‘I don’t want to.’
‘Why not?’
‘Why should everyone have all kinds of wishes?’
Abinash Babu was somewhat startled to hear Riziya. Really, why did everyone have to have wishes? The girl was something! He didn’t extend the matter. He only said, ‘It’s all right, my dear, you can go.’
Aaduri suddenly smiled, looked at Abinash Babu, and addressed Riziya, imitating her husband, ‘Come another day, my dear, all right!’
Riziya could not really understand their behaviour. She turned towards Aaduri, smiled, waved at her and left.
sixty-five
Although it was a new place, Suman was familiar with the locality. But nonetheless there was no end to his worries. Riziya was pregnant. He had still not been able to find a proper job. He had been wandering around frantically the last few days in search of a job. Abinash Babu too had done a lot of running around on his behalf. It wasn’t that he wasn’t finding work, but nothing was to his liking. Abinash Babu had asked him to take up the job of handling the books in the warehouse of a Marwari businessman for the time being. Suman was grateful to him. As he sat down for dinner at night, he said to Riziya, ‘I heard that you met Abinash Babu? He was really praising you, Reena! He likes you!’
‘Hmm. I met him yesterday. Achchha, apparently you told him everything?’
‘I told him a bit. He too told me a lot of things about himself. If I hadn’t told him, we wouldn’t have found a place for such a low rent.’
‘Why did you have to tell him all that?’
‘One has to do a lot of things to get people’s sympathy. Besides, he’s a really good man. Helps others. Think about Aaduri. Do you know her background? Just for Aaduri…’
‘No! Do you know?’
‘I told you he told me. I was very surprised to hear that.’
‘Tell me. Let me hear about it too.’
‘Abinash Babu is a writer. Maruf has read his books. Apparently he is one of his favourite writers. You’ve seen how many books Maruf has in his room! Abinash Babu’s books are there too. Books against religious superstitions and blind faith. Maruf is very fond of such subjects. When I told Maruf that I knew Abinash Babu, he asked me to introduce him. But where did that happen!’
‘What were you saying about Aaduri?’
‘Abinash Babu set up an NGO. He used to help people in distress. One day he got the news that an adolescent girl in a remote village in Bardhaman district had been sold off in Kolkata by her own sister’s husband. With the help of the police and the administration, the girl was rescued from Bihar after six months. When she was taken home after that, they turned hostile. They said the girl had been sullied. She was considered untouchable, and they refused to let her enter the house. The police could not do anything either. All the villagers were vehement in their opposition to her staying on. When she left the government shelter where she stayed for a while, it was our Abinash Babu who gave her a place to live. That girl is Aaduri.’
‘Didn’t anything happen to the man who harmed Aaduri so much?’
‘The police had arrested him. He was in jail for about a year. After that, you know how it is…’
‘But Abinash Babu has a family, he has a wife! She…’
‘He has alienated himself from many people because of this. Maybe providing shelter to Aaduri wasn’t the main reason, you know! He wasn’t really honest with me, I’m simply assuming. Abinash Babu’s wife has a chronic and severe psychological disorder. He couldn’t leave her either, as a man of conscience. Actually, he never knew marital bliss. Or maybe he found something in Aaduri which he did not get from anyone else.’
‘Whatever it may be, he married Aaduri, didn’t he? Why is there no sindoor on Aaduri’s forehead?’
‘The reason is a funny one. You know Abinash Babu is a writer, he wanted to see various aspects of life with his own eyes. That’s why he converted to Christianity before getting married to Aaduri.’
‘He could have become Muslim as well. When he decided to convert, why did he choose to become Christian?’
‘I’ve thought about this too. I think it’s because Abinash Babu realizes he has to live within this society … I’m amazed that the Hindu community tolerates Christians to some extent, but Muslims, not at all. Although they are their neighbours. Each community is influenced by the other one. And Islam and Christianity are kin religions…’
Riziya was listening to Suman. She was trying to understand Aaduri’s situation. She suddenly interrupted Suman, and asked, ‘If we ever return to Sadnahati, will anyone accept us? Have we too become sullied?’
Suman made no reply. Maybe he didn’t want to. Or maybe he didn’t have a reply. He stared blankly at Riziya. His gaze moved from her face to her abdomen. It was quite swollen. She was in quite some discomfort as she sat. Suman suddenly asked her, ‘Why are you so certain that it’ll be born at home? Don’t we need a doctor?’
Riziya’s lips quivered as she tried unsuccessfully to suppress a laugh.
sixty-six
‘Boudi! Aaduri Boudi! Are you awake?’
Aaduri woke up to the sound caused by the rapping of the door ring. And then she heard the cry. Who was calling her? She tried to recognize the voice. When she realized it was Suman Da from the next house, she knew at once what the matter was.
She herself had gone yesterday evening and told Reena to definitely call for her if she sensed anything. Aaduri sat up hurriedly. She turned on the bedside switch and responded, ‘Is it you, Dada? What’s the news?’
‘It doesn’t look good! Can you come out! I think we need to take her to the hospital!’
As Aaduri rushed to go outside, she forgot to get the odna to cover her bosom. She unlatched the door and stepped out. Her hair was dishevelled. She looked such a sight in her tight nightie that Suman was unable to look directly at her while speaking to her. Realizing that, Aaduri said, ‘All right, I’m coming. You go, see if you can arrange a vehicle.’
‘Okay, you come. I’m getting so angry with her, you know, Boudi … I urged her so much in the evening to come with me to the hospital. To consult a gynaecologist. But did she listen to me? And then it happened – she slipped at the water tap…’
Aaduri was startled; she halted as she was about to go back into her house. She turned around and said to Suman, ‘Don’t be angry at such a time. You’re a man, you’ll never be able to understand what the state of a woman’s mind is at this time. Even though I haven’t … Anyway … You should go. I’ll get ready.’
Riziya was taken to the Uttarpara Hospital. She was given an injection to induce labour. Aaduri and Suman were waiting outside. Waiting for one’s child to be born was different from any other kind of waiting on earth. Suman paced up and down the corridor. He sat on the wooden chair there, and then got up again.
They got the news around dawn. The nurse arrived and said, ‘You’ve had a daughter.’
Suman stood silently for a while after that. Aaduri realized that his sudden silence was actually his sense of fatherhood. Waves of happiness illuminated his face. Suman was very happy. Aaduri was happy too. She stood up, and in a fit of emotion, held out her arms towards Suman, to hug him in congratulation. Suman, too, accepted her embrace. Aaduri said, ‘Come, Dada, let’s go and have a look.’
