Humble Abode

"You must be a pilgrim! Aren't you thirsty, hungry and tired? Why don't you spend the night at my humble abode and resume with your travelling tomorrow morning?" a voice called out behind Rana.

Rana, taken aback by the sudden encounter with a human voice, stopped in his track and looked around. He found a tiny face lurking by the corner of what seemed to be a fence. Rana was more surprised than relieved to find a young boy in the middle of the woods – his journey had rendered him tired and thirsty. Yet he was clueless as to where to spend the night. "Please come with me, my fathers are waiting to meet you," the child asserted, breaking Rana's reverie. "Fathers?" Rana asked, more surprised.

Late at night, in the middle of nowhere, where all Rana could see were the stars and the shapes of the trees, and all he could hear were the cricking of the insects, he hadn't expected to meet a soul! But there was a child, he just met and there was this promise of multiple fathers! Journey to his destination was about to get more interesting. Or was this the whole point of the journey?

Ranadip Sanyal followed the child into a deeper part of the forest; he recalled his mom telling tales of cannibals residing in the forests who would lure the tired travellers into resting for the night only to eat them up. If that was true, Rana was up for a fight – he braced himself mentally.

He was pleasantly surprised to find a hut, with its door wide open, waiting to welcome them inside. The moonlight helped him see a tulsi plant by the front yard and a white rangoli by it. "I hope they don't turn out to be cannibals," Rana prayed to himself.

"Welcome to my humble abode, I am Gopal – your host for tonight and meet him, this is Baba; please seat and talk to Baba – I will go and help Babai in the kitchen!" the young boy warmly announced leading Rana inside.

The person Gopal just called Baba was reading a copy of the Vedas by the lamp, he looked up from his book to greet Ranadip. Gopal's Baba looked like an older and thinner version of Ranadip himself!

It was turning out to be an evening full of surprises! Both the men stared at each other, unable to articulate the storm of emotions raging through them. The trance was broken by Babai, who came in to call them for dinner – Rana turned to greet Babai, who was older and appeared to be wiser than Baba was.

"Good evening young man! I suppose our son hasn't told much about us except his own name – don't worry, we are not cannibals as the folklores go by. Am I imagining or do you actually look a lot like my husband? Now don't look surprised – the well is there, wash yourself and freshen up. Warm food and conversations await by the dinner table. Hurry up and join us," Babai ordered Ranadip and went inside.

"I am Ratnajit Sanyal and that is my husband Debraj Banerjee – now why don't you proceed as Debraj has asked you too? We shall resume with the talking and get to the bottom of this mysterious lookalike thing," smiled Baba, following Babai.

Ranadip, recovered from the shock – found the well right outside the door, cleaned up and went to the dinner where three pairs of eyes stared at him – unflinching amusement and curiosity.

"Good evening all of you, thank you for inviting me in for this night – I have been travelling since the crack of dawn, I want to reach the Holy Place of Sarasij by this week – I have to meet my uncle, I have never seen him. I was told he went there and never returned," elaborated Ranadip, furthing adding, "I am Ranadip Sanyal, the only son of late Ratnadip Sanyal – the former zamindar of the village of Muktanagar."

The hosts took a moment to drink in all the knowledge they just acquired, and then Baba inquired, "What is your uncle's name? Are you sure that he went to the pilgrimage and never returned? What if he is dead?"

"I have been told that my uncle, my dad's elder brother, Ratnajit Sanyal had gone to the pilgrimage during his youth and never returned. In his absence, my father took over as the zamindar – which I inherited once he died. I have never met my uncle but I believe that he is alive and I have to meet him," Ranadip poured his heart out as he gulped down the khichdi. All the time his eyes fixated on Gopal's baba, his uncle's namesake, his own lookalike, Ratnajit Sanyal.

"If you would care to believe, I happen to be your uncle – the one you must meet," Ratnajit confided, further asking "how did Ratnadip die? How is our village doing? How are your mother and your grandmothers?"

"Everybody is fine. The doctor said that dad died of stroke and it was dad's fifth attack, he had uncontrolled BP and dad wouldn't take his medicines regularly. He was adamant. He was a good zamindar and the village prospered under his supervision. Taking the reins off his hands now, I am scared. Why did you not return home? Why do you stay here?" asked the young man.

"Has nobody ever told you that your uncle was disowned?" asked Debraj.

"But why was he disowned?" asked Ranadip.

"Do we have chutney?" asked Gopal, polishing off his last morsel of khichdi.

"Sorry dear – I couldn't sell enough garlands to buy jiggery and tomatoes for the chutney" replied Debraj, upsetting Gopal.

Ranadip hastily added, "but I have dry fruits – cashews, raisins and dates in my jhola – Gopal, why don't you fetch them and eat those and share with us as well?"

This suggestion brightened up Gopal who ran off to wash his hands and hunt for the dry fruits inside the red cloth bag.

"Because I had dared to love a man – I had fallen for Debraj the moment I met him first and that was when I realised why I was never attracted to girls. Debraj too had reciprocated and as a result we both were disowned by our families. Being Brahmins, we didn't know anything about chopping logs or making garlands – but we taught ourselves. We made hut inside the deep woods so that people wouldn't disturb us. We grew beards to disguise ourselves when we went to the market to sell logs of wood, garlands and wild berries. It has been years when we realised people had forgotten about us when we stared trimming off the thick beards into something more manageable. One evening while returning from the market, I found an abandoned new born. I waited with the child the whole night – but nobody came to claim him. So I brought him home and we adopted him. He is now 8 years old but we cannot afford to send him to school. We realise he is friendless but we are helpless. We teach him at home and he helps us with chores. Now tell me, why you wanted to meet me?" asked Ratnajit.

"I have always dreamed of meeting you someday but I never imagined how and learning of the things I just did, I realise how much of my life had been a lie – I am in love with a girl and I want to marry her. I want you to conduct the wedding and I want you to join our family once again. I am young and inexperienced, I need you and I want you to guide me through the web of it. I want you, Debraj uncle and Gopal to join us, live with us as you were supposed to – I don't want you to stay here, enduring so much of hardships. I don't know why Gopal is taking so long, I better go and help him. I am here for the night – take this night to ponder, discuss and decide. Tomorrow morning, I shall be going away and whatever you decide, I will respect it. By the way, this khichdi was very tasty – if things go according to my wish, I would love to have this served at my wedding. Please all three of you, come with me and live with me at my humble abode as a family" said Ranadip leaving the two men dumbfounded with his suggestion.