Dawn at Midnight.
Book 4: Genesis. Chapter 5: Retire to Heaven
The time our car crossed the Rakcham bridge, the sun already went down behind the hills on the west. The road was as usual a narrow and coarse one as it was a decade ago. Nothing in that part of the country has changed much. My angel vomited and was ill, the entire journey. That was his first time a trip with all his family and that too to his dream place ‘ice-cream mountain’. Probably he dreamt of those places when he was in my womb, as his mother also loves those snow-clad mountains. His illness made our journey bit painful and slowed us down. He was sleeping on my lap and Abhimanyu was seated on the front seat with the driver, navigating along with him, as the road was dark.
I was looking out of the window recalling the past few months, which was full of events.
ChotoMa and Babu found their lost son along with their daughter-in-law whom they spurned decade ago and wanted to have me as their daughter instead. They tried to change the course of the river and it was HIS wish at last that the river met the ocean instead of squandering off in oblivion. However, Abhi did not want to stay in Kolkata, he cited the reason that the wall was too high to cross over and we returned to New Delhi. A new place for me a new life for all of us.
Many things around us had changed after our lives were conjoined. I left my job in Saha Institute, Dr. Sarkar requested me repeatedly that he could contact his peers in IIT-Delhi and he could help me in getting a job there. Abhimanyu was not against that, but I was happy with what I got. I wanted to take rest. I wanted to do something for Maithili and Kalyani as they helped me a lot in those past ten years. We sold all my household furniture and whatever money we got, we both gifted to Titli and Pubali for their future.
Dushtu was studying in his second year in college in arts stream. He was very happy to see Abhimanyu back again. Abhi teased him “Want to hear that story of the thief and the fairy?” He blushed and said to him “I will steal my own fairy like you stole yours.” He said to Dushtu “I will be eagerly waiting to hear your story.”
The day we left Kolkata, it was summer but it was raining hard not from the sky but from every one’s eyes whoever came to bid us goodbye at the airport. I looked at my son’s face and my heartthrob’s face with sniveled eyes. Their face gave me the strength and I walked with a smiling face to the security check, waving to our relatives.
My string of thought broke as my Angel shivered on my lap and I cuddled across my bosom to give him warmth. He opened up his beautiful big eyes and smiled at me.
I smiled back at him and asked---“What happened?”
---“Drink juice.”
I opened the can of frooti and he sipped it. I asked Abhi---“Do you want to drink or eat anything?”
He was so much engrossed looking for the road that he could not hear as what I asked him. I slapped on the back of his head and asked him again---“Want to eat something; can we stop somewhere?”
He looked over his shoulder and said---“We can’t stop right now as the road is narrow and dangerous.”
My Angel cried out---“I want to goto Dyada.”
He looked behind, stretched his arms and angel leapt on his lap. I asked him---“Now cool your heels there and don’t bother me, till the car stops.”
I asked Abhi---“Nothing has actually changed here; it is same as we came here ten years ago.”
He smiled and said to me---“My Eve, change in this world is evitable. If the world does not change then it will die. It is dark outside so we are unable to see what has changed and what not.”
---“But the bumps on the road that I am experiencing is same as what I experienced years ago.” He looked at me over his shoulder and winked at me. His gesture turned me red, as I knew what he meant to say. My heart thumped rapidly inside my chest when the reminiscences of first night’s fight came in front of my eyes. I slapped coyly on the back of his head to vent my blush.
He winked at me again and then said---“This time no morning, dear.” I bit my lower lips as it reminded me how we lose ourselves the morning after that first fight.
I looked outside the window into the dark. I saw that Abhi and Paree were fighting in that night and then he came near Paree and snuggled into her blanket. Paree closed her eyes, took his hand on her chest and swooned into blissful slumber, in peace.
I bent forward and whispered in his ears---“This time we have a laptop.”
He stretched back his neck and rubbed his tip gently on my left cheek and whispered---“After putting it in sleep mode.” I laughed at him.
The time we reached Chitkul, it was eight o’clock in the night and it was pitch black as usual. We were fortunate to get the same room in the same hotel. I asked Abhi how he managed. He smiled at me and said that he arranged that beforehand. He had called the manager and booked the room. I asked him why did not informed me previously. He gave me a sleek smile and said he wanted to surprise me.
My angel was looking around he looked very depressed. I asked him as what has happened. His juvenile voice voiced his concern that he was unable to see and ‘askeem mountain’. We both laughed at him as that was the same question I asked Abhimanyu years ago. My angel looked up the sky and threw his arms in the air.
He shouted in his puerile voice---“Mamma see twinkle twinkle stars.” The sky was full of twinkling stars.
Abhi looked at me and said---“So Mrs. Talukdar, happy to be in our peaceful heaven?”
I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with the fresh air of hills and greens. Although it was pitch black around us but we knew that we were in the midst of heavenly wilderness. I could hear the river rustling over the stones, singing on its way to meet the ocean.
My Angel was frolicking like a sparrow on a paddy field as if he has all he wanted in his life. We both smiled on beholding his happiness.
He called out---“Dyada where is askeem mountain?” Abhi took him on his lap and said---“Askeem mountain will come in view as the morning comes. We have to sleep as of now.”
He nodded his head in anger---“I will not sleep till I see askeem mountain.”
Somehow, he was persuaded him that in night, there were dangerous people who have stolen the askeem mountain from its place; they would return his askeem mountain as when the sunrays would fall on them. He was happy to know that sunrays would kill those bad people and return his askeem mountain. We both laughed on his juvenile queries and concerns.
After dinner, I lay on bed, trying hard to put my angel in sleep. The naughty fawn of ours was busy in his mischievous antics. The weather outside was not so cold so I was in a flimsy nightdress. I looked at him; he was looking outside the window.
I looked at my angel; his eyes were becoming dim with tiredness. I cuddled him to give him the warmth of my bosom so that he can sleep in the warmth of his mother. He looked at me and before closing his eyes he asked me---“Mamma askeem mountain?”
He heard his words said---“askeem mountain is just beyond this window. In the morning you will be the first to see the askeem mountain as the devils keep it there.”
---“Promise?”
---“Promise.”
I looked at Abhi; his strong embrace once made me mad and brought me to this heaven. I felt melting once again as he looked at me with his squint eyes as if saying “Are you ready baby?”
He sat on the edge of the bed and traced my left foot with his index finger. A turbulence gathered on my bosom and my left calve melted. The sweet tingle left all my pores of my calf to unfurl.
I whispered in husky tone---“He has not slept yet and you devil…”
He kept on rubbing my calf gently under the dress. His hot touch made my skin warm as if someone poured amber on my creamy skin. I hissed out again---“What are you doing, stop?” His amorous gaze pierced my eyes and I felt jelly inside my heart. He stooped down slowly, blew hot breath on my feet and kissed my toe softly.
I died on that spot and kicked him on his broad muscular chest---“Go away now.” He walked toward the window, halfheartedly shaking his head and smiling at me.
He kept me writhing on the bed beside my angel. My angel already slept holding my gown in his tiny clutch. I somehow, freed myself slowly from his clutch so as not to wake him up.
Abhi was standing by the window looking deep into the dark night towards the silhouette of the mountain. I walked near him and wrapped my soft slender arms around his strong torso. He held my hands tightly across his chest and bends his head back to meet my cheek with his lips.
He whispered in my ears---“Missed you lot in all these years.”
I clawed on his left chest over his heart and said---“I was here always, that’s why I came back.”
He turned towards me, took my face between my palms and looked deeply in my eyes. My eyes were also glistening with love as were his. My lips quivered, I cooed out---“For once I thought that I was lost in oblivion forever. I thought that I would never be able to meet you in my life.”
I closed my eyes when I sensed that his face was too near to me. He placed his lips on my forehead and kissed softly. I took a deep breath to fill my lungs with his musky odour of sweat and heat. I missed this odour for a long time. I took few deep breaths, my bosom heaved across his strong muscular chest. I could feel my bosom catching fire as I pulled him more into me. He started to trace his tongue tip on my brows and I went meek in his arms. I parted my lips and it quivered like wanton petals wanting to be chewed.
I felt his lips crushed on mine, sucking all my breath out of my mouth. His hands roamed on my back, traced my spine sending spasms all over my body.
Book 4: Genesis. Chapter 5: Retire to Heaven
The time our car crossed the Rakcham bridge, the sun already went down behind the hills on the west. The road was as usual a narrow and coarse one as it was a decade ago. Nothing in that part of the country has changed much. My angel vomited and was ill, the entire journey. That was his first time a trip with all his family and that too to his dream place ‘ice-cream mountain’. Probably he dreamt of those places when he was in my womb, as his mother also loves those snow-clad mountains. His illness made our journey bit painful and slowed us down. He was sleeping on my lap and Abhimanyu was seated on the front seat with the driver, navigating along with him, as the road was dark.
I was looking out of the window recalling the past few months, which was full of events.
ChotoMa and Babu found their lost son along with their daughter-in-law whom they spurned decade ago and wanted to have me as their daughter instead. They tried to change the course of the river and it was HIS wish at last that the river met the ocean instead of squandering off in oblivion. However, Abhi did not want to stay in Kolkata, he cited the reason that the wall was too high to cross over and we returned to New Delhi. A new place for me a new life for all of us.
Many things around us had changed after our lives were conjoined. I left my job in Saha Institute, Dr. Sarkar requested me repeatedly that he could contact his peers in IIT-Delhi and he could help me in getting a job there. Abhimanyu was not against that, but I was happy with what I got. I wanted to take rest. I wanted to do something for Maithili and Kalyani as they helped me a lot in those past ten years. We sold all my household furniture and whatever money we got, we both gifted to Titli and Pubali for their future.
Dushtu was studying in his second year in college in arts stream. He was very happy to see Abhimanyu back again. Abhi teased him “Want to hear that story of the thief and the fairy?” He blushed and said to him “I will steal my own fairy like you stole yours.” He said to Dushtu “I will be eagerly waiting to hear your story.”
The day we left Kolkata, it was summer but it was raining hard not from the sky but from every one’s eyes whoever came to bid us goodbye at the airport. I looked at my son’s face and my heartthrob’s face with sniveled eyes. Their face gave me the strength and I walked with a smiling face to the security check, waving to our relatives.
My string of thought broke as my Angel shivered on my lap and I cuddled across my bosom to give him warmth. He opened up his beautiful big eyes and smiled at me.
I smiled back at him and asked---“What happened?”
---“Drink juice.”
I opened the can of frooti and he sipped it. I asked Abhi---“Do you want to drink or eat anything?”
He was so much engrossed looking for the road that he could not hear as what I asked him. I slapped on the back of his head and asked him again---“Want to eat something; can we stop somewhere?”
He looked over his shoulder and said---“We can’t stop right now as the road is narrow and dangerous.”
My Angel cried out---“I want to goto Dyada.”
He looked behind, stretched his arms and angel leapt on his lap. I asked him---“Now cool your heels there and don’t bother me, till the car stops.”
I asked Abhi---“Nothing has actually changed here; it is same as we came here ten years ago.”
He smiled and said to me---“My Eve, change in this world is evitable. If the world does not change then it will die. It is dark outside so we are unable to see what has changed and what not.”
---“But the bumps on the road that I am experiencing is same as what I experienced years ago.” He looked at me over his shoulder and winked at me. His gesture turned me red, as I knew what he meant to say. My heart thumped rapidly inside my chest when the reminiscences of first night’s fight came in front of my eyes. I slapped coyly on the back of his head to vent my blush.
He winked at me again and then said---“This time no morning, dear.” I bit my lower lips as it reminded me how we lose ourselves the morning after that first fight.
I looked outside the window into the dark. I saw that Abhi and Paree were fighting in that night and then he came near Paree and snuggled into her blanket. Paree closed her eyes, took his hand on her chest and swooned into blissful slumber, in peace.
I bent forward and whispered in his ears---“This time we have a laptop.”
He stretched back his neck and rubbed his tip gently on my left cheek and whispered---“After putting it in sleep mode.” I laughed at him.
The time we reached Chitkul, it was eight o’clock in the night and it was pitch black as usual. We were fortunate to get the same room in the same hotel. I asked Abhi how he managed. He smiled at me and said that he arranged that beforehand. He had called the manager and booked the room. I asked him why did not informed me previously. He gave me a sleek smile and said he wanted to surprise me.
My angel was looking around he looked very depressed. I asked him as what has happened. His juvenile voice voiced his concern that he was unable to see and ‘askeem mountain’. We both laughed at him as that was the same question I asked Abhimanyu years ago. My angel looked up the sky and threw his arms in the air.
He shouted in his puerile voice---“Mamma see twinkle twinkle stars.” The sky was full of twinkling stars.
Abhi looked at me and said---“So Mrs. Talukdar, happy to be in our peaceful heaven?”
I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with the fresh air of hills and greens. Although it was pitch black around us but we knew that we were in the midst of heavenly wilderness. I could hear the river rustling over the stones, singing on its way to meet the ocean.
My Angel was frolicking like a sparrow on a paddy field as if he has all he wanted in his life. We both smiled on beholding his happiness.
He called out---“Dyada where is askeem mountain?” Abhi took him on his lap and said---“Askeem mountain will come in view as the morning comes. We have to sleep as of now.”
He nodded his head in anger---“I will not sleep till I see askeem mountain.”
Somehow, he was persuaded him that in night, there were dangerous people who have stolen the askeem mountain from its place; they would return his askeem mountain as when the sunrays would fall on them. He was happy to know that sunrays would kill those bad people and return his askeem mountain. We both laughed on his juvenile queries and concerns.
After dinner, I lay on bed, trying hard to put my angel in sleep. The naughty fawn of ours was busy in his mischievous antics. The weather outside was not so cold so I was in a flimsy nightdress. I looked at him; he was looking outside the window.
I looked at my angel; his eyes were becoming dim with tiredness. I cuddled him to give him the warmth of my bosom so that he can sleep in the warmth of his mother. He looked at me and before closing his eyes he asked me---“Mamma askeem mountain?”
He heard his words said---“askeem mountain is just beyond this window. In the morning you will be the first to see the askeem mountain as the devils keep it there.”
---“Promise?”
---“Promise.”
I looked at Abhi; his strong embrace once made me mad and brought me to this heaven. I felt melting once again as he looked at me with his squint eyes as if saying “Are you ready baby?”
He sat on the edge of the bed and traced my left foot with his index finger. A turbulence gathered on my bosom and my left calve melted. The sweet tingle left all my pores of my calf to unfurl.
I whispered in husky tone---“He has not slept yet and you devil…”
He kept on rubbing my calf gently under the dress. His hot touch made my skin warm as if someone poured amber on my creamy skin. I hissed out again---“What are you doing, stop?” His amorous gaze pierced my eyes and I felt jelly inside my heart. He stooped down slowly, blew hot breath on my feet and kissed my toe softly.
I died on that spot and kicked him on his broad muscular chest---“Go away now.” He walked toward the window, halfheartedly shaking his head and smiling at me.
He kept me writhing on the bed beside my angel. My angel already slept holding my gown in his tiny clutch. I somehow, freed myself slowly from his clutch so as not to wake him up.
Abhi was standing by the window looking deep into the dark night towards the silhouette of the mountain. I walked near him and wrapped my soft slender arms around his strong torso. He held my hands tightly across his chest and bends his head back to meet my cheek with his lips.
He whispered in my ears---“Missed you lot in all these years.”
I clawed on his left chest over his heart and said---“I was here always, that’s why I came back.”
He turned towards me, took my face between my palms and looked deeply in my eyes. My eyes were also glistening with love as were his. My lips quivered, I cooed out---“For once I thought that I was lost in oblivion forever. I thought that I would never be able to meet you in my life.”
I closed my eyes when I sensed that his face was too near to me. He placed his lips on my forehead and kissed softly. I took a deep breath to fill my lungs with his musky odour of sweat and heat. I missed this odour for a long time. I took few deep breaths, my bosom heaved across his strong muscular chest. I could feel my bosom catching fire as I pulled him more into me. He started to trace his tongue tip on my brows and I went meek in his arms. I parted my lips and it quivered like wanton petals wanting to be chewed.
I felt his lips crushed on mine, sucking all my breath out of my mouth. His hands roamed on my back, traced my spine sending spasms all over my body.