Kill You,Sure

                   Kill You,Sure

                                                 Nidhu Bhusan Das

           Bithi’s on her way back to Dhaka to spend the summer vacation with parents. Now in the region of cloud, she’s very much down-to-earth, instead of being ascending high in dream. “Kill you. Kill you, sure. What does it mean,” she thought and remembered,” Heard ‘killjoy, but it’s noun and ‘kill’ is a verb, the two cannot be the same, can they?” She isn’t sure. She knows one meaning of ‘fire’ is to dismiss from job. Is ‘kill’ has such a meaning? She’s puzzled, she’s contemplative while the plane’s nosing its way down the cloud-way to destination where her parents are waiting to receive her. When he tells her “kill you” he wears a gentle smile and maintains inviting eye contact. It isn’t grim like that of a killer. The difference’s significant. Really. She understands it. Yet she’s clueless. She felt the urge to contact him right now to ask what he meant. But her cell phone’s in airplane mode. The cloud’s floating on the vast expanse. She’s smiling in the sun, looking for someone she wishes to meet, maybe it’s a rendezvous with someone she loves. Her eagerness suggested that.Bithi doesn’t have any such eagerness. She isn’t jealous of the floating lover. She doesn’t have such tenderness for anybody. Yet she cannot but dwell upon the tender warning “Kill you”. Anik repeats the warnings every time he meets her at the Department.They’re doing Anthropology at JNU. Anik Lal’s from a kulak family of Hariyana.The grand lineage and heritage are the pride of their family, and wouldn’t shed their greatness at any cost.Bithi doesn’t know this. In fact they’re in the early phatic phase of their interpersonal communication. But the smiling face of the Aryan face of the boy often surfaces in her mind.

          At theShahajalal International Airport lounge Anis and Reba Chaudhury frequently look at the watch with their ears cocked to the announcement for the landing of the Air India flight from Delhi.Bithi comes. It’s a great joy for them …their only child and cause of pride. She’s beautiful; she’s different having academic excellence.

         Bithi read Dickens and Tales from Shakespeare, Saratchandra, Manik Bandyopadhyaya, Tarashankar and science fictions, City of Joy and Da Vinci Code. She analyses them in the social context. Her interest lies in sociological study. If you talk of something romantic she, unlike her friends, would say digging the past and looking into the future flashing forward as in science fiction is romantic. To her, the story of Romeo and Juliet is romantic because it takes her to the ancient Roman world and feudal pride and feud there. On 20, she hasn’t till now understood the primrose path her friends are eloquent about. But right now the warning “Kill you” intrigues her. Available dictionary gives the literal meaning, and she cannot find it compatible with what Anik might have meant.

         The pilot’s announced they’re hovering over Dhaka and it’s time to land. Bithi’s meditation’s ceased. Her parents have pattered into her mind. She comes out of the plane and looks around to see the parents who wave to her. The brief time for customs clearance seems to be hours to the girl and her parents. This is affection, she understands, and that much. She rushes to the parents and kisses them. They’re now on the latest version of Toyota Raum which heads to their beautiful bungalow at Uttara, a posh residential area in the burgeoning mega city. The hitch’s the traffic snarl which slows down the movement to tortoise-pace. However, it couldn’t slow down the tender interaction between the daughter and the parents.Bithi’s all praise for the academic environment at JNU and the fast life outside the campus. The openness at the campus, a knowledge hub, is the primary experience of the girl she’s eager to share with her parents. The sultry summer hasn’t come in their way of a lovely chat in the AC car. Summer’s scorching now in ever expanding Dhaka which brims over.

        Bithi jumps out of the car as it’s pulled up in the driveway in the symmetric bungalow.The gardener Prafulla, the cook Mariam and domestic helps Rabeya and Rafique are the other residents in the complex. They’re a happy lot, and don’t feel aloof from the Chaudhury family.Bithi’s also their loving child. Her return has brought no less joy from them. She skips along the driveway and hugs the exotic plants that adorn the huge lawn.

“Come baby, let’s go in. We’ve the evening to be here for tea,” calls Reba like she calls a school-going girl. Her papa takes her hand and patters up the stairs to the drawing room followed by others.

Lolling on the sofa Bithi fondly says,” Mom, am I still a baby?”

“You’re and will always be to us, dear –our little child,” says Reba fondling the daughter.

“They call me little Bangladeshi!” Bithi giggles.

“Is it? They’re right, perhaps,” pokes the father.

“You’re so naughty, papa. Silly it is, you should say.”

“They don’t know you’re the little mom of Anis Chaudhury, right?”

“Maybe, how should they? Am I like a mom?”

“You aren’t, true. Just 20, not the time to be mom. Yet you’re our sweet mom.”

“But not little, at that!”

“Little of course when it means ‘dear’. Aren’t you dear to us?”

“Everyone around knows I’m your dear dear baby.Papa, is there any such out-of-the-way meaning of ‘Kill’ when someone says, probably endearingly, ‘Kill you, sure’? They use it in the campus.”

“Let me think, mom.Is it love? Not sure. We won’t tell so, your mom and I.At Harvard! You know, jargon differs from place to place.Could you guess anything, dear?” asked the father, eager, to understand.

“I haven’t. Trying.”

Mariam calls,” Lunch is ready. May talk at the table.”

“Well mom, get ready, have a quick bath. What’s there, Mariam, for my mom to have for lunch?”

“Pineapple ilish, katal kaliya, chicken curry…”

Bithi rushes to the bath tub, with tongue watering. She’ll have a real Bengali dish after a gap of three months and that too at home with mom and papa. ( continued on 2 July 2015)

*  Dear readers,
This is my new novel for your consideration. please read,comment and share.Also give suggestions.

She Won't Reveal 51

          She Won’t Reveal (51)

                      Nidhu Bhusan Das

                It’s Sunday. The sun is up, resplendent. The morning is cool, and abuzz with tribal beneficiaries of the welfare schemes of Anu, their Didi (elder sister) whom they’re missing for some time, and eager to see her addressing them from Kolkata via web conference half-an-hour from now. A neon-sign draped with silk below the first floor roof on the front wall of the bungalow names the Charity and defines its mission.A giant screen is set up for the people to see their didi and her parents talking on the Charity to be inaugurated.

            Back in Arunima, Anu and her parents are excited as they’re rehearsing how they would speak to the people away in Amlarem.The entire episode has been scripted by Anu. They’ve gone through several satisfactory mock tests. 15 minutes from 10, Sujata telephoned Anu to be ready and relaxed for the programme. The people begin to chant “Didi Didi” in chorus as the giant screen before them has come to life and they see Anu sitting on the sofa flanked by her mom on the left and papa on the right, all beaming. Anu begins with khublei, khasi for Good Morning. A thunderous clap follows, as after a pause Anu continues,” I’m, believe me, always with you. Now with my mom and papa, and you aren’t less dear to me. Our family is with you from today. My Thammi, I told you about her. She lives in me, I in her. She breathed in me her spirit of conscientiousness and love transcendental. I’ll live with it and outlive it. I’ll reach you when you need me as Thammi reaches me. Please remember, Here is your Didi awake and when asleep.” She, as it were, sings her dirge in the epitaphial statement.

              Now Anu tells the audience,” Please listen to my papa” and motioned to Dr. Anirban.He’s frail yet inspired enough to relate to the people his dear daughter loves.Dr.Anirban’s never been an  articulate talker. He’s a good listener and this quality has helped him to be a successful doctor. He listens more than he talks. The patients feel satisfied, and a few words he utters give them psychological boost. He often tells this when at dinner and breakfast the doctor couple discusses their day to day professional experiences. Both of them love their profession and are happy they can serve the ailing people when they come to them for relief, feeling helpless. In fact, both the doctors religiously follow and creatively apply professional ethics, quite rare for decades in West Bengal.

“Good Morning, friends! Happy to be with you. We seek your participation in our project. It’s your project and your effort could make it meaningful. My daughter loves you and is always with you, heart and soul. My brother Prof Sanyal and our Mom Sujata are there now to inaugurate the facility. We are so happy back here that you’re with them at this auspicious moment. We shall visit you in a month or so.” The doctor smiled all through, a smile he lost, leading to his cardiac attack. The crowd in front of the giant screen murmured,” He looks and sounds God!”Anupama waves hands to the crowd with a lingering smile as the conference ends.

                 Prof Sanyal draws the cover off the neon sign declaring the Charity open. Again a thunderous clap follows. People help themselves with sweetmeat kept aplenty for the occasion. The gathering is gay and optimist. Their belief that the Didi is with them for ever is reinforced today. There has been a lot of speculation that she has left them contrary to her stance and commitment. Now they are assured. Prof Sanyal and Sujata look to it that no one is left without having the sweet. The people are wonderfully disciplined. The professor is face to face with a new reality – he sees that the innocent tribal people are more disciplined and docile than the urban gentry, contrary to the popular belief among the privileged people. Anu with her power of keen observation has understood this. People continue to stay in and around the bungalow premises long after the inauguration is over. The place has got back its life and lustre with the virtual presence of Anu, the soul of the house and the adjacent areas of which it has been the source of hope and service. The people have seen how the abandoned bungalow came alive when Anu entered it and began to live in it.

                      At lunch, the daughter and the parents feel a new life flowing in them.Dr. Arindam regrets that he had never been to the bungalow and whishes to visit it right tomorrow.Anupama supports him and looks to Anu for her approval. She picks up the phone and makes a video call to Sujata: “Dear, papa wants to reach you tomorrow.”

“Why not! He must. Everyone will be happy. People will welcome you all. You don’t know how much they feel for you.”

“He’ll talk to you,” Anu handed over the phone to Arindam.

“Hello uncle, you’re right. People here are ready to welcome you. Catch the morning flight tomorrow.”

“Where’s my borther, your son?”

“Son, please talk to uncle, they’re willing to come tomorrow,” Sujata handed over the telephone.

“Hello Sanyal, do you feel we should come tomorrow?”

“It’ll be a great joy for us and for everybody over here. You don’t know how great people over here will feel.” Words spread like wild fire that the family of Didi comes tomorrow.

                  When they arrive in the late afternoon, the garden is sunny and the area rocks with people gathered to welcome their dear ones back home with their folk music and dance. It’s for them an occasion for celebrations. While her parents interact with the admiring people, Anu hugs the flowers and the plants in tenderness. Prafullada and Angshu hear her talking to these adornments of Nature:” You’re life and love real, and also the people who aren’t detached from Nature, these common folks. Love resides here. Love is feeling, not thought. My parents have it. I have come to understand at last. Here’s joy for us all.Prafullada, you’re happy because you know it.Angshu, I’m your Maa, ain’t I?” She enfolds them and the flowers smile. She realizes,” This is fulfillment.”

                 She sits on the garden chair and looks on. The birds are agog. The rhythm of Thlumuwi waterfall audible here is regaling. (Let’s end).

               

She Won't Reveal 50

          She Won’t Reveal (50)

                      Nidhu Bhusan Das

                Sujata’s at tea in the garden with her son, Prafullada and Angshu.It’s a cheerful Tea Party, a prelude to the inauguration of the Charity tomorrow morning preceded by a videoconference by Dr. Arindam.

“The morning’s going to be sunny, sure,”Prof Sanyal’s optimist.

“Yes, a new sun will rise,” hoped Sujata.

“I’m so happy, maa!”

“And that’s reflected in the entire house, son.”

“We’ve to arrange for the videoconference, the screens, etc.”

“That’ll be done after tea. I’ve already called a software provider. He’s expected anytime.”

“That’s like my maa,”the professor beamed.

“Son, meanwhile, I’ve something…important to share with you.”

“Please tell, anything serious?”

“May we go upstairs?”

“Well, let’s.”

They went up. Sujata asked Prafullada to take the operator to the drawing room when he comes.

“That bitch messaged,” Sujata whispered to the professor back in the room.

“Who!”Prof Sanyal parsed his lips in anguish.

“Anuradha, the serpent Anu pampered to her perils.”

“What’s the message?”

“She asked me to know about her parents after the temblor in North Bengal today.”

“What do you think, should you reply?”

“Think I shouldn’t.”

“Let’s forget. She could talk to them, or to friends back in the home town, couldn’t she?”

“Yes, this is none of our business.”

This is the moment, thought Sujata, to try to understand why girls, including she, behave in the way they do. She doesn’t know about Anuradha as much as she knows about Anu.She opted out of her relation with Arup and kept the reason to her. One can only guess the reason(s).”True, Anu played a role in Arup’s marriage with Mita, a common friend of both and the fact’s that she still believes and says Arup’s her true friend and well-wisher. Is it that she opted out because she knew she lived with a killer…? Okay, let me discuss it with my son,”Sujata decided.

She looked out into the garden through the window, thought a few moments and smiled at the beauty of the dusk over the green patch which could well be the arbour for Anu and Arup had they been in the bungalow in their honeymoon.Arup instead  had his honeymoon with Mita in Manali.

She turned back and said,” Son, one more thing I’d like to share.”

“Please, maa,”said the professor, entreatingly.

“Anu has the killer leukemia.”

“What! Who told you?” the professor blared out as if he couldn’t come to terms with what he’d just heard.

“It’s diagnosed when we were at college.”

“Are you sure the diagnosis was correct?”

“There’s a lot of moaning and wailing in their house after the diagnosis. Uncle and auntie were so upset. Her thammi was there to console and comfort them all.”

“Was it for this her affair with Arup terminated?”

“Not outrightly.It continued till Arup left for the USA for medical study. She told me he would remind her to take medicine at the appointed time twice a day.”

“Was it for this he left the country… say to forget, to be out of sight?”

“May be or mayn’t be. She still believes he’s her well-wisher.”

“Were they in communication, even then?”

“No, so far I know. She’s upset and determined to forget.”

“Then why’ve you said she played a role in his marriage?”

“Maybe, for a sweet revenge.”

“Revenge! How?”

“Mita carried while they married. Arup didn’t father the child. Also, Mita lost her right leg in an accident with her lover Sandeep who’s the architect of the child.”

“But you said Anu still believes Arup’s her well-wisher.”

“Perhaps she loves to phantasize. She’d two suicide attempts after the break-up, you know.”

“How the attempts failed?”

“Her Thammi saved her. The grand old lady who’s still her guide and saviour in absentia.”

“Why did she opt for the North-east?”

“For peace… peace of mind, son. Arup fondly called her Putul at school and college. At the university he changed into Pinky” said Sujata with a long sigh.

“This is significant, Maa, very significant!” Professor Sanyal pointed out.

“How! We never thought that way, not even Anu.”

“I don’t know about the preference of Arup.Anyhow it suits the behaviour of Anu.”

“Suits her behaviour!”

“Yes. When you carry the name it means you don't like to let others know your true feelings. We don’t know the true feelings of Anu, do we?”

“Perhaps not. Perhaps she’s a mystery. Yet she’s loveable.”

“Now, hopefully, she’s reunited with her parents and is set to play the guardian in the family. She repents she misunderstood them and will now on recompense.”

“Let it be so, son. Her parents are so good.”

Prafullada came and told them it’s time for dinner and said he’s awaiting the auspicious moment when the charity would be inaugurated and he would be able to see Anu and her parents speaking.” Auntie’s so good!” he exclaimed sincerely remembering her sojourn here.” She’s also so sad,” thought Sujata. “The video man came and said he would make everything ready by 9 in the morning,” informed the gardener.( continued on 19th June 2015)