Thoughts of Anirudh Roy Chowdhury

The morning at the Roy Chowdhury's started as usual the next day. But the bewildered looks of some still unable to believe the events of last night as well as sleepy eyes of Bondita was a testament of how Anirudh's words had affected them all.

Few people especially, Trilochon and Batuk were still suspicious of Anirudh's words and had problem believing him at all.

Both were pouting, one was pouting unable to believe Anirudh. While the other was pouting for his favourite Boudi's time will be divided by his dada.

At present, Bondita was running behind Somnath to give him his lunch box and reminding him to eat on time at the medical college premises.

"Som dada,here is your Tiffin. Please eat it on time and don't skip your food for the sake of revising. Drink plenty of water during the time between your Viva's. Don't panic at all, hmm"-her motherly words made him smile at her indulgently.

His Bondita Boudi was someone, he looked up to a lot. They were not close that much. But when Anirudh had went to Kolkata for 2 months to fight a case at the high court, they had became close.

Bondita was weak in mathematics and English quite a bit then. And Anirudh had asked Somnath to help her in her lesson in his absence.

At first, he was quite irked at the prospect of teaching her. As he considered her at the same intellectual level as Batuk.

After all, they were best friends. Batuk's stupidity was bound to rub off on Bondita Boudi, he had thought back then.

But after seeing her brainiac side, he found that he enjoyed teaching her. And the cherry on top was, his Boudi always respected him unlike his stupid younger brother, who took him for granted.

During those two months, Somnath took care of Bondita and Batuk diligently. He prepared them for their exams and also made sure they had a lot of fun outside as well.

From accompanying Bondita on 'Pickle (Achar)' making process on the rooftop and gossiping with her and Batuk endlessly to taking the youngest members on 'Mela's' and street food tours in Tulsipur bazaar to enjoy the true beauty of Bengal. They had done it all.

And during those time, Somnath had realized that, it was okay to be free with his emotions and it was okay to not always be indulged in Medical books.

"Dada, why are you standing like a statue? Are you too scared to give your viva? Don't worry you won't fail that badly"-Bondita smacked Batuk for his words, while Somnath frowned at him.

His little brother was becoming too much, he thought. He would have to teach him a lesson soon.

"Batuk, just wait and watch. What I do to you after coming back"-Somnath said the words and left in a jiffy all the while muttering curse words to Batuk.

All the while, Bondita prayed to the Goddess to give her Som dada a good viva.

As Bondita was checking the accounts with Binoy and Batuk, they suddenly heard a lot of noise coming. It was a off day and the sudden noise made them quite suspicious and apprehensive of what was happening.

"What new nonsense is happening"-Binoy thought and went to check out the noise.

"Hey, what are you guys doing with this new table and bookshelf at our Haveli? I didn't order anything!"-just as he was about to utter anymore words, Anirudh came in a hurry and cut him off.

"Baba, I have called them. I want this this to be installed in our room. This bookshelf will contain the law books that I had ordered for Bondita and myself from London. And the new table is for Bondita. I had noticed that her old table is quite creaky now"-his words did shut Binoy up and Anirudh silently signalled the people to install the new furnitures.

All this time, Batuk pouted thinking about Bondita spending even more time with Anirudh reading books. While, Trilochon Roy Chowdhury looked like he was still in disbelieve.

"Binoy, I had thought Anirudh is changed. But no he is still the same, all the time thinking about Bondita bahu's education only. But I still think he is possessed. Otherwise why would he insist to stay in the same room as Bondita Bahu. I haven't even forced him at all. To be honest, I don't expect anything from him anymore."-he in a low tone said to Binoy, while pouting all the while looking at Anirudh's retreating figure in a daze.

Anirudh looked at the faces of his family members and was proud of the fact that they cared for Bondita's wellbeing more than him. He was happy at the change of his family.

"The Roy Chowdhury's finally have changed"-he thought with a small smile on his face.

He knew, they thought he had some ulterior motive behind staying with her. Maybe they thought he had even some carnal motive behind his attentions to Bondita constantly.

But the truth was, Anirudh Roy Chowdhury's thought regarding Bondita would never go that way. She was his student, his protector and his 'torch of revolution'.

He knew, he would never touch her with a wrong intention against her consent.

Consent was important for him both in the case of a girl and a boy. A girl and a guy both deserved to have their consent in every matter. And for Anirudh, his Bondita's wellbeing mattered the most to him.

He would have never suggested them sharing the same room with her being so young. But the way she was pulling out from him slowly wasn't unnoticed by him. Her reluctance to share even words somedays with him made him ponder a lot over her actions regarding him.

Along with that, he had heard a lot of rumors regarding their relationship from people. The village people as well as the society was muttering a lot of words regarding the matter of him not being happy with her as well as her worth to his family and him. He trusted his Kaka a lot these days but he wouldn't put it past him to try and make him lose his control by using underhanded techniques like he did in the past.

His Kaka could come under their influence and maybe could have forced them to give him his favourite thing "His Waaris" (His Heir). Anirudh could not trust him fully due to his past actions.

What he didn't know was, Trilochon Roy Chowdhury had given up on reuniting his beloved daughter slash bahu and "That Nalayak bagad billa" a long time back. For he didn't want his heir at the cost of Bondita's tears and Anirudh's rash decision. He had already saw his Bondita bahu suffer for his decision to arrange their 'suhagraat' (First night).

Anirudh knew, by staying in the same room those people would not dare to say anything to his family regarding Bondita and his relationship. For those low minded orthodox people, it would give them assurance that, Bondita and his relationship wasn't beyond repair.

That is why, he had suggested sharing the same room to his family yesterday. And honestly, he had enjoyed seeing the astonished looks in his family members faces as well.

But there was a selfish part of him that really wanted to see Bondita's angelic face every day while waking up in the morning. He wanted to see her fresh out of the shower getting ready in the morning. He wanted to see her fill her partition with vermilion of his name. He wanted them to share their morning routine together. Basically, he wanted Bondita's presence constantly near him all the time every single day for the rest of their lives.

Anirudh wanted to share the same room with Bondita not because of any sexual reasons but because he simply wanted look at her angelic face as much as he could.

It was like killing two birds with one stone for him.

As he instructed the workers to keep the bookshelf properly in their room. He was constantly thinking about what kind of other books should he decorate the shelf with. He was continuously sporting a smile on his face. Imagining the time he would share with her reading books of various genres as well as the new beginning of them.

The workers had left after taking their tip. And Anirudh along with Bihari was slowly bringing his clothes in his new/old room. He wanted Bondita to help him with her sweet petite hands but she was no where to be seen.

He had dismissed Bihari, when Trilochon had called him and started arranging the clothes on his own.

As he was arranging the clothes besides Bondita's heavy sarees, he was astonished to see the amount of sarees Bondita had.

And what triggered him was that all these sarees was brought by his Kaka befitting the style of a Zamindarni for his Bondita bahu.

But Anirudh wanted to see her in simple comfortable sarees that were becoming more common for women to wear and even night dresses he had heard British women wear from his college friends.

He knew, Kaka would throw a tantrum if Anirudh approached him on the matter of her sarees. And they would have a huge fight, which his Bondita would hate.

So, he resolved to take Bondita to shops in maybe Deenpur bazar and buying them for her himself in secret.

Maybe she would be able to wear those dresses in their room. In front of him, while they studied together or simply shared a quiet moment together.

As he placed a picture of him and Bondita taken last year together on Durga Puja on the wall behind their bed, he smiled contendly at their image.

He placed his pen stand along with Bondita's stationaries on the new wooden study table and placed his work bag and barrister robe on the wooden cloth hanger, which was used to hang Bondita's school dress and night sarees. As well as her School bag.

He was placing the things on the table, when he noticed a romance novel with a scandalous picture on the cover in the hidden side of her bedside table accidentally. If he didn't look deeply, he wouldn't have noticed it at all. Anirudh didn't know, should he be happy or be upset at her new hobby. He looked at the book and saw Amrit's name inscribed on the front page in such small font size that a person would have to really look hard to find out the name written.

"So, my dear wife is now reading romance novels borrowing from her friends, Interesting"-Anirudh thought to himself and decided to talk to Bondita about it later. He knew he couldn't scold her too much as her results haven't suffered at all. So, he decided to talk to her about this new interesting development later.

He went downstairs after sorting out his clothes and other miscellaneous things all the while sporting a charming smile on his face. Deciding to rest the case of romance novels for a later date.
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My semester finals just got finished today. So, here I am back to updating as much as possible.

This chapter was all about Anirudh's monologue.
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