Muhabbat Ki Raahon Mien Aa Ker Tou Dekho!

Connection, or not?

Sardar Kartar Singh Dhaaba, Shanti Nagar, West Bengal

The sun had finally risen, and it was safe to continue her journey to search for her Pati Babu again.

Yesterday, she had been to many places, but the more she tried, unfortunately she met with more dead-ends than expected. 

It was extremely disheartening, but she still was not ready to give up. 

She didn't even want to stop her search last evening after she left Rishi Nagar, but the night had fallen and when she reached Shanti Nagar and interrogated people here, the kind couple who owned this dhaaba urged her to call it a day and take some rest in their inner quarters. 

The couple had offered her food, but she was so anxious that she couldn't even eat more than a few bites of daal and rice before she threw it all up. 

Sleep was far away… but she just laid on the small cot that was lying in the room with her gaze constantly stuck at the sky. 

Too restless, she got up, and standing by the window, looking at the moon, all the emotions unleashed in the form of a torrent of tears and sobs۔ It was all that she had been suppressing since the time she had found out that her Pati Babu was missing, and it was beyond her control now. 

She felt as if she was dying with every passing moment, and the fear that she may have lost so much time that some harm may have come to her Pati Babu was eating her alive. 

However, she was still not ready to give up, and gazing at the dark, sultry sky, she was praying with all her heart to see the morning soon so that she could resume her journey. 

---

He couldn't sleep for one second last night. It was his first time in life that he had had to spend a night outside the comfort of his bed ...and that too, right outside the window of a room where that woman wept bitterly all night! 

Yesterday, when they left Rishi Nagar, he saw Bondita making a detour and although he wasn't familiar with the routes in this part of the country, he still had an inkling that she had taken a wrong turn, and instead of taking a straighter path, she had taken a longer route. 

However, he could not stop her or signal her about it, but soon when the skies turned dark, he had an urge to ask her to stop for now.

They were near a jungle and all his instincts were shouting at him that traveling at night through those places was certainly not ideal. 
He had heard about bandits and whatnot, and a sense of trepidation stirred his soul as a disturbing thought occurred to him:

What if they encounter some peril like that? Ager Bondita ko bandits ne pakad lia…
Mien kaise bachaon ga usko?

And then, without realizing what he was doing, he silently prayed, 

Oh Durga Maa, please help her. 

He himself got startled! He had prayed for her, but not for himself!!! 
This was uncharacteristic! 
For Batuk Roy Chaudhary, he himself was the most important...along with his family. But she was not her family… 

Or was she?

Disgruntled and thoroughly irritated by his confusing thoughts, and even more confusing actions, a sigh of relief escaped his mouth as he saw Bondita pulling up near a small food eatery. 

The place had few customers and a middle-aged, sweet Sardar couple who were the owners.

There were wooden cots lying around, and people were either lying on them after a hearty meal, or were playing cards or some other games.