Beside one of the writing desks in the empty exam hall, upon the wood that was meant to be a chair, a seat of education in a far away land, were the old nail holes that brought so much character... hollowness mostly. In her moments of emotional dumbfoundedness, when Bondita realised it would take time for her brain to find the words to adequately express what she felt, she let her fingers trace those ragged holes rendered so beautiful by the deep varnish hue.
Moments passed, and after what it felt a decade when the bell for the second examination reverberated through the concrete walls around, Bondita slowly stood up and turned to the door.
No account could match a description of how she reached the next exam hall, how she walked passed the crowd of students who looked at her with nasty smirk on their lips and pity in their hearts. And, finally when she managed to enter the hall, an overpowering exhaustion started to take over her mind.
Bondita was ashen, lips almost white, and face pale. Her limbs moved as if some inexperienced person was controlling them remotely, and her eyes were wide, looking right at the anxious gazes staring back at her
She was looking, but not really.

"Here comes the woman of the hour."
A boy remarked, as Bondita walked passed him climbing the gallary stairs to reach to her designated seat, the further from all.

"I wonder what she would write on woman rights today." Another fellow classmate remarked back, a woman, and Bondita swallowed hard at the words.

"If woman rights are all about feeling empowered to do whatever you want, guess what, I won't wish for such empowerment."
The flying comment made Bondita close her eyes, pressing them firmer, and then came another remark.

"Being empowered is all about breaking homes these days... All pseudo idealists!"

Beenapani was seating a row before, silent, her head lowered, not taking part in any discussions, and stealing a glance at her, Bondita finally stood up.

"I don't know what's the connotation of empowerment to you, but being empowered definitely means standing up to oneself, being able to freely talk about what's right and what's wrong, and right now, whatever you all are talking, it's wrong!"

"Oh really Miss? Is it?" A boy turned towards her and chuckled disdainfully.

"First, it's Mrs. And yes, it's wrong. I know there has been some misconceptions and rumours going around about me and my deeds and background, but let me tell you once and for all... These are baseless."

"And those poetries Anirudh Sir dedicated to you in class, right infront of everyone... Are those baseless too?"
Came a sharp attack from a girl, and Bondita let out a sharp sigh and looked straight into her eyes.

"No... They aren't. Those poetries were recited by him, and not me. Yet the irony is you are pointing your fingers at me and not him."

"He is barrister Anirudh Roy Chowdhury for goodness sake! I saw his pictures in the newspapers this morning." A boy almost yelled out the words, as others joined him in agreement.

"Wow.... And here you are, ready to write a paper on woman rights! Look at the irony!" Bondita clapped her hands slowly, her lips curled into a hopeless smile.

"You don't get to speak about rights you fallen woman!" Another girl attacked her back harshly, and Bondita frowned her forehead and smiled.

"Why? Because I am seen with a man on campus? That's why? That's why I am deemed as a fallen woman?" She chuckled as with the subtle glance she saw Beena sitting with her face buried in her hands.
"Won't you ask who the man was to me? Won't you wish to know what my relationship is with him?"

"Do we need to?"

The sarcasm in the question made Bondita look up.
"Yes, you need to. You can't judge a woman's character only because she's seen publicly with a man.. a man who could be a husband, a brother, an uncle, a nephew... Or, simply a friend!"
She huffed the words and closed her eyes at calm her palpitating agitated heart.

"Or, an illicit lover!" Came a sharp reply.
"So what's Anirudh Roy Chowdhury to you then?" 

Bondita gasped and rolled her eyes at the speaker, and then to everyone looking eagerly at her for an answer.
Bondita thought for a moment.
This was her moment. She could possibly claim her identity as someone's wife to re-establish her honour, or she could just fight back, silently, and establish herself as as individual. And, Bondita chose the latter.

"Tell us Bondita, what's your relationship with Anirudh Roy Chowdhury?"

Bondita opened her eyes and smiled.
"What relationship I share with that man is beyond your understanding. And, I won't burden you with that knowledge. I owe you no explanation!" She spoke calmly and exhaled.
"But, for one last time, I would like to tell you that I haven't done anything wrong for which I won't be able to stare back at my own reflection! And, as for you, after all you have been speaking about me with half knowledge, think if you would be able to face your reflections in the mirror after this!"

Her words made few turn away from her, while the others pursed their lips in a taunt.

"A harlot with a big mouth!"
Came a flying comment, and suddenly it broke the resistance mechanism that Bondita had built inside her all that morning.

How can they call her names?
Even the women?
How can they just judge her in singularity and condemn her as guilty? What about her counterpart? What about him?
Why is it that the woman would have to be always subjected to name callings?
Even five years ago, when Anirudh had chosen to part with her, it was his decision, yet she was the one who had to bare the consequences. It was her whom they called a deserted wife! A wife who couldn't hold on to her husband's love!
Why? Why again?
Will the society never change?

The more Bondita thought, the more she felt a helpless anger coursing through her veins, ignition every bit of her being. She wanted to counter them, shut them with reasons, slay them with knowledge, but the loud cry of the bell silenced her thoughts for the time.

She would definitely teach them a lesson, all of them, but before that she had a much more pressing matter to deal with, the exam paper, the one which she didn't get an opportunity to prepare for.

Bondita took a deep breath to calm herself.

"No more tongue fights Bondita?" A girl chuckled at her and Bondita looked into her eyes straight.

"What's the point? You're still in the dark age anyway." She remarked softly, making the girl roll her eye, and as the invigilator approached her with the question paper, she stood up at once to receive it.
The teacher did give her the paper, but with a lot of reluctance, a lot of irritated creases on her forehead, and Bondita felt the old heaviness weighing down her heart once again.

How would she fight with the entire world?

The exam started and Bondita rocked her legs continually on the wooden chair, not noticing how it emitted a noise breaking the silence of the room, not did she fel the sound. There was a time she would have maintained it perfectly, the social decorum, but not that afternoon.

Was this encounter turning her rebellious?

She wrote, but she chewed the fountain pen more, and when her eyes flitted to the small window to the examination room, overlooking the wall clock, they left again just as quickly. How was an ordinary clock so hard to look at? It made no sense. In there was a desk, an elderly man invigilating, and a glass of water kept infront of him.
Bondita sighed at looked at her own paper. In two hours time her fate was to be sealed one way or the other... Her individualistic identity or just being a man's wife. Bondita felt a pit in her stomach, she choked down the rising bile and consciously flexed her hand, feeling at last the pain of her nails digging into her palm. When the college bell punctured the near silence, she almost bit her tongue in two. Bondita rose, oblivious to the bleach tinctured air inside the hall, and rested her fingers on the cool metal pen that lay spent on the answer scripts.

"Times up!"
The invigilator announced, and almost immediately another voice countered his words, letting his voice resounding inside the gallary, and Bondita knew very well whom it belonged to.

"Times not up yet!"
Barrister Anirudh Roy Chowdhury, in his full glory had barged inside the broken examination hall, wearing a white dhoti and a simple yellow shirt, and behind him was professor Prathamesh Ganguly and the Dean himself.

"Sir, sir please." The elderly teacher invigilating tried to stop him once, but as his eyes met with that of Anirudh's, he stopped immediately.
None of the men standing behind him objected either.

"Dear students, seeker of knowledge and truth. I hope you all remember me!" Anirudh walked towards the first row and started to collect the answer scripts from the boys seated there, one by one, slowly, and the boys just stared back at him in awe.

"Today I'm here as I'm being made acutely aware that you, your class, is in dire need of some enlightenment and knowledge which probably I'm capable of imparting." He paused and moved to the second row.
"Those who don't know me, my name is Anirudh Roy Chowdhury, not Sir, not Mister, but Barrister. Barrister Anirudh Roy Chowdhury. " His words were grave and firm, and each of the students sitting inside that room, that day, felt the gravity of his speech.
"I remember I had clearly mentioned during my first lecture to you all to treat me as your equal, but then equally perhaps comes with a cost which I'm probably paying right now."
He bunched the collected answer papers in his arm and walked up to the next row.
"I was invited by your Dean to lecture you on Human rights, woman Rights to be specific, but standing here today, I can't help but ask myself if I am being successful." He stepped up yet again and continued to speak, a pin drop silence aiding to the stiffness of the ambiance.
"I won't tell you the definition today, neither would I teach you, but, instead, I'll urge you to reflect", he paused to steal a subtle glance at the face sitting at the topmost step of the hall, her eyes casted down, her eyebrows joined in a frown.

"I'd ask you to reflect upon your actions as a human first, and then as a member of the society where you live in... And then, once you think you've done your part, showed your side of humanity, ask yourself how relevant it was, how appropriate, how ethical!"

Prathamesh Ganguly cleared his throat softly, and Anirudh turned around, only to find the invigilator standing behind him, and without any prelude he handed the bunch of collected answer scripts to him and moved on.

"Why am I talking about ethics today? Because ethics and rights are interconnected. And as informed members of this society, you need to gauge how ethical your rights are, or, how ethically they are being implemented", he paused, "and the only way to do this is probably by being absolutely true to yourself."

The class remained silenced, and climbing up the last step Anirudh Roy Chowdhury let out a sharp sigh.

"Truth is an essential part of our rightful existence, and today, standing amidst you for one last time, I'd like to intimate you with one more truth." He stood infront of the desk where Bondita was seated and extended his hand silently asking for her papers.
Bondita handed them over, without looking up, and letting out another sigh, Anirudh walked back towards the dias on which the invigilator stood.

"Although I won't deny that I came here because I was invited by the college authority, but that's not the entire truth.
I came here because of my wife... My wife who is a part of this college, a part of this class." His words were much more sombre now, soft, as suddenly a hushed murmur rose across the room.

Anirudh smiled reflectively.
"I'm a husband deeply in love with his wife. And, somewhere the lover in me couldn't resist the temptation of admiring my lady love submerged in pursuit of knowledge, busy amidst the elite crowd of this prestigious college." He closed his eyes and smiled a little, as if engrossed in his own words, and few of the students with widened eyes and gaped expression turned back to steal of glance of the woman sitting quietly, her eyes reddened and her cheeks burning in deep hue of crimson.

"Bondita." Anirudh called out loud, and the hushing crowd fell silent once again.
Anirudh's hands were extended, as very gently, he called out to her.
His wife, Mrs. Anirudh Bondita Roy Chowdhury.

Bondita heard his words, and she her name, and letting out a slow deep exhale, she slowly got up from her seat and stood straight.

Few gasped, and few rolled their eyes on disbelief, and Anirudh smiled proudly and moved up a few steps, calling out to her to join him.

But why should she join him?
What great had she done?
What good were her achievements? Achivements! The words sounded like a mockery to her own ears, and she Bondita, the bearer of woman rights, was no longer an identity of her own self. She was a wife, just a wife!

Tattered, conflicted, Bondita swallowed her thoughts and slowly walked out of her seat, and within a minute she was standing beside him, her famous generous husband, who just the night before had asked her to reconsider their relationship.

The dramatic epilogue was over, the students had left too. Prathamesh Ganguly was the last one to depart, and before leaving he had just folded his hands at Bondita in a silent apology. Bondita hadn't responded.

Everyone was a party to this, this male dominated patrachiel society... And all they do in the name the feminism was guard woman under their wings!

Anirudh too was standing silence, looking longingly at his dear wife, but somehow, blinded by dark thoughts, Bondita failed to recognise the love in his eyes.

"Where are you here?"
She asked Anirudh. Her voice had no emotions in it.

"For you." Anirudh replied gently.

"I'll need some time to reconsider, and with your invention such as this, it would be only difficult for me to do so."
Bondita blurted out and it made Anirudh frown.

"Reconsider? Reconsider what?" He asked.

"Our relationship!" Came out her prompt response.

"As in?"
Anirudh was now looking straight into her eyes and Bondita looked away.

"As if whatever you said last night."

Anirudh sighed.
"Bondita I... Bondita you know I didn't mean any of those."

"Then why did you say?"
Bondita asked sharply.

"Is there always a justified reason of why we do things at all times?" Anirudh tried to hold her arm but Bondita moved away.
Seeing him suddenly infront somehow had ignited the deepset anger in her further, challenging all her resentments that morning towards him, her single point of venting.
Anirudh added.
"Why did you lie to your friends about us then? Was your reason even justified Bondita?"

"It turned out good though, didn't it?"
She murmured, and it made Anirudh raise an eyebrow.

"How so?"

"You got to proclaim your right on me publicly. You being the hero, the rescuer, and me being the culprit."

"Nonsense!" Anirudh objected.
"Do you even realise what you're saying?"
He fisted his hands to calm his raging pulses.

"Oh I do. Exerting your rights on me is your favourite social expression of all times. The first time you publicly accepted me as your wife was when Rishit Sinha proposed love to me... How can I forget that Barrister Babu?" She raised her voice and Anirudh looked outside the open classroom door to ascertain their privacy.
"And the first time you accepted your love for me was when I was molested! That old instinct of protecting me all the time, isn't it? What am I to you Barrister Babu? A responsibility?" Bondita gestured her hands to match with the sharp words that came from her mouth.
"Oh wait, that's exactly what I am... A responsibility, and you made it so clear so many times."

Anirudh didn't reply. Instead he stood quiet, arms folded to his chest, breathing rapidly, as his eye stared at his wife's angry face vacantly.

"Such resentments Bondita? Such hatred?" He sighed the question, and looked away.

"Not hatred Barrister Babu, but a sense of brokenness! Why is it that it's only you who would get to dictate everything? Our relationship, my life, my wants and needs... Everything?" She asked him, her voice lowered a little with a hint of earnestness in it.
"Why is it that even after eleven years of marriage I still know nothing about your past?" She asked, "why is that an unknown woman would get to challenge me threatening to break everything I have?" She asked again, and this time fat tears started to roll down her eyes, choking her voice in turn.
"Tell me Barrister Babu, why did everyone here accused me of immortality when we both were an equal party to everything?"

"Don't you know the answers already Bondita?" Anirudh replied back, and  Bondita didn't miss the hint of disappointment in his eye.
She chuckled.

"I don't know, seriously. Had I known, I would have defended myself on my own without your kind intervention." She sighed again.
"The Dean called you, isn't it? And, you just came to my rescue.... Why Barrister babu? Why is it that you always make me feel so worthless, so i significant? Why did it..."

"Enough!" Anirudh raised his voice to stop her, and Bondita held the corner of a desk to support her vibrating self from collapsing down on the ground.

She won't be the damsel in distress anymore, not anymore!

Bondita closed her eyes to sieve the flowing tears from her wet eyelashes, and Anirudh took out two letters from his pocket and held it to her.

"Nobody called me Bondita. And I came not to save my wife, but to stand beside what is right... stand beside the woman I love." He paused to exhale sharply.

"I thought you'd do the same for me, but alas!" He chuckled softly and turned to leave.
"And, yes... I didn't mention Candice to you because there was nothing to mention. Yet, if you want I'm ready to give you a day to day account of whatever I remember of our deceitful encounters."

Bondita hide her face in her hands in desparate attempts of stopping the unruly tears, and when he looked up, Anirudh was gone, on the table were two unsealed letters, screaming for her attention.

Bondita picked the first one and read, and then re-read as her fingers quickly picked the second one and skimmed through it quickly.

"What the..." She gasped, and wiped her tears, rereading the last few sentences clearly.

'... owing to the current circumstances, keeping in mind the positive growth mindset of the aspirants of education here, as well as to maintain a healthy learning environment, the college authority has collectively come to the decision of terminating Mrs. BONDITA ROY CHOUDHURY'S registration from our prestigious institution on behavioral grounds. We regret the inconvenience and...'

Bondita couldn't read anymore, as she clutched the paper and sat rooted on the desk, her mind racing and her heart pounding.

What!
Her heart screamed!

So... So Barrister Babu came to save her termination?
Not to claim his right on her, not to intrude her sense of individual identity, but these... He... He...
Bondita couldn't think any more, as she rushed out of the exam hall and looked around.
Barrister babu... Which way did he go?

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

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