Please be serious—say you will meet her?’

It wasn’t as though Mahendra wasn’t curious to see Binodini; in fact, lately he’d even felt an urge to see her. But he felt this unwarranted impatience was somehow unethical. In matters of the heart, Mahendra’s beliefs on what was ethical and what wasn’t were a little more stringent than most people’s. In the past he had not heeded the idea of marriage for fear that after marriage his mother’s place wouldn’t stay the same. These days he wanted to hold his relationship with Asha so sacred that he wouldn’t let even the slightest curiosity about another woman tarry in his heart. He prided himself on the fact that his love was fastidious and pure. Similarly, he never wanted to acknowledge anyone else as his friend since that position was already given to Behari. If anyone ever felt attached to him and tried to further their acquaintance, Mahendra would go out of his way to be rude to them; he took pleasure in deriding them to Behari, and declaring himself absolutely indifferent to the average men around him. If Behari protested, Mahendra said, ‘You can do that Behari—wherever you go, you make plenty of friends. But I’m afraid I don’t feel like making friends with every Tom, Dick and Harry.’

Thus, when Mahendra’s heart lurched with inevitable eagerness and curiosity at the thought of meeting this unfamiliar woman, he felt he was letting down his own ideals. Eventually, he had lost his patience and gone to Rajlakshmi, requesting her to send Binodini away from their home.

He now said to Asha, ‘No, Chuni, I don’t have the time to meet your friend. I have my studies to attend to and you are there: where is the space for another friend?’

Asha said, ‘It’s all right, I won’t take up your study time; I’ll give my share of the time to Bali.’

Mahendra said, ‘You may well want to give it, but why would I let you do that?’

Mahendra claimed that Asha’s love for Binodini was eating into her love for her husband.With great pride he would say, ‘Your love is not as constant and steadfast as mine.’ This often caused the pair to squabble. Asha wouldn’t accept it—she’d cry and fight but never was she able to win the argument.

Mahendra grew to take pride in the fact that he was unwilling to let Binodini have even a hair’s space between the two of them. Asha hated this pride, but one day she bowed before it humbly and said, ‘All right then, will you please meet my Bali for my sake? Just once?’

Mahendra, after establishing the supremacy of his love over Asha’s, finally agreed to meet Binodini as a favour to his wife. But he made it clear, ‘That doesn’t mean she’ll be free to disturb me every now and then!’

The following morning Asha went into Binodini’s room and woke her up with a hug. Binodini said, ‘Wonder of wonders, the sunflower has left the sun and turned to the clouds today!’

Asha said, ‘I’m no good at all that poetic stuff, my dear, so don’t waste your breath. Why don’t you go and say all this to the one who’d appreciate it most?’

Binodini said, ‘And who is this poetic genius?’

Asha said, ‘Your brother-in-law, my husband! No really, I’m not joking—he’s very keen to meet you.’

Binodini said to herself, ‘Your wife has begged you to and so you’ve sent for me—if you think I’ll come running, you couldn’t be more wrong.’

Binodini refused doggedly. Asha lost face before her husband.

Mahendra was also very angry. How dare she refuse to come before him! Did she think he was like any other man? Others may have tried to find some excuse in all these days to talk to Binodini, to see her face. The fact that Mahendra never tried any such tricks should be enough for Binodini to realize that he was different. If she ever came to know him well, she’d surely see how extraordinary he was.

A couple of days ago Binodini had also felt quite upset. ‘I’ve been in this house for so long and Mahendra has never once tried to catch a glimpse of me. When I am in his mother’s room he never ever cooks up an excuse to come and speak to his mother. Why all the indifference? I am not a piece of furniture, I am a person, I’m a woman ! If he ever got to know me well, he’d know the difference between me and his cherished Chuni!’

Asha came to her husband with an idea. ‘I’ll go and fetch my Chokher Bali to our room saying you have gone to college. And then you’ll come in suddenly and confound her totally.’

Mahendra asked, ‘What has she done to merit such a harsh sentence?’

Asha said, ‘No, really, I am very angry indeed. She has refused to meet you! I’ll break her tenacity or my name is not Asha.’

Mahendra said, ‘I am not exactly dying to meet your bosom friend. I refuse to meet her like that, by stealth.’

Asha held his hand and begged, ‘Please do this for me, just this once? I want to shatter her pride somehow, on this one occasion; thereafter you two are free to do what you like.’

Mahendra did not reply. Asha pleaded, ‘Please dear, for my sake?’

Mahendra was actually getting more and more fired up—and so, with a great show of indifference, he conceded.

It was a sheer, silent autumn afternoon. Binodini was seated in Mahendra’s room, teaching Asha how to knit a woollen shoe.