Broken Promise

1942 Calcutta

There was great rejoicing in Sanyal's house. And why not? The youngest and most favorite, Arnab, got a job at Indian Railways as a junior clerk. The house was full of sweets and Bengal’s ‘Mishti Doi’. The relatives who came to felicitate Arnab generously were served Rajbhog, Ladikeni, Bengal sweets, Pooris, and Payasam.

Arnab’s father died when he was a 10-year-old boy, and his mother passed away a year ago. They were four brothers and two sisters, and Arnab was the youngest and most lovable.

He stood at 24 and was quite a good-looking, handsome man. Many girl’s parents tried to contact Bhaskar Babu about their daughters' alliance with his brother. But Bhaskar Babu remained silent. He wanted his brother to become permanent and the wedding could be carried out later.

One year later, Arnab became permanent, and Bhaskar Babu boldly contacted the ‘Ghotok’, the middleman who worked for the match-making matrimony and brought information about suitable matches for his brother. It didn’t take long for good proposals to come, as the groom had a good name for holding a permanent job in the railways. One fine morning, Arnab’s wedding was fixed with Uma. The auspicious ceremony would take place on the 10th of June. Mr. Benoy Ganguly was into business. Here, the boy’s folks had demanded cash and specific things for the wedding.

Mr. Ganguly nodded his head and said, "Yes." Uma got married to Arnab. For 10 days at both the bride’s house and the groom's house, the wedding celebration went on. When the newlyweds arrived, ladies were standing, blowing conch, and throwing flowers as a gesture to welcome the new bride.

Not even a week passed when the truth came out that the bride had epilepsy and repeated seizures. Arnab was shattered, as he had faith and trust in his elder brother and sister-in-law’s selection of the girl. He didn’t see the girl before his wedding and relied on his brother’s selection.

Arnab fell at his sister-in-law's and Dada’s feet. He cried loudly, 'Oh, Dada. Why did you ruin my life? You took so much money and didn’t find out about the girl. Money was more important for you?’

Gradually, days passed to months and years, and Arnab became the father of a boy and a girl. Meanwhile, Bhaskar Babu, though, was cheated as the girl’s parents had kept the illness of their daughter a secret but still didn’t dare to come face to face with Mr. Ganguly as he had given the dowry demanded by the groom’s side.

In the long run and after 12 years, Arnab found it difficult to stay with his wife. Uma’s illness became more severe, and instead of taking her to the doctor, he decided to leave his wife and children in her parent’s house. Perhaps if he had taken care of his wife and shown her to a good doctor, things would have been better than worse.

Arnab was promoted to senior clerk, and his salary had increased. He came into contact with his friend’s sister, a teacher at a nearby government school. This lady had first declared that she would not get married, but later Arnab and she became friends. In a few years, they decided to tie the knot, but there was one condition from the teacher, Arnab would not keep any relations with his children from his previous marriage.

Arnab assured her that he would not keep any relationship with his wife and children, and on a good evening, they became together. A low-key wedding took place in the lady’s parent’s backyard, and Arnab brought his newlywed wife to his house.

Arnab never went to meet either his previous wife, Uma, or the children, and he didn’t send them money either. Uma passed away when her son was 15 years old and her daughter was three yea

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rs younger. The next year, Uma’s son, Mihir, sat for the board exams and scored a first division. Here, Mr. Ganguly was aging, and the business was being looked after by his son, Montu. Mrs. Ganguly left for the Heavenly abode a few years ago.

Mr. Ganguly’s son and his wife stopped the education of Uma’s daughter, Nalini, and used her for the household work. Mr. Ganguly was fond of his granddaughter, but the helpless man had no say in the family. Nalini’s maternal uncle and aunt used her to do all the odd jobs at home.

Arnab’s first cousin was a senior manager working for an MNC, and he took care of Mihir. He got him into management training after his 12th exams and as he was a bright boy, there was hope that he would get into a job soon. Days passed, and Mihir was appointed as a junior manager in a private company, and later he got married to a music teacher.

It was a gorgeous sunny day in the peak winter of Calcutta, and while having tea, his uncle asked him,' Well! Mihir, have you thought about your sister, Nalini? Your father will never think of his daughter, but you are the elder brother. You go and bring Nalini from your mama’s house and look for a suitable match to get her married.’

Mihir and his wife visited their mama’s house and decided that Nalini would now stay with them.

In all the years gone by, those vicious people brainwashed Nalini not to leave their house. So, when Mihir told her sister to pack up, she fiercely refused to leave her maternal uncle’s house.

Mihir was extremely sad, as his sister, who was younger than him, looked older because of the work pressure, but he could do nothing against his sister’s wishes. Mihir visited his maternal uncle’s house sometimes, and every time he tried to persuade his sister to change her mind, he was unsuccessful. Slowly, Mihir’s family became bigger, and he had more responsibilities bringing up his children, so he stopped going to his mama’s house.

Many years later, when Nalini was in her 50s, she died of a massive heart attack. Mihir was devastated, but here came an end to the sad story.

Epilogue 

Mr. Ganguly was a well-placed businessman, but he was wrong when he hid his daughter’s epilepsy from the groom’s elder brother. He should have known that he could not buy a groom for his ailing daughter. Instead, he could have shown his daughter to good doctors and kept some money in the bank in her name. There was no reason for him to get his daughter married. Bhaskar Babu was equally wrong when he gave money more importance and didn’t care to find out about the girl. His greed led shamefully to ruining his younger brother’s life.

Arnab came to know about his wife’s epilepsy within a week. When he knew the truth and was not comfortable with the alliance he should have given back the dowry to Mr. Ganguly and returned the girl to his parents. It was wrong for him to stay with someone with whom he would not be able to keep his ‘wedding promise’. Why did Arnab wait for 12 years and become a father to a boy and a girl? If he had stayed with his wife for so many years, then he could have consulted doctors to try and cure her illness and continued with the marriage. But he had something else in mind.

In all the mistakes that rolled around, the victims were Uma and her children and especially Nalini. So many lives fell to pieces. It all started with Mr. Ganguly’s hidden secret that his daughter had epilepsy followed by Bhaskar Babu’s greed and Arnab’s idiocy and being cunning.

Oh! God, what was Uma's Fault? And what had the innocent children done?

Chakraborty Meenakshi