PENTAGON

Read in Assamese: 
http://kankhowafictions.blogspot.in/2016/09/blog-post.html

Prologue:

Though Joon is studying only in class seven, he is a sensitive boy. Most of the time he is at home, alone. After school he eats at home and comes out to the balcony and happens to see a girl walk by. He keeps thinking about the girl. He assumes that the girl too thinks about him. He was nurturing a dream and today he bought a bar of chocolate for her and thought he would give it to her and ask her name. She is beautiful, she must have a beautiful name he thought.

Today he followed the girl and called her out from behind, ‘Hey….’. The girl stopped and turned back. Joon could not decipher why he started shaking. He took out the bar of chocolate and said…”Take it.”

“Why will I take it?

“Take it.”

“What? Am I your girl friend?”

Saying this the girl ran away. Joon was stunned.  Girlfriend? He has heard the word before. But he has never thought about it .

One night in the life of Bora family:

Joon is the youngest member of the Bora family. You’ll never run out of words describing the Bora family.  But don’t worry I’ll not bore you with my words. Bora family is constituted of five members, a family with its share of sorrows and happiness. It has a name in society. If you meet them, you’ll also know they are a happy family. But you have to meet them at dinner. To tell you the truth the family members see each other’s face only at dinner. But they don’t look at each other. It is better if they do not happen to see each other’s face. The weather remains clouded if they do not look at each other. The dark clouds create an atmosphere of unbearable heat. But you have to endure it as there is no other way. If you happen to face anyone you’ll have to endure endless rain. Then it is worse. Arguments, debates, quarrels, protests. You’ll not be able to make out who is for whom or who is against whom.

Today at dinner Bora said, “Tomorrow I’ll have to work till late at night. I might not come back. I have packed a few clothes.” Mrs Bora did not say anything. If clothes are already packed there can be no scope for conversation. Junuka, I mean Bora’s daughter studying in Class XII grumbled, “I was thinking of going out for dinner tomorrow. They are opening a new restaurant called Happy Cottage.” And that’s the beginning of a new quarrel. Each week Junuka proposes to go out for dinner. Bora is not angry at Junuka, but at the fact that the secret desires of Mrs Bora gets revealed through Junuka. The elder brother Jintumoni pacified Junuka with a scolding and carried out well the responsibility of being the elder brother.

An evening that went awry:

Though the evening was an ordinary one, a few coincidences were to be noticed. Joon was looking at basically nowhere standing at the terrace unaware of the mosquito bites. The bar of chocolate in his hand was melting. Junuka was walking along the streets of Canaught Place. She was grabbing at the bag containing the imported watch as if it would break into pieces in a minute. Unable to find a perking place Jintumoni was driving around Khan Market. He was looking at the bag in his front and thinking if he would dump it somewhere in a dustbin. Bora’s car was waiting at a deserted place in Noida. It was not sure what he was thinking, his eyes at his mobile at one time and at the gift pack beside him at another. And Mrs Bora was tired fighting with the autowallahs of South Extension. Today Mrs Bora traveled to and fro in the same auto for four times and kept the driver waiting for an hour. There is a packet in Mrs Bora’s hands too. What to do with it now?

The story of the Pentagon:

People knew about Bora’s illicit affairs. Bora used to be a lover.

He would be away on the excuse of official wok. This American woman of Indian origin returned to India after a fight with her husband. In an attempt to renounce the world this woman did not try to renew the ties with her relatives in India. She met Bora just after returning to India and developed a relationship two years back. Even though it was sudden, naturally the woman got bored with India and decided to go back. The woman refused to meet Bora while he was on his way to meet her. She has officially declaring her intention of going back to America. Stopping the car in the middle of the road Bora did not know what to do.

Mrs Bora was among those people who knew that Bora was a lover and did not care much for family ties. Though it created small domestic clashes, Mrs Bora was smart enough not to let these things break her home. Mrs Bora too was modern. She knew how to take advantage of Bora’s absence. Mrs Bora too was seeing a young guy skilled in business for a few days.   While visiting him Mrs Bora always carries something in hand. and carries something back. But today she faced a completely different situation. Though unexpected it was an extremely natural situation. A new woman entered the guy’s life. Opening the door Mrs Bora found a girl her daughter’s age. Mrs Bora knew she would face such a situation. Just that she was avoiding the situation out of habit. Now Mrs Bora is clueless as to what to do?

Jintumoni is a young guy. It is only recently that he bought this bike and started giving rides to a girl from Haryana. Today she promised to meet for dinner at Khan market. He got tired of waiting for an SMS. But a message came at last. Not an SMS but a Multi Media Message. She got engaged the other day to a guy from a business family. Now he is not seeing any other way but to throw away the mobile in a dustbin. Now what does he do? Where does he go? He could not think of any other way but to go to Rajdeeep’s house, get drunk and sleep. But how does he go? He could not gather the courage to meet his friends at this juncture of his life.

Junuka has a similar story. She too developed a relationship with a

Punjabi guy. It was her first love and she was extremely excited. In the first week itself the relationship went from the restaurant to the cinema hall and then to the bed of the rented house the guy lived. Today she bought an expensive watch for him. It seems she is yet to understand what she wants from the guy. But the guy got what he wanted from her. For the last few days he has refused to meet her. Today she has come on her own. But today he scolded her like anything and made her know how characterless, outdated, small-minded she is, and how unsuitable for a long-term relationship. She is maintaining a distance from her friends for the last six months, today she does not have anyone to whom she can turn to, before whom she can cry.

I have already spoken about Joon. Thus in five corners of the city of Delhi, five loneliest souls have been waiting aimlessly for a while. A simple pentagon formed coincidentally. The watches of these five people stopped at five corners and the world seems to have move on fast. As if these five people have been trying to say something silently and waiting for some miracle to happen.

The sixth angle of the Pentagon:

After some thought Bora zeroed in on a plan. Bora is a successful business strategist. Bora dialed Mrs. Bora’s no. “Today my work got cancelled. I’ll soon return home. I am thinking of something. Junuka keeps talking about eating out. Let’s go for dinner.”

“Oh, what happened to you today. Let’s go then.” Mrs Bora found a way out. She called

 Jintumoni and Jintumoni called Junuka. These calls continued for sometime.

 Everybody agreed to go to Happy Cottage as suggested by Junuka.

Junuka went home and collected Joon.

Everyone gathered in front of Happy Cottage.

Entering Happy Cottage Bora got a bit off-guard, the restaurant seemed to be expensive.

 But today things were different. Everybody thought they should not bother about

expenses and went and sat at a table at a corner.

The Bora family was lucky that it was the anniversary of the restaurant. A band called

Panchabhut was playing rock music. Everyone was happy. Very naturally everyone of

Bora family was trying to be natural. After going through the menu Junuka could not

decide what to order. Mrs Bora ordered fruit beer at the very beginning, other things can

be ordered later. Jintumoni changed the chair he was sitting on with another one

borrowed from the other table. Bora was trying to feel the atmosphere around. It was

their first day in the restaurant. A banner containing the name of the band was visible

from behind the band. Joon looked at it for a while and asked, “What is the meaning of

Panchabhut?” Joon repeated her question when she could not get an answer. Joon

grumbled raising her head from the menu she was reading as if she was reading not a

menu but the prospectus of the new college she was going to get admitted. “Why do you

keep asking the same thing again and again? Panchabhut means five ghosts. Can’t you

see we five ghosts are sitting here, Father, Mother, you, me and brother.” Joon was

silenced at Junuka’s reply.”

Everyone ordered something of his or her own choice. Today there were no restrictions.

There were some new items on the menu because it was the anniversary of the restaurant

and they ordered almost everything.  In the middle of all these Bora told Mrs Bora, “You

keep saying I don’t gift you anything. See what have I got  you today?” Bora took out a

blue sari finely packed and kept it on the table. Everyone was surprised.  “Oh, what

happened to you today?” Mrs Bora screamed. Jintumoni, Junuka and Joon clapped.

“Then you take this too. A special gift from my side.” Mrs Bora too gifted him a nicely

packed bottle of perfume. The Bora family’s screams attracted the attention of almost

everybody in the restaurant. But nobody in the Bora family paid any attention back.

“Ok, it is my turn then. I am also not coming empty handed. I am bringing something for

my brother.” Junuka said. “You do not have any love for your sister. You keep scolding

me all the time. Take this, this is a token of love from me.” Saying this Junuka took out

an imported watch and gave it to Jintumoni. The Bora family screamed again. Jintu felt

uneasy at such an expensive gift. “Then I’ll also have to gift you something, right?” Jintu

took out the mobile phone from the pocket, removed the sim and said, “ You always keep

asking for my phone, and I never let you touch it. Take this. Form now this phone is

yours. From now on I will not touch it, even if I want to touch it, don’t let me. Now you

have full right on this.”

Catharsis:

A man, supposedly the manager walked towards the Bora family. Bora was a bit nervous,

probably they were making too much of noise. But the manager did not say anything.

Instead he ordered the waiters to arrange a bunch of flowers along with a candle. Bora

was a bit hesitant. “What are you doing? Today we don’t have any celebrations. Neither

is there any anniversary or birthday.” Bora said, but the waiters did not say anything and

dispersed with a smile.

After dinner the Bora family waited for the bill. The manager of the restaurant and a few

employees advanced. The manager said, “Sir you don’t have to pay anything today.

Today everything is free for you. We are announcing a ‘Happy Family Gift’ on the

occasion of the anniversary of our hotel.  And you deserve it.” All the lights of the

restaurant were put on. “We were observing your activities throughout and we are happy

to have you among us. And please accept this gift from us.” Everyone smiled. All stood

up and clapped. The band Panchabhut was playing in high pitch. The restaurant got

flooded with the flash lights of the cameras, click, click, click.

Everyone was smiling, everyone was delighted. Joon was smiling too. But it seemed he was disturbed by something. He noticed the bar of chocolate in his pocket was melting and it dirtied a portion of his pant very badly.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Samudra Kajal Saikia

(Original Title- "Panchabhuj". Published in a Puja Special issue of "Dainik Asom", 2010. Later included in an anthology of Assamese Love Stories- "Axomiya Premar Galpo". Translated from Assamese by Syeda Semim Zahan)