Fracture Of Sindoor

 Antara is a Biology professor at Subhash Academy College and University. Lab, research, PhD students — she is busy with all this. "Relationships are a waste of time, am I good for nothing or what?" Abhra is a Senior Manager at an MNC in Salt Lake. But on holidays, Abhra is an executive member of the _'Durga Club'_. Durga Puja Shashthi. _Abhra's 'Durga Club'_ is bustling. As an executive, Abhra is standing there wearing a _white pajama-punjabi_, overseeing everything. _Professor Antara has come out for pandal hopping with her friends._ She entered the _'Durga Club'_ pandal. In the rush of the crowd, suddenly _Abhra's hand slipped, the lid of the container opened, and a handful of bright red sindoor fell straight onto the parting of Professor Antara's hair_, who had come to see the pandal! Angry and embarrassed, Antara _went home and washed off the sindoor thoroughly._ Humiliated, Antara went to a nightclub with her friends that very night. She ran into Abhra there too. Antara shouted, _"You? You again? In the morning you smear sindoor wearing a punjabi, and at night you fall on girls wearing a blazer? Shameless, indecent man! Characterless! You're an as_ fraud! A devil in a punjabi!"_ The next morning. _At the Har-Parvati Temple_ there was a crowd. _Abhra had come out for puja wearing a white pajama-punjabi._ In his hand was a plate of prasad, and next to it, a small container of sindoor. _His friends Soumya, Rahul, Deb were also with him._ From the opposite direction, _Antara was coming for puja. She was wearing a white churidar and a red dupatta._ Just when Abhra and Antara were about to cross each other on the temple stairs, a 5-6 year old child came running shouting "Ma Ma" and crashed hard into Abhra. Abhra couldn't keep his balance. _The sindoor container flew out of his hand, and the entire container of sindoor fell on the head, parting, face, and red dupatta of Antara_, who had just bathed, was pure, and was wearing a white churidar. Antara slipped and _was falling straight backwards_. Immediately Abhra _grabbed Antara tightly with both hands._ Abhra's white punjabi got completely smeared with sindoor. And at that very moment, _Abhra's friend Soumya, who was standing behind, took the photo with a "click"_. Antara wiped off the sindoor before going to offer puja. *Looking at the faint mark of sindoor on her parting, Antara's heart trembled. It felt like, in that very second on the stairs of the Har-Parvati Temple, her old 'I will stay alone' reality shattered like glass into two pieces. This one unintentional moment ended her old life's timeline.* After the puja was over, the priest said, Here, take this, Ma, take sindoor for your mother. The Mother here is very awakened. The sindoor of the Mother, once it touches someone's parting, remains intact for her entire life. And that couple becomes Har-Parvati. _When Abhra returned home, his entire white punjabi was red with sindoor._ _As soon as he opened the door, _Sister-in-law_ was stunned._ Sister-in-law said, laughing, _"What's this Abhra, what's going on? So much sindoor on the punjabi! Did you play sindoor khela at the temple? Tell me, on whose parting did you put it?"_ Abhra stammered, "No, Boudi! It was an accident! A child's push..." Just then _Ma_ came out. Seeing Abhra's punjabi, Ma also smiled faintly. _"So, did you find the woman of your heart? Where is my sindoor? On whose parting did you apply it? Then who did you tell to fix the marriage?"_ Abhra scratched his head, "Ma! You started too? I'm telling you it was an accident! A girl... I mean a professor... was falling, I caught her... then..." Ma said, laughing, _"Did it fall from your hand, or did it fall from your heart? You met at the Har-Parvati temple, right?" When Abhra had held Antara tightly on the temple stairs, that very moment something had stirred inside Abhra's chest._ Back home, he kept looking at the photo Soumya took again and again. He remembered his mother's words — _"So, did you find the woman of your heart?"_ But _he doesn't know where her house is or how to find her. He knows nothing except her name._ He stayed up all night _searching on social media — "Professor Antara", "Subhash Academy Biology"_ _After hours of searching, he finally found her — Prof. Antara Sadhukhan, Department of Biology, Subhash Academy College and University._ That angry face in the profile picture. He immediately sent a request. Messaged, _"I am Abhra. Yesterday at Har-Parvati Temple... I didn't do it on purpose. Are you okay? I am truly sorry."_ Antara saw it and left it on seen. Didn't reply. But Abhra didn't give up. The next morning itself he told his parents, _"Ma, I want to get married. To that girl. The one on whose parting sindoor fell twice from my hand. To Antara. Ma said, the Mother's sindoor will remain intact."_ Ma was surprised, "But where is her house? Address?" Abhra smiled, _"I found it by searching social media, Ma. She is a professor at Subhash Academy College and University. I added her, messaged her too. She didn't reply, but she saw it."_ _That very afternoon, Abhra arrived at Antara's house with his parents._ He had arranged the address from social media itself. Antara was shocked. "What? That man? How did he find my house? _No! I will not get married! I had washed off the first one! I am not good for nothing!_" Abhra listened quietly. Just before leaving, he said, _"I will not force you. But that day at the temple you were falling. If I hadn't caught you... And Ma said, this sindoor will remain intact."_ After Abhra left, Antara couldn't sleep at night. She kept remembering — _"I had wiped off the sindoor, gone inside... yet Ma put it on again. With Abhra's hand. And he found my house... on social media!"_ She opened her phone and saw Abhra's message — _"I didn't do it on purpose. Are you okay? I am truly sorry."_ The next day at the university, a colleague said, _"Antara, look at the photo... the way Sir held you. As if he was saving you with his own life."_ At night, Ma came and said, "Antara, the boy is not bad, dear. His mother called today. Said, Abhra hasn't eaten all day." Antara's heart skipped a beat._ That night she stood in front of the mirror. There was still a faint mark of sindoor on her parting. _"There he is, the man of my heart... that Abhra. Who searched social media and found my house. The one Ma had spoken about on the first day — 'So, did you find the man of your heart?' Yes Ma, I have found him."_ The very next morning Antara told her mother, _"Ma, call them. I agree. I will marry Abhra. If the priest said the Mother's sindoor will remain intact, then I will keep it intact too."_ Hearing the news, Abhra rushed over. Tears in his eyes. "You... you agree? You had washed it off... you didn't even reply to the message..." Antara smiled, "I had washed off the sindoor. But Ma put it on again. With your hand. And you found my house through social media and came all the way here. Your mother was right — I have found the man of my heart." Six months later, again Shashthi. 'Durga Club'. Executive Abhra is today _again wearing that same white pajama-punjabi_. "I don't want an accident for the third time," Abhra took out a box from his pocket. "This time I want to give it with my own hand, but on purpose. Will you marry me?" Tears in Antara's eyes. "Yes. Because the priest had said, the Mother's sindoor will remain intact for a lifetime." _In front of Mother Durga, in the same pandal where she had come to visit and the first sindoor had fallen, Abhra completed the seven rounds wearing that same pajama-punjabi._ _And on the wedding day? Antara wore a red Banarasi, and Abhra wore that same white pajama-punjabi._ The priest from the Har-Parvati Temple himself came and blessed them. He said, _"Didn't I tell you, Ma? The Mother's sindoor remains intact. Even if it's wiped from the parting, washed off and goes inside, the Mother herself has put it on."_ Abhra's mother wiped her tears, _"That day when I saw the sindoor on the punjabi, I had asked — 'So, did you find the woman of your heart?' Today I see, yes, you have. My crazy son found her by digging through social media."_ Sister-in-law said, laughing, _"Abhra, I was joking that day. Today I see, the sindoor has reached the right place. No one had to come and tell anyone, the Mother herself fixed everything! Facebook helped too!"