Then he had spoken of Asha. It was as if Mahendra was delirious with joy, mirth and a strange intoxication. Binodini read a little bit, blushed and stopped short, ‘Aunty, what do you want to hear all this for?’

Rajlakshmi’s yearning, loving face turned to stone in a moment. She was silent for a while and then she said, ‘Stop.’ She walked away without taking the letter back.

Binodini went into her room holding the letter. She bolted the door from within, sat on her bed and began to read again. Only she could say what she gleaned from that letter. But it certainly wasn’t amusement. As she read it over and over again, her eyes began to burn like the desert sands at noon and her breath became as fiery as the desert winds. Her mind was awhirl with thoughts of Mahendra, Asha and their passionate romance. She held the letter on her lap, leant against the wall, stretched her legs out in front and sat still for a long time.

Behari couldn’t find Mahendra’s letter ever again.

That same afternoon, all of a sudden, Annapurna arrived in Barasat. Rajlakshmi paled at the thought of some bad news. She didn’t dare ask anything and just looked at Annapurna with an ashen face.

Annapurna said at once, ‘Didi, everything’s fine in Kolkata.’

Rajlakshmi said, ‘Then why are you here?’

Annapurna said, ‘Didi, please take over your household. I have lost interest in these chores. I have set off to go to Kashi. I came here to take your blessings before I go. I may have wronged you, with or without intention, many a times. Please forgive me. And your daughter-in-law,’ her eyes filled with tears, ‘she is a child, she is motherless. Whether she is guilty or innocent, she is still yours.’ She could speak no further.

Rajlakshmi got busy arranging for her bath and meal. Behari came running from Gadai Ghosh’s gathering when he heard the news. He touched Annapurna’s feet and said, ‘Aunty, this is not possible; you cannot be so heartless as to leave us.’

Annapurna checked her tears and said, ‘Don’ t try to hold me back, Behari—all of you be happy; nothing will stop on my account.’

Behari was silent. Then he said, ‘Mahin da is very heartless to have bade you goodbye.’

Annapurna looked shaken. ‘Don’t say that—I am not angry with Mahin. But no good will come to the family unless I leave.’

Behari looked into the distance and sat there in silence. Annapurna undid the knot in her sari and took out a pair of gold bracelets. ‘Son, keep these bracelets—give them to your wife with my blessings, when she comes.’

Behari touched them to his forehead and went into the next room to hide his tears.

As she left, Annapurna said, ‘Behari, look after my Mahin and my Asha.’

She handed a piece of paper to Rajlakshmi and said, ‘This is a deed whereby I give to Mahin my share in the ancestral property. Just send me fifteen rupees every month.’

She bent to the ground and took Rajlakshmi’s blessings before she set off on her pilgrimage.

8

ASHA WAS VERY SCARED. WHAT ON EARTH WAS GOING ON! RAJLAKSHMI HAD gone away, and Annapurna followed suit. Mahendra’s and her pleasure seemed to drive everyone away. It would end up driving her away.