“What the hell, Piyali? Who had asked you to learn cycling? You have a driver and a car at your beck and call. Why do you need to hurt yourself like this?” Mukundo was furious with her as he helped her get up.

“I am already hurt and crying,” she complained through her tears, “Don’t scold me and make my cry more.”

“Right… Thankfully I have brought my car. Come, I will take you home.”

“The bicycle…”

“I will leave it at Girdhar’s and have it picked up later. Come now… There should be a band aid in the car’s first aid kit… You are incorrigible…”

“Mukundo Babu!!”

“All right, all right. Let’s go…”

Piyali lifted her jeans up to her knee with some difficulty. Mukundo winced at her scraped knee.

“You need to be grounded,” he mumbled angrily.

“It’s not that bad…”

“You would know the day you catch tetanus or something,” he warned as he washed the wound with water kept in his car. Then he put a band aid.

“Ouch!” Her knees hurt as she tried to walk into her house.

“Let me help you,” he rushed to support her.

“No. Baba must not know that I am hurt. He would be beside himself…”

Mukundo smiled fondly at her. She was worried not for herself here, he knew. She wouldn’t mind some scolding coming her way. But her hypochondriac father will be so distressed that he will keep the entire household on its toes, and make himself most miserable of all.

But she winced as she took another step and the old servant Binoy happened to come to the doorway just then.

“Oh my God! Pihu baby, what has happened?”

“She’s just a little hurt, Binoy…”

“Hurt? How? Cycling again? With those rowdy kids?”

“Hush…”

But it was too late. Mr. Debendra Banerjee had already heard the commotion was there. “What happened? How are you hurt? Should we take you to a doctor?

“It’s nothing, Baba…”

“How do you know it’s nothing until the doctor has seen you. You are delicate, Shona. We must not take any chances…”

“I have put a band aid, Kaku. She fell from the bicycle and scraped her knees a little, that’s it…”

“Bicycle? Why on earth were you riding a bicycle? Where is the driver…”

“I was learning, Baba!”

“Nonsesne. There is no need to learn if you hurt yourself…”

“That won’t do, Kaku,” Mukundo surprised Piyali by his intervention on this, “She must learn. She can’t remain a baby all her life. And everyone falls once in a while.” Hadn’t he voiced exactly the same objection himself? Now he was defending her before her father? Well… That was just like Mukundo Babu, the fifteen-year old barely suppressed a mischievous smile. But her father still needed to be diverted. He was still arguing with Mukundo. If there was one thing that consumed him more than the concern for Piyali’s health, it was his own health.

“Baba. Isn’t it time for your tea and evening walk? Binoy Da. Please drop everything else and bring us tea. And also his walking-stick. He must not walk without the stick. It puts too much pressure on his ankles, which was sprained so badly just last year…”

And before anyone had any opportunity of referring her hurt knee again, Mr.  Banerjee was fed his tea and was on his way towards the park with his walking-stick.

“So, you will never spare a chance to scold me, even when you think what I did was not wrong?”

“What I think is that you shouldn’t try to learn with those still-in-nappy kids, who can barely hold themselves straight, let alone help you with a tripping bicycle.”

“They are my friends and none of the are in nappies, for God’s sake. And didn’t you yourself say that everyone falls once in a while?”

“If they have a bad teacher.”

“I am doing with whatever teachers I can manage. Who else will teach me otherwise? Binoy Da himself doesn’t know how to ride a cycle. Baba doesn’t have the heart to teach me. And you do not have the time or patience.”

“It is unlikely that others will be able to overcome their handicap. So, I guess I must overcome mine.”

“You… will… teach… me?” she asked cautiously.

“What option do I have?”

“Hmm…”

“What?”

“You aren’t as bad-tempered and grumpy as you appear sometimes. I think people are right. You need to get married,” she grinned at him.

“Get married? What does that have to do with anything?”

“If you don’t get married, people say, you would grow into a grumpy, lonely old man. Of course nobody thinks you are that right now. But I can see the signs already.”

“You can? I must grab the next woman I can find, and marry her then?”

“But you probably shouldn’t marry after all.”

“Why this change of mind?”

“If you got married, you won’t have much time for us – me and Baba.”

“What a selfish girl you are, Piyali.”

She looked up at him startled, but saw only amusement in his eyes. So, she grinned in response.

“And what will happen when you are married and gone off? What will I do for company?”

“I am not going to get married. How lonely Shalu Di’s Baba is since she got married. He misses her so much. I can’t leave Baba like that.”

“She knew that. But she got married anyway.”

“She was the sort who should get married. She’d be unhappy otherwise.”

“And you won’t be?”

“Absolutely not.”

“We’ll see.”

“Whenever you have believed me!” she pouted and Mukundo playfully ruffled her hair.

—

“I must also learn how to ride a motorcycle.”

“Motorcycle? You are not old enough to have a license. And what do you need to ride a motorcycle for?”

“Whatever you need to ride a motorcycle for. And I must learn now so that when I am old enough to get a license, I can get one quickly.”

“Piyali. Bicycle is enough. And you can get a scooter if you must…”

“Motorcycle! Your motorcycle!” she put her foot down.

He managed to teach her how to ride a cycle and did not let her get hurt again as he had promised. Motorcycle would pose more problems though. The clutch and gear were more than she could handle. And she wasn’t even patient with it. If she could have her way, she would have driven on the highway on her very first day.  But as it happened, she got confused the first time she tried to drive on her own in an open field.

“Piyali… Clutch and brake. Clutch and brake…” Mukundo shouted, but she was nonplussed and could not act on his advice. He would not recall later what possessed him and how he pulled off the stunt he did, but he ran to her and pulled her off the motorcycle. Both of them fell, but she fell on top of him and was safely cushioned from any impact against the ground.

—

To be continued