A Bunch Of Tuberoses

“Where were you? “Why are u so late?” “ How did you have the audacity of returning home after 11 o’clock at night.” Sohini is just about to enter her room when she got bombarded with the stream of questions from her mother. But she was not in a situation to speak out. Her heart ass breaking. Her throat was choked up with tears. All of a sudden, her relationship with Kunal had ended . The very next week, she was going to marry Suman, the executive director of a renowned multinational company. It will be another Wednesday, when she would have to surrender herself to an unknown person as his newly wedded wife. Her body and mind quiver with revulsion whenever she tries to imagine that on that very auspicious day, Suman may touch her body, he may try to kiss her, he may try to be intimate with her.

She brought a bunch of tuberoses, It is the last remembrance from Kunal’s side. She touches the tuberose and thinks about the sweet memories of making love with Kunal. Both of them have spent so much of quality time together. How can she forget those precious moments? She starts to weep and is trying hard to hide her tears as well.

Her mother does not refrain from snubbing,

“Are you not listening or what?? Where did you stay till midnight? Answer me. What the hell are you doing ?

Sohini’s adorable grandma comes to rescue her.

“Tell me dear, what’s the matter? It is the wedding time. All of our relatives are coming gradually. Only the beautiful bride is missing. This is unfair, Sona…Is there any problem? Tell me...please.”

After hearing the sweetly spoken words from Grandma, Sohini looks at her through the swollen eyes blurred with tears. “Grandma…Kunal…”

But her mother is so stubborn that she does not wait till she finishes her words . She asks with anger,

“Kunal???That homeless,wretched bastard, asthma patient??” You went to him?

“Yes. I’m just returning from Nimtala Crematorium…after the completion of funeral…” 

She couldn’t speak a single word then. The tears started to flow down her cheeks. Her mom and grandma left the room. They actually had nothing to say. No one but time alone could lessen her pain. The whole night, she sat with the bunch of dying tuberoses, staring at them with her empty eyes.

#QISSA-E-ISHQ#

Mausumi Pramanik