When I go to college the damned bird cried its heart out and disturbed you.’ Mahendra reached for Asha and tried to hold her close.

Asha disentangled herself slowly and emptied her sari of the bakul flowers. ‘No more,’ she said. ‘Shame on us! Please go quickly and bring Mother back.’

9

AT THAT VERY MOMENT THERE WAS A SHOUT OF ‘MAHIN DA, Mahin da’ from below. Mahendra replied, ‘Hello there, come on up.’ Behari’s voice actually lifted Mahendra’s spirits. Since their marriage Behari had often come between them as a barrier—but today that very barrier seemed welcome and imperative. Asha too felt relieved at Behari’s arrival. When she drew the sari over her head and made as if to rise, Mahendra said, ‘Where are you off to? It’s only Behari.’

Asha said, ‘Let me arrange for Thakurpo’s tea.’

Asha’s dejection lifted a little at this opportunity to do something. She wanted to hear about her mother-in-law and so she stood there awhile. She still never addressed Behari directly.

As he walked in Behari said, ‘Oh no, I seem to have run headlong into intense poesy. Don’t worry, Bouthan, you sit down and I’ll be on my way.’

Asha glanced at Mahendra, who asked, ‘Behari, how is Mother?’

Behari said, ‘Don’ t bring up Mother and Aunty today, my friend, there’s time yet for all that. Such a night was not made for sleep, nor for mothers and aunts.’

Behari was about to turn back when Mahendra dragged him back by force and made him sit down. Behari said, ‘Look Bouthan, it’s not my fault—he held me back by force—it’s Mahin da’s sin and the curse shouldn’t come upon me!’ Such bantering always irked Asha because she could never respond. Behari did this on purpose.

Behari said, ‘Well , the house is a sight. Isn’t it time yet for you to fetch Mother?’

Mahendra said, ‘Certainly! In fact we are waiting for her.’

Behari said, ‘It won’t cost much of your time to write that to her and it’ll give her immense joy. Bouthan, I appeal to you: please spare Mahin da for a few minutes so that he can write the note.’

Asha stomped away in anger—she had tears in her eyes.

Mahendra said, ‘What a moment it was when you two set eyes upon one another—your squabbles never seem to end.’

Behari said, ‘You have been spoilt by your mother and now your wife is doing the same. I find it so appalling that I protest ever so often.’

Mahendra asked, ‘And what’s the upshot of all this?’

Behari replied, ‘None where you are concerned, but there is some for me.’

10

BEHARI MADE MAHENDRA WRITE THE LETTER TO RAJLAKSHMI AND TOOK IT with him the next day, meaning to bring her back. Rajlakshmi could tell the letter was written as a result of Behari’s coercion, but she couldn’t stay away any longer. She brought Binodini along with her.

When she returned and found the house in utter disarray and chaos, Rajlakshmi felt even more hostile towards Asha. But what a change there was in Asha! She followed Rajlakshmi around like a shadow now, trying to lend a hand everywhere even without being told. Rajlakshmi exclaimed anxiously, ‘Let it be, you’ll ruin it! Why do you try to do what you don’t know anything about?’

She reached the conclusion that this change in Asha was brought about by Annapurna’s departure. But she felt Mahendra should not think that when Annapurna was around he could spend his days freely with Asha and now under his mother’s regimen he had lost his wife. He would perceive his aunt as his well-wisher and his mother as an enemy. What was the point?

These days, if Mahendra called her in the day, Asha hesitated to go up. But Rajlakshmi reprimanded her, ‘Can’t you hear, Mahin is calling you? Can’t you answer him? Too much love has gone to your head. Go on, you don’t have to do the vegetables now.’

It was back to the mockery of the slate, pencil and the alphabets, blaming each other for the alleged paucity of love, pointless squabbles over who loved whom the most, turning gloomy days into nights and moonlit nights into sunny days, staving off ennui and boredom by sheer force. It was a kind of deadly grip on each other, where even when togetherness yielded no great joy, there was morbid fear in letting go of one another for even a single second—the pleasure of mating turned to ashes and yet, one couldn’t move away from it, fearing a vacuum elsewhere. Such was the terrible curse of over-indulgence that although the pleasure wasn’t long-standing, the bonds were lethally binding.

Then one day, Binodini came and twined her arms about Asha’s neck and said, ‘My friend, may your happiness last forever, but don’t you think you could spare this hapless soul a mere glance sometimes?’

Asha had a natural reserve in front of strangers, having grown up in another’s home. She feared rejection.When Binodini had arrived with her arched brows and sharp glance, her flawless face and her pristine, youthful beauty, Asha hadn’t dared approach her to make her acquaintance. She noticed that Binodini was perfectly natural in Rajlakshmi’s presence. Rajlakshmi also took pleasure in praising Binodini in Asha’s presence, giving her more than her due share of importance.