Bondita's was born in April, and her report card days would always sync in and around that time, and after Anirudh had gotten her admitted in school along with his brother, her birthdays had turned out to be a little extra special. This was her second birthday after wedding, and it was the day when the school had planned to announce promotions, as usual.

"Barrister babu? I hope you still remember your promise?" The ten years old girl was standing in her school uniform, a plane white saree with dark blue border, her hair braided on both sides neatly with matching blue ribbons, and she stood there with her hands on her slender waist, awaiting a response from her busy husband.

"Today is?"
Anirudh didn't lift his eyes, instead he stretched his left arm towards her, inviting her to come closer.

Bondita walked inside the study.
"My report card day, Barrister Babu, Uffo! Don't tell me you have forgotten again?"

Anirudh pressed his eyes shut for a moment, probably gathering his thoughts, before he looked at her, smiling.
"So my Bondita is bringing another medal home?" He had kept the papers back on the table, and now extended both his arms towards her.
Bondita loved it when he would call her 'his'. Without any inhibitions she simply inched closer, surrendering into his loving embrace happily.

"I don't know Barrister Babu, I had written my exams well, now let's see..."
Her head was resting on his shoulder, as she wrapped her tiny arms around his neck. Anirudh too, was holding her fondly.

"Shri Krishna once said that we all should focus on our Karma, rather than pinning for it's fruits."

Bondita nodded slowly, and clutched his shirt tighter.
"In Gita... I know... KakaSasurji taught us."

"Excellent." Anirudh smiled, his hands were patting her head tenderly now.
"So, don't worry, if you have given your one hundred percent, then there's nothing to be scared of."

"Barrister Babu, it's my..." Bondita fumbled once, making Anirudh frown and then smile.

"I know it's your report card day Shona... And all the best. I'll come to pick both of you up." He let go of her and she slowly walked towards the door, her head hanging low.

It's my birthday, Barrister Babu!
She wanted to say it aloud, but alas! She couldn't.

"Where is Batuk?"

"In his room, crying."

........................................

The day at school was full of excitement, first the report card distribution, and then the ranking announcement, Batuk and Bondita had clasped each other's hands in a firm grip, as if drawing the much needed family support to overcome the adrenaline rush of the day. Bondita could almost hear Batuk's pounding heartbeat.

"Relax Batuk, take deep breaths."

Batuk's face was contorted, as if almost about to cry, he squeezed Bondita's hand tighter and murmured nervously.
"God knows Bondita, my history was pathetic, I had confused between Ashoka and Akbar, and I wrote everything that Ashoka did under Akbar's administration."

Bondita gulped at his words in genuine concern.
"How many pages did you write?"

"Five."

"Let's just pray Jagannath Sir didn't read the entire thing."

Batuk nodded at her assurance.
"Dada would kill me if I flunk... He'll send me to a boarding..."

Batuk couldn't complete as he saw the  headmaster's glaring gaze on them.

"Dugga Dugga... " Batuk swallowed.

.................

Anirudh's black jeep was speeding through the dusty clay road of the village. Bondita was seated at the backseat, her arm around Batuk's neck, consoling him with her silent companionship. Batuk was weeping inconsolably though, he hadn't flunked in history, but instead, English took him off-guard. He couldn't pass the subject just by one mark, and for this misfortune, he had blamed their new British teacher wholeheartedly.
"I'll never be good in English, I'll never be good at anytime these British people do... And, you know why Bondita? Because I hate them.'
His promotion wasn't held back but what he couldn't bear was his brother's deep sigh when he had shown him the report card.
Bondita on the other hand was blessed back with every bit of offerings that she had offered to Maa Saraswati that year. Like the previous year, she had topped this year too, securing the highest score in every subject, almost every subject... except mathematics, where she was beaten by his brother-in-law by a full ten marks!
No one could beat Batuk in Mathematics, and Bondita never tried to as well.
The gold medal that had adorned her neck now lay hidden inside her school bag, a hint of guilt had layered the glowing gold with a sad paleness.
What was her victory without her family? How could she celebrate her day with Batuk's tears?

Anirudh was driving silently, his rare view mirror gave him a full glimpse of the scene behind.
He had let out a sharp sigh and spoke softly.
"Batuk, it's alright... Try harder next year... English isn't that difficult and,..."

"Put me in a Bengali Medium school Dada... I don't want to study English, it's not my language, it's theirs, and I have nothing to do with them!"

Anirudh took a deep breath and tried to sound a bit cheerful. He eyed Bondita's gloomy face through the mirror and asked her instead.

"Bondita, do you know the name of the battle formation where Abhimanyu was killed?"

Bondita looked at the mirror, meeting his gaze.
"Chakkrabuho." She replied plainly, rubbing Batuk's shoulder with a tender maternal reassurance that the young boy had never known, and instinctively, he had snuggled into his sister-in-laws arms, without realising when in his heart, dada's talkative wife Bondita had become his loving Boudidi."

"You know why Abhimanyu died that day?"
Anirudh had asked again.

"Because he didn't know how to come out of that Chakkrabuho."

"Exactly..." Anirudh had put the car in the first gear and took a sharp turn, not towards their haveli but, to Kashipur, the neighbouring village.
"Abhimanyu died because he was fighting his enemy with half knowledge." Anirudh paused and eyed his brother once, laying quietly on his wife's arms, eyes closed.
"He was brave, skilled, fearless... But had half knowledge!" He paused.
"Now replace the Sapta Maharathi with the British government... Even if you hate them, do you think you should go in the battlefield without proper preparation?"

Bondita didn't reply, but Batuk had sat upright at his brother's words, his eyes narrowed in a grave thought.
"Leaning their language would be a preparation, wouldn't it?"
He had murmured, "the test, so it's not about my lack of knowledge, but about the battlefield readiness?"

Anirudh was smiling, and after a minute he saw a faint smile was spread on his brother's face, as he took a deep breath and looked outside the window with clear eyes.

"Where are we going Dada?"

"Kashipur." Anirudh replied. "I have some work there... Once it's done we'll go home straight."

Batuk was happily chatting with his brother, but a strange sadness had tainted Bondita's heart instead. She wanted to shout out aloud in happiness, she wanted to pull out her gold medal and show it to him, but she couldn't, her happiness weighed way less against Batuk's pained heart.

It had taken another thirty minutes to reach Kashipur, as Anirudh got down from his car infront of a large open area.
Bondita and Batuk, too, got down and followed him quietly.

The place was an open ground, surrounded by large oak trees forming a natural semicircle, on one side, there was a pond, it's calm green water reflected the broad daylight, radiating it's glow all around. Bondita was walking quietly, her eyes observant as always, as she noticed Anirudh walk towards a group of people working on a particular stop beside the pond. The place was undergoing some sort of construction, and Anirudh was overseeing the same.

Batuk had picked up a few small brick chips as he threw them skillfully into the water, making them skip in a row of waves.
Bondita smiled.

"How can you say this Mondal Moshai? A bathroom would do so much good to the women of your own village! How long do you think they'll have to suffer the humiliation of doing their private business outside in the open?"

Bondita had turned around, her eyes frowned at her husband's sudden rise of voice, very unlikely to his characteristics.

The man he was speaking to looked old, he was standing with his hands folded on his waist, nodding his head violently at him.
"The women don't want to use it! They are happy with what they have... We won't want to change anything Zamindar Babu... Please... Let us be."

"How can they not want this? This is for their own good!" Anirudh sounded restless. "Let me talk to them... I'll..."

Batuk had called Bondita to show her a golden frog on the bank of the pond, as they both squatted infront of it for sometime admiring it's queer beauty.

"Bondita, Batuk... I'm going to the village temple, either stay inside the car or come with me."

Both the children had jumped at once at his proposal, following him like a pied piper, and as they reached infront of the temple, Batuk held Bondita's hand once again and stuck close by her side.

"Why so many people here?" He had hushed.

"No idea Batuk... Looks like Barrister Babu wants to speak to them."

"Are we going to get beaten by the mob?"

Bondita had turned her narrowed eyes towards him, as she saw Batuk gulp down his anxiety. The day wasn't been kind to him, and even if these villagers suddenly starts to throw cow dung at them, it won't surprise him anymore.
"I'm prepared!" He breathed.

Anirudh was now standing on a heightened ground, under a huge Banyan tree, as Bondita saw about fifty odd people, both men and women had gathered around him.

"As you all know me, I'm Barrister Anirudh Roy Chowdhury of Tulsipur, and I'm building public toilets for women in your village."

A soft murmur arose amidst the crowd.

"Do you know how many women in our country dies every year due to sanitation and hygiene related diseases? The numbers would shock you... but what's more shocking is that I'm being told that the women in this village doesn't want to do good by themselves! They have opposed to the idea of using a proper enclosed bathroom... I'm wondering why? And today I stand here infront of you all with the hope that you'd listen to me and atleast try and understand my objectives."

"It's a very English thing...! We don't have to use bathrooms!"
Someone from the crowd had shouted out.

"Why should we do something that the foreigners do?"

"Why should we use something build by their concept?"

Anirudh was standing patiently, listening to all the rebuttals raised from the crowd.
"Do you know who founded your village, Kashipur?" He threw the question at his audience rhetorically.
"This village was founded by a Mughal Subedaar, and this very temple where I'm standing, it was built by him too! A Mughal! Now do you know who these Mughals were?" He looked closely at the questioning eyes.
"Foreigners! The Mughals were foreigners too... So shall we abandon this village? Shall we abandon this temple too? No! we shouldn't... because these are good changes, these are good things done by those foreigners." Anirudh paused for a dramatic effect.
"The British aren't our own... they would never be our own... but we have to appreciate the goodness of modernity that they have brought with them. If implementing a few of their good things improves our live a hundred folds, then why would we not? Don't we want to be their equal? Don't we want to fight them? hand-in-hand... eye-to-eye? Our women are subjected to... to inexplicable humiliation everyday in public ponds and rivers, we make them hide behind their ghumta in private, whereas we encourage them to bathe openly... what kind of culture is this?"

"But, we don't want it." A woman in her early forties came out  from the crowd and stood infront.
"Even Radha used to bathe in the open Yamuna... Then why can't we?"

Anirudh was almost about to start on the fictitious anecdote that the woman just raised, he was about to tell her that although depicted as gods and goddesses, Radha and Krishna are probably work of fiction... But, then he held his tongue back, realising the futility of this one sided discussion. But, at the same time, Anirudh's learned, scientific soul couldn't conjure an immediate rebuttal for this sudden counter attack.

"Shri Krishna didn't stop Radha from bathing in the Yamuna because... first, there were less people at the time, less population, but now our population is more..."

Anirudh saw with wide eyes as Bondita suddenly walked up and stood beside him, to his left.

"So chances are, during Radha's time eight women used to bathe in one pond, and now eighteen, so how will the river take so much of overload? Plus, you are using the same water for your household chores!" Bondita paused.
"I too, used to bathe in a river before, with my mother, and other women of our village... And, I've seen how scared they used to be... While bathing... Everytime looking around to ensure if someone is eyeing them or not."
She walked a little forward and stood infront the middle aged woman in the first row.
"Kaki... I understand how difficult it must be for you to hide under the water everytime you hear a footstep...!"

Anirudh saw the woman lower her eyes.

"I know change is difficult, but look at me... If I can change... If Bondita can change then why won't you?"

"But, you are a Zamidarni! This is easy for you!"
Another from the crowd spoke up, as Bondita rolled her eyes at her and walked back to her husband.

"How is it easy for me? It's even difficult!
Here, you have only one enclosed room to bathe, you can draw water from the pond and go inside and do you job, you can even talk among yourselves and have fun while bathing and no man would disturb you...but think about me!" She paused to breathe. "I have one bathroom entirely for myself, no one comes there, there are various kinds of machines and taps overhead, you pull one and the other starts pouring... It's no confusing! Plus so many different soaps and God knows what! How can a girl manage?" She let out an exhale and looked up to meet Anirudh's eyes, winking at him subtly.
"So, amidst all these adversities if I can manage then why can't you?"

Batuk wasn't standing very far. Encouraged by his sister-in-laws speech, he too came forward and started to speak.
"It's true that Bondita doesn't like to bathe and I do... I take bath everyday... And, I would definitely not like to go out into the pond without my clothes... What if I'm bitten by a snake... What if..."
Batuk had looked up at his brother, smiling proudly, as Anirudh's rolled eyes made his smile disappear in a minute, making him gulp in confusion.
"What I'm saying is, whatever my boudi said, is all correct... Use the bathroom and my Dada would give you money... We have a lot of money.!"

Both Bondita and Anirudh were glaring at Batuk, as he quietly bowed to the audience and walked backward, vanishing into thin air in no time.

"Is it true that you'd give us money for using this bathroom?"
A man had asked enthusiastically, and before Anirudh could reply, he felt Bondita's hand on his wrist, tugging at him, as she moved forward to speak.

"Why would my husband pay you to pee and bath? What kind of madness is this? My good husband is already building bathrooms for your wives and mothers and daughters, to protect their dignity... Which by the way is your responsibility... And now you want him to pay you as well?"
Anirudh saw his little ten years old wife glaring at the crowd, and he couldn't help but feel a sudden awe towards her.

This is his Bondita... His little wife... His extraordinary little wife... And one day she would make everyone proud!

The villagers that day were convinced with the logic and reasons that that Roy Chowdhury couple had fed them with.
The bathroom construction continued, and after two months, when it was time for it to be inaugurated, the village women had dragged Bondita inside and made her break a coconut infront.
Another moment for Anirudh to cherish!

"Bondita... Shona... Come here!"
Anirudh had dragged her by her arms, sitting in their bedroom, as he made her close her eyes with one hand.

"Keep your eyes closed for me, will you?"

He had held her left hand up and made her wear a pretty leather watch.
Her first watch!

Bondita had gasped at the sheer shine of her new gift.

"This was for the result today... I can't explain how proud I'm for you." He had pinched her nose gently making her smile. "Now show me your medal... Quickly!"

Bondita felt a happy flutter in her heart. Her Barrister Babu knew about the medal!!
She had pulled it out at once from the bag and held it close to his face.

"Now, here you go."
He took the medal from her hand and festooned her with it.

Bondita gasped again.

"It's...it's.. for you Barrister Babu... Everything is for you..." She had pulled the medal out from her neck, as she put it around his neck with teary eyes.
Anirudh too, felt a hint of emotion glistening in his eyes, as he touched the gold medal hanging against his chest.

"No Bondita... It's you... It's always you."

Bondita was crying, happy tears had rolled down her cheeks as she saw Anirudh pull out a small rectangular box from his pocket and held it open infront of her.

"A pen?" She had sobbed.

"No!"
He held a long gold chain in his hand, as he slowly adorned Bondita with it, the chain reaching down to her stomach.
"Happy Birthday Bondita... And, ami toke khub bhalobashi, khub khub bhalobashi!"

The duo had hugged each other, the mentor and his mentee, the husband and his wife, the god and his beloved, and as their embrace tightened, Anirudh felt a warm wetness on his shoulder, dripping down from her eyes....
And she too, had felt the same!
"Amio apnake khub bhalobashi..." She had murmured.

..........................................................

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