Night Jasmine

Untitled Part 48

For twelve years Nobin Chandra Sanyal had tried to come to terms with the death of his wife and had failed to find succour. His was an unusual case, the story of a man who fell deeply in love with his spouse much too late. Born into money he spent his formative years in boarding school in Darjeeling and was later sent to Oxford in the tradition of the educated wealthy barons of Bengal. Returning from England armed with his degree in Economics the young Nobin was initiated into the family business by his father. During the time before the rise of the Communist Party Calcutta was the base of India's largest business groups and home to important institutions like the Indian Statistical Institute and the Indian Institute of Management, the latter founded in 1961, Nobin being an alumnus of its first batch.

Those were the heady days of Post-Independence Calcutta still under the sway of the colonial legacy, and the young lad had acquired a taste for the Englishman's lifestyle while attending university at Oxford. He spoke flawless, unaccented English, wore bespoke Bond Street suits and preferred European dining to his native flavours, speaking Bengali only within the family and with the large brigade of house help that the Rajbari employed in those Raj-influenced days.He inherited his father's keen business sense and soon became influential in the city's corporate circles, admired for his acumen, leading to rapid expansion of the family's business interests. He even earned respect from his hard to impress father. While his days were spent toiling over managing the business the evenings drew him, like his Oxbridge peers, to Park Street, where the partying began at sundown and did not stop until the wee hours of the morning. 

Restaurants and nightclubs with exotic names such as Mocambo, Moulin Rouge, Trinca's and the Blue Fox were the famous watering holes where the cha cha and foxtrot prevailed during the 1950's and over the next decade pop and jazz influenced music helped pump adrenalin among the young revellers. Evenings would see swanky cars drive up delivering cargoes of young men and women from Ballygunge, Bhowanipore and Alipore dressed in their gladrags patronising the clubs where the popular live bands performed every day. The blonde, smartly dressed Anglo-Indian  Diva of Park Street Pam Crain who began crooning with Mocambo, later shifting to Blue Fox held an entire generation captive with her singing. While at the Dow Hill Boarding school in Kurseong Pam learnt to play the piano, eagerly listened to the lead names in jazz music and went on to become the soul of western and jazz music of Calcutta.

It was here that Nobin cultivated his friendship with Rosaline Myers, a voluptuous natural blonde Anglo-Burmese personal assistant to an ageing distinguished Parsi shipping firm owner. As they drew close to each other he stopped dating other girls. It was only a matter of time before the shrewd Nobin unleashed his charm on the young woman who inadvertently provided him insider information, thus assisting him in a hostile takeover bid. In a matter of months Nobin had acquired ownership of the firm thereby inheriting Rosa, who played the part of his PA during the day and became his exclusive social companion, even accompanying him on overseas business trips, sharing luxury suites with him in some of the most iconic hotels of the time in cities like Hong Kong and Singapore. She loved the lifestyle he offered her, a clear departure from her days spent in Bow Barracks. She had boyfriends before but none of them as rich and suave as her new boss who compensated her well for her services by moving her into an apartment in Ballygunge that he invested into without his father's knowledge, so that he may pursue his affair unhindered.

Nobin enjoyed being in Rosa's company after business hours. Not only was she efficient at her work she was also articulate, fun to party with , and had a keen fashion sense which manifested itself on the goodwill she earned keeping her young employer happy. He bought her whatever her heart desired-clothes, shoes, bags and pearls, she in turn made sure he got whatever he wanted from her. She had no need for any other patron and her den was stocked up with his favourite single malts and smokes. After work they would invariably stop by at the Ballygunge apartment for a couple of drinks before they ended up in bed, sharing a cigarette when they were done. He made sure she did not ever get pregnant, he bought the latest protection overseas, and ensured he never ran out of it. Sleeping with Rosa was fine but illegitimate offspring would damage matters beyond control, not that she cared about having his child. He loved watching her dress up as they would gear up for a night on town, painting Park Street red. After drinks, dancing and dinner he would drop her off before heading home each night, he had made things clear to her, as long as his father ran the roost he would have to abide by certain decorum, and that she should not expect anything more.

His father attributed his lifestyle to a mere phase of sowing wild oats, but the young man showed no signs of getting tired of his wine, woman and song. It was time to set things in order and Narendra Sanyal took matters in his own hands as he chose Madhabi, the daughter of his childhood friend Keshub Chandra Lahiri, a venerated High Court judge, as a bride for Nobin without consulting his son. By the time Nobin could register the goings on the matter had gotten out of his hands and soon he had to tie the knot with a naive young girl still in her teens, someone who was a complete contrast to Rosa. Here was a girl who shivered at his sight on the night of Phool Shojja. He just did not know how to approach her as she only spoke chaste Bengali and touched his feet on their proposed night of consummation. 

Nobin had wanted to share with her how he had been coerced into accepting her as his bride but he could not not bring himself to do so, her innocence had caught him off-guard. He was not used to being with anyone as docile before, so he left things as they were. He realised she was more comfortable in the security of the homestead, going out had never been an option for her. He watched in amusement from the sidelines as she relished rural fare like panta bhaat (fermented rice) and dishes made with shutki maach (dried fish), something that to his upper crust upbringing was fit for only the house-help's mess.

 When their marriage was finally consummated the experience left her so traumatised that each time he approached her she either recoiled in fear or if they got together at all it was a hasty congress where she was a mere passive recipient, unaware of the value of pleasure from a carnal union. When she got pregnant with their first child Robin she took off for her maternal home and only returned when the baby was a couple of months old. Another pregnancy followed and Renuka was born, the new mother now had her hands full nurturing her two young children hardly noticing the absence of her young husband, who without her knowledge had continued his liaison with  Rosa. To him it was natural, the companionship and physical gratification his inexperienced wife failed to provide him, he ensured was available in Rosa's arms.

By the time Madhabi matured adequately and began falling in love with her husband she realised she had become insignificant to him. He continued to treat her with respect and cared and provided for the needs of his young family, but she ministered over neither his body nor his heart. She heard the whispers of compassionate family members who looked on her sympathetically but Nobin was too important and respectable a man for anyone  to take on, nearly all the family and neighbourhood enjoyed the benefits of their association with him. As a result the young wife waited for her husband every night but he chose to return only after she was fast asleep, unable to deal with the duality in his personal life.