in the afternoon tomorrow. I’m coming with the plan for launching the activities of the Charity immediately in consultation with you. Anu and her parents are keen about it and depend on us,”Sujata informed.

                “Anu’s at the still point. She’s clear and well-ordered thought and is capable of taking reasonable decision. She’s decided no more dithering and looking back, it’s time to go ahead, love for people-in-need is superior to the love for an individual which is personal in essence and cannot help one know oneself. She cannot and shouldn’t ignore the sterling love of her parents and their desire to help the underprivileged. She wouldn’t let her past hinder her journey into the future which holds possibilities beyond the selfish love and friendship which yields only disaster and saps human potential to transcend the mundane. She’d been stuck in a quagmire for a long time. Now she’s free to go beyond. She’ll channel her energy through the Charity conceptualized and concretized by her parents,”Sujata understood.

                “Uncle my son and I will start in earnest and immediately the activities of the Charity only if Anu’s also 100% earnest to go with and sustain her efforts. We wouldn’t like to keep you and auntie engaged in and concerned about it round the clock. She should take care of it whole time, and you’d be the guiding force,” said Sujata in the dinner meeting at Arunima without mincing words.

“I’ve no pull-back any more, am in it heart and soul. The Charity’s the younger child of my parents, and I feel, sincerely, it’s my sacred duty as the elder one to nurture and grow it, make it stronger and stronger,” Anu committed.

                “My son reached the bungalow in the twilight and found everything encouraging. Nothing wrong. Prafullada and Angshu are happy to work for the Charity, Sujata reported. The three faces beamed, and Dr. Arindam’s so happy that he would like to talk to Prof. Sanyal:”Auntie I wish I could talk to your son now.” Sujata smiled and made a call,” Son, uncle, Anu’s papa, would like to talk to you.”

“Please give him, he’s so generous,”Prof. Sanyal’s eager.

“Hello, Arindam speaking. So happy to talk. We’re grateful you’ve been empathetic to my daughter.”

“Rather I should be grateful to you that I could have so nice an auntie, and you’re her father,” Prof.Sanyal turned emotional and his tone’s wet.

“Is’t?” Dr. Arindam went monosyllabic, unable to believe.

“Is wonderful, has gone through a lot of experience, experimented with herself, and, perhaps, resolute now,” the professor explained.

“Let it be so, my dear friend,”Arindam sighed, and unaware, struck an emotional chord. The doctor had been lonely clutching the air since long. The contact with the peer made him emotional and optimist. He found in him a person who could be his emotional prop.

“The garden here is lovely and lively and bears the spirit of auntie. A real paradise where we may retreat to tide over hard times,” suggested the wise professor.

“I’m so happy that it’s going to be the launching pad of our effort to be rooted in the sacred life represented by the children of God – they’re the poor people,” the doctor sought to be spiritually true as Sujata looked at his glistening eyes.

“True, very true,” supported the professor, and continued, overwhelmed,”dream comes true. You’ve the dream, your daughter could dream, and we share your dream. Here’s life, we live in dream. Dream sustains life, creates and recreates life.

“Recreates…life!”

”You shared dream with Anupama and you two created Anu and now your dream-child recreates her.”

“You and your maa Sujata have a role in the recreation. The phinix has risen, let’s hope so, and you’ve helped,” the doctor’s grateful.

25 April 2015 was a fateful day in Nepal and North Bengal. A temblor 7.9 in the Richter scale shook.Anuradha’s in Srinagar, Kashmir with Maqbool in the family. Her parents didn’t know her whereabouts. The TV news shattered her. She began to cry Maqbool and her moms-in-law tried to solace her.

“Would you talk to them?”Maqbool asked, his tone wet.

“How can I?” she said, sobbing from behind the long veil.

“Let me call them by phone,”Maqbool suggested.

“No, please not,” she said with a snap.

“Okay then, let’s go recite the Koran.”

She rose, obedient to his suggestion. She’s learned certain verses of the holy Koran and prays five times a day with her moms-in-law. They’ve come to love her as she’s become devout Muslin after conversion following the official marriage according to the tenets of Islam. Her family name now is Amina.She’s happy being with Maqbool and in the family.

Sujata left for Guwahati by air at 10 a.m. before the earthquake which also shook Kolkata. She reached Amlarem in the afternoon. On the way to Amlarem from Guwahati she received an SMS from Anuradha who requested her to know about her parents back in Jalpaiguri which was hit by an earthquake.Sujata’s hesitant as she didn’t know the parents of the girl who’s eloped. Sujata thought she would talk to her son and act according to his advice. (to be continued on 28 May 2015)