The Unventured Passions

Sensuous Battlefield

In the rain there was a serenity, a sense of peace that had offered to resonate with the peaceful elements of her soul. Bondita stood infront for her car and looked up, her eyes on the dark clouds, drenching away her agony. She closed the door and started to walk.
Walking among those drops was her meditation, a way to fully become present in the moment, a way to feel free. It was as if each raindrop was a doorway into nature's heart, an invitation of sorts, a request for the soul to rejoin creation.
The sky was howling, the raindrops poured incessantly as Bondita embraced the thundering droplets of water, drenching completely in them.
It felt good, it felt relaxing.

Instead of the usual twenty minutes, it took her almost an hour to reach Central Calcutta, the way leading towards the Roy Chowdhury mansion. Her black cotton saree was completely soaked, increasing in weight as she dragged her feet happily on the semi waterlogged street. If the sunny days were excitement, a cloudy- rainy day such as this was a well earned chance to rest the eyes, the soul... to daydream and breathe in a calm reflective mood.

The mist had made the gigantic metal door appear faded, fragile as Bondita stood infront of the entrance and let out a deep sigh. This was her refuge, but was it her destination?
Darkness had loomed faster that evening, painting the surrounding into a mysterious quitetude, with the sound of the pouring rain in it's background.
Bondita entered the empty front courtyard, making her way carefully to the front veranda. It was dark inside the house as well.

Electricity would be a luxury on such days.
"Monikaki? Why didn't you light the lanterns?" She shouted aloud, wondering about the prolonged absence of response from inside as she squeezed some water off her soaked saree.
A subtle sweet aroma blossomed in the air, tickling her olfactory senses as Bondita slowly started to walk inside their drawing hallroom.
It wasn't dark inside, there were candles, arranged in linear pattern giving off their warm golden light. The scent was coming out of them.
Bondita furrowed her eyebrows as her heart started to thump inside her chest in an indescribable trepidation.
"Monimala Kaki? Rudhi?" She called out again, her voice a little apprehensive, as she passed the hallway with her half drenched clothes.

"They aren't here."

Bondita felt a stab in her heart. The familiar voice had startled her, increasing her heartbeat manifold with just a single sentence. It was the least what she was expecting to hear, it was the last that she was prepared to hear.
She wiped the water off her face and looked infront.
Anirudh was standing, at the threshold of their bedroom, with a silver candle stand in his hand, reflecting a steady golden light from it which had illuminated a portion of his long silhouette making him appear enthralling.

"You?"
Bondita felt thousands of waves crushing on the shore of her senses at once, she felt like a gushing stream, and that one sentence from him had broken the dam of her self restraint. She wanted to shout, she wanted to cry a river, but all she could do was utter a word, just a word!

"Yes. Me." Anirudh's voice was as calm as a stagnant clear lake.
How could he be so calm? She wondered.
"You seem surprised." He added.

'Yes, I'm surprised... I'm surprised that you are here.... You are standing infront of me... After long three days, three agonizing days! I'm surprised because you chose to not trust me... I'm surprised because you chose not to acknowledge your doings... I'm surprised that how easily you could just let us be? How easily you choose to ignore me... Does my love, our love, means nothing to you?'

Bondita's mind was racing with hundreds of different combinations of answers for that one question of his.
Was she surprised?
How dare he just ask her this!
How dare he just walk in after three days and suddenly decide to stand infront of her in those seductive half-drenched white shirt, with those bewitching glaze, and speak to her as if nothing had ever happened?
She swallowed a painful knot and let out a deep sigh, choosing not to answer his question.