"ouch! Dheere karo Bondita" I winced in pain when she opened the bandage from my head. "Issh kitna gehra chot hain" she said while touching my wound gently.

(Issh is also an expression of blushing, disgust, guilt depending on the tone)

She dipped a towel in a water filled bucket when I decided to tease her, "tumne hi to kiya hain". She looked down in guilt but continued to rub my arms with the wet towel in order to give me a sponge bath. Intentionally she pinched him in order to take revenge. "Aa! Bondita"

"Kya huya?" She asked innocently as if she had done nothing. "Tumhe thik se karna nehi ata to choro" I complained. "Accha Mujhe karna nehi ata?" Saying this she threw the towel on my face, "kabhi apne socha hain apke saare kitab apne ap shelf pe kaise jaate hain ya fir apke kapde apne ap kaise Almari mein chale jaate hain".

I was enjoying his angry yet innocent face. Just then a nurse entered to keep a check on me, "ap bura na maane to mera sponge kar denge?" I said to tease her more

Bondita who was facing the other side, looked at me with widened eyes.

"Ha sir ofcourse ye kaam to meri hi hain par Ma'am nehi kaha ki wo karenge".

I looked at her, cornering my eyes and smiled wickedly. She tugged her pallu in her waist in anger.

How dare he!

I was fuming in anger, I was feeling like shouting at them so much. They were looking at each other and smiling like a newlywed couple. Agar ye mere pati babu nehi hotey to pakka zor se marti. Suddenly I noticed him indirectly looking at me.

Accha! He is teasing me? Dekho to bistar pe parhe hain zakhmi hokey firbhi maazey nehi chutte inke.

But now I will show him who is Bondita Roy Chowdhury and what she can do.

"Ha ha aphi kijiye" I handed her the towel. Pati babu forced a smile at me. "Chaliye pati babu shirt kholiye, ye apke sponge karenge".

"He he" he cackled weirdly, "inke samne?"

"Haa" I made it obvious, "abh ye hi apke seva karenge Inse kya sharmana".

"Tum ho na" he was feeling shy and I know that. "Nehi mujhe to karna nehi ata". "Ap jaiye ye karlegi" he said to the nurse while I raised my eyebrow at him. "Par sir...."

"Ap jaiye na" he urged, "ye karlegi".

Once she felt I started laughing, "kyu maza aya?"

She was laughing so hard and I watched her laugh. Her laughter was like soothing music to my ears. She looks more beautiful when she laughs like this, covering her mouth with her hand, her nose shrinks aur dant dikhte hain ek k upar ek.

She suddenly stopped laughing, realizing that I was looking at her, "kya dekh rahe hain?"

"Tumhe"

Her cheeks turned red, she looked down and brushed her hair off her face, tugging them behind her ears.

It was a heated moment in RC haveli.

"NALAYAK!" Kaka shouted on top of his voice, "abh kaise bahu ko dilayenge hak, wo waha leta para hain aur hum yaha maar rahe hain Chinta se".

"Da ap shant ho jaiye Som aur Batuk gye hain na jankari lene" Binoy tried to calm him down.

Just then Som and Binoy entered, "Baba humne jankari li to pata chala us kagaz k anusar wo dono alag hain aur ye sirf Isa o k liye nehi hain, koi Hindu Musalman ya Parsi chahe to kar sakte hain".

Kaka shouted Angrily, "ho gaya gondogol! Mein keh raha hu Binoy agar tumhare bete ki bewakoofi k wajase meri bahu Ko firse ghar chorna pare to..."

"Kaka, Dada bhi bohot pareshan hain. Bondita ko pata nehi par kal Hospital walo se keheke humme phone kiya tha sab janne k liye" said Batuk abruptly.

"Abh tak to court mein jama ho gaya hoga aur sarkari khate mein Bondita Roy Chowdhury se Das ban bhi gyi hogi"

"Aur Dada ne ye bhi kaha tha" added Som, "ki Bihari ko unhone kaha tha kagax jama karwa ne ko".

Suddenly Bihari gave a confused look, "humme? Kabh?"

"Yaad karo Bihari" said Batuk.

He thought for a while and then he bit his tongue, smacked his own head and asked rather nervously, "wo kagaaz zarrori the kya?"

"Haa"

He burst into tears and fell on kaka's feet, "Malik hummey maaf kar dijiye, kaam se maat nikaliye, humse galti ho gyi".

"Arrey huya kya?" Asked kaka.

"Hum galti se uspe Somosa rakh k kha gye Malik".

"KYA???" all shouted together, "tum divorce papers pe Samosa rakh k kha gye?" Asked Baba.

He wiped off his tears, "wo chote Malik ne kagaz dekar kaha tha jald se jald jama karne ko par humne sicha thori kaam chori karlenge to kisi ko kya hi pata chalega..." He looked at Kaka with a guilty face and kaka glared at him and Murmured, "jaisa humesha karta hain tu, kam chori"

"To hum kagaaz ko Baki kagaaz k sath rakh k so gye the fir nind khula to bhul gye ki mujhe kaam bhi karna hota hain".

Batuk facepalmed.

"Dekha ki koyli swadest Samose taal rahi thi to hum chupke se do samosa chori kar liya".

"Do?" Koyli glared at him.

"Accha char"

She again eyed him.

"Accha thik hain che, che samose chupke se uthaye aur us kagaz pe rakh k chat kar gye".

Silence prevailed in the room. All looked at him with a weird blank expression.

"Bihari!" Shouted Kaka. Bihari was shivering in fear, "maafi Malik Maafi".

"Maafi nehi milega balki dugna pagar aur dher saara pyar milega".

We all laughed together while he stood there perplexed. Batuk explained to him everything and now Bihari was feeling himself as a hero.

"Peheli baar tere bewakoofi ne kuch accha kiya" said kaka, "jaise loha lohe ko kaat ta hain waise hi iske bewakoofi ne Anirudh k bewakoofi ko kaata".

"To fir Malik uphar swarup is Bihari ko Biharan bhi dhund k dijiye"

He was discharged and we were standing just outside the door of my Sasural that I had left. My eyes were filled with tears. He pressed my hand and smiled at me, the sweetest smile I have ever seen.

Kaka came with the thal and stood in front of us. Sampoorna didi was not present probably she was upset about my return.

He did our Arti but when we were about to step in, kaka shouted, "Ruko!"

We looked at each other in confusion. "Suna mang leke ghar mein pravesh maat karna bahu. He forwarded a sindoor daani to pati babu, "samajhdaar ko ishara kaafi hain".

When he filled the sindoor, I immediately closed my eyes. Tears dropped from my eyes along with the red powder dropping on my nose.

Last time after sindoor dan when I looked at him, he was upset with a pain-filled eye but today when I looked at him, he smiled back at me.

"Abh andar ao bahu" said I pushed the pot of rice inside and slowly stepped on the alta with my right foot while he held my hand tightly.

Finally everything seemed so peaceful. I thought of talking with her so I went inside her room and for the first, I directly entered into the room without knocking. I don't know what made me do this but I felt like it was my room too. I saw her staring at herself in the mirror. She was in a plain cream coloured cotton saree and her hairline was filled with a thick line of sindoor. Her nose was still red, she haven't rubbed it off yet.

From behind, I wrapped my arms around her tiny bare waist and placed my chin on her shoulder, sniffing in her aroma I whispered, "kaha khoyi ho?"

His scent was intoxicating me, his cold touch on my skin gave an electric effect. I closed my eyes in nervousness, "kuch nehi" I whispered so softly only I could hear it may be. He moved my hair to the other side and place a soft kiss on my nape which made me shiner and I let out a soft moan. His hold on my waist was becoming firm with passing time but his touch was making me feel relaxed, draining away all my stress.

He made me turn towards him.

She was unable to look at me. I saw her getting nervous while her eyes remained fixed on the ground. She was breathing heavily. I held her chin with her index finger and made her look at me. I pulled her by my waist, making her stand on my feet which made her grow in height a bit.

I cupped her face and kissed her forehead. Without a word she hugged me tightly, placing her head on my chest. A fine red line was imprinted on my neck due to her sindoor and for the same reason my white kurta was stained red near the collar.

After a while, I picked her up and made her lie on the bed. Covering her with a duvet, I was about to leave but she held my hand. I turned back and looked at her. Probably I know what she was trying to say. These are all new for both of us and sleeping on the same bed in the same room made me think twice. I just opened my mouth to explain to her that we shouldn't hurry but before I could she sat up on the bed and wrapped her hands around my torso, "mein bohot kaam jagah leti hu".

This made one thing evident, she has been waiting for this day for a long time.

I chuckled softly and placed another pillow on the bed just beside her pillow. She smiled shyly at me as we both lied on the bedside by side but there was a certain distance between us which I tried to not cross that since she is only 19. We used out separate duvet. I remained awake till late night, lying and staring at the ceiling, not holding or hugging her.

After looking at her and found her curled up in the duvet as a baby sleeps in a cradle. She was right, she had taken the least space possible mainly because she curls up in her sleep like a small turtle. She looked so pure and innocent like that. I patted her head. She murmured something in her sleep then smiled like a child.

Maybe she is dreaming a beautiful dream. She again murmured and placed her arms on my chest. I tried to remove her hand without disturbing her sleep but she again placed her hand.

I was already dealing with her moving and when she placed her feet too.

Oh god!

She moved towards me and curled up into my arms, snuggled into my chest.

She did tell me she takes less space but she should have told me, she moves so much in her sleep. I won't be surprised if she starts walking now.

She was moving based on her dream I guess. She was turning left and right in every 15 minutes, which was not letting me sleep. I had no other choice but to hold her tightly which I didn't want to do but I had to.

Finally she was under control. She again smiled and curled into me more, hugging me more tightly, she slept peacefully.

She didn't let me sleep properly.

Next morning I woke up because the water was sprinkled on my face. I rubbed my eyes and with my half-opened vision, I saw her in front of the mirror, humming a song.

She was drying her long wet open hain with a towel. Water dripped from her hair to her neck. She looked fresh like morning sunshine.

Bondita was so lost in singing that she did not even realize that I was awake.

She started putting on her jewelleries and then filled her hairline with vermilion after drawing a perfect dot with it on her forehead.

She continued to hum while putting the kohl to her round eyes.

Finally she pressed her shakha pola to her forehead and then her chest in a way of taking blessing from it.

"Ap uth gye?" She finally turned towards me, jaldi se naga lijiye"

She went downstairs to finish her Arti. After that, she applied medicine to my wound, made me have my breakfast in the room itself before she went downstairs again.

"Suno sab" announced kaka, "khas kar tum dono" he pointed at Bondita and Sampoorna maa, "Humari chaccheri badi behen Kanaklata devi, yani meri aur Binoy ki kannu didi a rahi hain".

"Pishi a rahi hain" said Som Dada.

"Haa"

"Bondita" I said to her, "pishi se sab daarte hain yaha tak ki kaka". Bondita was surprised to hear it, "unka faisla koi nehi badal sakta aur tark mein to dada bhi haar man jay. Wo purane khayalat k hain par apni baat manwake chorti hain".

"Ha bahu" added kaka, "bari ziddi hain Didi, kisi ki nehi sunti. Unke pure haveli ki akeli Thakurain hain. Polash nagar k log unhe bohot maante hain. Pati khone k baad apne charo baccho ko akele pala aur purey vyapar ki bhar apne saar pe le li sirf 17 saal k umar mein. Aj unke masalo ka vyapar purey bharat mein mashoor hain".

"Log thar thar kaap te hain unse" said Som Dada. "Aur unka adesh hi sabko shiradharya hain chahe wo kitni bhi kyu na galat ho, choti choti galtiyoon k baare baare dand dete hain".

"Unka ek takiya kalam hain, ar bolbo na" (firse nehi dauraungi)

"Par mamta kut kut k bhara hain, sakti dikhati hain par andar se narm hain" added Baba.

I entered my room where pati babu was reading a file. I was very excited to meet pishi maa and was thinking about how to welcome and impress her.

"Bondita" pati babu looked at me, "ek case hain aur mein chahata hu ki isme tum mujhe asist karo.

I was so happy hearing this. Last time we were against each other but I want to work with him so badly that I said yes without wasting a second.

"Bondita jab baat case ki ho, I am pretty serious about it. Mein tumhe bata du pehele se hi double mehenat karna parega, tumhara dhyan aur samay pura ispe hona chahiye. Tum meri patni ho iska matlab ye nehi ki you will be excused. Bolo kar paogi na?"

"Ha ha kyu nehi aur bohot acche se karungi".

Pishe glared at Sampoorna didi when she giggled, "aurat ko hasna tabhi chahiye jab wo kisi mard ko rajha rahi ho varna nehi" she made her go quiet. She now looked at me, "namm?"

"Bondita" I was confused because she already knows me. "Vivah se pehele kya tha?" She asked sternly. "Bondita hi to tha".

She glared at kaka sasurji, "lochan ye sab kya hain? Vivah k baad Bahu ka naam nehi badla tum logo ne".

"Wo" kaka stammered but she asked him to stop, "ek aurat ka na apni pehechan hoti hain na hi astithya". I looked at the floor. "Kal naam badal ka rasam hoga aur tujhe naya naam diya jayga".

Tears filled my eyes. This was the only thing my father could give me, my name Bondita and I cannot change it.

"Nehi pishi maa" I cried and joined my hands, almost pleading in front of her, "ye naam mere baba ka akhri nishani hain, mujhse ye maat chiniye"

But she was least bothered, "jo maine kehediya wo kehe diya, ar bolbo na".