Go on, you had better go to college.’

Mahendra would say, ‘It’s a nice cloudy day—’

Binodini would reply, ‘Oh no, you don’t get away with that—the carriage is ready—you must go to college.’

Mahendra would argue, ‘But I cancelled the carriage.’

Binodini would retort, ‘I called it back.’

She would bring his clothes for college and stand before him.

Mahendra would say, ‘You should have been born in a Rajput household—you’d have had fun placing the armour on your loved one when he went to war.’

Binodini did not like the idea of dropping out of classes or skipping studies for fun. Under her strict regulation the practice of lounging about and having fun at any time of the day became a thing of the past in the household. And hence the evening sessions turned into an oasis of pleasure for Mahendra. His days yearned for themselves to end.

Earlier, when his meals weren’t ready on time, Mahendra gladly used this as a pretext to stay back home. These days Binodini took care to see that his meal was ready first thing in the morning and the minute he finished it, he was told that the carriage was waiting for him. Earlier, he seldom found his clothes neatly folded and laid out for him: on the contrary, they usually languished in a forgotten corner of some cupboard instead of going to the laundry and turned up many days later when one was searching for something quite different.

At first Binodini often chided Asha playfully in front of Mahendra, for these and other muddles. Mahendra too smiled indulgently at Asha’s helpless ineptitude. But soon, out of affection for her friend, Binodini relieved Asha of her duties. Everything in the household had a changed look since then. If a shirt button broke and Asha stood gazing at it helplessly, Binodini snatched the garment from her nerveless fingers and stitched it up in no time. One day a cat got to Mahendra’s plate of rice first and had a few mouthfuls. Asha was worried sick; Binodini went into the kitchen immediately, looked into various pots and pans and deftly rustled up another plate of food. Asha was dumbfounded at her proficiency.

Mahendra felt Binodini’s caring touch in his clothing and food, at work and leisure. The woollen shoes on his feet and the woollen scarf around his neck—made by Binodini—felt like a tangible emotional contact. These days Asha came to Mahendra, neat, tidy and all decked up by her friend: she felt like she was partly herself and partly someone else; she and Binodini seemed to have united like the Ganga and the Yamuna.

Behari was no longer as welcome as he was before—he was rarely sent for. Once Behari wrote to Mahendra to say that he’d like to come the next day at noon, a Sunday, and taste his mother’s cooking. Mahendra felt the Sunday would go waste. So he quickly wrote back that the next day he had some work and would have to go out. But Behari dropped by in any case to look them up after lunch. The bearer informed him that Mahendra had not left the house. Behari yelled out ‘Mahin da,’ as he bounded up the stairs and went straight into Mahendra’s room. Caught unawares, Mahendra said he had a headache and lay down facing the wall. Asha grew nervous when she saw the complexion of Mahendra’s mood. She glanced at Binodini hopefully. Binodini was well aware that it wasn’t a serious matter; but she said anxiously, ‘You’ve been sitting up for too long, why don’t you lie down. I’ll get some eau-de-cologne.’

Mahendra said, ‘It’s all right, don’t bother.’

Binodini paid no heed and quickly fetched some eau-de-cologne mixed with cool water. She handed the wet towel to Asha and said, ‘Put this on Mahendrababu’s temple.’

Mahendra went on saying, ‘It’s all right.’

Behari checked his laughter as he watched this performance. Mahendra felt smug that Behari could witness how precious he was to the two women.

Shyness in Behari’s presence caused Asha’s fingers to tremble and she wasn’t very deft with the towel; a few drops of eau-de-cologne sloshed into Mahendra’s eyes. Binodini took the towel from her hands and applied it skillfully; she then wet another piece of cloth with the liquid and wrung it out over the towel. Asha veiled her head and fanned her husband quietly.

Binodini asked in soothing tones, ‘Mahendrababu, do you feel better?’

Having spoken such honeyed words, Binodini shot an oblique glance at Behari’s face.