Benaam Rishta:An Invisible String

Chapter3

The blazing full moon and star studded sky witnessed the whole Tulsipur in peaceful slumber including RC, but he was so sleep deprived and disturbed that he was losing his mind. strolling to and fro at an end He sat on his study chair and slightly leaned backwards. One hand rested over forehead, eyes were stucked to nothing particular. Entire ambiance was rulling by pin drop silence but his heart was growing violent. war of apprehensive thoughts occurred in his mind. Which was more than enough to made him feel edgy and unsettled.

"Where are you Bondita?"

He didn't know why he was feeling this restless. but he certainly knew that something was wrong, and he wouldn't scruple to acknowledged that her being absent in the house was the very reason he was troubled. His younger brother could never be trustworthy in case of girls. What if he did something to her.....!no. The mere thought shook him whole. He wouldn't do anything wrong. She was his wife, and above all, they both love each other. All he wanted at that moment was to see her face, her pure face, filled with innocence.

All at once a shadowed figure flashed outside of his study room. he was alerted. stepped out of the study only to find Batuk. Where he is going at this hour? Suspected he started trailing him. after when it felt like an eternity saw him entering in a hut and marched out of that within a few minutes. inquisitively he took some rigid steps towards the hut, and what he had seen next was something he never in wildest of his dreams ever did expected.

"Bondita..!!!"

He stood there discombobulated. His deep eyes surveyed the pathetic view inside the Hut coolly. And It didn't take long for him to understand the matter. She was at menstruation hut. The place of seclusion located far away from their home.

He felt his inside churned in disastrous as Realisation dawned him upon, about the existence of most tragic evil practice. the power of heinous rituals and customs, that according to certain cultures with strong menstrual taboos women were considered to be impure and untouchable. They were expected to leave their homes and stayed at the hut in isolation through their cycle, until they could ritually purify themselves at the river and return home. The only contact they would allowed to have was with a family member who comes by to drop a meal. Vulnerable to several mishaps, these women couldn't find comfort in the idea of God. They were left to the whims of nature in the heat and drought, and the rain and floods. Let alone calamities. They had to become prey of snakes and harmful insects and the most dengerous animal of the world....MAN.

This stupid idea of society and disregarding comments about menses badly affects the physical and emotional state of a woman.

The hut had a small door,and was dilapidated, with poor sanitation and ventilation, and no windows. There's was a hurricane lamp in a corner. nonetheless, one would have to put great efforts to have a clear view of the Hut. his longing eyes fell on that little soul..Bondita, who was laying on the muddy ground all pale and soulless . one of her hand was behind her head and other hand clutching her stomach. She had a plain Saari, somehow wrapped around her petite frame.... displaying some parts. She might have teared up her saari to use........he knew, he should have turned his face away, to maintain the decency, but he didn't. She was in such a pathetic condition and this was all he could see, think for the moment.

A tsunami wave of pain engulfed him causing his eyes to flow unceasing tears to witness her atrocious condition.

He presently went to her on hearing her pitiful whimper. "Bondita..." called in a ever so soft voice. He watched her floundering about on the ground stopped "Bi..Biristra Ba..bu..." an exhausted, quivering whisper came to his ear as she spiritlessly pulled herself up and looked at him, with her doe shaped eyes, Which would sparkled with mischief but now found them radically different, empty, Like dead deep ocean. An inscrutable expression occupied Her deadpan face. There were dried up tears stain on her puffy cheeks under eyes. Her long hair was dishevelled, spreading on the ground. The chirpy innocent Bondita, that little star blazing ever brightest had appeared at their threshold that day,and now the girl' infront of him held day night different. as if she had lost somewhere in the darkness of that Hut. She looked so thin, deathly pale and tired.