Mukundo felt better the next day and he proposed a short stroll in the garden. Piyali agreed readily. She has him place his hand on her shoulder so that he had support while walking. He was still very weak and slightly dizzy from the antibiotics and other strong medicines he had to take.

“Will you come back to Kolkata, Piyali?” he asked.

“I want to come back right away. I am not a free spirit. It doesn’t feel good to be uprooted from home again!”

That gave him a pause. He stopped abruptly and turned to face her. “Again!” he mumbled, looking at her as if seeing her for the first time. He continued after a pause, “Again? That’s right, isn’t it? I never thought of that. I never asked you about that. Have you ever spoken to anyone about what had happened back then? Having to leave your home behind? Forever?”

She shook her head.

“Talk to me,” he said.

“That will be one tiring monologue. Perhaps we should head back.”

“No. We should stay right here. Come with me.”

He took her to the tree at the corner of the garden.

“Help me sit down,” he said and then had her sit next to him.

She folded her knees and rested her chin on them.

“I hadn’t felt it as much when it was actually happening,” she started speaking after thinking for a long time, “The change in the mood of the neighbors we had known forever, the servants and helpers disappearing, the inability to step out of house, running out of all stored food, and finally having to leave it behind in the darkness of the night with nothing but a few bundles Baba could carry on his back. Ma was carrying my baby brother. It took several days to reach the border. Because we had to hide ourselves during the day time. We could walk only at night and it wasn’t easy. Soon we ran out of food we were carrying. My baby brother was already weak. Whatever we could find was not suitable for him. And I think Ma was too weak and sick by then to–” She suddenly looked at him, “I grieve him so much today. But back then, I think I didn’t feel much. I watched with a sense of detachment as Baba buried him in a shallow grave at night. What else could he have done? I was grateful that he or Ma were not crying. But it must have taken them all their will-power to do it, wouldn’t’ it? Why did I feel nothing then?”

“How old was he?”

“Barely a month.”

“I don’t think you had had time to get to know him, Piyali. Attachment doesn’t come by itself. When you spend time with someone, care for them, get to know them, that’s when it happens. I know something about that process. Trust me and stop berating yourself about it.”

“I hope you are right.”

“I am.”

She gave a hesitant smile.

“I was surprisingly fine when it was all happening, despite the hunger, despite exhaustion, despite humiliation. I think I didn’t understand humiliation back then. I started understanding it later. And then it hurt. It hurt badly that some people had the power to do that to us, to usurp us from our home and our fields, to deny us our grains and our roof, to drive us away from our lands. It had belonged to us for generations.”

And for the second time since he had known her, Mukundo saw her crying. He took her hand in his and let her cry for a while. Then he wiped her tears and said, “I can’t give you back what you lost there, Piyali. But this is your home. Nobody can drive you away from here, I promise you that. And – you must understand this, so listen to me carefully – it doesn’t depend on what happens between us. This is your home. You can always come back here. Nobody can take it away from you.”

It looked like she would start sobbing again, but she merely smiled through her tears. Then she said, “Let’s go inside. You are still not strong enough to spend so much time outdoors.”

She stood up and then gave him her hand to help him get up.

“Mukundo Babu!” she stopped him when he made to walk back and then threw her arms around him in a tight embrace. He reciprocated without a moment’s hesitation.

“Yes,” she said as she broke the hug.

“Excuse me?”

“I will marry you, if you want to marry me.”

The world around him stopped and his head felt dizzier than warranted by the medicines. Even in his wildest dreams he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon, or for it to happen at all.

Not hearing anything from him, Piyali looked up at him. Smile and tears came to him together. “Will you really?”

She looked away, blushing heavily, and nodded.

He pulled her back in a hug.

“But I don’t know how to tell anybody about us. Kaki, Ma, Baba! You must do that,” she said when he released her.

“I will, when the time comes. But we must not tell anyone anything right now.”

“Why not?”

“Because you must take your time, Piyali. This was too quick–”

“You don’t trust me?” the hurt in her voice, for the first time since he could recall, betrayed her youth. Beneath that insanely practical woman, there was a romantic, young girl, who wouldn’t believe that her feelings could change.

“I just want to savor it, Piyali. By myself. If everybody knows, you know how it will become all about the wedding and rituals and what not. I still want to date. I still want to get to know you, and I want you to know me, without external pressures. I still want to make a few stealth trips to Delhi.” Even though his caution, at first, was indeed motivated by the need to give her time, what he said now was not only the right thing to say to her, it was true as well. He would like to enjoy having his own time with her, before it became the business of the entire world.

She smiled at him. A frank, unburdened smile. He hadn’t seen it too often on her. A warmth enveloped him. And he couldn’t resist the temptation. He bent his head down and brought his lips close to her.

“May I?” he asked in a sibilant voice.

In reply, she just so slightly moved her lips closer. He tentatively gave her a quick peck. When she didn’t resist, he pressed his lips against hers, and forced his tongue in her mouth. Because of his weakness he ran out of breath quickly and had to withdraw. He found her smiling and blushing.

“I can’t handle it anymore,” he said, “We must go inside.”

She put his hand back on her shoulder and they walked back.

—

To be continued