Preyasi

~1~

Love was a dangerous emotion. Men were arrested and killed every day. But it was also an all-consuming emotion. She had tried to avoid it, but how could anyone avoid their fate? Chayan was the son of a bicycle seller. Their shop was beside the ancestral jewellery shop of Tarillata's family. They sometimes met when helping their fathers at the shops and soon became friends. After about 3 months, Chayan felt the urgency to marry Tarillata.

"I've always been in love with you, Tarillata. From reading the same books to living in the same area, we have everything in common. I dreamt about making you my Preyasi, my love, since the day I saw you. With all these movements beginning, India will soon be independent. All the troubles are coming to an end. The bicycles are selling better than ever. We have a big enough house, I will do my best to fulfil all your wishes. Tell me now, will you be my wife? " Chayan asked one day as they were reading books and having tea together at the tea stall near their shops.

Tarillata knew her parents would be hard to convince. She was only seventeen and they hadn't yet spoken about finding a match for her.

"I think you should ask Baba first, Chayan, he may get upset if I say yes," she said.

"I will ask him then, but be ready to be my wife, because there is no way he won't be convinced"

As promised, Chayan somehow magically got her father to agree and soon Tarillata was married and sent off.

It had all been very sudden. Chayan had loved her for a long time but she wasn't sure. Her father was happy that a marriage prospect, such a suitable one at that, had arrived without much trouble. After all, he had three other daughters to worry about. He loved Tarillata, but he did think being the only man in the house, that unmarried girls of age were quite the burden on their families.

Chayan's family, however, was drastically different to her own. Chayan had an older sister, still unmarried ("That poor girl" her father had said) and 3 younger brothers. Being the eldest son's wife, her mother-in-law expected her to be perfect. She was to cook three meals a day, wash all the clothes, do the dishes and basically every other household chore was her duty, though Tarillata was not surprised to hear this as it wasn't uncommon at that time.

"Rashi is an author. Never disturb her unless absolutely necessary" instructed her Mother-in-law, gesturing towards her daughter's room.

Her days were lonely. Used to the usual chaos of her home as she and her sisters played in the verandah or helped their father at the shop, she found working all day really miserable. Chayan's promises were already falling apart. He had proclaimed he would give her all the comforts in the world yet she found herself working day and night with little in return.

Soon, the household pressure became too much to bear and little fights began between Chayan and Tarillata. She found herself helpless as no one in that house would listen to her. So tired of all the isolation, she went into Rashi's room one day and found a stack of paper. She brought it into her room and sewing the pages together and then into some old cardboard from the shop's waste, she made herself a diary. She decorated it to her liking and then, taking a pen from Chayan's desk, went to the terrace of the house and sitting in a quiet corner, began her revolution for freedom. The first right she took back was the freedom to write.

She had seen her grandmothers and was seeing her mother, slowly getting lost in time, no one knowing them. She swore she wouldn't be like them. She swore she would be a story to tell.